Miranda v. Arizona

The case of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) was very crucial to shaping the future of police investigation. It wasn’t until this case that police had to inform their suspect of their rights. In 1963, Ernesto Miranda was arrested at his home in Phoenix, Arizona. The charges of the arrest were kidnapping and rape. The police were questioning him non-stop for two hours until he finally confessed. During the trial, Miranda claimed his confession was invalid. The reason for this was because the police never informed him of his right to an attorney or his right to avoid self-incrimination. In the end, the Court ruled in favor of Miranda saying that police must inform criminal suspects of their legal rights at the time of arrest and may not interrogate suspects who invoke their rights.

Chief Justice Earl Warren said that he based his argument on the Fifth Amendment. For those who don’t know it, it guarantees that an accused person cannot be forced “to be a witness against himself” or herself. Warren said that because the police interrogations are “inherently intimidating,” it doesn’t allow the defendant’s statements to be the product of free choice.

There are many reasons why Miranda v. Arizona is important, but to Chief Justice Earl Warren, it allowed him to have a strong opinion about the case. As a result the case, police have detailed instructions of what to say during the arrest of a suspect. The reason of this is to prevent another case similar to Miranda v. Arizona.

The case wasn’t an easy decision for the rest of the world. Many critics claimed that this ruling would cause more crime due to the fact that it is harder to convict the suspects. Soon afterwards, police officers placed the rights of the suspect on a card, which became known as the Miranda warning. The Miranda warning is still used today and is often portrayed on television police, law, and criminal shows.

Brett

Crisis Over Berlin and the Bay of Pigs

Kennedy had one main goal to help him through the Cuban missile crisis and that was proving to Khruschev his determination to contain communism. In 1961, Berlin was a city in great turmoil. In the past 11 years since the Berlin Airlift, just barely 3 million East Germans had gled into West Berlin because it was free of the Communist rule. These people were the example of the failure of East Germany's Communist government. Their leave also deeply weakened that country's economy.
At a summit meeting in Bienna, Austria, in June 1961, Khrushev threatened to sign a treaty with East Germany that would enable that country to close all access roads to West Berlin, in hopes to solve his problem. Kennedy'z determination and America's superior nuclear striking ower prevented Khrushev from closing the air and land routes between West Berlin and West Germany. After days of hard work, the Berlin Wall was erected, spearating East Germany from West Germany.

Miranda v. Arizona

In 1966 a case called Miranda v. Arizona was taken to the Supreme Court where a ruling was made that forever changed the legal system. Miranda was arrested for charges of kidnapping and rape but was never convicted because he wasn't read his rights before making a confession. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the majority opinion, believing that the condition a suspect is put in after an arrest is "inherently intimidating". Warren believes a suspect being harassed and tortured for a confession might say something self incriminating that police would later use against them. Because of the Fifth Amendment that states a person shouldn't have to bear a witness against him or herself in any criminal case. Miranda was let go until he was re-tried later on other evidence. It brought up a good point that if every accused person was treated like a criminal then a lot of innocent people would be punished. A lot of people were worried that Miranda would lead to more crime but we still use this today. Every police officer has these rights memorized and reads them to a suspect of every arrest. In a more recent case, Cheif Justice William Rehnquist stated his believes in the Miranda rights and calls them an importaint part of American Culture.

Alana VanZanten

Movement of Migrant Workers

There are about three million farm workers in the United States who harvest much of the produce families eat each day. Most of these workers remain in one place most of the year, but some are migrant workers who move, along with their entire family, as the growing seasons change. In the 1960s there were three major streams of migrant worker movements. These movements included the Pacific Coast, the Midwest, and the Atlantic Coast. While the paths of these migrant workers may have become slightly altered over time, the movement of migrant workers continues to this day. 

The Pacific Coast region has a moderate climate that allows for year-round harvesting. For most of the year migrant workers in this region work on large California fruit farms. They then travel to Washington for the remainder of the year to pick cherries, apples, and other crops. 

Crops in the Midwest and East Coast streams are smaller, consequently workers must keep moving in order to find work. During one year a typical midwestern migrant worker family may pick strawberries in michigan, travel to Ohio to harvest tomatoes, return to Michigan to pick apples, and then travel to Texas for the winter months when it is difficult to find work. 

Some farm workers along the Atlantic Coast stream remain in Florida for the entire year. Others travel as far north as New Hampshire and New York where they work from March through September. Due to harsh winters migrants in the Atlantic Coast region can only find work for six months of the year. 

-Lisa

The Other America

In the 1950's many experienced the financial well being besides the "Other America". The Other America was 40 plus million people in the United States that didn't get anything from the economic boom. Many middle upper class Americans couldnt believe that there could be poverty in a nation so strong. It was mainly non white Americans that had to suffer the poverty and tight dirty living space. Many non whites felt like the country didnt care about them and they weren't even U.S citizen. To help U.S goverment passed the National Household Act in 1949. This act created what we know now as a project. a project is a low income housing space to fit many people into a homes without having to spend money that they dont have. This did help a lot but many of the housing units were rundown and very nasty. Many non whites had very hard times getting jobs mostly africans and mexican americans. This made it hard to get out of there low income houses because they never had the chance to make more money to afford a nice place to live
The Other America was a very big deal in United States. It showed many immigrants that America wasnt as loyal to them as they are to them. Still today many Americans feel that there still is another America

Public Reaction to the Brown Supreme Court Decision

On May 17, 1954, Thurgood Marshall won the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down segregation in schooling as an unconstitutional violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. That was step number 1. The next step, getting people to accept Step 1, was harder.

Official reaction to the ruling was mixed. In Kansas and Oklahoma, state officials said they expected segregation to end with little trouble, but in Texas, the governor warned that plans might “take Years” to work out. In Mississippi and Georgia, officials vowed total resistance. Within a year, more than 500 school districts had desegregated their classrooms, and black and white students sat side by side for the first time in history. However, in many areas where African Americans were a majority, whites resisted desegregation. In order to speed things up, the Supreme Court handed down a second ruling in 1955, known as Brown II, that ordered school desegregation implemented “with all deliberate speed.”

In 1948, Arkansas had become the first Southern state to admit African Americans to state universities without being required by a court order. The citizens of Little Rock had elected two men to the school board who publicly backed desegregation.

However, Governor Orval Faubus publicly supported segregation, and, in September 1957, order the National Guard to turn away the “Little Rock Nine,” nine African American students who had volunteered to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School. A federal judge ordered Faubus to let the students into school, and NAACP members called eight of the students and arranged to drive them to school.

The crisis in Little Rock forced Eisenhower to act. He placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and ordered a thousand paratroopers into the city.

Election of 1960 & The Camelot years

In the election of 1960 it was Richard Nixon vs. John Kennedy. It was consider a close race between the two. Nixon was thinking he would win because of the popularity that Eisenhower had had and was thinking of riding that to the top but Kennedy was going to run using his family's wealth and using other means like the media, such as the television. Kennedy also had on his side that he was with civil rights and that talking on the t.v. over different views and debates helped him secure his run. Another event that helped Kennedy's chances of winning was help Martin Luther King Jr. get out of jail sooner by talking with the judge and posting King for bail, this would serve him good P.R. with Midwest and Southern voters. The Camelot years were Kennedy's first years in office in which he made many televised appearance and invited many celebrities and artist to visit him in the white house. The press loved Kennedy because he was charming and liked talking to the press. The Kennedy's where very skilled people and lived so magically in the white house that newspapers would refer to their stay in the white house as The Camelot Years.