Year 1969 Essays - American Old West, , Term Papers

Year 1969 The year was 1969. Richard Nixon was president, astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, sesame street first aired, and the hippies were partying it up at Woodstock. Across the globe in southeast Asia a very unpopular war was being fought. The US had been fighting in Vietnam for four years. The American public had grown tired of this conflict.. Tired of seeing young men brought home in body bags. Tired of a government that didnt seem interested in trying to win. On may 10th a battle began that would forever change the war. It was fought on hill 937 located in the A Shau Valley in south Vietnam. This battle lasted over 6 days and according to an article posted on historynets website 46 merican men died and another 400 were wounded. These men died and were injured in vain since the hill was abandoned to the enemy just 2 short weeks later. Public outcry over this battle finally cause the government to begin withdrawing troops form Vietnam shortly thereafter. Because of the carnage i nflicted in this battle the survivors appropriately nicknamed it hamburger hill. Exactly 100 years earlier in America the race was on to connect East and West. Two railroad companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, were constructing a railroad line that would span a continent. The Union Pacific built westward across the great plains, and the Central Pacific built eastward from California. As the tracks from each railroad approached each other, the two railroads could not agree on a meeting point. According to an article on PBS website titled The Iron Road Congress finally stepped in and forced the 2 companies to agree on a meeting point. They settled on Promontory Point in Utah. On may 10 of 1869 the golden spike was driven signaling completion of americas first transcontinental railroad. Bibliography Works Cited Barna, Carl. Steel Rails and Iron Horses. Bureau of Land Management Website. 1996. 6 Sep. 2001. . The Iron Road. Public Broadcast Systems Website. 6 Sep. 2001. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/iron/. Summers, Harry. Hamburger Hill Revisited. The History Net Website. June 1999. 6 Sep. 2001. . American History