227-565: The appearance of Ronald Reagan in music includes mentions and depictions of the actor-turned-politician in songs, albums, music videos, and band names, particularly during his two terms as President of the United States . Reagan first appeared on a few album covers during his time as a Hollywood actor, well before his political career. During the 1960s, folk , rock , and satirical musicians criticized Reagan in his early years as Governor of California for his red-baiting and attacking of
454-458: A nuclear apocalypse , and Barrie, as Reagan, quotes Don McLean 's " American Pie " and parts of an Adolf Hitler speech . On the heels of 1984's presidential campaign, the rock group Supertramp featured spoken voice-overs from both Reagan and Bush on the right audio channel and their Democratic opponents Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro on the left audio channel during the fade-out for their song "Better Days". The song's video reviews
681-707: A perpetual union between the states in November 1777 and sent it to the states for ratification . Under the Articles, which took effect on March 1, 1781, the Congress of the Confederation was a central political authority without any legislative power. It could make its own resolutions, determinations, and regulations, but not any laws, and could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens. This institutional design reflected how Americans believed
908-1021: A president of the United States in Congress Assembled to preside over its deliberation as a neutral discussion moderator . Unrelated to and quite dissimilar from the later office of president of the United States, it was a largely ceremonial position without much influence. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies. With peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. By 1786, Americans found their continental borders besieged and weak and their respective economies in crises as neighboring states agitated trade rivalries with one another. They witnessed their hard currency pouring into foreign markets to pay for imports, their Mediterranean commerce preyed upon by North African pirates , and their foreign-financed Revolutionary War debts unpaid and accruing interest. Civil and political unrest loomed. Events such as
1135-501: A "disruptive" erosion of his ability to govern. Ford failed to win election to a full term and his successor, Jimmy Carter , failed to win re-election. Ronald Reagan , who had been an actor before beginning his political career, used his talent as a communicator to help reshape the American agenda away from New Deal policies toward more conservative ideology. With the Cold War ending and
1362-535: A 14-year-old African American from Chicago, visited his relatives in Money, Mississippi , for the summer. He allegedly had an interaction with a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in a small grocery store that violated the norms of Mississippi culture, and Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam brutally murdered young Emmett Till. They beat and mutilated him before shooting him in the head and sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River . Three days later, Till's body
1589-468: A backlash for his involvement with white actress Kim Novak . Davis briefly married a black dancer in 1958 to protect himself from mob violence. In 1958, officers in Virginia entered the home of Mildred and Richard Loving and dragged them out of bed for living together as an interracial couple, on the basis that "any white person intermarry with a colored person"— or vice versa—each party "shall be guilty of
1816-583: A bus boycott was considered and rejected. But when Rosa Parks was arrested in December, Jo Ann Gibson Robinson of the Montgomery Women's Political Council put the bus boycott protest in motion. Late that night, she, John Cannon (chairman of the Business Department at Alabama State University ) and others mimeographed and distributed thousands of leaflets calling for a boycott. The eventual success of
2043-468: A combined strategy of direct action , nonviolence , nonviolent resistance , and many events described as civil disobedience , giving rise to the civil rights movement of 1954 to 1968. A. Philip Randolph had planned a march on Washington, D.C., in 1941 to support demands for elimination of employment discrimination in the defense industry ; he called off the march when the Roosevelt administration met
2270-426: A commercial and political fiasco. In his lyrics, CCR frontman John Fogerty imagines how different sectors of the establishment would respond, with Hollywood turning the event into an epic film , The Vatican declaring it as Christ's return , then- Vice President Spiro Agnew proposing a tariff on all things Martian , and Governor Reagan suspecting a communist conspiracy. Fogerty wrote about his inspiration for
2497-559: A delegate for Virginia. When the Constitutional Convention convened in May 1787, the 12 state delegations in attendance ( Rhode Island did not send delegates) brought with them an accumulated experience over a diverse set of institutional arrangements between legislative and executive branches from within their respective state governments. Most states maintained a weak executive without veto or appointment powers, elected annually by
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#17328915654782724-463: A dominant figure in American politics. Historians believe Roosevelt permanently changed the political system by strengthening the presidency, with some key accomplishments including breaking up trusts, conservationism, labor reforms, making personal character as important as the issues, and hand-picking his successor, William Howard Taft . The following decade, Woodrow Wilson led the nation to victory during World War I , although Wilson's proposal for
2951-484: A felony" and face prison terms of five years. Invigorated by the victory of Brown and frustrated by the lack of immediate practical effect, private citizens increasingly rejected gradualist, legalistic approaches as the primary tool to bring about desegregation . They were faced with " massive resistance " in the South by proponents of racial segregation and voter suppression . In defiance, African-American activists adopted
3178-727: A film actor and became president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), then went on to be a Republican U.S. Senator for the state of California . Reagan had succeeded Murphy as SAG president where he worked as an informant for the FBI during the Hollywood blacklist period. Two decades later, Reagan also ran for office and became California's governor. Tom Lehrer made a similar comparison in his song "George Murphy", which opens: Hollywood's often tried to mix Show-business with politics, From Helen Gahagan To Ronald Reagan. Helen Gahagan
3405-534: A good deal of foreign and domestic policy without aid, interference or consent from Congress". Bill Wilson , board member of Americans for Limited Government , opined that the expanded presidency was "the greatest threat ever to individual freedom and democratic rule". Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution vests all lawmaking power in Congress's hands, and Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 prevents
3632-499: A handful of novelty records , first spoofing the Ford/Carter presidential debates and later the 1970s energy and Iran hostage crises during Carter's presidency. On December 19, 1980, Stiff Records released "The Wit And Wisdom Of Ronald Reagan", a vinyl album containing the two tracks "The Wit of Ronald Reagan" and "The Wisdom of Ronald Reagan", one on each side and both entirely silent. In 1980, producer Dickie Goodman spoofed
3859-543: A large segment of the population was entering their teens at the start of the 1960s and became the de facto audience for this new music. Simultaneously the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War fueled folk singers like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs to write and record numerous topical songs that reached a large fanbase of primarily young people. While President Lyndon Johnson 's escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam
4086-615: A march from Selma to Montgomery . The movement was led by Martin Luther King Jr. , James Bevel , and others, and press coverage of police violence using fire hoses and dogs against students attempting to walk to City Hall to talk with the mayor during the Birmingham campaign increased its public support. Discrimination was often supported by courts, including by the Supreme Court in its 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson , which upheld
4313-466: A month after taking office. Presidents often grant pardons shortly before leaving office, like when Bill Clinton pardoned Patty Hearst on his last day in office; this is often controversial . Two doctrines concerning executive power have developed that enable the president to exercise executive power with a degree of autonomy. The first is executive privilege , which allows the president to withhold from disclosure any communications made directly to
4540-564: A music video for his racially charged song " You Are What You Is ." Though a somewhat conventionally produced video by Zappa standards, MTV blacklisted it because in it an actor made up to look like Reagan was depicted sitting in an electric chair . Also in 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood released a video for their anti-war song " Two Tribes " featuring actors playing Ronald Reagan and then-Russian leader Konstantin Chernenko who were fighting as though they were professional wrestlers. The video
4767-563: A neighborhood a character or property or occupancy, members of any race or nationality, or any individual whose presence will be clearly detrimental to property values in a neighborhood." The result was the development of all-black ghettos in the North and West, where much housing was older, as well as South. The first anti-miscegenation law was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1691, criminalizing interracial marriage . In
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#17328915654784994-562: A network of chapters as the NAACP did. It offered training and leadership assistance for local efforts to fight segregation. The headquarters organization raised funds, mostly from Northern sources, to support such campaigns. It made nonviolence both its central tenet and its primary method of confronting racism. In 1959, Septima Clarke , Bernice Robinson, and Esau Jenkins , with the help of Myles Horton 's Highlander Folk School in Tennessee , began
5221-511: A play on a German phrase meaning "sun instead of rain" with the word for "rain" ( Regen ) spelled like the American president's surname. Beuys' sun-not-Reagan protest song was backed by members of Neue Deutsche Welle groups BAP and Ina Deter and was added to the collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art . Blues musicians also sang about Reagan. Vietnam and Korean War veteran Louisiana Red recorded "Reagan Is For The Rich Man" backed by harmonica player Carey Bell in 1983. Red wrote
5448-465: A plethora of aspects of life. Within employment, economic opportunities for blacks were routed to the lowest status and restrictive in potential mobility. Within the housing market, stronger discriminatory measures were used in correlation to the influx, resulting in a mix of "targeted violence, restrictive covenants , redlining and racial steering ". The Great Migration resulted in many African Americans becoming urbanized, and they began to realign from
5675-431: A presidential veto, it requires a two-thirds vote of both houses, which is usually very difficult to achieve except for widely supported bipartisan legislation. The framers of the Constitution feared that Congress would seek to increase its power and enable a "tyranny of the majority", so giving the indirectly elected president a veto was viewed as an important check on the legislative power. While George Washington believed
5902-557: A prime pariah for punks to rally against in both the United States and abroad. The widespread appearance of Reagan as a vilified icon in punk music particularly can be linked to the do-it-yourself model of bands releasing their own records and not being subject to the censorship of major labels, commercial radio or television. Reagan's rise to power also coincided with the arrival of a new subgenre: hardcore punk . Many hardcore bands put Reagan's face on flyers, T-shirts, and album covers, plus peppered lyrics, song names, and album titles with
6129-495: A puppet being manipulated by powerful religious leaders. Mitchell told The Guardian : Reagan feels that Armageddon is inevitable and it's dangerous when you have a President who thinks that way since he's the one who can call for the pushing of the button. He sees himself in his personal drama, I think, increasingly as a religious leader and he has public lunches with some of these very powerful evangelists, Pat Robertson and The 700 Club for instance. In other words, you have
6356-643: A self-proclaimed anarcho-punk group from Queens who, in 1980, named themselves Reagan Youth to liken Young Republican fervor for the president to that of the Hitler Youth during the Third Reich . The band's tongue-in-cheek theme song was penned from the perspective of a neo-fascist youth gang shouting, "Reagan Youth— Sieg Heil! " On the other side of the country, a skate punk band in Phoenix rebranded themselves as Jodie Foster's Army, or JFA , two weeks after
6583-438: A sexual harassment suit could proceed without delay, even against a sitting president. The 2019 Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election detailed evidence of possible obstruction of justice , but investigators declined to refer Donald Trump for prosecution based on a United States Department of Justice policy against indicting an incumbent president. The report noted that impeachment by Congress
6810-473: A similar vein to Lehrer was Borscht Belt entertainer Allan Sherman , who satirized Reagan's governorship on his 1967 song, "There's No Governor Like Our New Governor," set to the tune of " There's No Business Like Show Business ." In 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival mentioned Reagan in their science fiction-inspired song " It Came Out of the Sky " in which a flying saucer landing in the U.S. Midwest spirals into
7037-485: A single that heavily sampled the president saying, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes ," during a microphone test. German Techno act Moskwa TV sampled the same phrase in the "bombing mix" of their 1985 dance track, "Tekno Talk". A snippet of Reagan saying "out of control" was looped by DJ Jazzy Jeff , Was (Not Was) and EPMD . The president had originally used
Ronald Reagan in music - Misplaced Pages Continue
7264-601: A sitting American president led troops in the field", though James Madison briefly took control of artillery units in defense of Washington, D.C. , during the War of 1812 . Abraham Lincoln was deeply involved in overall strategy and in day-to-day operations during the American Civil War , 1861–1865; historians have given Lincoln high praise for his strategic sense and his ability to select and encourage commanders such as Ulysses S. Grant . The present-day operational command of
7491-577: A speech in Charleston, Illinois in 1858, Abraham Lincoln stated, "I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people". By the late 1800s, 38 US states had anti-miscegenation statutes. By 1924, the ban on interracial marriage was still in force in 29 states. While interracial marriage had been legal in California since 1948, in 1957 actor Sammy Davis Jr. faced
7718-536: A state visit by a foreign head of state, the president typically hosts a State Arrival Ceremony held on the South Lawn , a custom begun by John F. Kennedy in 1961. This is followed by a state dinner given by the president which is held in the State Dining Room later in the evening. As a national leader, the president also fulfills many less formal ceremonial duties. For example, William Howard Taft started
7945-424: A third. In addition, nine vice presidents have become president by virtue of a president's intra-term death or resignation . In all, 45 individuals have served 46 presidencies spanning 58 four-year terms. Joe Biden is the 46th and current president, having assumed office on January 20, 2021. President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated as the 47th president on January 20, 2025. During
8172-503: A visual component to many of these songs, as did numerous album covers that used the president's likeness in their artwork. Artists' access to digital technology and the rise of hip hop also made Reagan the first political figure whose voice was widely sampled in music. With regards to musical taste, Reagan himself was a proponent of standards from Hollywood musicals and the Great American Songbook , running three campaigns to
8399-505: A watershed historical moment without Mamie finding the strength to make her private grief a public matter." The visceral response to his mother's decision to have an open-casket funeral mobilized the black community throughout the U.S. The murder and resulting trial ended up markedly impacting the views of several young black activists. Joyce Ladner referred to such activists as the "Emmett Till generation." One hundred days after Emmett Till's murder, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on
8626-414: Is a socialist attempt to supplant private savings, and eventually concludes that, "Pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him." President of the United States [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The president of the United States ( POTUS ) is the head of state and head of government of
8853-472: Is clipped to create a stammering effect that reflected his reluctance to address the AIDS crisis . Afrika Bambaataa and John Lydon used the same sample in their 1984 video for "World Destruction" performing under the name Time Zone . The single's B-side also sampled Walter Mondale talking about Reagan. Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau co-wrote an entire musical revue with Elizabeth Swados , featuring
9080-413: Is head of the executive branch of the federal government and is constitutionally obligated to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed". The executive branch has over four million employees, including the military. Presidents make political appointments . An incoming president may make up to 4,000 upon taking office, 1200 of which must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate . Ambassadors , members of
9307-584: Is not communism , it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy . And everything that's happened during the Reagan administration is steering us right down that pipe." Several songs on Zappa's 1988 album Broadway the Hard Way ridicule Reagan, notably "Promiscuous," which jabs at the Reagans' attempts to reduce sex education in public schools and replace it with abstinence -only propaganda as well as his slow response to
Ronald Reagan in music - Misplaced Pages Continue
9534-420: Is often associated with the hardcore punk counter-culture of the 1980s. The 1980s' surge in political songs about a current president marked a shift in the culture and helped define the soundscape of the decade, partly fueled by Reagan's attack on aspects of culture associated with rock and roll , namely sex, drugs, and left-leaning politics . While presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon had been
9761-410: Is poised...for greatness." In a similar vein, the last minute of Def Leppard 's "Gods of War" is layered with soundbites of Reagan, Thatcher and the noises of missile launches and bombs exploding. In a departure from Cold War rhetoric, the two leaders' quotes are lifted from their justifications for the 1986 United States bombing of Libya and Britain's participation in the affair. Reagan can be heard on
9988-556: Is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. ... It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces ... while that [the power] of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all [of] which ... would appertain to the legislature. [Emphasis in
10215-434: The 15th Amendment (1870) that gave black males the right to vote (only males could vote in the U.S. at the time). From 1865 to 1877, the United States underwent a turbulent Reconstruction era during which the federal government tried to establish free labor and the civil rights of freedmen in the South after the end of slavery. Many whites resisted the social changes, leading to the formation of insurgent movements such as
10442-458: The AIDS pandemic . On his 1989 album, Big Daddy , John Mellencamp 's song "Country Gentleman" is "a scathing indictment on Ronald Reagan". Written and recorded during Reagan's final year in office, the song's last line thanks God that "he went back to California." In the 1970s, punk rock emerged as an antithesis to the establishment, authority, and the status quo, and by 1980, like his British counterpart Thatcher, president-elect Reagan became
10669-504: The Alameda County sheriff to fire upon the crowds with buckshot , resulting in the death of one student and the hospitalization of 128 others. These directives had come from Reagan himself, who had been publicly critical of UC Berkeley administrators for tolerating student demonstrations. In his 1966 gubernatorial campaign he had promised to crack down on what he called "a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters, and sex deviants" on
10896-489: The American Civil War and subsequent abolition of slavery in the southern states in 1865, the three Reconstruction Amendments to the United States Constitution had granted emancipation and constitutional rights of citizenship to all African Americans, the majority of whom had recently been enslaved. For a short period of time, African-American men voted and held political office, but as time went on Blacks in
11123-628: The American Civil War , eight serving presidents had owned slaves , almost four million black people remained enslaved in the South , generally only white men with property could vote, and the Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to whites . Following the Civil War, three constitutional amendments were passed, including the 13th Amendment (1865) that ended slavery; the 14th Amendment (1869) that gave black people citizenship, adding their total for Congressional apportionment ; and
11350-799: The American Revolutionary War , the Thirteen Colonies , represented by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia , declared themselves to be independent sovereign states and no longer under British rule. The affirmation was made in the Declaration of Independence , which was written predominantly by Thomas Jefferson and adopted unanimously on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress. Recognizing
11577-519: The Boy Scouts of America . Civil Rights Movement 1954–1959 1960–1963 1964–1968 The civil rights movement was a social movement and campaign in the United States from 1954 to 1968 that aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation , discrimination , and disenfranchisement in the country, which was most commonly employed against African Americans . The movement had origins in
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#173289156547811804-513: The CIA during Reagan's presidential terms. In a 1999 interview, the Sun City Girls' guitarist Rick Bishop said: Other bands during that part of the '80's, both major and not-so-major acts, were really getting on the political bandwagon for one stupid reason or another. They were all so fucking serious, trying to be a voice for a generation or some shit like that, but worst of all they remained within
12031-530: The Cabinet , and various officers , are among the positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation. The power of a president to fire executive officials has long been a contentious political issue. Generally, a president may remove executive officials at will. However, Congress can curtail and constrain a president's authority to fire commissioners of independent regulatory agencies and certain inferior executive officers by statute . To manage
12258-537: The Carter/Reagan debates on his "Election 80" single, which used Goodman's then-popular "break-in" or " flying saucer " technique that interspersed bits of dialogue, written and recorded by Goodman, with snippets of popular songs. Goodman would go on to satirize Reagan on his follow-ups, "Mr, President," "America 81," "Washington In-Side-Out," "Election '84" and "Safe Sex Report" throughout Reagan's presidency. While Goodman's novelty records dug more at current events and
12485-786: The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), whose members attacked black and white Republicans in order to maintain white supremacy . In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant , the U.S. Army, and U.S. Attorney General Amos T. Akerman , initiated a campaign to repress the KKK under the Enforcement Acts . Some states were reluctant to enforce the federal measures of the act. In addition, by the early 1870s, other white supremacist and insurgent paramilitary groups arose that violently opposed African-American legal equality and suffrage, intimidating and suppressing black voters, and assassinating Republican officeholders. However, if
12712-742: The League of Nations was rejected by the Senate. Warren Harding , while popular in office, would see his legacy tarnished by scandals, especially Teapot Dome , and Herbert Hoover quickly became very unpopular after failing to alleviate the Great Depression . The ascendancy of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 led further toward what historians now describe as the Imperial presidency . Backed by enormous Democratic majorities in Congress and public support for major change, Roosevelt's New Deal dramatically increased
12939-813: The March on Washington in 1963, moderates in the movement worked with the United States Congress to achieve the passage of several significant pieces of federal legislation that authorized oversight and enforcement of civil rights laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned all discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, including in schools, employment, and public accommodations . The Voting Rights Act of 1965 restored and protected voting rights for minorities and authorized oversight of registration and elections in areas with historic under-representation of minority voters. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 forbade property owners from discriminating in
13166-565: The Minutemen song " This Ain't No Picnic ." Shot for $ 450, the video intersperses shots of the Minutemen playing the song on a barren landscape with World War II propaganda footage of Reagan in a US Air Force Spitfire fighter plane, edited to appear as though Reagan was strafing the band with the aircraft's machine guns . The music video was in the running on the network's first Video Music Awards in 1985. That same year Frank Zappa created
13393-636: The Newburgh Conspiracy and Shays' Rebellion demonstrated that the Articles of Confederation were not working. Following the successful resolution of commercial and fishing disputes between Virginia and Maryland at the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785, Virginia called for a trade conference between all the states, set for September 1786 in Annapolis, Maryland , with an aim toward resolving further-reaching interstate commercial antagonisms. When
13620-463: The Reconstruction era during the late 19th century, and had modern roots in the 1940s. After years of direct actions and grassroots protests, the movement made its largest legislative and judicial gains during the 1960s. The movement's major nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience campaigns eventually secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans. After
13847-497: The Supreme Court of the United States . However, these nominations require Senate confirmation before they may take office. Securing Senate approval can provide a major obstacle for presidents who wish to orient the federal judiciary toward a particular ideological stance. When nominating judges to U.S. district courts , presidents often respect the long-standing tradition of senatorial courtesy . Presidents may also grant pardons and reprieves . Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon
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#173289156547814074-641: The Tuskegee Institute , to dine at the White House , making him the first African American to attend an official dinner there. "The invitation was roundly criticized by southern politicians and newspapers." Washington persuaded the president to appoint more blacks to federal posts in the South and to try to boost African-American leadership in state Republican organizations. However, these actions were resisted by both white Democrats and white Republicans as an unwanted federal intrusion into state politics. During
14301-578: The U.S. Constitution emerged. As the nation's first president, George Washington established many norms that would come to define the office. His decision to retire after two terms helped address fears that the nation would devolve into monarchy, and established a precedent that would not be broken until 1940 and would eventually be made permanent by the Twenty-Second Amendment . By the end of his presidency, political parties had developed, with John Adams defeating Thomas Jefferson in 1796,
14528-515: The United States of America . The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces . The power of the presidency has grown substantially since the first president, George Washington , took office in 1789. While presidential power has ebbed and flowed over time, the presidency has played an increasingly significant role in American political life since
14755-587: The Watergate scandal , Congress enacted a series of reforms intended to reassert itself. These included the War Powers Resolution , enacted over Nixon's veto in 1973, and the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that sought to strengthen congressional fiscal powers. By 1976, Gerald Ford conceded that "the historic pendulum" had swung toward Congress, raising the possibility of
14982-612: The Watergate scandal , the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Nixon , 418 U.S. 683 (1974), that executive privilege did not apply in cases where a president was attempting to avoid criminal prosecution. When Bill Clinton attempted to use executive privilege regarding the Lewinsky scandal , the Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v. Jones , 520 U.S. 681 (1997), that
15209-485: The convention failed for lack of attendance due to suspicions among most of the other states, Alexander Hamilton of New York led the Annapolis delegates in a call for a convention to offer revisions to the Articles, to be held the next spring in Philadelphia . Prospects for the next convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washington 's attendance to Philadelphia as
15436-580: The 1830s and 1840s until debates over slavery began pulling the nation apart in the 1850s. Abraham Lincoln 's leadership during the Civil War has led historians to regard him as one of the nation's greatest presidents. The circumstances of the war and Republican domination of Congress made the office very powerful, and Lincoln's re-election in 1864 was the first time a president had been re-elected since Jackson in 1832. After Lincoln's assassination, his successor Andrew Johnson lost all political support and
15663-425: The 1950s and 1960s, the nonviolent protesting of the civil rights movement caused definite tension, which gained national attention. In order to prepare for protests physically and psychologically, demonstrators received training in nonviolence. According to former civil rights activist Bruce Hartford, there are two main components of nonviolence training. There is the philosophical method, which involves understanding
15890-460: The 1981 Reagan assassination attempt . Actress Jodie Foster had been the target of an obsession that Reagan assailant John Hinckley Jr. had developed since seeing her portray a preteen sex worker in the film Taxi Driver . Hinckley eventually attempted to kill Reagan as a means to impress the actress. Originally performing under the name The Breakers, one of JFA's first songs was about the assassination attempt, describing Hinckley's actions with
16117-410: The 20th century through a retrospective montage of its hardships and the leaders who promised a solution. Beginning with the Great Depression and the rise of the Third Reich , the video sequences clips of military parades and battles moving forward to atomic test and other advancements in weapons technology, to footage of President Nixon, and then Reagan as his voice can be heard saying, "Our nation
16344-519: The 20th century, especially during the Cold War , the U.S. president was often called "the leader of the free world". Article II of the Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government and vests executive power in the president. The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law and the responsibility to appoint federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers. Based on constitutional provisions empowering
16571-640: The Armed Forces is delegated to the Department of Defense and is normally exercised through the secretary of defense . The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combatant Commands assist with the operation as outlined in the presidentially approved Unified Command Plan (UCP). The president has the power to nominate federal judges , including members of the United States courts of appeals and
16798-604: The Berkeley campus. In their song, Jefferson Starship countered Reagan's social conservatism with the line, "We'll ball in your parks". While Presidents Johnson and Nixon had come under lyrical fire from songwriters for the role they played in waging war both in Vietnam and against protesters in the U.S., songs about presidents Ford and Carter were scant in comparison. Exceptions include James Brown 's single " Funky President " (1974); "Please, Mr. President" (1975), recorded by 10-year-old Paula Webb; Devo 's hit " Whip It " (1980); and
17025-544: The Berkeley-based Free Speech Movement . In the 1980s, songs critiquing Reagan became more widespread and numerous once he ascended to national office and involved himself in the renewal of the Cold War , the nuclear arms race , social conservatism , right-wing evangelicalism , and his economic policies in relation to low-income people. While references to Reagan during his presidency appear in pop music , his presence in song lyrics and on album covers
17252-646: The Blue Sky " from The Joshua Tree was inspired after lead vocalist Bono visited El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War and witnessed how the conflict between rebels and the US-backed government affected local civilians. During a spoken word passage of the song, he speaks of being approached by a man, "his face red like a rose on a thorn bush, like all the colors of a royal flush, and he's peeling off those dollar bills, slapping them down, 100, 200". Bono said
17479-470: The Constitution grants to the president as commander-in-chief has been the subject of much debate throughout history, with Congress at various times granting the president wide authority and at others attempting to restrict that authority. The framers of the Constitution took care to limit the president's powers regarding the military; Alexander Hamilton explained this in Federalist No. 69 : The President
17706-562: The Contras in Nicaragua . In the song he chastised people for wanting to dance while sales of guns and drugs were going on at the behest of the CIA . Henley would later sing about Reagan as "this tired old man that we elected king" in a parting shot at the president as he was leaving office in 1989's " The End of the Innocence ". Among 1984's other songs protesting the Reagan administration's role in
17933-483: The Dead Kennedys, organized a series of " Rock Against Reagan " concerts and tours to infuse awareness of then-current politics into the punk subculture. Some hardcore punk songwriters made a conscious decision to avoid putting Reagan in their lyrics. In wanting his music to outlast the administration, Washington, DC musician Ian MacKaye , who was in the bands Minor Threat , Embrace , Pailhead , and Fugazi during
18160-601: The Furious Five 's " The Message " (1982), Project Future's one-off "Ray-Gun-Omics" (1983), Ice-T 's "Squeeze the Trigger" (1987), Biz Markie 's "Nobody Beats the Biz" (1988), Boogie Down Productions ' "Stop the Violence" (1988), Public Enemy 's "Rebel Without a Pause" (1988), and rapper Too Short 's 1988 track "Cusswords." The Kansas City's Grammy -nominated Blue Riddim Band , recorded
18387-651: The Iran-Contra affair were "Nicaragua" by Bruce Cockburn , "Lives in the Balance" by Jackson Browne . "Please Forgive Us" by 10,000 Maniacs , and " Untitled Song for Latin America " by Minutemen . When Britain's ITV network launched the satirical puppet show Spitting Image in 1984, the first record released in relation to the show was a rework of the Crystals ' " Da Doo Ron Ron ". The Spitting Image version, "Da Do Run Ron,"
18614-543: The Middle East, "with Reagans and Gaddafis cast as cartoon villains and heroes." Reagan plays the title role in the song, "Rambozo the Clown", a portmanteau of Sylvester Stallone 's Rambo franchise and Bozo the Clown from children's daytime TV . The Dead Kennedys were done in by a lawsuit against their inclusion of H. R. Giger 's Penis Landscape painting as an insert for the album Frankenchrist . Singer Jello Biafra
18841-672: The Montgomery Improvement Association, joined with other church leaders who had led similar boycott efforts, such as C. K. Steele of Tallahassee and T. J. Jemison of Baton Rouge, and other activists such as Fred Shuttlesworth , Ella Baker , A. Philip Randolph , Bayard Rustin and Stanley Levison , to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The SCLC, with its headquarters in Atlanta , Georgia , did not attempt to create
19068-506: The Montgomery bus boycott to demand a bus system in which passengers would be treated equally. The organization was led by Jo Ann Robinson, a member of the Women's Political Council who had been waiting for the opportunity to boycott the bus system. Following Rosa Parks' arrest, Jo Ann Robinson mimeographed 52,500 leaflets calling for a boycott. They were distributed around the city and helped gather
19295-491: The NAACP and the national civil rights movement obtained federal court orders to integrate the prestigious Little Rock Central High School in September, 1957. The Nine faced intense harassment and threats of violence from white parents and students, as well as organized white supremacy groups. The enraged opposition emphasized miscegenation as the threat to white society. Arkansas Governor , Orval Faubus , claiming his only goal
19522-461: The Nine were teased and ridiculed every day. In the city compromise efforts all failed and political tensions continued to fester. A year later in September 1958 the Supreme Court ruled that all the city's high schools had to be integrated immediately. Governor Faubus and the legislature responded by immediately shutting down all the public high schools in the city for the entire 1958–1959 school year, despite
19749-626: The RCNL, Howard led campaigns to expose brutality by the Mississippi state highway patrol and to encourage blacks to make deposits in the black-owned Tri-State Bank of Nashville which, in turn, gave loans to civil rights activists who were victims of a "credit squeeze" by the White Citizens' Councils . After Claudette Colvin was arrested for not giving up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in March 1955,
19976-582: The Reagan years, has said, "I remember clearly resisting the urge to put the word 'Reagan' in any of the songs". Meanwhile, other members of the US hardcore scene took a different political stance altogether: In the late 1980s US skinheads spearheaded a patriotic right-wing faction of New York hardcore, and although bands like Agnostic Front and Cro Mags did not reference the president directly in their lyrics, their support of Reagan fell within their interpretation of patriotic backlash that reimagined hardcore without
20203-809: The Republican to the Democratic Party, especially because of opportunities under the New Deal of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Substantially under pressure from African-American supporters who began the March on Washington Movement , President Roosevelt issued the first federal order banning discrimination and created the Fair Employment Practice Committee . After both World Wars, black veterans of
20430-496: The South were increasingly deprived of civil rights, often under racist Jim Crow laws , and were subjected to discrimination and sustained violence by White supremacists . African Americans who moved to the North to enhance their prospects in the Great Migration also faced barriers in employment and housing. Over the following century, various efforts were made by African Americans to secure their legal and civil rights, such as
20657-430: The South." From 1910 to 1970, blacks sought better lives by migrating north and west out of the South. A total of nearly seven million blacks left the South in what was known as the Great Migration , most during and after World War II. So many people migrated that the demographics of some previously black-majority states changed to a white majority (in combination with other developments). The rapid influx of blacks altered
20884-469: The Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by a former Union spy. However, the privilege was not formally recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court until United States v. Reynolds 345 U.S. 1 (1953), where it was held to be a common law evidentiary privilege. Before the September 11 attacks , use of the privilege had been rare, but increasing in frequency. Since 2001, the government has asserted
21111-483: The United States and other countries. Such agreements, upon receiving the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate (by a two-thirds majority vote), become binding with the force of federal law. While foreign affairs has always been a significant element of presidential responsibilities, advances in technology since the Constitution's adoption have increased presidential power. Where formerly ambassadors were vested with significant power to independently negotiate on behalf of
21338-626: The United States becoming the world's undisputed leading power, Bill Clinton , George W. Bush , and Barack Obama each served two terms as president. Meanwhile, Congress and the nation gradually became more politically polarized, especially following the 1994 mid-term elections that saw Republicans control the House for the first time in 40 years, and the rise of routine filibusters in the Senate in recent decades. Recent presidents have thus increasingly focused on executive orders , agency regulations, and judicial appointments to implement major policies, at
21565-423: The United States, presidents now routinely meet directly with leaders of foreign countries. One of the most important of executive powers is the president's role as commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces . The power to declare war is constitutionally vested in Congress, but the president has ultimate responsibility for the direction and disposition of the military. The exact degree of authority that
21792-522: The White House". Presidents have been criticized for making signing statements when signing congressional legislation about how they understand a bill or plan to execute it. This practice has been criticized by the American Bar Association as unconstitutional. Conservative commentator George Will wrote of an "increasingly swollen executive branch" and "the eclipse of Congress". To allow
22019-607: The album Controversy , a song that Rolling Stone called a "hastily blurted plea to Reagan to seek disarmament." On the same record, the song "Annie Christian" envisions an angel of death responsible for the recent violent events, including John Hinckley 's attempt on Reagan's life, the slaying of John Lennon , and a wave of infanticide in Atlanta, Georgia . In 1982 Australian rock band Midnight Oil critiqued American military intervention in other nations' affairs on their single " US Forces ." Singer Peter Garrett later said that "it's construed as an anti-American song but it
22246-462: The annual Hampton Negro Conference in Virginia, said that "...the lines along most of the avenues of wage-earning are more rigidly drawn in the North than in the South. There seems to be an apparent effort throughout the North, especially in the cities to debar the colored worker from all the avenues of higher remunerative labor, which makes it more difficult to improve his economic condition even than in
22473-479: The anti-establishment ethos of punk rock. Some groups' stances on the president were a bit more ambiguous. When drunk-punk group Murphy's Law praised Reagan and his films in their 1986 song "California Pipeline," fans could take it as either actual pro- Republican patriotism or a tongue-in-cheek take on anti-Reagan irony. As hip-hop came of age during the 1980s, Ronald Reagan became the first president to make mention of its music and culture, and Reagan in turn became
22700-780: The appointment of African American David Jones to the school board in 1953, convinced numerous white and black citizens that Greensboro was heading in a progressive direction. Integration in Greensboro occurred rather peacefully compared to the process in Southern states such as Alabama, Arkansas , and Virginia where " massive resistance " was practiced by top officials and throughout the states. In Virginia, some counties closed their public schools rather than integrate, and many white Christian private schools were founded to accommodate students who used to go to public schools. Even in Greensboro, much local resistance to desegregation continued, and in 1969,
22927-431: The attention of civil rights leaders. After the city rejected many of its suggested reforms, the NAACP, led by E. D. Nixon , pushed for full desegregation of public buses. With the support of most of Montgomery's 50,000 African Americans, the boycott lasted for 381 days, until the local ordinance segregating African Americans and whites on public buses was repealed. Ninety percent of African Americans in Montgomery partook in
23154-488: The beginning of the 20th century, carrying over into the 21st century with notable expansions during the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush . In modern times, the president is one of the world's most powerful political figures and the leader of the world's only remaining superpower . As the leader of the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP , the president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power . For much of
23381-462: The boycott made its spokesman Martin Luther King Jr. , a nationally known figure. It also inspired other bus boycotts, such as the successful Tallahassee, Florida boycott of 1956–57. This movement also sparked the 1956 Sugar Bowl riots in Atlanta which later became a major organizing center of the civil rights movement, with Martin Luther King Jr. In 1957, King and Ralph Abernathy , the leaders of
23608-539: The boycotts, which reduced bus revenue significantly, as they comprised the majority of the riders. This movement also sparked riots leading up to the 1956 Sugar Bowl . In November 1956, the United States Supreme Court upheld a district court ruling in the case of Browder v. Gayle and ordered Montgomery's buses desegregated, ending the boycott. Local leaders established the Montgomery Improvement Association to focus their efforts. Martin Luther King Jr.
23835-399: The bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks later informed Till's mother that her decision to stay in her seat was guided by the image she still vividly recalled of Till's brutalized remains. The glass topped casket that was used for Till's Chicago funeral was found in a cemetery garage in 2009. Till had been reburied in a different casket after being exhumed in 2005. Till's family decided to donate
24062-453: The case known as Brown II , the Court ordered segregation to be phased out over time, "with all deliberate speed". Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) did not overturn Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Plessy v. Ferguson was segregation in transportation modes. Brown v. Board of Education dealt with segregation in education. Brown v. Board of Education did set in motion
24289-420: The church stroking Reagan and saying "Yes, yes, aren't they saying nasty things about you, they must be communists. Therefore they threaten both you and me. Don't you think we should silence these communists from speaking?" In 1987, INXS highlighted Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative in their similarly named song "Guns in the Sky", and R.E.M. likened Reagan to former senator Joe McCarthy . U2 's " Bullet
24516-506: The city of Anniston, Alabama , two black ministers were brutally beaten for attempting to integrate the public library. Though there was resistance and violence, the integration of libraries was generally quicker than the integration of other public institutions. The situation for blacks outside the South was somewhat better (in most states they could vote and have their children educated, though they still faced discrimination in housing and jobs). In 1900 Reverend Matthew Anderson, speaking at
24743-804: The civil rights movement's peak in the mid-1960s, and still faced discrimination in jobs, housing, education and politics. A wave of riots and protests in Black communities in the 1960s, including in Los Angeles in 1965 , in Newark in 1967 , and in Chicago in 1968 following King's assassination lessened support from the White middle class. By the early 21st century, though " affirmative action " programs had expanded opportunities for Black and other minorities, Black income levels and life expectancy remained lower than that of Whites. Before
24970-562: The civil rights movements of 1865–1896 and of 1896–1954 . The movement was characterized by nonviolent mass protests and civil disobedience following highly publicized events such as the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955. These included economic boycotts such as the Montgomery bus boycott , " sit-ins " in Greensboro and Nashville , a series of protests during the Birmingham campaign , and
25197-622: The constitutionality of those state laws that required racial segregation in public facilities in its 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson , legitimizing them through the " separate but equal " doctrine. Segregation, which began with slavery, continued with Jim Crow laws, with signs used to show blacks where they could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat. For those places that were racially mixed, non-whites had to wait until all white customers were served first. Elected in 1912, President Woodrow Wilson gave in to demands by Southern members of his cabinet and ordered segregation of workplaces throughout
25424-513: The court majority opinion that Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law; for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group. The lawyers from the NAACP had to gather plausible evidence in order to win the case of Brown vs. Board of Education . Their method of addressing
25651-544: The death of William Henry Harrison and subsequent poor relations between John Tyler and Congress led to further weakening of the office. Including Van Buren, in the 24 years between 1837 and 1861, six presidential terms would be filled by eight different men, with none serving two terms. The Senate played an important role during this period, with the Great Triumvirate of Henry Clay , Daniel Webster , and John C. Calhoun playing key roles in shaping national policy in
25878-719: The demand by issuing Executive Order 8802 , which barred racial discrimination and created an agency to oversee compliance with the order. The strategy of public education, legislative lobbying, and litigation that had typified the civil rights movement during the first half of the 20th century broadened after Brown to a strategy that emphasized " direct action ": boycotts, sit-ins , Freedom Rides , marches or walks, and similar tactics that relied on mass mobilization, nonviolent resistance, standing in line, and, at times, civil disobedience. Churches, local grassroots organizations, fraternal societies, and black-owned businesses mobilized volunteers to participate in broad-based actions. This
26105-456: The demographics of Northern and Western cities; happening at a period of expanded European, Hispanic, and Asian immigration, it added to social competition and tensions, with the new migrants and immigrants battling for a place in jobs and housing. Reflecting social tensions after World War I, as veterans struggled to return to the workforce and labor unions were organizing, the Red Summer of 1919
26332-457: The deposed British system of Crown and Parliament ought to have functioned with respect to the royal dominion : a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire. The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some formerly royal prerogatives (e.g., making war, receiving ambassadors, etc.) to Congress; the remaining prerogatives were lodged within their own respective state governments. The members of Congress elected
26559-586: The doctrine of separate but equal . At the culmination of a legal strategy pursued by African Americans, in 1954 the Supreme Court struck down the underpinnings of laws that allowed racial discrimination as unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education . The Warren Court made further pro-civil rights rulings in cases such as Browder v. Gayle (1956) and Loving v. Virginia (1967), banning segregation in public schools and public transport, and striking down all state laws against interracial marriage . Following
26786-575: The entire process of developing and training the mental, physical and moral powers and capabilities of human beings". Risa Goluboff wrote that the NAACP's intention was to show the Courts that African American children were the victims of school segregation and their futures were at risk. The Court ruled that both Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which had established the "separate but equal" standard in general, and Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899), which had applied that standard to schools,
27013-525: The equivalent list in the paper's annual Pazz & Jop survey of music critics. Reagan appeared as an actor and spokesperson on spoken word recordings as early as 1958 and was first pictured on album covers in the early 1960s. One notable recording was Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine , a 1961 Cold War propaganda piece sponsored by the American Medical Association . In his speech, Reagan purports that Social Security
27240-461: The executive branch may draft legislation and then ask senators or representatives to introduce these drafts into Congress. Additionally, the president may attempt to have Congress alter proposed legislation by threatening to veto that legislation unless requested changes are made. Many laws enacted by Congress do not address every possible detail, and either explicitly or implicitly delegate powers of implementation to an appropriate federal agency. As
27467-467: The expense of legislation and congressional power. Presidential elections in the 21st century have reflected this continuing polarization, with no candidate except Obama in 2008 winning by more than five percent of the popular vote and two, George W. Bush and Donald Trump , winning in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote. The nation's Founding Fathers expected the Congress , which
27694-425: The expression in reference to the national debt and was appropriated by dance artists to entice their audiences. Industrial dance group Skinny Puppy also used Reagan's voice in their music. Their song "Far Too Frail" puts a spin on the president's prudishness as he is heard saying, "For years some people have argued that this type of pornography is a matter of artistic creativity." and in "State Aid" Reagan's voice
27921-504: The federal government by issuing various types of directives , such as presidential proclamation and executive orders . When the president is lawfully exercising one of the constitutionally conferred presidential responsibilities, the scope of this power is broad. Even so, these directives are subject to judicial review by U.S. federal courts, which can find them to be unconstitutional. Congress can overturn an executive order through legislation. Article II, Section 3, Clause 4 requires
28148-402: The federal government found the city was not in compliance with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Transition to a fully integrated school system did not begin until 1971. Many Northern cities also had de facto segregation policies, which resulted in a vast gulf in educational resources between black and white communities. In Harlem , New York, for example, neither a single new school was built since
28375-496: The federal government. The early 20th century is a period often referred to as the " nadir of American race relations ", when the number of lynchings was highest. While tensions and civil rights violations were most intense in the South, social discrimination affected African Americans in other regions as well. At the national level, the Southern bloc controlled important committees in Congress, defeated passage of federal laws against lynching, and exercised considerable power beyond
28602-514: The first Citizenship Schools in South Carolina 's Sea Islands . They taught literacy to enable blacks to pass voting tests. The program was an enormous success and tripled the number of black voters on Johns Island . SCLC took over the program and duplicated its results elsewhere. In the spring of 1951, black students in Virginia protested their unequal status in the state's segregated educational system. Students at Moton High School protested
28829-522: The first U.S. president, firmly established military subordination under civilian authority . In 1794, Washington used his constitutional powers to assemble 12,000 militia to quell the Whiskey Rebellion , a conflict in Western Pennsylvania involving armed farmers and distillers who refused to pay an excise tax on spirits. According to historian Joseph Ellis , this was the "first and only time
29056-523: The first major political figure to recur as a subject in the genre. Proto-rapper Gil Scott-Heron made Reagan the subject of his 1981 song "B-movie" as well as his 1984 single " Re-Ron " focusing on Reagan's re-election campaign. The 1980s also saw the widespread use of sampling sounds for use in music, and as sampling equipment became more affordable, both experimental and hip hop artists utilized with greater frequency. Sound collage group Negativland first sampled Reagan on their 1981 album Points on
29283-522: The first truly contested presidential election. After Jefferson defeated Adams in 1800, he and his fellow Virginians James Madison and James Monroe would each serve two terms, eventually dominating the nation's politics during the Era of Good Feelings until Adams' son John Quincy Adams won election in 1824 after the Democratic-Republican Party split. The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828
29510-554: The funeral in Jet is credited as a crucial moment in the civil rights era for displaying in vivid detail the violent racism that was being directed at black people in America. In a column for The Atlantic , Vann R. Newkirk wrote: "The trial of his killers became a pageant illuminating the tyranny of white supremacy ". The state of Mississippi tried two defendants, but they were speedily acquitted by an all-white jury . "Emmett's murder," historian Tim Tyson writes, "would never have become
29737-469: The future overturning of 'separate but equal'. On May 18, 1954, Greensboro, North Carolina , became the first city in the South to publicly announce that it would abide by the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling. "It is unthinkable,' remarked School Board Superintendent Benjamin Smith, 'that we will try to [override] the laws of the United States." This positive reception for Brown, together with
29964-417: The government to act quickly in case of a major domestic or international crisis arising when Congress is not in session, the president is empowered by Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution to call a special session of one or both houses of Congress. Since John Adams first did so in 1797, the president has called the full Congress to convene for a special session on 27 occasions. Harry S. Truman
30191-632: The growing federal bureaucracy, presidents have gradually surrounded themselves with many layers of staff, who were eventually organized into the Executive Office of the President of the United States . Within the Executive Office, the president's innermost layer of aides, and their assistants, are located in the White House Office . The president also possesses the power to manage operations of
30418-401: The harm it did to all the students. The decision to integrate the school was a landmark event in the civil rights movement, and the students' bravery and determination in the face of violent opposition is remembered as a key moment in American history. The city and state were entangled in very expensive legal disputes for decades, while suffering a reputation for hatred and obstruction. During
30645-474: The head of the executive branch, presidents control a vast array of agencies that can issue regulations with little oversight from Congress. In the 20th century, critics charged that too many legislative and budgetary powers that should have belonged to Congress had slid into the hands of presidents. One critic charged that presidents could appoint a "virtual army of 'czars'—each wholly unaccountable to Congress yet tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for
30872-427: The individual person's attitude and mental response to crises and violence" (Civil Rights Movement Archive). Hartford and activists like him, who trained in tactical nonviolence, considered it necessary in order to ensure physical safety, instill discipline, teach demonstrators how to demonstrate, and form mutual confidence among demonstrators (Civil Rights Movement Archive). For many, the concept of nonviolent protest
31099-533: The instrumental track "The Answer Is", where the music interrupted by the president stuttering, "The problem isn't being poor, the problem is, um, the answer is ..." The art rock band 3 Teens Kill 4 sampled Reagan and anecdotes about him in their 1984 song "Tell Me Something Good". In 1985 P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins and Jerry Harrison from Talking Heads teamed up as the supergroup Bonzo Goes to Washington (named for Reagan's early 1950s films Bedtime for Bonzo and Bonzo Goes to College ) to release
31326-426: The issue of school segregation was to enumerate several arguments. One pertained to having exposure to interracial contact in a school environment. It was argued that interracial contact would, in turn, help prepare children to live with the pressures that society exerts in regard to race and thereby afford them a better chance of living in a democracy. In addition, another argument emphasized how "'education' comprehends
31553-455: The landmark Supreme Court case of Smith v. Allwright (1944), which prohibited white primaries , progress was made in increasing black political participation in the Rim South and Acadiana – although almost entirely in urban areas and a few rural localities where most blacks worked outside plantations. The status quo ante of excluding African Americans from the political system lasted in
31780-441: The last African Americans were elected to Congress from the South before disenfranchisement of blacks by states throughout the region, as described below. From 1890 to 1908, southern states passed new constitutions and laws to disenfranchise African Americans and many Poor Whites by creating barriers to voter registration; voting rolls were dramatically reduced as blacks and poor whites were forced out of electoral politics. After
32007-519: The late 1950s and early 1960s, other cultural and political shifts in the United States coalesced to create a surge in protest music . Waves of African-Americans moving from the Southern United States to urban centers in the North , Midwest , and West during and after World War II helped to electrify the blues and hastened the evolution of rock and roll . A post-war baby boom meant that
32234-525: The leaders' policies as tending toward racism and fascism . The song was banned by the BBC over concerns of libel , but became a minor UK hit despite its absence from the airwaves. Scottish group the Fire Engines defied the ban by performing a live version of "Fascist Groove Thang" on The John Peel Show . Critic Stewart Mason later wrote of the song as an example of Heaven 17's "skewed perspective: on one level,
32461-482: The leadership of Walter Reuther , the United Auto Workers donated $ 75,000 to help pay for the NAACP's efforts at the Supreme Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas , that mandating, or even permitting, public schools to be segregated by race was unconstitutional . Chief Justice Warren wrote in
32688-422: The legislature to a single term only, sharing power with an executive council, and countered by a strong legislature. New York offered the greatest exception, having a strong, unitary governor with veto and appointment power elected to a three-year term, and eligible for reelection to an indefinite number of terms thereafter. It was through the closed-door negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in
32915-430: The line, "Shoot the prez, shoot a cop, secretary too." When Breakers fans adopted that song's title—Jodie Foster's Army—as their own nickname and began showing up at Breakers gigs with "JFA" written on their clothes, the band decided to adopt it as their new name. San Francisco 's Dead Kennedys made a career out of mentioning Reagan in songs like "Moral Majority", " We've Got a Bigger Problem Now ," " Bleed for Me ", and
33142-405: The lyrics. The rise of the importance of music videos coincided with Reagan's presidency with the launch of MTV midway into his first year in office. Within a few years, references to the president in song lyrics were mirrored by his likeness appearing in songs' videos. One of the first to feature Reagan, and one of the first by an indie band to appear on MTV, was Randall Jahnson 's video for
33369-464: The members of Genesis themselves. Reagan awakens drowning in his own sweat, fumbles for a bedside button labelled "Nurse", but instead presses the one titled " Nuke ", setting off a nuclear explosion. The video won Best Concept Music Video at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards and was nominated for by MTV for video of the year . Village Voice critic Robert Christgau ranked the video number one on his year-end "Dean's List," and it made number three on
33596-419: The method of nonviolence and why it is considered useful, and there is the tactical method, which ultimately teaches demonstrators "how to be a protestor—how to sit-in, how to picket, how to defend yourself against attack, giving training on how to remain cool when people are screaming racist insults into your face and pouring stuff on you and hitting you" (Civil Rights Movement Archive). The philosophical basis of
33823-466: The military pressed for full civil rights and often led activist movements. In 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 , which ended segregation in the military . Housing segregation became a nationwide problem following the Great Migration of black people out of the South. Racial covenants were employed by many real estate developers to "protect" entire subdivisions , with
34050-525: The necessity of closely coordinating their efforts against the British , the Continental Congress simultaneously began the process of drafting a constitution that would bind the states together. There were long debates on a number of issues, including representation and voting, and the exact powers to be given the central government. Congress finished work on the Articles of Confederation to establish
34277-521: The number of whites in the South. Characteristics of the post-Reconstruction period: African Americans and other ethnic minorities rejected this regime. They resisted it in numerous ways and sought better opportunities through lawsuits, new organizations, political redress, and labor organizing (see the Civil rights movement (1896–1954) ). The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
34504-506: The office as a position of global leadership. His successors, Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower , each served two terms as the Cold War led the presidency to be viewed as the " leader of the free world ", while John F. Kennedy was a youthful and popular leader who benefited from the rise of television in the 1960s. After Lyndon B. Johnson lost popular support due to the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon 's presidency collapsed in
34731-464: The original casket to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American Culture and History, where it is now on display. In 2007, Bryant said that she had fabricated the most sensational part of her story in 1955. On December 1, 1955, nine months after a 15-year-old high school student, Claudette Colvin , refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and
34958-423: The original.] In the modern era, pursuant to the War Powers Resolution , Congress must authorize any troop deployments longer than 60 days, although that process relies on triggering mechanisms that have never been employed, rendering it ineffectual. Additionally, Congress provides a check to presidential military power through its control over military spending and regulation. Presidents have historically initiated
35185-500: The overcrowded conditions and failing facility. Some local leaders of the NAACP had tried to persuade the students to back down from their protest against the Jim Crow laws of school segregation. When the students did not budge, the NAACP joined their battle against school segregation. The NAACP proceeded with five cases challenging the school systems; these were later combined under what is known today as Brown v. Board of Education . Under
35412-543: The parameters of social acceptability. There was also a big censorship flap going on at the time. We looked at it as a chance to catch up with our obscenity quota. Other notable punk acts that sang about Reagan included The Ramones , The Clash , The Damned , The Exploited , NOFX , Suicidal Tendencies , Wasted Youth , T.S.O.L. , Government Issue , Dayglo Abortions , D.O.A. , The Fartz , The Minutemen , Dirty Rotten Imbeciles , MDC , Rosemary's Babies , Spermbirds , and The Crucifucks . Many of these groups, along with
35639-455: The person he had in mind while writing these lyrics was Reagan, whose administration backed the military regimes in Central and South America that Bono encountered on his trip. Frank Zappa was an outspoken critic of the Reagan presidency and what he saw as a pandering to the religious right wing . During a televised debate on CNN 's Crossfire , Zappa said, "The biggest threat to America today
35866-701: The political process than at the president himself, Reagan's return to major political office ushered in his renewed campaign against things often associated with the rock-and-roll lifestyle: promiscuous sex, illicit drugs, and left-wing politics. As had happened in the 1960s, these attitudes, along with Reagan's domestic and foreign policies, designated Reagan as a prime target for a new generation of protest music. After Reagan's election as U.S. president in 1980, many pop music artists responded in their song lyrics. In 1981, " (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang " by British synth-poppers Heaven 17 slammed UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher along with Reagan, denouncing
36093-497: The practice of nonviolence in the American civil rights movement was largely inspired by Mahatma Gandhi 's "non-cooperation" policies during his involvement in the Indian independence movement , which were intended to gain attention so that the public would either "intervene in advance" or "provide public pressure in support of the action to be taken" (Erikson, 415). As Hartford explains it, philosophical nonviolence training aims to "shape
36320-516: The president (and all other executive branch officers) from simultaneously being a member of Congress. Nevertheless, the modern presidency exerts significant power over legislation, both due to constitutional provisions and historical developments over time. The president's most significant legislative power derives from the Presentment Clause , which gives the president the power to veto any bill passed by Congress . While Congress can override
36547-601: The president as "Old Mother Reagan", a dangerously senile grandmother who tries in vain to enter heaven in one of the group's most fiercely political songs. The same year jam band Phish made their own overt case against the president, sung as a letter to the first lady. Originally titled "Memo to Ronnie Reagan", the song "Dear Mrs. Reagan" mimics Bob Dylan 's protest music of the 1960s but rails against Mrs. Reagan's Just Say No anti-drug campaign. The band continued to perform it until Reagan left office in January 1989. 1985 also saw
36774-406: The president believes are needed. Additionally, the president can attempt to shape legislation during the legislative process by exerting influence on individual members of Congress. Presidents possess this power because the Constitution is silent about who can write legislation, but the power is limited because only members of Congress can introduce legislation. The president or other officials of
37001-461: The president in the performance of executive duties. George Washington first claimed the privilege when Congress requested to see Chief Justice John Jay 's notes from an unpopular treaty negotiation with Great Britain . While not enshrined in the Constitution or any other law, Washington's action created the precedent for the privilege. When Nixon tried to use executive privilege as a reason for not turning over subpoenaed evidence to Congress during
37228-504: The president is authorized to adjourn Congress if the House and Senate cannot agree on the time of adjournment; no president has ever had to exercise this power. Suffice it to say that the President is made the sole repository of the executive powers of the United States, and the powers entrusted to him as well as the duties imposed upon him are awesome indeed. Nixon v. General Services Administration , 433 U.S. 425 (1977) ( Rehnquist, J. , dissenting ) The president
37455-422: The president personally has absolute immunity from court cases is contested and has been the subject of several Supreme Court decisions. Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) dismissed a civil lawsuit against by-then former president Richard Nixon based on his official actions. Clinton v. Jones (1997) decided that a president has no immunity against civil suits for actions taken before becoming president and ruled that
37682-497: The president to "receive Ambassadors." This clause, known as the Reception Clause, has been interpreted to imply that the president possesses broad power over matters of foreign policy, and to provide support for the president's exclusive authority to grant recognition to a foreign government. The Constitution also empowers the president to appoint United States ambassadors, and to propose and chiefly negotiate agreements between
37909-457: The president to appoint and receive ambassadors and conclude treaties with foreign powers, and on subsequent laws enacted by Congress, the modern presidency has primary responsibility for conducting U.S. foreign policy. The role includes responsibility for directing the world's most expensive military , which has the second-largest nuclear arsenal . The president also plays a leading role in federal legislation and domestic policymaking. As part of
38136-512: The president to recommend such measures to Congress which the president deems "necessary and expedient". This is done through the constitutionally-based State of the Union address, which usually outlines the president's legislative proposals for the coming year, and through other formal and informal communications with Congress. The president can be involved in crafting legislation by suggesting, requesting, or even insisting that Congress enact laws that
38363-412: The president's various monikers, including "Reagan," "Ronnie," "Bonzo," and "The Gipper." Other bands would take Reagan's image into the sphere of stage theatrics, like San Antonio 's Marching Plague, who donned Ronnie masks while performing their Black Sabbath -inspired tribute, "Reagan Man." A few punk bands went so far as to name themselves after the president or events related to him, the first being
38590-426: The president's veto power with the Line Item Veto Act . The legislation empowered the president to sign any spending bill into law while simultaneously striking certain spending items within the bill, particularly any new spending, any amount of discretionary spending, or any new limited tax benefit. Congress could then repass that particular item. If the president then vetoed the new legislation, Congress could override
38817-410: The president, and the album's song "Nancy" depicts then-First Lady Nancy Reagan as a sexual fetishist. The San Francisco based Angst also has a song named "Nancy" with similar subject matter. Other songs deride members of the Reagan administration, including Attorney General Edwin Meese , and the band recorded an updated cover version of The Fugs song "CIA Man" to be about atrocities committed by
39044-457: The president. The state secrets privilege allows the president and the executive branch to withhold information or documents from discovery in legal proceedings if such release would harm national security . Precedent for the privilege arose early in the 19th century when Thomas Jefferson refused to release military documents in the treason trial of Aaron Burr and again in Totten v. United States 92 U.S. 105 (1876), when
39271-426: The president. In recent decades, presidents have also made increasing use of executive orders , agency regulations, and judicial appointments to shape domestic policy. The president is elected indirectly through the Electoral College to a four-year term, along with the vice president . Under the Twenty-second Amendment , ratified in 1951, no person who has been elected to two presidential terms may be elected to
39498-445: The pressure of the lawsuit with a school boycott in 1959. During the boycott, some of the first freedom schools of the period were established. The city responded to the campaign by permitting more open transfers to high-quality, historically white schools. (New York's African-American community, and Northern desegregation activists generally, now found themselves contending with the problem of white flight , however.) Emmett Till ,
39725-404: The previous thirty years worked towards "undivided presidential control of the executive branch and its agencies". She criticized proponents of the unitary executive theory for expanding "the many existing uncheckable executive powers—such as executive orders, decrees, memorandums, proclamations, national security directives and legislative signing statements—that already allow presidents to enact
39952-446: The primary intent to keep " white " neighborhoods "white". Ninety percent of the housing projects built in the years following World War II were racially restricted by such covenants. Cities known for their widespread use of racial covenants include Chicago , Baltimore , Detroit , Milwaukee , Los Angeles , Seattle , and St. Louis . Said premises shall not be rented, leased, or conveyed to, or occupied by, any person other than of
40179-424: The privilege also could not be used in civil suits. These cases established the legal precedent that executive privilege is valid, although the exact extent of the privilege has yet to be clearly defined. Additionally, federal courts have allowed this privilege to radiate outward and protect other executive branch employees but have weakened that protection for those executive branch communications that do not involve
40406-400: The privilege in more cases and at earlier stages of the litigation, thus in some instances causing dismissal of the suits before reaching the merits of the claims, as in the Ninth Circuit 's ruling in Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. Critics of the privilege claim its use has become a tool for the government to cover up illegal or embarrassing government actions. The degree to which
40633-442: The process for going to war, but critics have charged that there have been several conflicts in which presidents did not get official declarations, including Theodore Roosevelt 's military move into Panama in 1903, the Korean War , the Vietnam War , and the invasions of Grenada in 1983 and Panama in 1989. The amount of military detail handled personally by the president in wartime has varied greatly. George Washington,
40860-407: The release of Dog Eat Dog , Joni Mitchell 's synth-driven album co-produced by Thomas Dolby . The album's songs capture the headlines of the 1980s, including South Africa 's apartheid and Ethiopia's famine , while critiquing the rise of mass consumerism and televangelists . Mitchell saw the rise of the religious right as a dangerous and manipulative force on US politics and likened Reagan to
41087-475: The remainder of the South, especially North Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama, until national civil rights legislation was passed in the mid-1960s to provide federal enforcement of constitutional voting rights. For more than sixty years, blacks in the South were essentially excluded from politics, unable to elect anyone to represent their interests in Congress or local government. Since they could not vote, they could not serve on local juries. During this period,
41314-504: The rental or sale of housing. African Americans re-entered politics in the South, and the Black Power movement emerged, which criticized leaders of the existing movement for their cooperative attitude and adherence to legalism and nonviolence . Black Power leaders, including within the Black Panther Party , demanded not only legal equality, but also economic self-sufficiency for the community. Support for Black Power came from African Americans who had seen little material improvement since
41541-459: The same time as African Americans were being disenfranchised, white southerners imposed racial segregation by law. Violence against blacks increased, with numerous lynchings through the turn of the century. The system of de jure state-sanctioned racial discrimination and oppression that emerged from the post-Reconstruction South became known as the " Jim Crow " system. The United States Supreme Court made up almost entirely of Northerners, upheld
41768-410: The satirical track "Nancy Reagan" in 1982 about what the band considered to be misguided priorities on the part of the President and his wife. The song was later versioned by Ranking Roger in 1985 and by Big Youth in 2011. Fela Kuti featured demonic caricatures of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher , and other world leaders on the cover of his 1989 album Beasts of No Nation and mentioned them in
41995-433: The size and scope of the federal government, including more executive agencies. The traditionally small presidential staff was greatly expanded, with the Executive Office of the President being created in 1939, none of whom require Senate confirmation. Roosevelt's unprecedented re-election to a third and fourth term, the victory of the United States in World War II , and the nation's growing economy all helped established
42222-437: The song "Mau Mau (Amerikon)" on their debut album Blows Against the Empire . In the song vocalist Paul Kantner sings, "the dogs of a grade-B movie star governor's war" in reference to the previous year's actions taken against students at the University of California, Berkeley who were creating a People's Park as part of the political counterculture of the 1960s . Governor Reagan's Chief of Staff, Edwin Meese , had ordered
42449-454: The song "Rap Master Ronnie." Hollywood actor Reathel Bean was the revue's star performer and in 1984 released a three versions of the song on a 12" single attributed to Reathel Bean & The Doonesbury Break Crew. There was also an accompanying video where Reagan and his posse of Secret Service agents go to a black DC neighborhood to rap for minority votes. Other '80s rap songs mentioning or referencing Reagan include Grandmaster Flash and
42676-517: The song is a straightforward condemnation of the right wing. On another...well, what exactly was a fascist groove thang? The lyrics put images of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan getting down P-Funk style into the listener's head." The song has since become a staple for other bands to play, sometimes keeping the original anti-Reagan lyrics, sometimes inserting other right-wing leaders in relevance to current political situations. After Reagan's inauguration , Prince released "Ronnie, Talk to Russia" for
42903-437: The song's spectacle and its Reagan reference in his 2015 memoir, saying, " Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid are in there, big newscasters at the time. And Ronald Reagan—I call him Ronnie the Popular." At Woodstock in 1969, Jeffrey Shurtleff dedicated his and Joan Baez's performance of "Drug Store Truck Driving Man" to "Ronald Reagunz". In 1970, Jefferson Starship referred to Reagan's policies and attitudes as governor in
43130-527: The states failed to implement the acts, the laws allowed the Federal Government to get involved. Many Republican governors were afraid of sending black militia troops to fight the Klan for fear of war. After the disputed election of 1876, which resulted in the end of Reconstruction and the withdrawal of federal troops, whites in the South regained political control of the region's state legislatures. They continued to intimidate and violently attack blacks before and during elections to suppress their voting, but
43357-449: The subject of protest songs and politically satirical music during both the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal , presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were mentioned only occasionally by songwriters in the 1970s. That changed with Reagan's presidency, which brought on echoes of his prior campaign against counter-cultural activists a generation earlier during his terms as governor of California. The arrival of music television added
43584-462: The system of separation of powers , Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution gives the president the power to sign or veto federal legislation. Since modern presidents are typically viewed as leaders of their political parties, major policymaking is significantly shaped by the outcome of presidential elections, with presidents taking an active role in promoting their policy priorities to members of Congress who are often electorally dependent on
43811-432: The time period considered to be the "African-American civil rights" era, the predominant use of protest was nonviolent, or peaceful. Often referred to as pacifism, the method of nonviolence is considered to be an attempt to impact society positively. Although acts of racial discrimination have occurred historically throughout the United States, perhaps the most violent regions have been in the former Confederate states. During
44038-413: The track "Kinky Sex Makes the World Go Round", a spoken-word piece about World War III formatted as an erotic phone call between Margaret Thatcher and Reagan's fictitious Secretary of War . The band's 1986 studio album, Bedtime for Democracy , is a play on Reagan's film Bedtime for Bonzo and features a multitude of songs about Reagan. "Potshot Heard Round the World" is about US military actions in
44265-473: The track after having been refused government benefits, and expresses preference for Reagan's western films over his politics. That same year blues pianist Champion Jack Dupree recorded the song "President Reagan" in which the former boxing champ accuses Reagan of helping the rich, ignoring poor people and veterans, and undoing the policies put in place by John F. Kennedy two decades earlier. Dupree also sings about being "so glad he only got two more years, and
44492-561: The track saying, "Message to terrorists everywhere: You can run...but you can't hide", and, "We're not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states...We will not cave in," ending with, " He counted on America to be passive...He counted wrong," in contrast to Def Leppard's anti-war lyrics. In 1985 former Police frontman Sting released " Russians ", with lyrics leveled at Reagan, the Soviets, and both countries' pro-nuclear rhetoric, all set to Sergei Prokofiev 's Lieutenant Kije Suite . Milwaukee folk-rockers The Violent Femmes imagined
44719-430: The tradition of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in 1910 at Griffith Stadium , Washington, D.C., on the Washington Senators's Opening Day . Every president since Taft, except for Jimmy Carter , threw out at least one ceremonial first ball or pitch for Opening Day, the All-Star Game , or the World Series , usually with much fanfare. Every president since Theodore Roosevelt has served as honorary president of
44946-538: The tune of " California Here I Come ". As a social conservative, he and his administration were sometimes at odds with the lifestyles and politics of popular musicians, and Reagan's time as president was marked by various miscommunications involving the Beach Boys , Bruce Springsteen , and others. Reagan's longevity as a public figure, and the legacy of music written about him, has driven musicians to continue making comments on Reagan well after his political career. While Ronald Reagan began involving himself in politics in
45173-472: The turn of the century, nor did a single nursery school exist – even as the Second Great Migration was causing overcrowding. Existing schools tended to be dilapidated and staffed with inexperienced teachers. Brown helped stimulate activism among New York City parents like Mae Mallory who, with the support of the NAACP, initiated a successful lawsuit against the city and state on Brown 's principles. Mallory and thousands of other parents bolstered
45400-414: The unanimous Supreme Court ruling, many states began to gradually integrate their schools, but some areas of the South resisted by closing public schools altogether. The integration of Southern public libraries followed demonstrations and protests that used techniques seen in other elements of the larger civil rights movement. This included sit-ins, beatings, and white resistance. For example, in 1963 in
45627-407: The veto by its ordinary means, a two-thirds vote in both houses. In Clinton v. City of New York , 524 U.S. 417 (1998), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such a legislative alteration of the veto power to be unconstitutional. For most of American history, candidates for president have sought election on the basis of a promised legislative agenda. Article II, Section 3, Clause 2 requires
45854-459: The veto should only be used in cases where a bill was unconstitutional, it is now routinely used in cases where presidents have policy disagreements with a bill. The veto – or threat of a veto – has thus evolved to make the modern presidency a central part of the American legislative process. Specifically, under the Presentment Clause, once a bill has been presented by Congress, the president has three options: In 1996, Congress attempted to enhance
46081-440: The white or Caucasian race. While many whites defended their space with violence, intimidation, or legal tactics toward black people, many other whites migrated to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions, a process known as white flight . From the 1930s to the 1960s, the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB) issued guidelines that specified that a realtor "should never be instrumental in introducing to
46308-428: The white-dominated Democratic Party maintained political control of the South. With whites controlling all the seats representing the total population of the South, they had a powerful voting bloc in Congress. The Republican Party —the "party of Lincoln" and the party to which most blacks had belonged—shrank to insignificance except in remote Unionist areas of Appalachia and the Ozarks as black voter registration
46535-420: The world will be happy...and we won't shed no more tears," without the knowledge that Reagan would be voted in for a second term. In 1984 former Creedence Clearwater Revival guitarist John Fogerty alluded to Reagan once again for his single " The Old Man Down the Road ". That same year Eagles drummer Don Henley released the single " All She Wants to Do Is Dance " in protest against the US involvement with
46762-405: Was a more direct and potentially more rapid means of creating change than the traditional approach of mounting court challenges used by the NAACP and others. In 1952, the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), led by T. R. M. Howard , a black surgeon, entrepreneur, and planter organized a successful boycott of gas stations in Mississippi that refused to provide restrooms for blacks. Through
46989-405: Was a significant milestone, as Jackson was not part of the Virginia and Massachusetts elite that had held the presidency for its first 40 years. Jacksonian democracy sought to strengthen the presidency at the expense of Congress, while broadening public participation as the nation rapidly expanded westward. However, his successor, Martin Van Buren , became unpopular after the Panic of 1837 , and
47216-505: Was a spoof election campaign song for Ronald Reagan, featuring Nancy Reagan listing reasons why he should be re-elected. The cover featured the puppet versions of the Reagans that appeared on the show and later starred in the 1986 video for " Land of Confusion " by British band Genesis . Chris Barrie , who voiced Reagan on Spitting Image , also did so on Frankie Goes to Hollywood 's "Two Tribes". The song follows Reagan's career to an imagined future in which Jesus Christ can only return after
47443-404: Was a way of life, a culture. However, not everyone agreed with this notion. James Forman, former SNCC (and later Black Panther) member, and nonviolence trainer was among those who did not. In his autobiography, The Making of Black Revolutionaries , Forman revealed his perspective on the method of nonviolence as "strictly a tactic, not a way of life without limitations." Similarly, Bob Moses , who
47670-401: Was also an active member of SNCC , felt that the method of nonviolence was practical. When interviewed by author Robert Penn Warren, Moses said "There's no question that he ( Martin Luther King Jr. ) had a great deal of influence with the masses. But I don't think it's in the direction of love. It's in a practical direction … ." (Who Speaks for the Negro? Warren). According to a 2020 study in
47897-407: Was also an entertainer turned politician, progressing from Broadway to U.S. Congress until Richard Nixon unseated her after claims that Gahagan was " pink down to her underwear". In Lehrer's song on his 1965 live album , he punctuates Reagan's name with a question mark, evoking a laugh from an audience who did not yet know that Reagan would sweep the gubernatorial election the following year. In
48124-469: Was an anti-Reagan, anti-Republican song about what they were doing and the impact it was having on our country at the time." Two years after the song's release, Garrett ran for an Australian Senate seat representing the newly formed Nuclear Disarmament Party . After winning more votes than his opponent, other parties joined forces to refuse Garrett and his party a seat in the Senate. That same year artist Joseph Beuys released his single "Sonne statt Reagan",
48351-491: Was arrested, Rosa Parks did the same thing. Parks soon became the symbol of the resulting Montgomery bus boycott and received national publicity. She was later hailed as the "mother of the civil rights movement". Parks was secretary of the Montgomery NAACP chapter and had recently returned from a meeting at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee where nonviolence as a strategy was taught by Myles Horton and others. After Parks' arrest, African Americans gathered and organized
48578-485: Was attracted to Giger's work as soon as he saw it, saying, "This picture is like Reagan America on parade." JFA's label-mates, the Sun City Girls , released an entire Reagan-themed album in 1987 whose title, Horse Cock Phepner , was an alleged nickname for Ronald Reagan. The album was the band's most lyrical; an obscenity-laden "documentation of the American nightmare in all its incestuous beauty." The album's refraining spoken word track "Voice of America" makes mention of
48805-429: Was available as a remedy. As of October 2019, a case was pending in the federal courts regarding access to personal tax returns in a criminal case brought against Donald Trump by the New York County District Attorney alleging violations of New York state law. As head of state , the president represents the United States government to its own people and represents the nation to the rest of the world. For example, during
49032-417: Was discovered and retrieved from the river. After Emmett's mother, Mamie Till , came to identify the remains of her son, she decided she wanted to "let the people see what I have seen". Till's mother then had his body taken back to Chicago where she had it displayed in an open casket during the funeral services where many thousands of visitors arrived to show their respects. A later publication of an image at
49259-438: Was elected President of this organization. The lengthy protest attracted national attention for him and the city. His eloquent appeals to Christian brotherhood and American idealism created a positive impression on people both inside and outside the South. The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine students who attended segregated black high schools in Little Rock , the capital of the state of Arkansas. They each volunteered when
49486-454: Was founded in 1909. It fought to end race discrimination through litigation , education, and lobbying efforts. Its crowning achievement was its legal victory in the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954), when the Warren Court ruled that segregation of public schools in the US was unconstitutional and, by implication, overturned the " separate but equal " doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896. Following
49713-437: Was marked by hundreds of deaths and higher casualties across the U.S. as a result of white race riots against blacks that took place in more than three dozen cities. Urban problems such as crime and disease were blamed on the large influx of Southern blacks to cities in the north and west, based on stereotypes of rural southern African-Americans. Overall, blacks in Northern and Western cities experienced systemic discrimination in
49940-744: Was met with increased protests , Reagan began his campaign for Governor of California . Phil Ochs mentioned both Johnson and Reagan on his 1966 album, Phil Ochs in Concert . In his introduction to "Ringing of Revolution", Ochs sets up the song by speculating on a future where the last of the bourgeoisie are besieged in a mansion atop a hill. Ochs imagines a film based on his own lyrics: It stars Senator Carl Hayden as Ho Chi Minh , Frank Sinatra plays Fidel Castro , Ronald Reagan plays George Murphy and John Wayne plays Lyndon Johnson. And Lyndon Johnson plays God. Ochs interchanges actors and politicians and pokes fun at Reagan for following in George Murphy's footsteps: Murphy, like Reagan, had been
50167-539: Was nearly removed from office, with Congress remaining powerful during the two-term presidency of Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant . After the end of Reconstruction , Grover Cleveland would eventually become the first Democratic president elected since before the war, running in three consecutive elections (1884, 1888, 1892) and winning twice. In 1900, William McKinley became the first incumbent to win re-election since Grant in 1872. After McKinley's assassination by Leon Czolgosz in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became
50394-410: Was suppressed. The Republican lily-white movement also gained strength by excluding blacks. Until 1965, the " Solid South " was a one-party system under the white Democrats. Excepting the previously noted historic Unionist strongholds the Democratic Party nomination was tantamount to election for state and local office. In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington , president of
50621-564: Was televised several times during the 1984 Democratic National Convention . In 1986 Genesis collaborated with the producers of British sketch comedy show Spitting Image on the music video for their song " Land of Confusion ." The video opens with a puppet caricatures of Ronald and Nancy Reagan in bed with a chimpanzee parodying Reagan's film Bedtime for Bonzo , and spirals into the president's fever dream featuring Benito Mussolini , Ayatollah Khomeini , Mikhail Gorbachev , Muammar Gaddafi , Richard Nixon , television celebrities, and
50848-429: Was the first branch of government described in the Constitution , to be the dominant branch of government; however, they did not expect a strong executive department. However, presidential power has shifted over time, which has resulted in claims that the modern presidency has become too powerful, unchecked, unbalanced, and "monarchist" in nature. In 2008 professor Dana D. Nelson expressed belief that presidents over
51075-563: Was the most recent to do so in July 1948, known as the Turnip Day Session . In addition, prior to ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, which brought forward the date on which Congress convenes from December to January, newly inaugurated presidents would routinely call the Senate to meet to confirm nominations or ratify treaties. In practice, the power has fallen into disuse in the modern era as Congress now formally remains in session year-round, convening pro forma sessions every three days even when ostensibly in recess. Correspondingly,
51302-424: Was to preserve the peace, deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the black students from entering the school. Faubus defied federal court orders, whereupon President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened. He federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent them home. Then he sent in an elite Army unit to escort the students to school and protect them between classes during the 1957–58 school year. In class, however,
51529-506: Was unconstitutional. The federal government filed a friend of the court brief in the case urging the justices to consider the effect that segregation had on America's image in the Cold War . Secretary of State Dean Acheson was quoted in the brief stating that "The United States is under constant attack in the foreign press, over the foreign radio, and in such international bodies as the United Nations because of various practices of discrimination in this country." The following year, in
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