We have seen ‘greatness’ as a nation
At age 88, I can substantiate our nation’s greatness.
It was achieved during recovery from the 1930s Great Depression, and reached its peak in the 1960s. FDR’s federal programs in the 1930s, rural electrification being an effective example, had not accomplished nearly enough; Pearl Harbor and World War II put us at war overnight. The quick conversion our manufacturing industries achieved in switching from consumer goods to war materiel was wonderful, enabling our volunteering servicemen to win wars in Europe and the Pacific. An obvious huge factor was Manhattan Project’s development of the atomic bomb; it ended the war in a few days.
Postwar, we then funded the Marshall Plan to rebuild Axis nations largely destroyed by bombing. At home, the GI Bill enabled veterans to get college educations to help fuel our postwar industrial expansion, which started a long-lasting technological boom leading to the highest standard of living in history.
In the 1950s, President Eisenhower started a huge undertaking to construct the interstate highway system. Then in 1954 came the Brown v. Board court decision to address the long-standing absence of civil rights for black citizens. Significant progress has been made in the 63 years since then. Now it’s up to them to make progress on internal cyclical problems that cannot be solved by the rest of us.
The Kennedy years responded to USSR’s Sputnik with a space exploration program by NASA that achieved earth orbits, moon landing, and the space shuttle series.
Since then, we have been in a relative slump.
Bruce Tennant
Sun City Hilton Head
How to submit a letter
Send letters to the editor by email to letters@islandpacket.com or letters@beaufortgazette.com.
Or you may submit a letter online.
Letters to the editor must be 250 words or fewer and include your first and last names, street address and daytime telephone number so we can verify the letter before publication.
You are limited to one letter per 30 days.
Letters may be edited for length, style, grammar, taste and libel. All letters submitted become the property of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette.
Letters will be accepted only if they are typed into the body of an email, not sent as an email attachment.
This story was originally published December 6, 2017 at 12:28 PM with the headline "We have seen ‘greatness’ as a nation."