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PELHAM HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER
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U.S. History Reflective Journal or Historical Novel Project Mrs. Bailly-Burton's Class Caitlin "Hey Rosemarie!" I looked up, wondering why someone was yelling my name on a day like today. "What?”" I called back, "Don't you know what today is, Tony?" "Nah, what are you talking about, look me and Johnny are gonna play ball wanna come?" "I’m busy, you should be doing what I'm doing", I said annoyed. "And what exactly is that?”" "President Taft's funeral procession is on the radio" I retorted, rather matter-of-factly. I was 11 in 1930, growing up in the heart of New York City. I lived with my mom, Katherine, and my daddy. No brothers or sisters though, Tony and Johnny were close enough to count. They were twins, same age as me. They lived in the apartments across the street. Sure, there are lots of girls our age that live on our block, and it irritates mum that I don't play with them instead. But I'm not the same as they are. I like baseball and knowing what's going on with the President, the girls like dolls and jump ropes. It was exciting to me that President Taft's funeral was on the radio. I didn't want to do anything that day but sit and listen. It had nothing to do with who he was, I wasn't even born yet while he was the President, but he was still the President, and his funeral was on the radio. "Tha's' fine, RM, we're gonna play catch until you're ready", Tony said tauntingly, trying to get me to give in. But Tony wasn't going to win today. This was important to me, he just couldn't get it. "You're gonna be waitin' all afternoon, Tony, I'm busy today". Sometimes I was baffled by the ways Tony and Johnny were exactly the same, even though I knew they were identical twins. The boys didn't care about the President, or the depression, or that the world population was up to 2 billion people the way I cared. They only cared about baseball, the Yankees, the world series, and that they started putting in traffic light in New York for the cars. Towards the end of the year, the U.S. Bank went under, and 60 banks in New York were closed. Daddy teaches in a high school in Manhattan. We were lucky he went so long without loosing his job, but it was tough that summer. By my twelfth birthday, life was tough in our neighborhood. Ma and Daddy tried to make the best for me though. Tony and Johnny took me to the movies, I don’t know how they got the money for that but it meant a lot they did that for me. Sometimes those stupid boys really surprise you. "Hey Tony, did you know that there’s more than 4 million people that ain't got no jobs?" I asked him one lazy June afternoon. "Hey Rosemarie, why do you care? You can't fix it, why let it bug you the way it does?" he said to me, and I knew he was annoyed. Tony couldn't possibly care less. "So? At least I care about something!" "No you don't Rosemarie, but your busy brain ain't got nothing else to think about since there ain't nothing' to do. Let's go play catch." I sat quietly after that. No one thinks like me except for Daddy. Daddy was the only person who was as shocked as me when all they got Al Capone on was tax evasion! After all those illegal things he did with that alcohol! TAX EVASION! I tried telling Johnny how much the politics irked me sometimes, but he just told me to shut up, and to figure that at least he was in jail, even if it was only for tax evasion. Johnny, Tony, and me began our interest in football in 1931, when the University of Southern California won the college championships. We listened to it on the radio, and sometimes we play with the kids that live 5 blocks down. Baseball is way better though. Mr. Henry Ford's car company put its 20,000,000 car out this year. (Archer). Thank the Lord Daddy bought our car before the crash. We were lucky. Tony and Johnny don’t have a car. "I wonder who these people are, buying cars at a time like this. We're lucky we eat every night" I over heard Ma talking to Mrs. Carmichael from 3 doors down. She'd kill me if she found out I was listening to her conversation. I listened anyway; that's what happens when you talk in the stairwell now isn't it? "I just don’t know Katherine, but Mr. President better do something about it soon. The whole nation is going to starve to death if he doesn't" She said back, and my mother nodded in agreement. Not too long after that, I heard Ma telling Daddy she didn't want to vote for Hoover again. I shouldn't have been listening, again, but how could I resist? "Katherine, vote for whoever you want. I'm not sure I want Hoover again either. The bread lines on 31st street are around the corner. Rosemarie is skinny as a rail. Speaking of the girl, what is she up too. It's quiet." (Appleby). "I'm right here Daddy! I was going to listen to the radio, do you want to sit with me?" I spoke too quickly, and they knew I was listening, and my cover failed. "No, baby, not tonight, I have to prepare for the school year." His cover-up didn't work on me either. It was only July." The radio crackled in the background. Johnny and I were playing Monopoly. Tony hates Monopoly because I always buy all his properties. He's off sulking down the block. President Roosevelt was elected in 1932. He was the governor of New York for a long time before that. I always thought he did a fine job at holding this state together, and I know my Ma did too. Something needed to be done about the sate of our country though. We were lucky we could eat everyday. "Hey check it out!" it was 8 a.m., it was Saturday, and someone was yelling. "What?" I groaned, Daddy was leaning over me, with something shiny in his hands. "What is that?". "The new quarters! They have George Washington’s picture on them!" He was overly excited, I thought. (Archer). "Wow, Daddy" was all I could come up with. Daddy wanted to hold on to the quarter, and once I was awake I realized it was really pretty neat. Ma wouldn't let him though, and we knew she was right. We just couldn't afford it. We were all hoping that President Roosevelt's New Deal was going to fix things. President Roosevelt made his inaugural speech today, it was spectacular. We listened to it on the radio. When he spoke, he really made you feel like he was going to change things, and that he was going to end the depression. "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". (Appleby). After he said that Mama looks at me and said, "Baby, that man is going to fix this nation up all right, he’s going to make things better, I know it." It was 1933, and it was my 14th birthday, and money wasn’t nearly as tight as it had been the year before, but money was still tight. For my birthday, Tony, Johnny, Ma, Daddy, and me all went to a Yankees game. They played the Cubs, and they won. Great game. We don’t have Prohibition anymore, so Daddy had beer at the game. I don't think he likes beer, but I think he drank it because he could.
"Hey Rosemarie?" "Yea?”"“Do you know any Jews?" "What kind of question is that?" "Just answer it" "Yea, a couple kids at school, not any on our block though, why?" "Didya hear what’s goin' on in Germany? The Nazi Party doesn't like them, so they treat them like they aren't people" Tony explained. "Nah I didn't hear about that, lets go listen I bet its on the radio"
So in we ran, and listened. Hitler was Chancellor of Germany, and leader of the Nazi party. Anyone that's Jewish is being mistreated. (America in the 30's). Daddy says that Hitler is trying to become the President of Germany, and if he does, very bad things are going to happen. The year was 1934, and when I heard the news, I just heard my Daddy’s voice echoing inside my head, "Hitler is trying to become the President of Germany, and if he does, very bad things are going to happen". The Nazi's have gained full power in Germany. As time progressed on through 1935, life was just about regular in New York. Nothing exciting ever really happens, except for this new thing or that with the President. And life continued on that way, through my 16th birthday and into 1936. By that time, Roosevelt had been re-elected, Joe DiMaggio had been signed to the Yankees, and Hitler was growing ever stronger. There were many problems between Germany and the other European countries, but President Roosevelt was determined to stay out of it. He signed the Neutrality Act for the first time in 1935, then again in 1936 after congress revised it to ban selling all military supplies to countries at war, and one more time in 1937, making it permanent. The rate of unemployment had risen again, and was now up to 20% of people. Daddy lost his job in 1937, Ma and I prayed everyday that soon the President would fix our country. Daddy got a new job in the manufacturing company that processes fabrics. Shortly after, President Roosevelt rose minimum wage to $0.40 per hour. Ma saved a few cents every pay check so the Johnny, Tony, and I could go see a movie. Things from then on stayed relatively regular, new Acts and Laws every few months, the President helping Great Britain with the war, nothing new, and continues so until the year I turned 22, 1941. It was December 7, 1941. Started off as a normal day until I turned on the radio for my morning news. "At about dawn this morning, our troops located on Pearl Harbor were surprised by Japanese bombers. Thousands of soldiers have been killed or injured….". (Attack at Pearl Harbor). I didn’t need to hear any more. My mother came rushing in the room, and both of us sat in silence as we somberly listened to the radio. Accounts of what had happened that morning were on the news stations all day. We couldn’t move, speak nor hardly breathe. It was so shocking and breathtaking, we were mortified. All I remember was President Roosevelt’s address to the country, "Today is a day that shall remain in infamy". The next day, President Roosevelt declared war against Japan. As a result, Japan’s allies Germany and Italy decaled war on the United States, and thus begins World War II. "What the hell are you talking about working in a factory, have you lost your marbles?", Tony nearly fell off his chair he was so shocked. "Well, all the men are going to war, someone's got to run the factories, might as well be a woman, what's wrong with that?", I said quite coolly, I could tell he was devastated. "I'll tell ya what’s wrong with it! You're a girl, and girls cook and clean and bring up children, not work in factories", he said, thinking he was right. "But I can play baseball and run around in short pants instead of dresses and hate dolls, but I can’t work in a factory during war! I think you’ve lost YOUR marbles", he knew I was right. "I'm just taking one for my country, you know, since I can’t fight in the war. 'Rosie the Riveter', haven’t you seen the posters? Lots of women are going to be there, we need all the men in the war as we can get." "I think you were supposed to be a boy sometimes, I swear to God". So work I did begin, taking the place of my father who had been drafted. Tony had been drafted as well, but not Johnny, he's got bad knees, so therefore he can’t fight. I'm devastated though, saying good bye to Tony was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, and I can't wait for his return. Hitler continued torturing Jewish people in Germany, and the war continued on, with the U.S. making steady progress through 1944. More and more woman began coming to work, and surprisingly, our economy grew strong and prosperous. By June 6, 1944, America was nearly half way through the war. Normandy was invaded, and France fell on the day the came to be known as D-Day. President Roosevelt had been re-elected for his fourth term, but sadly, had not seen much of it. 95 days in, he suffered a brain hemorrhage, and on April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt died. (Franklin D. Roosevelt). Never did he get to see how his country would win the war, not would he see how his influence created such a powerful nation out of America. His successor, Harry Truman, would finish what Roosevelt started, and end the war in our favor. As 1945 progressed, the United States began closing in on Germany, with the Soviets on the other side. The Nazi Regime collapsed, and Hitler shot himself in the head. After millions of Jews had been executed under Hitler’s rule, he was now finally dead. The war was heading in favor of the United States and the allies. As out ultimate weapon, the Atomic Bomb, which has been constructed here in New York, was dropped on Hiroshima. The Japanese surrendered to the Allies on September 1, 1945. (Archer). World War II was over, as were the lives of millions of soldiers, innocent citizens, and Jews. "Lookin' good kid", said a familiar voice. "Not so bad yourself, Officer", I said as I turned to him. Tony. Same as he had always been. Johnny and I had got to meet him off the ship. Tony had been away for 5 years, and through all the time, we never lost touch. He sent a letter as soon and as often as he could, and while he was gone, we realized, this was the first time they had ever been apart, and it hurt. Tony and I were always closer than I was with Johnny, and once we were forced apart I realized, how much I needed him, and loved him. And although I never said a word, Tony must have known too, because the first thing he did after getting off that ship, he knelt down on his knee, in front of my Ma, Johnny, and his Mother, and asked me to marry him. Daddy came home the week following Tony, and he was so pleased about the news. As the 40's became the 50's, Daddy went back to teaching, Tony worked in the factories, and I refused to quit. He teased me and teased me but I insisted on not having anything better to do with my time. The Cold War progressed between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The Korean War was also occurring, luckily, no one I loved was drafted for that war. My love for Politics led me into the world of journalism, and by 1951, I had a column in Life Magazine. The Yankees had won five World Series’ consecutively by 1953, Tony had taken me to three of the five. In that same year, Tony and I were married at St. Francis on Fletcher Street in New York, on May 14th. We bought an apartment of our own on 32nd Street, four blocks from our parents. The Cold War was growing dangerous. My Daddy was now teaching his students about "duck-and-cover"drills incase of nuclear war. There was now a fall-out shelter in our building. Nevertheless, our economy was still growing. Tony and I had bought our own car in 1957, as rock n’'roll became more popular. The Soviet’s had also beat us in the "Space Race", they had put a satellite into outer space. Tony and I couldn’t be bothered with such outside things though. We were about to contribute to the Baby Boom. "Congratulations, Mr. Landry, on your new baby boy" the doctor had said to Tony, after he had waited for hours to hear the news, on that June day in 1958. "I decided on Michael Anthony, what do you think, Rosemarie?" Tony said softly as he held the new baby. "It's beautiful", was all I could get out. Johnny and his new wife, Linda, helped us get the baby home and everything set up. The amount of books available for new mothers was amazing, so much to learn! (Baby Boom Generation). Tony would tease me that I was too much of a tomboy to raise a baby, I guess he’s never going to change. Linda and Johnny were expecting in September. Our new baby received all the new inventions created. The anti-polio vaccine was administered, I wasn't going to risk it. Eisenhower was our new president, and I left my job after the baby was born to become a homemaker. The winter of 1958, Daddy died of pneumonia. He was 57 years old, and the funeral was very emotional. Because he was a veteran, the army was a part of the funeral. Ma moved in with Tony and I, and before our baby turned 1, we had left our little flat and moved into a house in New York City. Our economy continued to expand towards the end of the 1950's, with the Baby Boom in full force. Families were increasing in sizes, and moving into homes outside of the cities and into the suburbs. After Ma died, possibly of a broken heart, in 1960, we laid her to rest beside my Daddy, for eternity. The first few months were tough, losing my parents so close together, but Tony and I had made it through. In the mid-60's Tony and I had a family of 3 children, all boys. Johnny and Linda had 2 boys and a set of twin girls. The Korean War had ended but the Cold War continued on, with President Eisenhower threatening Nuclear War at every threat to our nation (Appleby). Tony and I owned a T.V. of our own, Elvis was our favorite singer, and we loved rock n' roll. We were, by definition, living the American Dream.
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Elizabeth
Strauss, Media Generalist
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