PERSON OF THE CENTURY
Marilyn Stern, Professor & Department Head
Humanities, Social Sciences and Management Department
In 1992, in this very journal, I had the opportunity to explore a definition of the
role of the Humanities and Social Sciences in the education of those whose disciplines
are inextricably linked to design, engineering, and
technology. I believed then, as I do now, that "the purpose of technology is
to make life better. The purpose of the Humanities is to give us the human perspective
that allows us to define 'better.' To do this, students must understand human nature:
our motives, our dreams, our strengths, and our weaknesses."
We have been deluged lately with media analyses as to who is the most important person
of the century or the millenium; which invention has had the most impact; which film
is the 'best.' I thought it would be interesting to have Wentworth students explore
this topic. Who has had the greatest impact on the century? The millenium? Why? To
select such a person, a student must "understand human nature: our motives,
our dreams, our strengths, and our weaknesses." He or she must have a grasp
of the values which define us and the advances which direct us. The following essays
are selections of student work from my Honors English class. They represent the best-articulated
examples of my students' efforts to grapple with these issues, with the values and
events that define our humanity and our identity as we move toward a demarcation
point in our history.
Man of the Century
To pick any one man or woman of the twentieth century and name that individual
as the person of the century, to single out their
achievements as greater, more significant than all others, would be a crime. The
multitudes of philosophers, scientists, artists,
entertainers, leaders, revolutionaries, philanthropists and public icons in this
century alone are staggering. All of their combined
achievements, thoughts, and successes have contributed to the betterment of mankind.
Amongst all the worthy candidates, however, one
in particular stands out, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United
States.
In the darkest days of this century, the United States was in the depths of the worst
depression in its history. World war loomed
around the corner. The United States needed a strong leader to find its way in those
troubled times. In 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt
was elected President of the United States. He would be the first and only President
to serve four consecutive terms in office. Prior to
becoming president, Roosevelt was a lawyer, New York Senator, Assistant Sectary of
the Navy, and the Governor of New York. When
Roosevelt took office in 1932, 25% of the work force was unemployed. The gross national
product was half of what it had been four years
earlier. Times were hard for everyone. President Hoover and Congress had done little
to help the situation. Something needed to be done
and done fast. Roosevelt had a plan.
Roosevelt had proposed a "New Deal" to the American people based on three
goals: Unemployment/poverty relief, economic recovery,
economic and social reform. The end goal of his plan was not only recovery from the
depression, but reform to see that it never happened
again. The New Deal lasted five years between 1933 and 1938. Initially it was comprised
of three main parts that grew and expanded into
other programs that effected many facets of society: The Agricultural Adjustment
Administration (AAA) was responsible for farm
relief; The Economy Act, and National Recovery Administration (NRA) were geared towards
economic, business and labor recovery. Other
organizations established by Roosevelt were The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC),
and the Civil Works Administration. Both groups
provided much needed labor and income to millions of Americans while at the same
time improving the nation as a whole. Roads, airports,
dams, national parks, and historical sites were built or improved. Conservation tasks
such as erosion control, reforestation, and wildlife
protection began. In 1935 Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. It provided for
the finical assistance to the elderly. Old age and
unemployment insurance programs were also established. Social Security eventually
grew to provide care for the blind, dependent
mothers and children, dependents of workers, survivor's benefits, and public health
services. Over 3000 artist and writers and 50,000
teachers were hired or employed as part of Roosevelt's New Deal. Roosevelt's plans
met with resistance in the beginning due to the
sweeping changes proposed, but over time the benefits of his proposed plan emerged.
Before Roosevelt took office, the United States
suffered a depression, on average, every twenty years. Since his reform programs
went into effect, the U.S. has enjoyed over fifty years
of economic growth, depression free.
In the late 1930's and early 1940's, the political climate in Europe and Asia was
in turmoil. Growing isolationism within the U.S. hindered
involvement in international affairs. However, this did not prevent Roosevelt from
lending some aid to our allies and establishing a firm
defense position for the
United States. Supplies were sent to the United Kingdom, China and Russia to aid
in their efforts against the Axis forces. Convoy
protection, embargoes, and establishment of U.S. Military bases overseas aided not
only our allies but established our defense posture in
the cases of future U.S. involvement in the war.
On December 7, 1941, any feelings of isolationism within the United States all but
disappeared when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The
United States was jumping into World War II with Roosevelt at the helm. More than
any other President, Roosevelt took his duties as
Commander in Chief personally. He founded the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1942 to combine
decision-making strategy, logistics, high
command, and allied military relations. He often got involved in major military operations
making key decisions and suggestions, on several
occasions, against the will of the Chiefs of Staff. In the end, his strong leadership
throughout the war provided a source of unity among
the Allied forces in the victory over Axis forces in Europe and Asia.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, was a man for
his times. In an era of depression and war, he seized
the reigns of leadership and strength to lead the United States out of economic adversity
to become a leading world superpower. His
New Deal laid the foundation for future economic success, national growth, and prosperity
for all. From his biweekly news conferences and
fireside chats to his sweeping changes in government and leadership in times of war
he revolutionized the way Americans live. He was the
source of strength and vision for a crumbling nation, and chaotic world. His successes
and achievements still serve as an inspiration to us
all. In his own words "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
My Nomination for Person of the Century
Throughout the century, there have been many people who have devoted their lives
to helping others. These
individuals unselfishly put the welfare of others above their own personal safety
and well-being. It is the
contributions of these people that influence change throughout society, directly
affecting the lives of their fellow
human beings. These leaders are selfless, compassionate, and determined. Although
there have been many such
individuals throughout the twentieth century, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stands
out as one of the greatest and
most influential men of our time.Martin Luther King, Jr., was an educated, intelligent,
African-American leader and
civil rights advocate. He was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew
up in Atlanta and graduated
from Morehouse College in 1948 with a B.A. In 1951 he graduated from Crozer Theological
Seminary in Pennsylvania
with a B.D. He finally fiinished his education with a Ph.D in systematic theology
in 1955. (Garrow 33)
His first real stand against segregation took place during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The boycott started in
1956 and went on for 15 months. King helped to rally the support of over 50,000 people
during the boycott. He
organized car pools, motivated the community, and kept enforcing the idea of nonviolence
during protest. The
boycott ended with the Supreme Court declaring the Alabama laws requiring segregation
unconstitutional. (Lokos
104) While King was helping the people of Montgomery, he endured countless threats
upon himself and his family. It
was so bad that his house was also bombed while he was away at a demonstration. (Great)
During the boycott, King
selflessly put the welfare of the oppressed people of Montgomery above his own safety.His
compassion and need to
help other overrode his own well being. This characterizes part of his greatness.
As Kingís life continued he made countless other contributions to society, desegregation,
and the civil rights
movement. It was his influence, speeches and peaceful demonstrations that finally
induced the Civil Rights Acts.
(Garrow 302) He met with President John F. Kennedy in 1962 to gain his support for
the civil rights issues. King led
peaceful protests in Birmingham in 1963 in order to desegregate store facilities.
Also in 1963, King led the famous
March on Washington where he spoke to thousands of civil rights supporters. In 1964
he won the Nobel Peace Prize
for his efforts. (Seattle 2)
Kingís efforts to create an interracial America where all humans could be treated
equally, regardless of race or
nationality, were countless. The entire time he was helping others he was also risking
his own life. The threats
against King from white radicals were numerous and serious. Yet despite the many
threats, arrests, and attacks,
he remained true to his cause. (Great) He never once backed down from what he believed
in and could always be
counted on. Also, every one of his protests was peaceful. He advocated nonviolence
and firmly believed in its ability
to successfully influence change. Unfortunately, he was assinated in 1968 while speaking
out in order to help a group
of striking sanitation workers. (Arrow 624)
All things considered, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the greatest individuals
of the twentieth century. He
was compassionate, selfless, and determined. His efforts spurred a great change throughout
America and directly
influenced the desegregation of our society. Benjamin Mays, the President Emeritus
of Morehouse University once
said, "The legacy he left us was a way of love and nonviolence, not the love
of hate and war." (Great) He gave his
life in order to better our nation. He definitely can be considered one of the greatest
people of our time.
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy
(1828-1910)
Abigail Beck
Freshman, BCET
What I see as manís highest aspiration is to be able to live peacefully,
and in harmony with himself, his fellow man and the earth beneath his feet. The preservation
of the earthís natural resources is a large part of this view of the future, which
is not feasible in our modern consumer society where man is so alienated from his
native soil. In order to achieve this aim of a healthy planet and a healthy soul,
the whole mentality of the people who live on the earth must be in tune to it and
themselves to realize their interconnectedness. When oneís morality is perfected,
he will see the need to live simply, humbly, in peace with the earth, and in harmony
with his own inner vision of the truth, and after this is accomplished, things like
war and government will no longer be manifested.
The man I have chosen to elect for my "person of the century" embodies
these ideals, and is from a country whose landmass makes up one-sixth of the worldís
total land surface. He has been called everything from "Anarchist" to "moralist"
to "fanatic", to "sage" and fits all of these (Gorky, p15). Although
born of aristocratic stock, a Count, he embraced the ways of the peasantry and glorified
their connection to the land. Deep in the country estate of his ancestry, Yasnaya
Polyana, he could be seen during his daily walks through the woods with his long,
graybeard, felt boots, and the traditional shirt of a muzhik (Russian peasant), tied
at the waist by a belt. After having written some of the greatest literary works
in history, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina,
he later renounced them, as he did all "higher art" which could not be
understood by the peasant. At one time even becoming a shoemaker and plunging into
physical labor, he lived simply and sufficiently on his country estate. The Russian
peasant was, to him, the pinnacle of human morality; naïve and humble, unaware
of his own rare worth and dignity (Rowe, p.52). Tolstoy was a lifelong seeker of
truth, and to him, truth was only visible to the innocent eye whose heart is not
yet corrupted, as only peasants and children possess (Rowe, p.69). But the most important
quality that the muzhik possessed was his intimate knowledge of the earth. The toilers
of the soil, these people were the backbone that upheld and sustained Mother Russia.
At that time, 34 million people out of a total population of 36 million were serfs.
This direct connection to the land was vital to Tolstoyís vision. Lauded for his
gift of realism in his writing, to him, truth could only be achieved through nature.
He was a slave to it in his writing just as the peasants were chained to it in their
agricultural labor. In his Tales of Sebastopol, he writes, "there
hero of my story, the one I love with all my soul, which I have tried to depict in
all its beauty; which has been, is, and will forever be beautiful- is the truth."
(Matlaw, p.104).
There are two arenas of life for the individual according to Tolstoy; the individual
life, and the swarm life, or society life. Only the individual life he saw as being
truly free and performing free actions. Actions performed for the benefit of, or
by the insistence of society were considered non-free acts, and therefore acts which
blurred oneís moral distinction. For example, when the individual is forced to go
to war by his country, he is forced to commit atrocities that are normally abhorred
by his moral judgement. Tolstoy was an adamant proponent of non-violence. He believed
that war was a moral defect in man, and that one of manís missions on earth was to
eradicate war. He wrote a collection of essays on non-violence, resistance to evil,
the evils of patriotism, and resistance to military service, in effect inspiring
even Mahatma Ghandi himself, who one wrote a letter to him expressing his admiration.
When asked if there is ever a justification for killing, for example for revolutionary
purposes, Tolstoy responded, "killing for different reasons is like cat [feces]
and dog [feces]; they are different but they both smell badly"(Gorky, p.25).
He was not a social activist, but a moralist. He saw that the way to better a man
is not through superficial changes in his government, but through realizations in
the soul of the man. He used his literature to this end, exalting the form of the
parable to teach moral lessons, and filling his epic novels with tendentious prose.
Toward the end of his life, he was a proponent for abolishing personal property,
and he released all the rights to all of his written works so that they could become
public domain.
Notes are missing
The Persons of the Century
Frank Gargione
Freshman, AEET
The past century has seen dozens upon dozens of people who profoundly
affected our world. In assessing who of those was most integral in the last centuryís
history, it is important to look past that personís admirable qualities. One must
look at how profoundly that human affected the world, and how their legacy, good
or bad, will endure, for generations and generations to come. That is why Adolph
Hitler is undeniably the most important and effective person that the last century
has produced. In addition to changing the face of Europe and creating the worst war
the world has ever seen, he single-handedly taught the world, for all eternity, how
one very evil, and very powerful human being can, and will, ruin lives and kill millions.
He, along with the other most important person of the century, Anne Frank, created
the kind of awareness that will make genocide like that of the Holocaust, an impossibility
forever. Anne Frank, on eof the millions of innocent victims who suffered from Hitlerís
wrath, brought the world a more personal, down-to-earth look at World War II and
the Holocaust. Through her ever-enduring diary, she taught people everywhere the
importance of keeping those power-hungry and violent Hitler-types at bay.
In choosing a candidate for this honor, it is important to keep several factors in
mind. Will people remember him or her in 50 years? Will their contributions matter
in a 100 years? Will civilization still look-up to or fear this individual for generations
to come? What kind of impact did this person have on the world? Will their actions
prove integral in the daily lives of earthly citizens at the turning of the next
century? Adolph Hitler and Anne Frank both fit this description. The name Hitler
will eternally send shivers down the backs of human beings as long as people are
reading The Diary of Anne Frank. And, because of these outstanding
lives, millions are now aware of the possibility of mass killings and destruction
through one individualís power. Nothing like the Holocaust will ever be allowed to
happen again.
Adolph Hitler redefined evil for generations to come. He proved to be the eraís biggest
threat to Jews, democracy, freedom and traditional European borders. He was born
on April 20, 1889, in Braunau, Austria. His infamously sordid and painful childhood
was followed by an awkward adolescence, a failed career a professional artist, and
an injured and unfair jaunt in World War I. Angered by Germanyís defeat in World
War I, he helped form the Nazi party in 1919. His hypnotic speeches and captivating
voice won more and more supporters. A 1923 riot that occurred in a Munich Pub lead
to a jail sentence for Hitler. Soon, his evil testament, Mein Kampf,
was completed. The growing political party came to pwer fairly and democratically
in 1923, enabling Hitler to declare himself Dictator for Life. The new ruler of the
"Third Reich," as he called Germany under his rule, prepared for war in
1933, invading Poland and blatantly defying the Versailles Treaty. As his troops
conquered Europe, more and more minoritities were executed or condemned to concentration
camps and ultimately, death. Eventually the Free World fought back, in what was to
become the worldís bloodiest and most destructive war. World War II, the Holocaust,
and ultimately, the Third Reichís fall and Hitlerís 1945 suicide remain unforgettable
milestones. To the blue-eyed, blond-haired Germans, repressed by abhorrent economical
conditions and social and political turmoil, Hitler was, indeed, a hero. But eventually,
even they joined the world in the fight against evil. Adoph Hitlerís name and signature
mustache will continue to be the definition of evil for centuries to come and, because
of this, no-one like Hitler will ever be allowed to come to power again.
Because Hitler forced Jews into hiding, humanity was blessed by the writings of one
young girl: Anne Frank. Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Her family moved to Amsterdam in 1932. As Nazis took power, discrimination toward
the Jews increased and the Franks were forced into hiding. This occurred shortly
after Anne Frank received a diary for her birthday in 1942. The highly personal,
ingeniously written diary encompassed their 2 year stay in that attic in Amsterdam.
Shortly before the emancipation of Jews and the fall of Hitler, in March of 1945,
the Franks were captured. Anne Frank was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration
camp where she died of typhus later that year. After the war in 1947, Otto Frank,
her father, gave the world an unforgettably important gift. He published Anne Frank:
The Diary of a Young Girl. If nothing else, this text revealed to human
beings the power of a book. Soon, the book was translated, and millions upon millions
of readers that now span both the globe and several generations, have come to love
this deceased teenager. Hitlerís Mein Kampf began the war, but Anne
Frankís diary proved victorious. People will always understand suffering and do their
best to stop it because her well-written reflections and heartfelt experiences are
available for reading for all eternity.
Both of these individuals changed the world. Because one very evil and much-hated
man committed crimes that seemed unimaginable before his reign, one very young and
gifted girl recorded her suffering. Their lives and their accomplishments taught
the world about the travesties that can occur if the wrong person comes to power.
If Hitler had never been defeated, and Anne Frank had never been oppressed, there
is no telling what types of genocidal maniacs might one day come to control the world.
Their legacies provide eternal awareness for the world.
Works Cited
"Adolf Hitler" by Elie Wiesel. Time (no date.) Online. Microsoft Internet
Explorer. 31 October 1999.
"The Diarist, Anne Frank" by Roger Rosenblatt. Time (no date.) Online.
Microsoft Internet Explorer. 31 October 1999.
Frank, Anne, 1929-1945. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl/ translated
from Dutch by B.M. Mooyaart. Doubleday. New York:Doubleday, 1967.
Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945. Mein Kampf. Los Angeles:Angriff Press, 1981.
Verhoeven, Rian. Anne Frank, Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance.
New York, N.Y.:Viking, 1993.