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=Silent Majority by Elizabeth, Marion, and Emilie=

Marion McHenry

Dear Protestors,

My name is John Smith. I am a middle class auto worker in the state of New Jersey; I am a forgotten man. You may have forgotten about me in the mists of your ridiculous riots and your drug festered lives, but I am still here. I make $7,000 dollars a year, but I do not depend on the government to pay my bills; I work for my money. I bet you’re wondering how I survive without this welfare that so many lower class blacks have these days. You want to know how? It’s easy: I play by the rules and I don’t cut any corners. I refuse to shed the blood of others, or myself, to be heard. I’m hard working, patriotic, self reliant, and have far too much pride to cheat my way out of life by allowing the government to give me “aid” or pay my bills. How is it that the middle class man, once referred to by the revolutionary president Andrew Jackson as “the bone and sinew of the country” is now the forgotten man. Our government is busy aiding all of the ignorant protestors, and my issues are being ignored. But we want our voice to be heard, and because we are loyal to our country, we deserve that voice. I speak for the entire silent majority when I say that I am sick of being ignored because of you disloyal Americans. I am the loyal American. I wear the flag on my ford truck while you burn it on the street. I go to church every Sunday while you’re off doing LSD. I don’t break any laws and most certainly do not participate in any riots. I am an American.

I can’t even begin to express my disappointment of these civil rights acts. Last night I turned on the news to see that the Watts Riot was finally over. The crowd looted and burned down parts of the city of Detroit. Never has the nation allowed itself to get so out of hand. What has our nation come to? Burning our own nation, our own land! And I ask all of you protestors, how do you think that this is helping our country? No, you are not breaking down the racial barriers by burning my land! You are only creating greater barriers. You are causing the deterioration of law and order. We must remain civilized in order to break the social and racial barriers. I shouldn’t be afraid to let my children walk to school; for fear that they will find themselves caught up in one of your violent acts. My wife shouldn’t be frightened to step outside of our home, a safe neighborhood, without me accompanying her. One of your great leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. has just been assassinated. Use this as your opportunity to have some sense and stop the riots. You must go about changing the racial barriers in a more civilized and far less dangerous manner. Because you are never, never going to gain the respect of the silent majority if you continue on with these murderous, rebellious protests, riots, and way of life. Things have gone way too far and have gotten too far out of hand, and it is up to you to fix that.

Sincerely, John Smith

Works Cited Bruce Kennedy. “The Silent Majority.” __CNN.__

“Riots in Detroit.” PBS. 7 December 2007. Decembhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/13_detroit.html

Schrag, Peter. “The Forgotten American.” __A History of Our Time.__ Ed. William H. Chafe. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991. 400-413. 7 December 2007. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/spotlight/

Elizabeth Weston History Thompson December 10, 2007

Dear Mr. Editor, My name is Kurt, and I live in a rural part of the great state of Missouri. I recently tuned into President Nixon’s speech he delivered on November 3rd, and I decided to answer his call for the silent majority. So many people are against Nixon’s decision to be involved in the war, and they speak out about it, while the people who actually support him do not take as much action as the protestors. Those thousands of anti-war protestors that arrived at the capital during Nixon’s speech, protesting for the end of the United States involvement in Vietnam do not understand that if the United States backs out of Vietnam right now, then the United States will look weak and will lose respect from the other countries. After Nixon made his speech asking for the silent majority’s support, I immediately wrote the White House a letter supporting his speech. Considering myself one of many of the silent majority, when Nixon said, “And so to you – the great silent majority of my fellow Americans – I ask for your support”, I felt I had a voice too and did not feel under-represented by my government; I had an impact on what was happening. Since I, someone part of the great majority, let them know that I supported our involvement in the war, it allowed Nixon to continue his policies in Vietnam. This policy includes gradually bringing home U.S. troops, while at the same time discussing peace, but keeping our American pride and honor with us. Our American involvement in Vietnam is giving the United States a powerful image, and our great president has called for the support of the citizens, not the huge dangerous crowds of anti-war protestors causing chaos in our country.

Sincerely, Kurt Russell

Work Cited Kennedy, Bruce. “The Silent Majority.” __CNN Interactive__. John Hashimoto. CNN. 8 December 2007. <[[[|http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/spotlight/>.]

Emilie Zemanek Thompson U.S. History and Government II 11 December 2007

Dear Mr. Editor,

Hi, my name is Sally Lou Wright and I am a housewife and mother of three from Dorrance, Kansas. Recently, my niece ran off to join the hippies in San Francisco for the “Summer of Love”. I, myself, along with most other middle-class Americans I’m sure, would not allow any of my children to participate in any such nonsense, not that they would betray their patriotism to this wonderful country. I do not understand why thousands and thousands of young people with such promising futures would throw all of their hard work away to join their leader Timothy Leary and get high on these new, life-threatening drugs and protest all day against the new products that are making our lives easier and the war that is keeping our great country free. The only reason they can continue to protest against the war is because thousands are fighting to keep our country free and democratic and to kill communism at its roots. We need to teach these hippies that you cannot run a country, and especially the world, solely on the ideas that love and peace will conquer all. We also need to force these children to understand that they can get nothing accomplished by gathering in their large groups without any support of our great President Nixon who is changing things for the better. The Summer of Love is asking the young people of America to, “turn on, tune in, and drop out”, which will greatly effect the future generations of the United States of America. Please, urge your readers to do whatever possible to stop their children and any other young people they know to refrain from joining this trend-based Summer of Love.

Selvin, Joel. “Summer of Love: 40 Years Later”. SFGate.com. 23 May 2007. Hearst Communications Inc. 7 December 2007. . “Summer of Love. PBS.org. 2007. PBS.org. 7 December 2007. .