FREE ESSAY ON YEAR 1969

YEAR 1969

The year was 1969. Richard Nixon was president, astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the
moon, sesame street first aired, and the hippies were partying it up at Woodstock. Across
the globe in southeast Asia a very unpopular war was being fought. The US had been
fighting in Vietnam for four years. The American public had grown tired of this
conflict.. Tired of seeing young men brought home in body bags. Tired of a government
that didn't seem interested in trying to win. On may 10th a battle began that would
forever change the war. It was fought on hill 937 located in the A Shau Valley in south
Vietnam. This battle lasted over 6 days and according to an article posted on
historynets' website 46 merican men died and another 400 were wounded. These men died and
were injured in vain since the hill was abandoned to the enemy just 2 short weeks later.
Public outcry over this battle finally cause the government to begin withdrawing troops
form Vietnam shortly thereafter. Because of the carnage inflicted in this battle the
survivors appropriately nicknamed it hamburger hill.
Exactly 100 years earlier in America the race was on to connect East and West. Two
railroad companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, were constructing a
railroad line that would span a continent. The Union Pacific built westward across the
great plains, and the Central Pacific built eastward from California. As the tracks from
each railroad approached each other, the two railroads could not agree on a meeting
point. According to an article on PBS' website titled The Iron Road Congress finally
stepped in and forced the 2 companies to agree on a meeting point. They settled on
Promontory Point in Utah. On may 10 of 1869 the golden spike was driven signaling
completion of america's first transcontinental railroad. 
Bibliography
Works Cited
Barna, Carl. "Steel Rails and Iron Horses." Bureau of Land 
Management Website. 1996. 6 Sep. 2001. .
The Iron Road. Public Broadcast Systems Website. 6 Sep. 2001. 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/iron/.
Summers, Harry. "Hamburger Hill Revisited." The History Net 
Website. June 1999. 6 Sep. 2001. .