The question I was most curious about was whether or not she thought politics were thought always corrupt, or only corrupt near and after Watergate. She said that politics were always corrupt and that Watergate was just a very real, very talked about example of that corruption, but the corruption always existed and people knew it. I learned that possibly before Watergate people were starting to lose as much faith in their government as after Watergate, even though watergate was an extreme catalyst. Therefore concerning the trust in Government, Watergate did not have as great of an effect. She said that she loved Reagan. She loved him because he was a strong leader for the country and the Iran-contra scandal did not mean much to her. She believed Nixon could have been great, however he was too paranoid and too corrupt to be a good leader. She talked about the fear of her brothers being drafted into the war. This fear was with every american during teh veitnam war with a male in the family eligible to fight. It has scared america and made us aware of the fact that our freedom could be taken away so easily as a draft being administered. A man could easily be drafted, go to war, fight, and die. Her family were mainly immigrants and not very involved in politics, only her and her brothers really were aware of anything political and the current events. However, still she wasn't as involved in the protests. She talked about a man who was really old and in her college who avoided the draft by going to Canada. This shows how americans could so easily turn against their country because they wanted to dodge the draft. Also she said how America would give the drafted ultimatums of 1. go to war for several years 2. spend 10 years in prison. This demonsrtates the complete lack of democracy, civil rights, and freedom within the united states during the war. The impact of the vietnam war was that it limitted much freedom of its people and their speech.
Ronald Reagan helped restore hope in my mother about the war and life for americans which is why she loves him so much. Nixon and Watergate did not impact her very greatly. And the stories she had of her experiences with the war and the draft demonstrate a great deal of freedom lost during the war.