This section of the Studs Terkel Reader was centered on the working class of America in the 1970’s. Many people didn’t like what the US had turned into. After getting involved in a nine year war in Vietnam, and the Watergate scandal, many Americans began to question their lives. “In the thirties (as rememberers of ‘Hard Times’ remembered), not very many questioned their lot. Those rebels who found flaws in our society were few in number. This time around, ‘the system stinks’ was a phrase almost as recurrent as ‘more or less” (Terkel 315). Capital goods and automated technology had taken the jobs of many assembly line workers. The US population was growing, but jobs were becoming fewer in number. Work was necessary for survival; everyone had to find a job no matter how inferior it was. Dolores Dante took a job as a waitress. The men she served tried to make her job as demeaning as possible. “You’re great, how come you’re just a waitress?” (Terkel 331). Dante needed a way to make quick money, and jobs behind a desk were hard to come by. Other people took up jobs as Barbers or Cab drivers; both of which you had to agree with the customer on everything, even if they were insulting you. The first priority was to maintain good business, and that meant always agreeing with the customer. Times had changed for America; some people were doing better than others. After 70 years, the wedge in society still remained.   

I read about Tom Kearney, a police officer in the 1960’s. He described what it was like seeing all the protests for civil rights or ending the war in Vietnam. Kearney noticed that all these protests were supported by the younger generation. In the late 1960’s, college campus’s constantly protested the Vietnam War. The younger generation wanted change, but the older generation didn’t want change. “They trade views. I find they seldom argue in a – in disagreement. They give and take, back and forth, but they don’t stand on their points. They want to know the other person. They seem to accept other people more easily than we did” (Terkel 270). Kearney admired the capacity of younger generation to adapt to the changing world; they were more willing to accept others than the older generation was. The older generation was too stubborn to accept change. These two groups worked against each other over the years, but change finally came.

            I also read about Dennis Hart, a cabbie in the 1960’s. Unlike others, he treated blacks as equals, and didn’t despise the communists; rather than wanting to kill the, he wanted to convert them to capitalism. He was a man who believed there were two sides to every story. “The average individual, if he saw a communist on the street, he would pick up a stone and throw it at him. A John Birch member would identify him and he might try to bring him over to capitalism. Communists only know what they’re taught” (Terkel 242). Hart sympathizes with both sides of an argument, he will hear both sides of the story and choose which side he agrees with. Hart chose to support the civil right movement because he believed that this endless turmoil between the whites and blacks would destabilize the US; which is exactly what the communists want. The US would have to unify itself under democracy before it unifies the world under democracy.   

I read a story about Peggy Terry, a woman who worked in the war production factories during WWII. To her, it was a miracle that she even had a job to provide for her family. However I found the personal story of E. B. (Sledgehammer) Sledge much more interesting. Sledge was a marine in the Pacific. He described the horrors of fighting the Japanese and what had to be done to survive in the Pacific. The Japanese fought savagely and inhumanely. This caused a lot of the Marines to abandon their humanity in order to fight the Japanese. “Don’t hesitate to fight the Japs dirty. Most Americans, from the time they’re kids, are taught not to hit below the belt. It’s not sportsmanlike. Well, nobody has taught the Japs that, and war ain’t sport. Kick him in the balls before he kicks you in yours” (Terkel 199). There were no rules in the Pacific; Just War Theory didn’t exist with the Japanese. Therefore the Americans had to fight just as savagely in order to survive. This savagery cost each Marine a part of themselves. Taking Japanese prisoners was rare at best. The Japanese were taught never to surrender; so wounded Japanese would use their last ounce of strength to pull out a grenade and blow himself up, taking as many Marines with him as possible. Surrender wasn’t an option for the Marines either, after what happened in Bataan. There was no end in sight for these men. I wouldn’t be able to face what these Marines had to face in fighting the Japanese.