John F.

Kennedy
The Aztec
Gandhi

John F. Kennedy
President Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas. According to
the Warren Commission established to investigate the assassination, a lone gunman, Lee
Harvey Oswald, killed the president, but there has been consistent speculation ever since that
Kennedy's death was the result of a conspiracy.
He was born John Fitzgerald Kennedy on 29 May 1917 in Massachusetts, into a wealthy and
political Irish-American family. Educated at Harvard University, he graduated in 1940.
Following naval service in the Pacific in World War Two, he entered politics in 1946,
spurred on by his ambitious father Joseph, and won election as a Democrat to the US House
of Representatives. In 1952, he was elected to the Senate.
In 1960, Kennedy won the party's presidential nomination and defeated Richard Nixon in the
subsequent election that same year. At 43, he was the country's youngest president as well as
its first Catholic head of state. He presented himself as a youthful president for a new
generation. His wife Jackie added glamour to the presidency, although it was later revealed
that he had numerous affairs.
Kennedy's years in power were marked in foreign affairs by Cold War tension, together with
a rhetorical commitment to introducing domestic reforms - most of all to expanding the civil
rights of African Americans.
He inherited a plan that was devised under the preceding Eisenhower presidency for anti-
communist Cuban exiles in the US to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro's government.
In April 1961, the 'Bay of Pigs' invasion ended in failure. According to some historians, this
led the Soviet Union to conclude that Kennedy was a weak leader, and that they could get
away with installing nuclear weapons on Cuba in 1962. The Cuban missile crisis ensued.
After a thirteen-day stand-off that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, Soviet leader
Nikita Kruschev withdrew the weapons and Kennedy's reputation was restored.
Domestically, Kennedy oversaw the desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962,
and of the University of Alabama the following year - despite each state's political
establishment opposing this policy. More substantial legislation to encode civil rights was not
passed, however, until the subsequent administration of Lyndon Johnson (1963 - 1969), who
was Vice-President and acceded to the position of President on Kennedys assassination.



The Aztec
The Aztecs began their reign in 1427 after the leader, Itzcoatl, with the assistance of surrounding
cities, defeated the Tepanecs and gained control of the Mexican basin. The Tenochcas slowly
became more powerful and skilled in warfare, so that various peoples of the area wanted to become
allies with them in the constant conflicts between the tribes. The Tenochcas eventually became free
under Itzacoatl 1428-1440), and they could continue to build their city, Tenochtitlan. With Itzacoatl's
leadership, they built temples, roads, a causeway that linked the city to the mainland, and they
worked on their government and religious hierarchy. Leadership of the nation was passed on from
brother to brother and then to the eldest son of the eldest brother. Leaders were then chosen by
religious leaders and people of political power, based on their skills on the battlefield and their ability
to speak eloquently. Itzacoatl and the chief who followed him Mocteuzma I (1440-1469) had wars in
the Valley of Mexico and the southern regions of Vera Cruz, Guerrero, and Puebla. Because of these
wars, Tenochtitlan grew rapidly in size which required the need for an aqueduct system to bring water
from the mainland. It also grew culturally as the Tenochcas took the gods of the region into their own
religion.
Tenochtitlan was a beautiful and well-run city. The Aztecs used techniques from different cultures to
build Tenochtitlan. There was a ceremonial plaza paved with stone. They constructed lavish temples
which were like the Mayan pyramids with terraced steps. Two of the temples were dedicated to their
most important gods - the sun god, who was the god of war, and the rain god. The city was built on
five islands that were connected to the mainland by three causeways. They had canals instead of
street, so people traveled within the city by canoe. When the Spanish saw Tenochtitlan they called it
"The Venice of the New World". At the height of Aztec civilization, around 1300-1500 CE, more than
200,000 people lived in Tenochtitlan. It was bigger than any city in Europe at the time.
The Aztec Empire was peopled by a group that was once nomadic, the Mexicas. Their
chroniclers told them that after their long journey from Aztln, they found themselves to be
outcasts, until they found the sign sent to them by their god Huitzilopochtli, and began to
build their city. And so the Mexica peoples continued, and the Aztec Empire began.

The city of Tenochitlan was soon to become one of the largest cities in the world. The power
of the Mexica peoples became more consolidated, and they began to form alliances. Their
military power grew as well, and they began to conquer peoples in the surrounding areas.

At the height of its power, the Aztec Empire was organized and strong, but ruled with fear.
In 1519, a clash of cultures was to take place, unlike anything before it. Although there was
much tragedy in both the Spanish and Aztec empires before this, the meeting of the two
civilizations was disastrous. In a few short years, the culture and structure of one of histories
greatest empires would have virtually vanished.


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The Aztecs wandered around Mexico for about 200
years before they settled down in the Valley of
Mexico. Other tribes were living in the area. Rather
than start a war for a place to live, the Aztecs settled
down in the swampy land around Lake Texcoco.
They were clever people. They adapted to their
environment. They built canoes to fish and hunt.
They filled the marshes with a combination of reeds
and stones and dirt to create more farmland. They
built dams and dikes to free even more land. Their
engineers successfully built a bustling city, with wide
plazas and many shops, on a swamp.
After they had settled in, the Aztecs began
conquering neighboring tribes. Soon, the entire
Valley of Mexico was under their control. Other
tribes had to pay tribute to them in the form of food,
clothing, goods, and captives to feed the hungry
Aztecs gods. The Aztecs believed in human sacrifice.
That was one of the many reasons the other tribes
hated and feared the Aztecs. But the Aztecs seemed
unstoppable.
It was not until the 1500s, when the Spanish arrived,
that the Aztecs were conquered. The Spanish brought
guns, dogs, horses, and disease. It was disease that
conquered the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire collapsed.
The Spanish took over the entire region.
Today, in Mexico, there are about one million
descendants of the ancient Aztecs, living and
working. Human sacrifice is no longer part of their
festivals, but beautiful Aztec art and clever Aztec
games are still enjoyed today
Every child in the Aztec empire had to go to school.
That included boys, girls, and slaves. There were
different schools for different classes of people. The
rich went to one school, the poor another. Boys and
girls did not go to the same school. But whatever
school they attended, school was tough. There was
no recess and no time to relax.
All the schools taught proper behavior. It was
important to learn proper behavior because it was the
law. If you broke a law, you could be killed. Schools
also taught songs and dances, because they were part
of religious ceremonies.
Most boys, when they graduated, were trained in
hunting, farming, fishing, and fighting. The girls
were trained to be good mothers, good cooks, and in
other home arts like sewing.
But some schools trained kids in specialized
professions. Kids would be moved into these special
classes if they showed talent. One child might show a
talent for math; they might be moved into the
engineering classes. Another might show great
interest in plants and making medicines; they might
be moved into the school that trained doctors. The
Aztecs recognized their need for a talented work
force, whether that specialized work force was pulled
from the common people or the nobility. If you had
talent, school was a chance to move up in the world.
The Aztecs believed in giving everyone a chance,
even if it was a slim one.


Gandhi
Known as 'Mahatma' (great soul), Gandhi was the leader of the Indian nationalist movement
against British rule, and is widely considered the father of his country. His doctrine of non-
violent protest to achieve political and social progress has been hugely influential.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar in Gujarat. After
university, he went to London to train as a barrister. He returned to India in 1891 and in 1893
accepted a job at an Indian law firm in Durban, South Africa. Gandhi was appalled by the
treatment of Indian immigrants there, and joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for them.
During his 20 years in South Africa he was sent to prison many times. Influenced primarily
by Hinduism, but also by elements of Jainism and Christianity as well as writers including
Tolstoy and Thoreau, Gandhi developed the satyagraha ('devotion to truth'), a new non-
violent way to redress wrongs. In 1914, the South African government conceded to many of
Gandhi's demands.
Gandhi returned to India shortly afterwards. In 1919, British plans to intern people suspected
of sedition - the Rowlatt Acts - prompted Gandhi to announce a new satyagraha which
attracted millions of followers. A demonstration against the acts resulted in the Amritsar
Massacre by British troops. By 1920, Gandhi was a dominant figure in Indian politics. He
transformed the Indian National Congress, and his programme of peaceful non-cooperation
with the British included boycotts of British goods and institutions, leading to arrests of
thousands.
In 1922, Gandhi himself was sentenced to six years' imprisonment. He was released after two
years and withdrew from politics, devoting himself to trying to improve Hindu-Muslim
relations, which had worsened. In 1930, Gandhi proclaimed a new campaign of civil
disobedience in protest at a tax on salt, leading thousands on a 'March to the Sea' to
symbolically make their own salt from seawater.
In 1931, Gandhi attended the Round Table Conference in London, as the sole representative
of the Indian National Congress, but resigned from the party in 1934 in protest at its use of
non-violence as a political expedient. He was replaced as leader by Jawaharlal Nehru.
In 1945, the British government began negotiations which culminated in the Mountbatten
Plan of June 1947, and the formation of the two new independent states of India and Pakistan,
divided along religious lines. Massive inter-communal violence marred the months before
and after independence. Gandhi was opposed to partition, and now fasted in an attempt to
bring calm in Calcutta and Delhi. On 30 January 1948, he was assassinated in Delhi by a
Hindu fanatic.
Poem
The paper dove
Its soft white feathers flutter in the wind,
Gliding gently over fields
And countries torn by war,
It has no idea of the fighting below,

Its soft white feathers flutter in the wind,
Its eyes are heavy,
Visions lie heavy in its mind,
The poppy fields glide past,

Its soft white feathers flutter in the wind,
They feel the blasts,
The pain,
The black mass that engulfs the men,

Its soft white feathers flutter in the wind,
Children crying for their fathers,
After reading letters of loss,
The endless sombre parades,

Its soft white feathers flutter in the wind,
Love lies underneath,
Blood red poppies scattered below,
The folded feathers float onto the poppy fields.

Its soft white feathers flutter in the wind,
Launched by a child, off mountains high,
Watched by millions,
A peace spreader,
A hope bringer,
Only soft white paper feathers fall in the wind,
From The Paper Dove.