Art and music in the united states

America's fine arts developed under conditions far different from those in many other countries. The United States began as a group of colonies; its settlers were drawn from many places with differing customs and traditions. All of these customs and traditions, so well suited to society's needs in their lands of origin, had to be adapted to life in a strange and difficult environment. A formal "American" culture, rooted in these modified traditions from distant places, but different from them grew and developed only after the United States was established as an independent nation.

Early American leaders looked to the development of the arts as a sign, expected to manifest itself with the passage of time, of the new nation's evolving maturity and success. "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy," John Adams, the nation's second president, wrote in 1780. "My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography,natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain."

EVOLUTION OF THE ARTS

Though Adams' ideal of artistic evolution could be realized only approximately, a vital and vigorous tradition of creativity in art and music has, in fact, developed in the United States. Its growth over the years has been marked by the conflict between two strong forces of inspiration—domestic, sometimes primitive, creativity, and European sophistication. Generally, the very best American artists have been those who managed to combine both forces to create their own original forms.

Just as there is, however, no single American ethnic or cultural group, there is also no peculiar or recognizably "American" style in the arts. There is, rather, a mixture of many styles, reflecting the reality of American society. Still, some generalizations which attempt to define that which is "American" in American art are revealing. American art traditionally has been produced and enjoyed with a minimum of direct government support or control. In fact, one of the qualities that has lent distinction to

American culture has been its inability to rely on government financial support. In order to survive and expand, museums, art galleries, symphony orchestras, chamber music societies and theaters have all had to depend on private benefactors, university endowments and ticket sales as the primary means of raising money. Without the security of government subsidies that art in other countries traditionally enjoys, American arts have always been tied to American commerce.

It is this very union, however, which contributed to America's cultural experimentation and ingenuity. Perhaps these traits are best seen in the development and creativity of the motion picture industry and in the worldwide influence of American popular music. They are also reflected in the spread of regional theaters and ballet companies, galleries exhibiting the work of local artists, and the growing strength of less prominent symphony orchestras throughout the United States. Culture in America seems to have flourished precisely because of its independence from government subsidy and control.

The arts in America have grown rapidly, especially over the past 20 years. One major trend has been the expansion of the universities' role as centers in which the arts were created and performed. To meet students' increased demand for arts training, they have added to their staffs active composers,

musicians, painters and other artists. In turn, universities have spread cultural activity outward from its traditional centers—such as New York and Chicago—to other cities and regions throughout the country.

Greater arts training has increased the numbers of serious amateur artists. Some 53 million Americans play musical instruments. Another 50 million paint or draw in their spare time. And the ranks of amateur writers, poets, photographers and dancers are similarly large.

Another major development, occurring in contrast to earlier practice, has been a cautious but increasing federal and state government role in supporting the arts, especially in providing grants to cultural institutions. Spending by the National Endowment for the Aits, a government agency created in 1965, topped $174 million in 1990. That figure was exceeded by state government arts agencies, which spent $274 million. Still, all government arts spending remains small compared to more than $7.9 billion in private arts contributions recorded in 1990. It must also be remembered, however, that a percentage of private contributions to the arts is deductible from taxes owed by individuals to the federal government. In this way, the government provides much support to the arts without compromising the tradition of the arts' independence from government control and their direct support from private sources.

The government also supports the arts in other ways—through military bands, programs to support Native American arts and crafts, through commissions of sculpture for government buildings, and in many other ways.

Government financial support of the arts, especially on the federal level, has sometimes aroused controversy. In a few cases the National Endowment for the Arts has funded a project which some people consider obscene and offensive. Many people felt that, although artists might have a right to express themselves, they didn't have a right to government funding. Others said that, if the government refused to fund art that some people considered obscene, the government would be imposing censorship. Congress, which appropriates money for the arts agency, insisted that, in the future, the panels that review applications for funds apply "general standards of decency" in making their decisions. Still, artistic excellence remains the main consideration in funding the arts.

Public support for the arts has never been higher. A recent public opinion poll reported that over 90 percent of Americans believe that the arts "make a community a better place," improve the quality of life and are an important asset to the "business and economy" of their communities. These numbers demonstrate that the arts belong not to an elite, but are solidly in the mainstream of American life.

THE VISUAL ARTS

In the years following World War II, a group of young New York artists emerged with a fierce drive to remake the goals and methods of art. Their movement, known as Abstract Expressionism, became the first American art movement to exert major influence on foreign artists. By the early 1950s, New York City was a center of the art world.

The Abstract Expressionists went further than earlier European artists had in their revolt against traditional graphic styles. Among the movement's leaders were Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) and Willem de Kooning (1904- 1988). These young artists abandoned formal composition. Instead, they stressed space and movement, and they relied on their instinct and the physical action of painting.

"My feeling is that new needs need new technique, and the modern artist has found new ways and new means of making his statement," Pollock said in 1950. "It seems to me that the modern painter cannot express this age—the airplane; the atom bomb; the radio—in the old forms of the renaissance or of any other past culture. Each age finds its own technique."

Artistic creativity in the colonial period and the early decades of the new nation generally found expression in the production of useful, everyday implements such as simple, elegant furniture or colorful patchwork quilts. For the busy, practical-minded Americans, portraits were the only kind of "fine" art that seemed necessary. Most American artists of the time were self-taught. Their work had the primitive charm of folk art—first-hand observation, a sense of character and instinct for color, line and pattern. Today the hundreds of early portraits that still exist are highly valued by collectors.

In the years before the United States revolution, some of America's most noted artists traveled to Europe. Some thrived there. Benjamin West (1738-1820) became court painter to Britain's King George III and served as president of the Royal Academy for 28 years. But the work of others, such as John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), perhaps colonial America's leading portrait painter, seemed to lose its power away from the shores of North America.

America's first well-known "school" of landscape painting—the Hudson River School—appeared in the 1820s. Westward expansion had brought a realization of the vast scale and unspoiled beauty of the continent. Led by Thomas Cole (1801-1848), the Hudson River painters combined great technical skill with romantic American scenery. Their paintings were visual explorations of light and natural wonder.

This tradition of directness, simplicity of vision, and clarity developed in the late 19th century into something new—naturalistic portrayal of the broad range of American life. Rural America—the seas, the mountains, and the men and women who lived there—was the subject of Winslow Homer (1836-1910).

The middle-class city life of the period found its poet in Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) an uncompromising realist whose gaunt honest portrayals provided redirection away from the romantic sentimentalism favored by the "polite" society at that time. * Controversy became a way of life for Americans. In fact, much of American painting and sculpture since 1900 has been a series of revolts against tradition. "To hell with the artistic values," announced Robert Henri (1865-1929). Henri was leader of what critics dubbed the "ash-can" school because of the group's realistic portrayal of the squalid aspects of city life, familiar themes from John Ruskin, Thomas Carlyle and others.

Just a few years later the "ash-can" artists were pushed aside by the arrival of modernist movements from Europe, such as cubism and

abstraction, promoted by the great photographer Alfred Stieglitz at his "Gallery 291" in New York City. But by the 1920s a renewed sense of nationalism encouraged artists to rediscover and explore Americana. Regionalists such as Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) and Grant Wood (1891-1942) celebrated the rural Midwest. At the same time artists such as Edward Hopper (1882- 1967) pictured cities and small towns with new realism.

The Depression of the 1930s and growing world tensions sparked an increase in romantic social protest art in movements stylistically similar to those of artists in the U.S.S.R. and muralists in Mexico. Artists everywhere mounted extraordinary pictorial attacks on social systems in scores of paintings and public murals. Yet, in no other country did so many artists state so frankly and idealistically what was wrong with their country—often literally at their government's expense, as thousands of artists were added to the United States payroll as part of the federal government's attempt to provide employment.

* The Abstract Expressionists' radical innovations in the 1940s and 1950s were matched by American sculptors. The heroic models of the past were discarded in favor of open, fluid forms. New materials were adopted and color was used. Alexander Calder (1898- 1976) developed the mobile. David Smith (1906-1965), the first sculptor to work with welded metals, developed a monumental abstract style that was a major influence on other artists.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, young artists reacted against Abstract Expressionism to produce works of "mixed" media. These artists—among them Robert Rauschenberg (1925-) and Jasper Johns (1930-) used photos, newsprint, and discarded objects in their paintings. The early 1960s saw the rise of "Pop" art. Artists such as Andy Warhol (1930- 1987), Larry Rivers (1923-), and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-) reproduced, with satiric care, everyday objects and images of American popular culture—Coca-Cola bottles, soup cans, cigarette packages and comic strips. "Pop" was followed by "Op"— art based on the principles of optical illusion and perception.

The 1970s and 1980s have seen an explosion of forms, styles and techniques. Artists are no longer confined to their studios, or even to the creation of objects. An artist's work might be an empty gallery, or a huge drawing cut into the western desert. It could be a videotaped event or a written manifesto. These different kinds of art bear a variety of names: earth art, conceptual art, performance art.

Still, the rapid rise in the 1980s of a new group of young artists has shown that painted figures on canvas remain popular with the art- viewing public. This new group, which includes David Salle and Susan Rothenberg, are the newest stars of the art world.

ARCHITECTURE

Few shapes symbolize the spirit of the American city better than the skyscraper. Made possible by new building techniques and the invention of the elevator, the first skyscraper was built in Chicago in 1884. Its designer was William Le Baron Jenney (1832- 1907). Jenney devised the steel skeleton which

provided interior support, meaning that exterior walls no longer had to carry the weight of many floors. As land values rose in city after city, so did taller and taller buildings.

Many of the most graceful early towers were designed by Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), America's first great modern architect. "Form ever follows function," Sullivan preached, meaning that a building's purpose should determine its design. That idea has been one of modern architecture's guiding principles.

Sullivan's most talented student was Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959). Now considered the nation's most original and influential modern architect, but ignored for major commissions during much of his life, Wright spent much of his career designing private homes that stressed open space and the inventive use of materials. One of his best- known buildings is the cylindrical design for the Guggenheim Museum (1959) in New York City.

The ideas of Sullivan and Wright— though very different—came to dominate American architecture. Some were adapted by a group of Europeans who emigrated to the United States before World War II and who later shaped another dominant movement in architecture. Among them were Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe (1886-1969) and Walter Gropius (1883-1969), both past directors of Germany's famous design school, the Bauhaus. Their work, called the International Style, stressed machine technology, geometric form and materials. Some critics have called buildings based on their ideas "glass boxes," but others consider these structures monuments to American corporate life.

A radically different approach to design was developed by R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1984). Fuller used mathematical principles in creating a form he called a geodesic dome, in which the structure of the roof supports its own weight.

Today's leading architects include Philip Johnson (1906-), usually considered a "post­modernist," and I. M. Pei (1917-). Many younger architects have turned away from the glass boxes. One leader of this movement is Michael Graves (1945-), whose work is rich in detail and decoration.

A FEAST FOR THE EARS

Any large city in the United States can provide musical choices to satisfy every taste. Performances of jazz, pop and rock bands, symphony orchestras, opera, chamber music, blues, folk, country and blue grass music, and musical theater have become a part of the daily offering at concert halls across the country.

As was the case in American graphic art, this rich musical heritage is also the product of many influences. Strongest has been the interaction—and often conflict—between Europe's classical traditions and the vitality of regional and ethnic idioms. In fact, many of America's most talented composers have worked in popular forms.

Edward MacDowell, the nation's finest serious composer at the turn of the 20th century, wrote that before America found "a musical writer to echo its genius," it needed "above all, both on the part of the public and on the part of the writer, absolute freedom from the restraint that an almost unlimited

deference to European thought and prejudice has imposed upon us.

America's earliest settlers brought their music—folk songs and dances, psalms, hymns and some formal music—with them to their new homeland. Among these, it was the religious music that dominated. The melodies for the hymns were handed down largely !n an oral tradition, and served as the basis of much colonial music.

Historians give the honor of being America's first native composer to Francis Hopkinson of Philadelphia (1737-1791), a leader of the American Revolution and a close friend of George Washington, the first president. Music experts, however, credit William Billings (1746-1800) with being a revolutionary force in early American song. A self-taught composer who never ceased complaining about musical rules, Billings wrote what he called "fuging" tunes. They have been called clumsy and crude, but they were full of joy, had contagious rhythms and were easy to learn.

Of all the forms of popular singing and theater to emerge in early 19th century America, none was as influential—or so characteristically American—as the minstrel show. In these shows, which appeared in the 1820s and lasted well into this century, white performers in costume impersonated black song, storytelling and dance.

The minstrel show produced Stephen Foster (1826-1864), considered America's first great songwriter. Despite little musical training, Foster had the gift of writing simple, irresistible songs that captured American feelings. Even today, almost everyone knows a handful of Foster's songs by heart. Among them was "Oh! Susanna," sung by thousands of miners during the Gold Rush of 1849.

Also popular in the late 1800s was marching band music. The most prominent composer and bandleader was John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), who first gained fame as director of the United States Marine Corps Band. Sousa's sunny, patriotic music, such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever," remain all- time public favorites at parades, civic festivals and the like.

Most American composers and performers of serious "art" music, however, remained dominated by European musicians and traditions throughout the 19th century. Edward MacDowell (1861-1908) stands out among the serious American composers during this period. With the best training Europe had to offer, MacDowell established his reputation on both sides of the Atlantic as a brilliant pianist and composer of romantic works. A leader in music education, he headed the first department of music at a major United States college, Columbia University, in 1896.

MacDowell's blending of traditional romanticism with new music forms strongly influenced some later American composers, including the outstanding neoromanticist Samuel Barber (1910-1981). At the time MacDowell was struggling to raise public awareness of serious music, ragtime, a development of Dixieland and southern "barrelhouse" music, was raising spirits in parlors and theaters across the country. The first black American music to gain large popularity, ragtime was primarily piano music featuring almost continuous syncopation. Ragtime's greatest composer was Scott Joplin

(1868-1917), who wrote two ragtime operas and believed his music stood the test of comparison with European classical music.

The blues, which developed from African folk songs and Christian religious music, is typically a lamenting song with an undercurrent of resignation and often humor. The greatest of the early recorded singers were often women, including Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (1886-1939) and Bessie Smith (1900-1937). The modern blues is usually played by small bands that feature electric guitar and other solo instruments as prominently as they do the singer. Among the most popular modern blues musicians were Muddy Waters (1915-1984) and B.B.King (1925-).

Jazz emerged as blues and Dixieland musicians refined their instrumental styles. One of jazz's central features is improvisation. While the basic harmonic structure of jazz music is usually written out by musicians, other parts of jazz are created spontaneously, based on the music the rest of the group is playing.

By 1920, jazz had spread from the South as black musicians moved to Chicago and New York City. The most influential of the early jazz musicians was Louis Armstrong (1900- 1971), a trumpeter. Born in New Orleans, one of the early centers of jazz, Armstrong was also the first well-known male jazz singer, and the originator of "scat" singing—in which nonsense syllables instead of words are sung much like an instrumental solo. Another major jazz leader of the same generation was Duke Ellington (1899-1974). A pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, Ellington had a major impact on jazz composition and playing.

Each new jazz generation, however, has explored new directions. The early 1940s saw the rise of a complicated style known as "bebop," championed by trumpeter "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917- ) and saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955) rated by many as jazz's greatest improviser.

In the 1960s, jazz musicians such as trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991) and saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-1967) were experimenting with a wide array of musical influences. Younger jazz musicians began to include the rhythms of rock and roll. Later, in the 1970s, many well-known jazz musicians experimented with electronic instruments and created a blend of rock and jazz called fusion.

Jazz has had an enormous influence on the entire range of American music. Nowhere can that influence be seen more clearly than in the work of George Gershwin (1898-1937), widely considered America's most influential composer in this century. A writer of popular songs, Gershwin also composed a series of musical comedies for the Broadway stage. His most famous works have become modern American classics, the first successfully to incorporate jazz into forms borrowed from the European tradition. They include the concerto "Rhapsody in Blue" (1924) and the opera "Porgy and Bess" (1935).

Few composers have identified their work so much with American themes and rhythms as Aaron Copland (1900-1991). His work exemplifies the trend of many modern American composers to write music for a wide range of uses—orchestra, movies, radio, recording sessions, schools, colleges. Some of Copland's most widely played concert pieces were written for ballet, such as the suite "Billy the Kid" (1938) and "Appalachian Spring" (1945)

.

Since the 1940s, America's composers have tended to move in very different directions. Some, drawing more directly on traditional influences and popular culture, have gained popularity through their scores for American musicals. Descended from earlier minstrel shows and light opera, the American musical has become a unique form of entertainment combining song, dance, comedy and drama. Among the most successful composer-lyricist teams was Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, writers of "Oklahoma!" (1943) and "Carousel" (1945).

Other American composers have experimented with radically anti-traditional music that most orchestra-going audiences have been slow to accept. Though largely unknown in his lifetime, Charles Ives (1874- 1954) is now recognized as an important early innovator. Many critics rank Elliot Carter (1908-) as the outstanding American composer of his generation. John Cage (1912-) is the most notable composer to leave some elements of his works to unplanned decisions, and also to combine the use of live performers with electronic devices. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Philip Glass (1937-) was among the younger "minimalist" composers who gained wide recognition. Typical of such works is Glass' unconventional opera "Einstein on the Beach."

For most people around the world, however, the sound of American music is the sound of rock and roll. First popularized in the 1950s by white musicians performing mixtures of southern gospel, "country music" and black rhythm and blues, rock-and-roll quickly became a second language for American youth. Elvis Presley (1935-1977) was the early "King of Rock'n'Roll," selling over 500 million records, and the first rock musician to be given near-mythological status by young enthusiasts around the world.

Bob Dylan (1941-) first emerged as the leading singer-songwriter of the folk music explosion in the United States in the early 1960s. His protest songs became anthems of social change, and had tremendous influence on other musicians and writers. The 1960s also saw the rise of the "Motown" sound— irresistible Detroit rhythm and blues. Among its greatest stars is Diana Ross (1944-). Still another southern style that began to gain wider popularity was country music, largely dominated by Nashville-based musicians such as Willie Nelson (1933-). And bluegrass music—a mixture of folk country and blues— also gained a broad audience through the music of Bill Monroe (1911-) and others.

Rock and roll seemed to lose its almost revolutionary momentum in the 1970s and 1980s. Still, some artists stood out, including guitarist-songwriter Bruce Springsteen (1949- ), singer-composer Stevie Wonder (1950-) and singer Michael Jackson (1958-). In 1985 millions of Americans contributed to Live Aid, an effort by top pop and rock musicians to raise money and supplies to combat widespread starvation in Africa.

Reggae, a trancelike variation of rock music with a Caribbean beat, was popularized by Jamaican Bob Marley (1945-1981). And rap music, in which someone talks on one sound track and rhythm is played on another sound track, also became popular in the 1980s. The first hit rap song, "The Message" talked about inner city decay.

MODERN DANCE

Closely linked to the development of modern American music was a new art form—modern dance—that emerged in the early years of this century. Rejecting classical ballet techniques, its innovators sought to express the most basic and immediate expression of human feelings in new styles suited to the modern age.

Among the earliest American champions of this attitude was Isadora Duncan (1878- 1927). Duncan, who stressed pure, unstructured movement, sought to create a dance "that might be the divine expression of the human spirit through the medium of the body's movement."

The main development of American modern dance, however, was to flow from the work of another early dancer and choreographer, Ruth St. Denis (1877-1968). St. Denis and her partner-husband Ted Shawn found inspiration in Eastern thought and philosophy.

St. Denis' company produced the dancers who would create the two dominant views of modern dance. Doris Humphrey (1895-1958) looked outward for inspiration, to society and human conflict. Martha Graham (1893-1991), whose New York-based company has become perhaps the best known in modern dance, stressed the guiding principles of inward-based passion, grounded in the act of breathing. Many of her best-known works, such as "Appalachian Spring" (1945), were produced in collaboration with prominent American composers and artists.

Younger choreographers kept searching for new movements and new methods. Among the leaders was Merce Cunningham (1919-), who introduced improvisation and random patterns in his work. Alvin Ailey (1931-) blazed new trails in his exploration of African dance elements and black music. And, in the 1970s and 1980s, a new generation of dancer- choreographers continued to seek out new ideas. Perhaps the most eclectic was Twyla Tharp (1941-), who has created dance in such varied forms as experimental video ballet, films and Broadway, for her own dance troupe and other companies.

CONNECTIONS

In the United States there is considerable interplay among different art disciplines. This is in the tradition of the MacDowell Colony, where artists, composers and writers explore new ideas away from the everyday cares of the world. Based on a dream of Edward MacDowell, the colony was created by his widow.

Popular projects, programs and events in modern America frequently combine performing arts, music, visual arts and literature. Some of these explorations not only involve all art disciplines, they also draw heavily from science and technology. Lasers, holography (three-dimensional laser imagery), computer graphics, sound synthesis and fiber optics are considered potential tools and materials for a new flourishing of the arts in America.

Suggestions for Further Reading

Ashton, Dore. American Art Since 1945.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Brown, Milton W. and others. American Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Decorative Arts, Photography New York: Abrams, 1979.

DeMille, Agnes. America Dances.

New York: Macmillan, 1983.

Ewen, David.

All the Years of American Popular Music. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1977.

Rockwell, John.

All American Music. Composition in the Late Twentieth Century. New York: Knopf, 1983.

Sherr, Arnold.

Black Popular Music in America. New York: Schirmer Books, 1986.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: AN AMERICAN RECORD

REPUBLIC OF SCIENCE

No country has a monopoly on inventive genius. Any given scientific discovery is likely to be based on the ideas of people from different nations and different times. However, countries can encourage or discourage scientific inquiry and technological development. From its emergence as an independent nation in the 18th century, the United States has encouraged science and invention. It has done this by promoting a free flow of ideas, by encouraging the growth of "useful knowledge," and by welcoming creative people from all over the world.

The United States Constitution itself reflects the desire to encourage scientific creativity. It gives Congress the power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries." This clause formed the basis for the patent and copyright systems, which ensured that inventions and other creative works could not be copied or used without paying some kind of fee to the creator.

The United States of America was born during what is known in Western culture as the Age of Enlightenment. During that period of human history (usually considered to extend from 1680 to 1800), writers, philosophers and statesmen struggled to create "perfect societies" based on reason and logic.

Enlightenment thinkers rejected the superstitions, prejudices and restrictions of the past. They argued that by the use of individual reason, unlimited improvements could be made in human capacities and human happiness. They believed that government was justified only when it served the well-being of the governed. In time, they predicted, a free people would, through the use of reason and logic, wipe out ignorance, poverty, crime and war.

Above all else, Enlightenment philosophers urged the advancement of science—the understanding and use of nature's powers—to improve the human condition. They talked about an ideal "republic of science." In such a republic, reason and logic would reign supreme, ideas would be freely examined and exchanged and useful knowledge would be advanced to benefit all people.

FRANKLIN AND JEFFERSON

Many of the leaders of America's struggle for independence from Britain were strongly influenced by Enlightenment ideas and endorsed the "republic of science" notion. A number of Colonial American farmers educated themselves in Latin—not in order to read ancient Roman or early Church writers—but to read the scientific works of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727). Newton was very popular in Colonial America and many Americans were very optimistic about the role of science in a free society. These included Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and Thomas Jefferson (1743- 1826), who, throughout their lives, participated in and encouraged scientific studies.

From the 1740s on, Franklin knew most of the scientists in the American colonies. He was, in a sense, the unofficial leader of the American scientific community. He also corresponded with many of Western Europe's leading scientists. In this manner, he served as a bridge for scientific information between the Old World and the New World.

By encouraging naturalists to compile information about North America's unique plant and animal life, Franklin encouraged European scientific interest in the continent. Thanks to Franklin, the findings of Pennsylvania botanists John Bartram (1699- 1777) and his son William (1739-1823) were acclaimed by European scientific societies.

To promote scientific research in America and to spread the word of the latest scientific developments in Europe, Franklin helped organize the American Philosophical Society in 1743. This was the first of many societies that have helped advance science and learning in America.

However, Franklin was also a man of action, and in the 1740s he conducted a series of experiments to advance the understanding of electricity. Franklin attended two lecture/demonstrations on electricity in the early 1740s and he became fascinated by the subject. He read about electricity in various European journals, then bought and borrowed some electrical apparatuses.

After many experiments, Franklin concluded that electricity is a power that flows

through some substances—conductors—and not through others—resistors. He also pointed out that some conductors permit a freer flow of electricity than others and if given a choice the electric flow will follow the path of least resistance.

On the basis of experiments and observations, Franklin claimed that lightning is a form of electricity. This had been suggested before, but Franklin was the first to prove it.

Franklin described his experiments in a series of letters to British scientist Peter Collinson. Later these letters were published as a book, Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, which was considered a major contribution to theoretical science at the time.

Based on the knowledge he acquired of electrical discharge paths, Franklin invented the lightning rod as a protective device for homes and public buildings, and he urged members of the Philosophical Society to promote useful knowledge for the benefit of the people. He contributed many useful inventions, including the Pennsylvania stove, bifocal glasses and a four-pane lamp for street lighting. From the beginning then, American science has always had a practical side.

Jefferson also stressed the practical aspects of science. For years, Jefferson and William Bartram exchanged seeds, plants and botanical information in an effort to improve American farming. On his diplomatic trips, Jefferson collected seeds and information about crops in other countries. Then he studied the feasibility of introducing those crops to parts of the United States. He introduced various types of rice, olives and grasses.

SCIENCE IN A MEW NATION

With Franklin and Jefferson, the dividing line between science and technology was often blurred. That was usually not the case in Europe at the time. There, scientists or natural philosophers, as they preferred to call themselves, pursued knowledge for its own sake. They often talked about "true science" as something apart from the concerns of everyday life. They usually left the application of science to mechanics and tradesmen. But there was a wide knowledge gap between the two groups and little effort was made to bridge it.

Early science in America could not afford such luxury. American scientists were very much involved in everyday affairs. They were also mindful of Franklin's advice to promote useful knowledge.

Most American scientists of the late 18th century were involved in the struggle to win American independence and forge a new nation. These scientists included the astronomer David Rittenhouse (1732-1796), the medical scientist Benjamin Rush (1745- 1813), the botanist Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815) and the natural historian Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827).

During the American Revolution, Rittenhouse helped design the defenses of Philadelphia and built telescopes and navigation instruments for the United States military services. After the war, Rittenhouse helped write Pennsylvania's constitution. He also designed road and canal systems for the state. Finally he returned to studying the stars and planets and gained a worldwide reputation in that field.

As Surgeon General, Benjamin Rush saved countless lives of soldiers during the Revolutionary War, by promoting hygiene and public health practices. By pioneering new medical treatments, he also made the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia an example of medical enlightenment for the whole world. After his military service, he established the first free clinic in the U.S.

Though Charles Willson Peale is now best remembered as an artist, he was also a renowned natural historian, inventor, educator and politician. He kept a record of new inventions in America and wrote about them in a series of letters to Thomas Jefferson. He also created Peale's Museum, which housed the young nation's only large collection of North American natural history specimens. Peale excavated the bones of an ancient wooly elephant or mammoth, near West Point, New York. Along with members of his immediate family, he spent three months assembling the skeleton. When it was finished, he devoted a special Mammoth Room to it in his museum.

Peale's Museum was extremely popular with scientists, students and people in general. The museum fostered a broad interest in the plants, animals, gems and minerals of North America. It also started an American tradition of making the knowledge of science interesting and available to the general public. This tradition is still very much alive. There are hundreds of natural history, science, technology and engineering museums in the United States today. The most prominent is the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., established by Congress in 1838, with funds willed to the young United States by an English chemist, James Smithson.

WELCOMING SHORES

Near the end of the 18th century, science in the newly created United States was imbued with a pioneering or frontier spirit. It was also isolated by the broad expanse of the Atlantic Ocean from the mainstreams of scientific thought and research in Europe. Science books and equipment were in short supply in America. American scientists often "invented" products and processes that already existed in Europe.

In addition, the United States was a relatively poor nation. There were neither public nor private funds available for large- scale scientific research and leisurely study. Two American universities—the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University in Massachusetts—had several distinguished scientists on their faculties, but they were not in a position to compete with the long-established, well-endowed universities in Europe.

Despite all that, America had certain advantages and attractions for scientists from other lands. American science was closely linked with the needs and feelings of the people. It was also democratic and free from the restrictive traditions of Europe. Many of the leaders of the new nation were enthusiastic about science and warmly welcomed scientists and technologists from other lands.

One of the first to come was the British chemist, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804). Though Priestley was one of the leading scientists of his day, his work was frequently ridiculed in Britain because his political opinions were at odds with those of the government. So Priestley came to America for as he put it, "the sake of pursuing our common studies without molestation."

Later, Priestley wrote that the United States government "by encouraging all kinds о talents, is far more favorable toward the sciences and the arts than any monarchical government has ever been." He added, "A free people will in due time produce anything useful to mankind."

Priestley was the first of thousands of world-renowned scientists that have come to the United States in search of a free, creative environment. Many, like Priestley, came to escape prejudice and persecution. Their numbers have included the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the mathematician Theodore von Karman (1881- 1963), Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), producer о the world's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction and Vladimir K. Zworykin (1889- 1982), the inventor of the electronic television camera.

Other scientists came to the United State to share in the nation's rapid growth and the opportunity to apply new scientific ideas to practical uses. Alexander Graham Bell (1847- 1922) moved down from Canada to patent an< commercially develop the telephone and also to work on related inventions. Charles P. Steinmetz (1865-1923) came to America for the opportunity to develop new alternating current electrical systems at General Electric. (Steinmetz was also a refugee from persecution.) Later, other scientists came to share in the nation's new, outstanding research facilities. In the early decades of the 20th century, financial resources for the support of scientific research were plentiful and scientists working in the United States could hope for considerable material, as well as intellectual, rewards.

PRACTICAL AMERICANS

No scientific development occurs in a vacuum Scientists are drawn to centers of scientific achievement. There, new ideas breed more new ideas.

Throughout the 19th century, Britain, France and Germany were the leading sources of new ideas in science and mathematics. These new ideas included: Dalton's atomic theory; Humphrey Davy's electrochemistry discoveries; Darwin's theory of biological evolution; Joule's theory of the conservation ol energy; Kelvin's relationships between heat and electricity; Rutherford's theory of the atomic nucleus; Lagrange's celestial mechanic; formulas; Marie and Pierre Curie's studies of radioactivity; Roentgen's discovery of x-rays; and Mendel's ideas on heredity.

The period from 1810 through 1910 was г glorious 100 years for science in Western Europe. Major breakthroughs were made in understanding and, in some cases, controlling events and systems in nature—from the structure of atoms to the movement of stars.

Scientific achievements in the United States during the same period seem pale in comparison to European developments. However, American scientists and technologists were far from idle. Thousands of products that make life easier, safer and more enjoyable for people were developed by

Americans during the 19th century.

In the early part of the century, many developments—particularly in toolmaking, agriculture and construction—were made with little reliance on scientific knowledge and methods.

Many later developments—particularly those involving electricity, magnetism, chemistry, biology and structural mechanics— required a basic understanding of scientific discoveries and principles. This linking of scientific understanding and technological know-how led to a type of applied science for which Americans became renowned.

The most outstanding American applied scientist of the 19th century was Thomas Alva Edison (1897-1931), who is credited with more than a thousand original inventions.

Edison investigated numerous scientific discoveries to see if those discoveries could be put to practical use. In the tradition of Franklin and Jefferson, Edison's primary goal was the adaptation of science to benefit people. Though Joseph Swan built an incandescent electric lamp before Edison, Edison's design was more practical. Both inventors used carbon filaments in a high vacuum; however, Swan's low-resistance filament didn't last nearly so long as Edison's high resistance filaments. Furthermore, Edison's light bulbs could be turned on and off individually while Swan's bulbs could only be used in a system where several lights are turned on or off at the same time.

Edison backed up his incandescent lamp development with the creation of entire electrical generating systems. Within 30 years, his developments put electric lighting into millions of homes.

Another landmark application of scientific ideas to practical uses was provided by the Wright brothers of Dayton, Ohio. In their small bicycle shop, they became fascinated with descriptions of the glider experiments of a German inventor named Otto Lilienthal. Though a leading American scientist of the day said it was impossible, Wilbur and Orville Wright resolved to build a powered flying machine.

The brothers did not just start building a machine. They read everything they could lay their hands on about gliding. They also built a wind tunnel and several glider models to gain a knowledge of air motion and pressure around the plane surfaces. They gained knowledge of the lift and drag of various wing shapes. They studied all aspects of motion in three dimension—pitch, up and down motion of a craft's nose; roll, a banking movement around the craft's axis; and yaw, a left or right movement of the craft. They also studied ways to control these motions and came up with a wing warping system.

Combining scientific knowledge and mechanical skills, the Wright brothers built and flew several gliders. Then on December 17,1903, they flew a powered, controlled, heavier-than-air flying machine.

An even more classic example of applying abstract scientific principles to create a new field of technology was provided by three American physicists in the 20th century.

Drawing on Max Planck's quantum theory and Albert Einstein's explanation of photoelectric phenomena, John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brittain of Bell Laboratories invented the transistor in 1948.

The transistor—a solid-state replacement for the vacuum tube—revolutionized electronics.

When it was invented, the transistor was smaller and required less power than a vacuum tube. But that was just a beginning. With the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the pace of electronic and computer technology was greatly increased. Today, thousands—even millions—of integrated circuits can be placed on silicon chips no bigger than postage stamps. This means that tremendous amounts of electronic circuitry can be packed into small packages. As a result, book-sized computers of the 1980s can outperform room-sized computers of the 1960s.

An American invention that was barely noticed in 1948 has created the computer age. And the progress of that age is changing the way millions of people work, study, conduct business transactions and engage in research.

Computers are products of science and technology that are, in turn, having an enormous impact on science and technology. Mathematical computations and information- processing operations that once required weeks can be performed in minutes through the use of computers. All aspects of basic research, experimentation data gathering, testing and analysis have been improved by computer use.

Beyond the laboratory, computers are streamlining and quickening the operations of factories, farms, foundries, schools, stores, libraries and hospitals. Computers are being used increasingly to aid in medical diagnosis and record keeping. Computers are also revolutionizing the design, manufacture, testing and marketing of new products. Computer- controlled robots are performing more and more production functions. Entire computer- controlled factories, distribution centers and communication networks are likely to appear in the near future as scientists explore the development of advanced thinking machines or artificial intelligence.

Not only are computers being used to develop and manufacture numerous products, they are also increasingly being incorporated into the products. Most cars, trains, ships, appliances, machine tools, weapons, communications equipment, cash registers, toll booths, assembly systems, etc. contain computer circuits.

AMERICAN SCIENCE COMES OF AGE

As in the case of transistor and computer development, Americans have an outstanding record of applied science and technology achievements. From zippers to lasers, Americans have produced more successful inventions than any other people on Earth. But until the second half of the 20th century, Americans were considered far behind Europeans in terms of "pure" science discoveries, concepts and theories.

In terms of basic science achievements, nations are usually judged by the numbers of Nobel Prizes won by their scientists in physics, chemistry and physiology/medicine. The will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896), a Swedish scientist, called for the prizes to be awarded each year for outstanding work in physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine, literature and the promotion of peace. (Economics was added to the list in 1969.)

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in

1901. In that year and for several subsequent years, the winners in the three science categories were Europeans. The first American scientist to win a Nobel Prize was Albert Abraham Michelson (1852-1931). Michelson, who was born and educated in Europe, won the 1909 prize in physics for determining the speed of light.

Five years passed before another American received a Nobel Prize in science. Theodore W. Richards (1868-1928) won the 1914 chemistry prize for determining the atomic weights of many chemical elements.

It was not until 1930 that an American scientist won a Nobel Prize in physiology/medicine. In that year Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) was awarded a prize for his discovery of human blood groups.

During the first half century of Nobel Prizes—from 1901 through 1950—Americans were in a definite minority in all three science categories. This pattern started to change in physics by the late 1930s and in the other two science categories by the late 1940s. From 1950 through 1985, more American scientists have won Nobel Prizes than the scientists of all other nations combined.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

Going into the second half of the 20th century, the strong United States lead in applied science and technology was broadened to encompass many areas of theoretical science. These include nuclear physics, genetics, space exploration and the manipulation of light.

One of the most spectacular—and controversial—achievements of United States science and technology has been the harnessing of nuclear energy. This achievement was based on scientific concepts developed since the beginning of the 20th century. The concepts were provided by scientists of many lands. But the scientific and technological effort needed to turn abstract ideas into the reality of nuclear fission was provided in the United States during the early 1940s. Nuclear fission is the generation of energy by splitting the nuclei of certain atoms.

The idea of nuclear fission can be traced back to the work of Lord Rutherford and Frederick Soddy between 1901 and 1906. The two British scientists studied the makeup of the atomic nucleus and concluded that a great store of energy was locked in each nucleus. Soddy suggested that someday that enormous energy might be released.

Fear that such an atomic war might occur swept through the international scientific community in 1938. Word leaked out that German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann had split a uranium nucleus by bombarding it with subatomic particles. Other nuclear physicists soon realized the significance of this event. Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard concluded that a nuclear chain reaction was achievable. In such a reaction, the splitting of each nucleus would release particles to split other nuclei. The result would be a tremendous release of energy.

Einstein (German/Jewish), Fermi (Italian) and Szilard (Hungarian) had fled to the United States to escape persecution in National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy. And they feared that the Nazis would develop an atomic bomb. In August 1939 Einstein wrote to

President Franklin D. Roosevelt explaining that the element uranium might be turned into a great source of energy. He warned that "extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed."

This warning led to the Manhattan Project—the United States' effort to build an atomic bomb. Milestones in this effort included achievement of the world's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction by Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago in December 1942. Another milestone was the explosion of the first atomic bomb at Trinity Site, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945.

Various successes in developing peaceful uses of the atom—nuclear power, nuclear medicine and a new understanding of physics—have demonstrated man's creative use of this scientific breakthrough, which offers a message of hope to balance against our shared anxiety about the destructive potential of nuclear weapons.

CONTROLLING ENERGY

New developments in science and technology often trigger opposition. The introduction of labor-saving machines in early 19th-century England touched off the Luddite movement. The Luddites were workers who systematically smashed new weaving and knitting machines. The Luddites blamed the machines for a rise in unemployment and a lowering of wages.

Americans have generally been receptive to new technology. Some new developments and ideas, however, have triggered resentment and resistance from some Americans. The introduction of steam and later the introduction of electric lighting provoked some fear and hostility. But the opposition to these technologies was brief and never widespread.

Opposition to nuclear power has been a very different story. The first commercial atomic power plant started operation in Illinois in 1956. At that time it was widely predicted that nuclear power plants would supply nearly all of the nation's electricity by the 1980s. That did not happen. Opposition to the construction of nuclear plants has tended to increase rather than decrease. Safety and environmental considerations have kept construction costs high. As a result, nuclear power has not been able effectively to compete with other power sources in the United States. During the 1970s and 1980s, plans for several power plants were cancelled. Some plants under construction were abandoned and a few existing plants were closed. Much of the American opposition to nuclear power is based on environmental and personal safety concerns. Also Americans have several other more economical sources of energy. On top of that, Americans emotionally link nuclear power to nuclear weapons and to the great scientific effort that produced them both.

Since World War II, Americans have debated the benefits of scientific progress. On the one hand, science and technology have given Americans a high standard of living, greater longevity than ever before and exciting achievements in space exploration. On the other hand, science and technology have produced the dangers of radioactivity, toxic wastes, environmental disruptions and the threat of nuclear weapons.

Americans are responding to these concerns on a variety of fronts, including international arms control negotiations, environmental protection laws, development of long-term disposal sites in remote areas for nuclear wastes and creation of a "Superfund" program to clean up dangerous chemical waste sites that threaten health.

TOWARD THE FUTURE

Each new idea, each new development in science leads to many others. The pace of scientific and technological progress appears to speed up all the time. New inventions appear and quickly make hundreds of existing devices and procedures obsolete. An example is the laser—light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Thirty years ago, the laser was an idea in the mind of Charles H. Townes as he sat on a park bench in Washington, D.C. Today, the intense, directional, coherent (not scrambled) energy of a laser beam is used to⁴ cut through diamonds and steel. As surgical tools, lasers are used to repair damaged eyes and cut away brain tumors. By focusing enormous energy on a very small area, lasers can trigger unusual chemical reactions. Because laser light does not spread and scatter like "ordinary" light, laser beams can carry information over tremendous distances. Laser light has been beamed from the earth to the moon and back again. Laser devices are revolutionizing image making, printing, copying and the recording and playing of music. Studies are underway to use lasers as the ultimate defense against a missile attack.

Two of the most exciting current scientific developments are the human genome project and the superconducting super collider. The human genome project, which will take at least 15 years and cost $3 billion, is an attempt to construct a genetic map of humans by analyzing the chemical composition of each of the 50,000 to 100,000 genes that make up the human body. But even while this enormous undertaking is in progress, scientists are using knowledge about human genes to treat diseases, such as cancer. Scientists hope that additional knowledge about human genes will lead to more effective treatments for many diseases.

The Superconducting Super Collider is an attempt to learn more about the building blocks that make up atoms. Scientists use machines called accelerators to speed protons or electrons (parts of atoms) close to the speed of light. When these particles collide, the scientists study their interactions. The Super Collider, which is expected to be in operation in the late 1990s, will achieve speeds 20 times higher than those possible today. Scientists hope it will allow them to learn more about the composition of the smallest particles of atoms—particles known as "quarks."

New developments can also have dangerous side effects. The development of nuclear power, pesticides and the plastics industry introduced serious hazards into the environment that must be treated. American scientists, policymakers and concerned citizens are now awa^re that new developments can have hidden dangers. Therefore, part of any scientific effort to develop new products includes an effort to detect, prevent or control any hazards.

Science and technology today, in the United States and throughout the world, are creating new worlds. And it is the responsibility of all people, as well as scientists, to make sure that these new worlds represent a genuine improvement in the quality of life for human beings everywhere.

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION

The public's right to know is one of the central principles of American society. The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States resented the strict control that the American colonies' British rulers had imposed over ideas and information they did not like. Instead, these men determined, that the power of knowledge should be placed in the hands of the people.

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance," asserted James Madison, the fourth president and an early proponent of press freedom. "And a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

THE FIRST AMENDMENT

To assure a healthy and uninhibited flow of information, the framers of the new government included press freedom among the basic human rights protected in the new nation's Bill of Rights. These first 10 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States became law in 1791. The First

Amendment says, in part, that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...."

That protection from control by the federal government meant that anyone—rich or poor, regardless of his political or religious belief— could generally publish what he wished. The result, Madison declared, was that the power to decide what was harmful behavior "is in the people over the Government and not in the Government over the people."

Ever since, the First Amendment has served as the conscience and shield of all Americans who reported the news, who wished to make their opinions public, or who desired to influence public opinion. Over the past two centuries, however, the means of

communication—what we now call the "media"—have grown immensely more complex. In Madison's day, the media, created by printing presses, were few and simple— newspapers, pamphlets and books. Today the media also include television radio, films and cable TV. The term "the press" has expanded to refer now to any news operation in any media, not just print. These various organizations are also commonly called the "news media."

This media explosion has created an intricate and instantaneous nerve system shaping the values and culture of American society. News and entertainment are beamed from one end of the American continent to another. The result is that the United States has been tied together more tightly, and the media have helped to reduce regional differences and customs. People all over the country watch the same shows often at the same time. The media bring the American people a common and shared experience—the same news, the same entertainment, the same advertising.

Indeed, Americans are surrounded by information from the time they wake in the morning until the time they sleep at night. A typical office worker, for instance, is awakened by music from an alarm-clock radio. During breakfast, he reads the local newspaper and watches an early morning news show on TV. If he drives to work, he listens to news, music and traffic reports on his car's radio. At his office, he reads business papers and magazines to check on industry developments. Perhaps he helps plan an advertising campaign for his company's product. At home, after dinner, he watches the evening news on TV. Then he flips through the over 20 channels offered by cable TV to find his favorite show or a ballgame or a recent Hollywood movie. In bed, he reads himself to sleep with a magazine or a book.

Our typical office worker, like most Americans, takes all this for granted. Yet this dizzying array of media choices is the product of nearly 300 years of continual information revolution. Technological advances have speeded up the way information is gathered and distributed. Court cases have gradually expanded the media's legal protections. And, because the news media in the United States have been businesses which depend on advertising and sales, owners have always stressed appealing to the widest possible audiences.

HISTORY OF THE MEDIA

America's earliest media audiences were quite small. These were the colonies' upper class and community leaders—the people who could read and who could afford to buy newspapers. The first regular newspaper was the Boston News-letter, a weekly started in 1704 by the city's postmaster, John Campbell. Like most papers of the time, it published shipping information and news from England. Most Americans, out in the fields, rarely saw a newspaper. They depended on travelers or passing townsmen for this news.

When rebellious feelings against Britain began to spread in the 1700s, the first battles were fought in the pages of newspapers and pamphlets. Historians consider the birth of America's free-press tradition to have begun with the 1734 trial of John Peter Zenger. Zenger publisher of the New York Weekly

Journal, had boldly printed stories that attacked and insulted Sir William Cosby, the colony's unpopular royal governor.

Cosby ordered Zenger's arrest on a charge of seditious libel. As the King's representative, royal governors had the power to label any report they disliked—true or not—"libelous," or damaging to the government's reputation and promoting public unrest. Zenger's lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, argued that "the truth of the facts" was reason enough to print a story. The American jury agreed, ruling that Zenger had described Cosby's administration truthfully.

Perhaps one of America's greatest -political journalists was one of its first, Thomas Paine. Paine's stirring writings urging independence made him the most persuasive "media" figure of the American Revolution against Britain in 1776. His pamphlets sold thousands of copies and helped mobilize the rebellion.

By the early 1800s, the United States had entered a period of swift technological progress that would mark the real beginning of "modern media." The inventions of the steamship, the railroad and the telegraph brought communications out of the age of windpower and horses. The high-speed printing press was developed, driving down the cost of printing. Expansion of the educational system taught more Americans to read and sparked their interest in the world.

Publishers realized that a profitable future belonged to cheap newspapers with large readerships and increased advertising. In 1833 a young printer named Benjamin Day launched the New York Sun, the first American paper to sell for a penny. Until then, most papers had cost six cents. Day's paper paid special attention to lively human interest stories and crime. Following Day's lead, the press went from a small upper class readership to mass readership in just a few years.

It was a time that shaped a breed of editors who set the standard for generations of American journalists. Many of these men were hard-headed reformers who openly sided with the common man, opposed slavery and backed expansion of the frontier. They combined idealism with national pride, and their papers became the means by which great masses of new immigrants were taught the American way of life.

Competition for circulation and profits was fierce. The rivalry of two publishers dominated American journalism at the end of the century. The first was Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), a Hungarian immigrant whose Pulitzer prizes have become America's highest newspaper and book honors. His paper§, the St. Louis Post- Dispatch and the New York World, fought corporate greed and government corruption, introduced sports coverage and comics, and entertained the public with an endless series of promotional stunts. By 1886 the World had a circulation of 250,000, making it the most successful newspaper up; to that time.

The second publisher was William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), who took Pulitzer's formula to new highs—and new lows—in the San Francisco Examiner and the New York Journal. Hearst's brand of outrageous sensationalism was dubbed "yellow journalism" after the paper's popular comic strip, "The Yellow Kid." Modern media critics would be horrified at Hearst's coverage of the Spanish-American War over Cuba in 1898. For months before the United States declared war, the Journal stirred public opinion to near hysteria with exaggerations and outright lies When Hearst's artist in Cuba found no horrors to illustrate, Hearst sent back the message: "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

Pulitzer and Hearst symbolized an era of highly personal journalism that faded early ii this century. The pressure for large circulation created one of today's most important press standards: objective, or unbiased, reporting. Newspapers wanted to attract readers of all views, not drive them away with one-sided stories. That meant editors began to make su all sides of a story were represented. Wider access to the telephone helped shape another journalistic tradition: the race to be first with the latest news.

The swing to objective reporting was the key to the emergence of The New York Time; Most journalists consider the Times the nation's most prestigious newspaper. Under Adolph S. Ochs, who bought the paper in 18' the Times established itself as a serious alternative to sensationalist journalism. The paper stressed coverage of important national and international events—a tradition which s continues. Today the Times is used as a major reference tool by American libraries, and is standard reading for diplomats, scholars and government officials.

The New York Times is only one of many daily newspapers that have become signifies shapers of public opinion. Among the most prominent are The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the Christian Science Monitor. The Miami Herald for instance, responded to the needs of its city’s; influx of Spanish-speaking residents by presenting extensive coverage of Latin America and printing a separate Spanish edition. Satellite technology has made possible the first genuinely nationwide newspapers— from the sober, thorough business paper, the Wall Street Journal, to the bright colors and personality orientation of USA Today.

Another recent phenomenon is the proliferation of supermarket tabloids, weekly sold chiefly at grocery store check-out lines. Although they look like newspapers, these publications carry little hard news and stress items about celebrities, human interest stories about children and pets, and diet and health tips. The leading tabloid, the National Enquire) claims a circulation of more than 4,000,000.

The total number of daily newspapers in t United States is shrinking—from 1,748 in 19 to 1,642 in 1988. In 1923, there were 503 communities with more than one daily newspaper. By 1988, only 49 cities had more than one paper. There are several reasons for this trend. The movement of people from cities to suburbs led to the demise of some city dailies and the creation of weekly suburban newspapers that emphasized local community happenings and drew revenues from local advertisers. And members of busy household: in which both husband and wife worked outside the home found they had less time to read and often stopped buying an afternoon newspaper. But the most important reason was probably the growing popularity of television While newspapers are read in 62 million of the nation's 91 million households, 98 percent of all American homes are equipped with at least one television. And a Roper Organization poll found that 65 percent of Americans use television as their primary source of news. Since newspapers cannot report tye news as quickly as radio and television, many papers have changed their emphasis, concentrating on features, personality profiles and in-depth news analysis rather than fast-breaking headline stories.

magazines

The same developments that spurred newspaper circulation—faster printing methods, lower prices, the lure of advertising money—also marked the beginning of mass appeal for American magazines. Several types of magazines emerged. The late 1800s saw the start of opinion journals still influential a century later, including the Atlantic Monthly, the Nation and Harper's.

But the largest readerships were won by magazines that catered to Americans' increasing leisure time and appetite for consumer goods, such as Cosmopolitan, the Ladies Home Journal and the Saturday Evening Post. Publishers were no longer just selling reading material; they were selling readers to advertisers. Because newspapers reached only local audiences, popular magazines attracted advertisers eager to reach a national audience for their products. By the early 1900s, magazines had become major marketing devices.

At the same time, a new breed of newspaper and magazine writer was exposing social corruption. Called "muckrakers," these writers sparked public pressure for government and business reforms. In 1902, for example, McClure's magazine ran a series of articles highly critical of the powerful Standard Oil Company by muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell.

Yet magazines did not truly develop as a powerful shaper of news and public opinion until the 1920s and 1930s, with the start of the news weeklies. The first, Time, was launched in 1923 by Henry Luce (18981967). Intended for people too busy to keep up with a daily newspaper, Time was the first magazine to organize news into separate departments such as national affairs, business and science. Newsweek, using much the same format, was started in 1933. Other prominent news weeklies are Business Week and U.S. News and World Report.

RADIO AND TELEVISION

The 1920s also saw the birth of a new mass medium, radio. By 1928, the United States had three national radio networks—two owned by NBC (the National Broadcasting Company), one by CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System). Though mostly listened to for entertainment, radio's instant, on-the-spot reports of dramatic events drew huge audiences throughout the 1930s and World War II.

Radio also introduced government regulation into the media. Early radio stations went on and off the air and wandered across different frequencies, often blocking other stations and annoying listeners. To resolve the problem, Congress gave the government power to regulate and license broadcasters. From then on, the airwaves—both radio and TV—were considered a scarce national resource, to be operated in the public interest.

After World War II, American homes were invaded by a powerful new force: television.

The idea of seeing "live" shows in the living room was immediately attractive—and the effects are still being measured. TV was developed at a time when Americans were becoming more affluent and more mobile. Traditional family ways were weakening. Watching TV soon became a social ritual. Millions of people set up their activities and lifestyles around TV's program schedule. In fact, in the average American household, the television is watched 7 hours a day.

Television, like radio before it focused on popular entertainment to provide large audiences to advertisers. TV production rapidly became concentrated in three major networks—CBS, NBC and ABC.

A 30-second commercial on network television during prime evening viewing time costs $100,000 or more. A single half-hour show costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce. Viewers also have the option of watching noncommercial public television, which is funded by the federal government, as well as by donations from individuals and corporations.

Television has emerged as the major source from which most Americans get the news. By its nature, TV has proved most effective in covering dramatic, action-filled events—such as man's walk on the moon and the Vietnam War. As TV viewers become direct witnesses of events. The focus of TV news is the network news shows watched by an estimated 60 million Americans every night. These huge audiences have made newscasters such as Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, John Chancellor, Barbara Walters and Peter Jennings into national celebrities, far better known than print journalists.

At first it was thought that the popularity of TV and its advertiser support would cause declining interest in the other media. Instead, TV whetted the public's appetite for information. Book publishers found that TV stimulated reading. Though some big-city newspapers closed others merged and new ones opened in the suburbs. And while a few mass circulation magazines failed, hundreds of specialized magazines sprang up in their place.

Technology continues to change the media. Computers are already revolutionizing the printing process. Computer users also have access to on-line newspapers for up-to-the- minute information on general or specialized subjects. Cables and satellites are expanding TV. Already half of American homes subscribe to cable TV, which broadcasts dozens of channels providing information and entertainment of every kind.

In addition to the 1,140 television stations offering programming in 1990, there were 9,900 cable operating systems serving 44 million subscribers in 27,000 communities. These subscribers paid an average fee of $15 per month to watch programs not offered on commercial channels. One cable network offers news 24 hours a day. Some communities have publicly controlled cable television stations, allowing citizen groups to put on programs.

Still, the long awaited dream of a home completely "wired" with computer and cable TV links is a long way off. Cable TV, for instance, has not provided significantly better programming, only more of the same. The reason, critics say, is economics—the relentless pressure of seeking large audiences in order to attract advertisers.

This pressure for profits has caused concern over one of the most important trends in the

media today: The ownership of the news media, experts say, is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Chains—companies that own two or more newspapers, broadcast stations or other media outlets—are growing larger. They are forcing out independent, often family-owned news media. That means that most American communities are served by news media owned by outsiders.

PUBLIC CONCERNS

Despite enjoying a period of unsurpassed wealth and influence in the 1970s and 1980s, the American media is troubled by rising public dissatisfaction. Critics complain that journalists are unfair, irresponsible or just plain arrogant. They complain that Journalists are always emphasizing the negative, the sensational, and the abnormal rather than the normal. President Reagan's science adviser expressed the irritation of many when he accused the press of "trying to tear down America."

Some observers link the criticism to rising standards in journalism. "The press is more professional, more responsible, more careful, more ethical than it ever has been," said David Shaw, media critic for the Los Angeles Times. "But we are also being far more critical toward other institutions, and people are asking, 'Why don't you criticize yourselves?'" In fact, the rise of ombudsmen (spokesmen for groups with a grievance), "opinion-editorial" pages in newspapers, television time for statements of opinion and media review journals suggest that ways are being found for individuals and groups to present their views. During the early 1980s, a number of organized groups from both sides of the political spectrum were formed to monitor and critique the news media. Political balance in news reporting became an issue of debate and controversy.

Surveys show that the American public—on both sides of the political fence— holds strong opinions about the press. According to a 1984 Gallup poll (survey of public opinion), 46 percent of Americans believe the news media's bias is liberal, while 38 percent said it is conservative. In contrast, most journalists—59 percent— described their political views as "middle of the road."

Reporters are sometimes seen as heroes who expose wrongdoing on the part of the government or big business. In the early 1970s, for example, two young reporters for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, investigated a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic Party in a Washington building known as "the Watergate." Their reporting, along with an investigation by a Congressional committee and a court trial, helped implicate high White House officials in the break-in. Woodward and Bernstein became popular heroes, especially after a film was made about them, and helped restore some glamor to the profession of journalism. Enrollments in journalism schools soared, with most students aspiring to be investigative reporters.

But there is a feeling that the press sometimes goes too far, crossing the fine line between the public's right to know, on the one hand, and the right of individuals to privacy and the right of the government to protect the national security.

In many cases, the courts decide when the

press has overstepped the bounds of its rights. Sometimes the courts decide in favor of the press. For example, in 1971 the government tried to stop the New York Times from publishing a secret study of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers, claiming that publication would damage national security. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that since the government had not proved that the damaged to national security would be so great, the newspapers should be free to publish the information.

One growing pressure on reporters and editors is the risk of being sued. Even though the First Amendment protects the press from government interference, the press does not have complete freedom. There are laws against libel and invasion of privacy, as well as limits on what reporters may do in order to get a story.

Libel is any false and malicious writing or picture that exposes a person to public ridicule or injures his reputation. If a broadcast or published story falsely implies that a private citizen committed a crime or is mentally incompetent, for example, the victim would probably win a libel suit. But Supreme Court decisions have made it much harder for public officials or well-known public figures to prove libel. Such persons must prove not only that the story is wrong, but that the journalist published his story with "actual malice."

The right of privacy is meant to protect individual Americans' peace of mind and security. Journalists cannot barge into people's homes or offices to seek out news and expose their private lives to the public. Even when the facts are true, most news organizations have their own rules and guidelines on such matters. For example, most newspapers do not publish the names of rape victims or of minors accused of crimes.

Americans' right to a fair trial, guaranteed by the Constitution, has provoked many a media battle. Judges have often ordered journalists—many times unsuccessfully—not to publish damaging information about a person on trial. Also, in most states journalists may be jailed for contempt of court for refusing to identify the sources for their story if demanded by a court.

TV newspeople operate under an additional restriction called the Fairness Doctrine. Under this rule, when a station presents one viewpoint on a controversial Issue, the public interest requires the station to give opposing viewpoints a chance to broadcast a reply.

In recent years, more news organizations are settling cases out of court to avoid costly— and embarrassing—legal battles. Editors say that major libel suits which generally ask for millions of dollars in damages, are having a "chilling effect" on investigative reporting. This means that for fear of being involved in a costly libel suit, the reporter or news organization may avoid pursuing a controversial story although revelation of that information might be beneficial to the public. Most affected are small news operations which do not have large profits to finance their defense. Press critics, however, say the chill factor also works the other way—against people who feel they have been wronged by publication of false information about them, but cannot afford to sue.

In short, the United States confronts a classic conflict between two deeply held beliefs: the right to know and the right to privacy and fair treatment. It is not a conflict

that can be resolved with a single formula, but only on a case-by-case basis.

A study released in 1985 by an impartial panel of prominent representatives, journalists and media observers found reasons for optimism. "The press is responding to the invisible hand of public pressure " said the panel, sponsored by the National Chamber of Commerce. "The journalist who has not struggled with...questions of ethics...is increasingly rare today."

Suggestions for Further Reading

Dizard, Wilson P.

The Coming Information Age. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 1984.

Emery, Edwin.

The Press of America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media. 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.I.: Prentice-Hall, 1984.

Goodwin, H. Eugene.

Groping for Ethics in Journalism.

Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1983.

Graber, Doris A., ed. Media Power in Politics. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1984.

Lieberman, Jethro K.

Free Speech, Free Press, and the Law.

New York: Lothrop, 1980.

AMERICAN ECONOMY AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

LAISSEZ-FAIRE

In the mid-1770s, conflict spread in a group of 13 British colonies located along the eastern coast of what is now the United States of America. Over several years, the colonists had become increasingly dissatisfied with Great Britain's rule over the colonies. The colonists were being taxed without having the right to affect the way in which they were governed. Britain dictated the economic development of the colonies, forcing them to serve as a source of raw material for the "mother country" and a market for its manufactured products.

Open warfare broke out in April 1775, and a Declaration of Independence was adopted by the colonists on July 4,1776. British troops were sent to the colonies to put down the revolt. Most of the colonists believed that if Britain defeated them, they would lose the personal freedom they had found in the New World. Individual freedom—political, religious and economic—was so prized by these British citizens who had become American colonists that they were willing to fight a war (1775- 1783) in order to establish an independent nation based upon it.

The Declaration of Independence—written at the beginning of the American Revolution in 1776—and the Constitution—adopted in 1787—reveal the attitudes of late 18th century Americans about government and liberty. They believed everyone should be guaranteed certain Oughts that a government cannot take away. They also believed that the best government is the least government, a phrase which incorporates the ideas of Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Most Americans of that time also believed that people should be able to engage in trade, produce goods, and sell products and services without any governmental interference. This attitude toward economic activity was an important part of their general belief about the role of government.

Before the American Revolution occurred, a group of French thinkers called physiocrats (economists who regarded land as the basis of wealth and taxation) criticized the strong governmental control over trade and other economic activities common in European nations. They argued that merchants should be able to engage in trade without governmental control. Economic freedom was necessary, they argued, to increase a nation's wealth, and government policy in regard to economic activity should be one of "laissez-faire"— allowing individuals (in this case, businesses) to act as they wished.

The ideas of laissez-faire applied to economics appealed greatly to Scottish economist Adam Smith. Using these ideas, Smith began another kind of revolution during the period in which the American colonists were fighting their revolutionary war.

THE WEALTH OF NATIONS

In 1776, the year that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, Smith published one of the most important books in the history of economics. The book's full title is An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations. Most people simply call it The Wealth of Nations. Smith wrote the book after discussing laissez-faire beliefs with some of the physiocrats. Smith's book is an argument in favor of allowing people to engage in trade, manufacturing or other economic activity without unnecessary control or interference from government.

The main argument in The Wealth of Nations might be stated rather simply: People are naturally selfish. When they engage in manufacturing or trade, they do so in order to gain wealth and/or power. This process should not be interfered with because, despite the self- interest of these individuals, their activity is good for all of society. The more goods they make or trade, the more goods people will have. The more people who manufacture and trade, the greater the competition. Competition among manufacturers and merchants helps all people by providing even more goods and probably lower prices. This activity creates jobs and spreads wealth.

Smith concluded that individuals should own private property and be allowed to engage in private economic activity. This would result in greater wealth for all.

Smith accepted the idea that there were some things the government should do. A government is best suited to build canals or roads. A government may find it necessary to put some restrictions on international trade. And, he said, the government must not allow individual businesses to act together to control the production or trade of certain goods, thus creating a monopoly. A monopoly, in Smith's opinion, could be as harmful to the general welfare as governmental control.

Smith's book sets forth the beliefs on which the capitalist economic system is based, although he did not use the word capitalism. His ideas were warmly received by the rising merchant class throughout Europe. The book gave national governments a clear reason to let people engage freely in economic activity.

Smith's economic ideas fit perfectly with American ideas of a new type of government based on such individual rights as those to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." For citizens of the young United States, freedom from economic control seemed to go hand-in-hand with freedom from control of religion, speech and the press. Those who read Smith's book liked the idea that "natural liberty" would result if people were allowed to manufacture goods and to buy and sell them without governmental control. This would happen, Smith wrote, because people, though acting from the selfish desire to enrich themselves, would be led by "an invisible hand" (rationality) to enrich and improve all of society.