쌍둥아빠의 티스토리

President Theodore Roosevelt stands by a globe in this 1905 photograph

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BOB DOUGHTY:  Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.

Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States during the early years of the twentieth century. He was a forceful leader. His national policies led to social reforms and federal protection of nature.

His foreign policy led to greater American involvement in world events.

This week in our series, Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe continue the story of the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.

KAY GALLANT:  In nineteen-oh-three, Panama declared its independence from Colombia. Fifteen days later, Panama and the United States signed a treaty. The treaty gave the United States the right to build a canal across Panama.

To protect the canal, President Roosevelt declared greater responsibility for a wide area around the canal. The greatest responsibility was financial. Roosevelt said the United States would guarantee repayment of loans made to Latin American countries.

He did this to prevent European countries from using the issue of non-payment as an excuse to seize new territory in the Western Hemisphere.

HARRY MONROE:  Some Latin American nations were in serious economic trouble. Venezuela was one.

At that time, Venezuela owed millions of dollars to Britain and Germany. The Venezuelan ruler refused to make payments on the loans. Britain and Germany decided to use force to get the money.

Their ships began blocking Venezuela's ports. When they began shelling coastal areas, President Roosevelt intervened. He urged them to let the international court of arbitration at The Hague settle the dispute.

They agreed. And the blockade of Venezuela ended.

KAY GALLANT:  Less than two years later, a similar financial problem arose in the Dominican Republic. Revolutions and dictatorships there prevented re-payment of foreign loans.

The United States offered a solution. It would take over collection of import taxes at ports in the Dominican Republic. Forty-five percent of the money would be paid to the Dominican government. The other fifty-five percent would be used to repay loans. The Dominican Republic agreed. The plan succeeded.

Some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean questioned the right of the United States to act as policeman for the Western Hemisphere. But none openly opposed President Roosevelt's policy.

HARRY MONROE:  Theodore Roosevelt had become president after the assassination of President William McKinley. He completed the last three years of McKinley's term. Then he was ready to be elected in his own right.

Republican Party leaders, however, were not so sure. Roosevelt had made businessmen angry, because of his attempts to control big companies. But he made voters happy, because of his fight for social reforms.

Roosevelt's only serious competitor for the nomination was a long-time senator and presidential adviser. But the man died before the nominating convention. So, Roosevelt won the nomination easily.

KAY GALLANT:  The Democratic Party, in the past two elections, had nominated a progressive, Congressman William Jennings Bryan, as its candidate. This time, the Democrats chose a more conservative candidate. He was a New York judge, Alton Parker.

Judge Parker had no chance to win the election. Theodore Roosevelt was the best-known man in America. He won easily.

On inauguration day, Roosevelt made a short speech. He said America's capitalist economic system had done much good for the country. But it also had created a crisis in social relations. And the crisis had to be solved. "If we fail," Roosevelt said, "the cause of self-government throughout the world will suffer greatly."

HARRY MONROE:  During his new term in office, President Roosevelt was able to get Congress to approve two major new laws. One was the Hepburn Act. This law gave the Interstate Commerce Commission power to limit how much railroads could charge for transporting goods. The purpose was to keep the cost of railroad transportation reasonable.

The other new law was the Pure Food and Drug Act. This law declared it illegal to make or sell foods and medicines containing harmful chemicals. The purpose was to protect the health of all Americans.

KAY GALLANT:  President Roosevelt's most important foreign policy success came as a result of a war between Russia and Japan.

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A Japanese painting from 1904 showing the Battle of the Yalu River between the forces of Japan and Russia

At that time, Russia occupied Manchuria in northern China. Japan occupied Korea. Japan wanted control of Manchuria. It needed that area's coal and iron ore. Japan also wanted to end any Russian threat to Korea. So, it decided to fight.

Japan's navy easily defeated all the Russian fleets sent to the Pacific. But the two sides continued to fight on land. When both began to run out of money, they accepted President Roosevelt's offer to make peace.

HARRY MONROE:  Roosevelt invited Japanese and Russian diplomats to meet with him in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He told them his greatest hope and prayer was for them to find a just and lasting peace quickly. A quick settlement, however, was not easy.

Japan demanded six hundred million dollars for war damages. It also wanted Sakhalin Island. Russia rejected both demands. It had agreed to give up southern Manchuria. Russia would give up nothing else.

Negotiations lasted many days. President Roosevelt became more and more angry when neither side would compromise. But he remained calm and kept the talks going.

Later, he said: "What I really wanted to do was give an angry shout, jump up, and knock their heads together."

KAY GALLANT:  Finally, Roosevelt made a secret appeal to the Emperor of Japan. He asked the Emperor to drop demands for money and for Sakhalin Island. He warned that Russia was ready to fight again if the peace talks failed.

The Emperor agreed to drop the demand for money. But, he still demanded half of Sakhalin Island. Russia agreed to this compromise. The two sides signed a peace treaty.

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President Roosevelt with representatives of the Russian Czar and the Japanese Emperor

HARRY MONROE:  Theodore Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an end to the Russian-Japanese war. However, his efforts were denounced in Japan. Roosevelt was held responsible for the loss of war damage payments. It was money Japan needed badly.

Anti-American riots broke out in some parts of the country. At the same time, tense relations developed between American citizens and Japanese immigrants in California.

Poor Japanese immigrants were willing to work for low pay. As a result, Americans lost jobs. They protested. Then school officials in San Francisco barred Japanese children from attending school with white children.

President Roosevelt opposed the decision. He asked the officials to lift the ban. In exchange, he agreed to ask Japan to stop its poor farmers and laborers from going to live in America.

Japan said it would. The understanding became known as the Gentleman's Agreement.

KAY GALLANT:  Roosevelt worked hard to improve America's relations with Japan. Yet he made clear that the United States would defend its interests in Asia and the Pacific.

As a warning, he sent a naval force on a voyage around the world. The force included sixteen battleships and twelve thousand men. It was called the Great White Fleet.

The voyage lasted fourteen months. The fleet sailed down the Atlantic coast of South America. It went around the bottom of South America into the Pacific Ocean, then on to Hawaii, Australia, and Japan.

Surprisingly, it received its warmest welcome in Japan.

An American reporter said: "The fleet made a deep and far-reaching impression. It caused the Japanese to understand the great power of the United States, as nothing else could possibly have done."

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A cartoon from Harper's Magazine shows President Roosevelt carrying his "big stick" while trying to end a dispute of European powers over Morocco

President Roosevelt believed this show of American strength prevented war with Japan. "Sending out the fleet," he said, "was the most important thing I did for peace."

HARRY MONROE:  Theodore Roosevelt greatly enjoyed playing the part of peace-maker. After successfully ending the war between Russia and Japan, he was asked to settle another international dispute. At issue was control over Morocco.

That will be our story next week.

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BOB DOUGHTY:  Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and images at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English.

Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.

A rice farmer in Laguna province, in the Philippines

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Advice on how much fertilizer to use will soon be just a phone call away for rice farmers in the Philippines.

The Philippine Department of Agriculture and the International Rice Research Institute plan to launch a free service next month.

Farmers will call a number and a recorded voice will ask them simple questions in Tagalog or other languages including English.

RECORDED VOICE: "Welcome. This is the nutrient manager for rice. Answer a statement by pressing the appropriate number on your phone."

For example, to get fertilizer guidelines for the wet season, they press one. For the dry season, they press two.

Farmers will be asked about the size of their field and how many bags of rice it produced last year.

What about natural sources of fertilizer? Does the farmer return rice straw to the field? Is the field near a lake or river that floods, or in a low area collecting soil and other material from nearby hills?

About ten minutes later the farmer will get a text message. The message will advise what kind of fertilizer to use and how much. The grower will also get suggestions about when to plant and harvest the rice.

Roland Buresh at the International Rice Research Institute helped developed the system. Mr. Buresh says fertilizer represents about one-fifth of the cost of inputs for rice production.

Hesays the service could help farmers in the Philippines increase their yields and their profits.

ROLAND BURESH: "If we in a year can be reaching just five thousand farmers and their fields can be increasing the yield by half a ton per hectare, we could be looking at profitabilities for those farmers in the range of half a million dollars."

Danielle Nierenberg at the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research group, says the system could also help reduce pollution.

DANIELLE NIERENBERG: "In the Philippines and all over Asia, fertilizer has been overused and misused because no one explains to them how much they need or how to use it."

The technology could also be copied for crops in other places. Danielle Nierenberg has been traveling across sub-Saharan Africa. She says the cost of a cell phone there is low enough that most farmers have their own or borrow someone else's.

In Zambia, for example, farmers without bank accounts can use their phones to buy seeds and fertilizers. They can also get information on how much their crop is selling for in city markets.

DANIELLE NIERENBERG: "They can decide whether they want to travel all the way from their village to the city, because sometimes farmers get there and prices are too low."

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with Steve Baragona. Tell us what your mobile phone means to you as a farm tool. You can post comments at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Bob Doughty.

Photo: AP

Sunrise over Nantucket Sound as seen from Popponesset Beach in Mashpee, Massachusetts, last October

MARIO RITTER: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Mario Ritter. Many Americans take their summer vacations in August. President Obama and his family are among them. This past weekend the first family visited the Florida Gulf coast. The president wants to support tourism in the area after the BP oil spill.

On Thursday, the first family will begin a ten-day vacation on Martha's Vineyard, where they spent part of last summer.

AP

President Obama stops at a store while on vacation on Martha's Vineyard in August 2009

Today we tell about Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, two islands off the coast of Massachusetts that are popular places for summer vacations.

Both islands are known for their sailing and sunsets and fun things to do. Martha's Vineyard is also known for its tall cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The island is about thirteen kilometers off the coast and is less than two hundred sixty square kilometers.

Homes designed like those of earlier times line the streets of Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. These are the major towns on Martha's Vineyard.

For most of the year, the population of Martha's Vineyard is about fifteen thousand. During the summer, more than one hundred thousand people crowd the island. In addition to the Obamas, you might see some Hollywood stars and other rich and famous people.

Some people arrive by boat, including a ship that carries passengers and cars. Others come by plane. Many visitors return year after year. Now, we continue our story with Shirley Griffith and Rich Kleinfeldt as your travel guides.

RICH KLEINFELDT: The towns and the quieter country areas of Martha's Vineyard all offer places to stay. Small hotels and homes for visitors on the island may not cost much. Other hotels cost hundreds of dollars per night. Some people save money by preparing their own food. Others eat in the many restaurants on the island.

Hungry visitors like the seafood at several famous eating places like the Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven. And they can stop into small stores that sell sweets like ice cream and fudge candy.

During warm weather the Vineyard is a good place for many different activities. People can play golf or catch fish. They can ride in sailboats or motor boats. They can water ski and swim. They can take quiet walks along sandy beaches and among the thick green trees. They can take pictures of birds found around small areas of fresh water or on the old stone walls surrounding many farms.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Many families with children spend their summer holidays in Martha's Vineyard. One of the popular places for families is the Flying Horses Carousel in Oak Bluffs. It is the oldest continually operated merry-go-round ride in the United States. The colorful wood horses that turn in a circle were created in eighteen seventy-six.

One of the best places for children and adults to swim is the Joseph A. Sylvia state beach. The water there is warmer and calmer than at some of the other Vineyard beaches.

Families also enjoy the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary where they can observe much of the island wildlife. People can walk through more than nine kilometers of fields, trees and wetlands to learn about the plants and animals on the island.

Almost twenty percent of the land on Martha's Vineyard is protected from development. There are other wildlife areas to explore. A flat-topped boat called the On-Time Ferry takes people and cars to a nearby small island, Chappaquiddick.

Chappaquiddick has a white sand beach at the Cape Poge Wildlife Preserve. Many small birds make their homes in the grass on the edge of the sand.

RICH KLEINFELDT: Back on Martha's Vineyard, visitors sit on the beach and on rocks in the fishing village of Menemsha to watch the sunsets. As the sun goes down in the sky it paints yellow, red, and other colors on the clouds. Some people offer a kind of ceremony as they watch the sun disappear into the seas.

Fishing boats rise and fall with the waves. Bells sound to help guide the boats to land as darkness covers the water.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Many people who live all year on the island make their money from the sea. Some of the fishermen and farmers on the island today are related to the Europeans who settled the land centuries ago.

Historians say British mapmaker Bartholomew Gosnold first made a map of the island for the rulers of England in sixteen-oh-two. Gosnold is said to have named the island to honor his baby daughter, Martha.

The Vineyard part of the name came from the many wild grape vines Gosnold found on the island. Later, King Charles of England gave the island to businessman Thomas Mayhew of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The son of Thomas Mayhew established the first European settlement on the island in sixteen forty-two at Edgartown. The Wampanoag Indians taught the settlers to kill whales.

Men in Edgartown and Vineyard Haven earned their money by killing whales until the middle of the nineteenth century. Then, after the Civil War, visitors began to provide most of the islanders' money.

In eighteen thirty-five, the Methodist Church held a group camp meeting in what was to become the town of Oak Bluffs. Some of the campers stayed on and built small homes.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, ships from the American mainland began bringing visitors to the island. Big hotels were built in the town near the edge of the water. Martha's Vineyard was on its way to becoming the visitors' center that it is today.

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RICH KLEINFELDT: Many summer visitors also travel to Nantucket, another island in the Atlantic near Massachusetts. They like this island for its beaches, its open land and its trees.

Nantucket is smaller than Martha's Vineyard. It is about fifty kilometers from the Massachusetts coast. Its distance from the mainland causes some Nantucket citizens to say they are true islanders. The only town on Nantucket Island also is called Nantucket.

Artists often paint its waterfront and the small stores along it. But many visitors say the most interesting part of the town is the area of homes. The island is known for its small gray houses with roses growing on them. Signs on some of the houses say they were built as long ago as the seventeenth century.

The public may enter fourteen historic homes now open as museums. Another museum, the Museum of Nantucket History, helps newly arrived mainlanders learn about the land and history of the island.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Humans are not the only visitors to Nantucket. More than three hundred fifty kinds of birds visit the island each summer. So people who like to watch birds return year after year.

Nature in general appeals to Nantucket visitors. Many plants and flowers grow wild in open areas of the island. Farmers also grow several kinds of berry fruits. Cranberries are a leading crop. Some people visit Nantucket in the autumn to watch the harvests of the red berries.

People who visit Nantucket enjoy water sports, walking and bicycle riding. They also catch fish for pleasure. Some Nantucket citizens earn money by fishing. Earning their living from the sea comes naturally to people who live on the island.

At one time, hunting for whales was the main job of people on Nantucket, just as it was on Martha's Vineyard.

RICH KLEINFELDT: England gave Nantucket to Thomas Macy in sixteen fifty-nine. Macy made an agreement with the Wampanoag Indians who lived there. Then he sold most of the land to shareholders. Settlers farmed the land. But farming on Nantucket did not succeed very well because the ground was so full of sand.

In sixteen ninety an expert from the mainland taught sailors to catch small whales from boats very close to the land. Years later, strong winds forced a whaling boat further into the ocean. Sailors on that boat caught a sperm whale. That whale provided highly sought oil. Soon the Nantucket sailors were catching many sperm whales.

That accidental event made Nantucket a whaling center. However, whales in the seas near Nantucket died out over time. Nineteenth century sailors from the island had to travel for years to catch whales.

Luckily, visitors had begun to provide earnings for Nantucket by the eighteen seventies. But it was not until the nineteen sixties that providing for visitors became the major industry on Nantucket.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Visitors today to both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard enjoy almost everything about the islands -- except other visitors. The crowds during the warm season can mean heavy traffic and long lines for services.

Yet, most visitors to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket really enjoy their holidays there. They often say they feel they are escaping from the problems of daily life. And they leave with peaceful memories of watching the red sun disappear into the dark ocean waters around the islands.

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MARIO RITTER: Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. Shirley Griffith and Rich Kleinfeldt were the announcers. Tell us about your summer vacation. You can comment on our website, voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Mario Ritter. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky, her longtime boyfriend, at their wedding on July 31 in Rhinebeck, New York

KATHERINE COLE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Katherine Cole.

MARIO RITTER: And I'm Mario Ritter. This week -- weddings in America.

(MUSIC: "Halleujah Chorus" / Handel's "Messiah")

KATHERINE COLE: A very special wedding took place on July thirty-first in a small town in New York State. Chelsea Clinton married Marc Mezvinsky.

Chelsea is the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and the current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Marc is the son of two former Democratic members of Congress -- Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Edward Mezvinsky.

The Clintons tried to keep the wedding top secret. Guests were not told where the wedding was to be held until a week before the event.

But word leaked out that it was to take place in the town of Rhinebeck, about a two-hour drive from New York City.

People and businesses in the town who were involved in the wedding were not permitted to talk about it. Reporters were not permitted to go near the wedding. Planes and news helicopters were not permitted to fly over it.

About four hundred people reportedly attended the wedding. It was held in a huge tent on the grounds of a famous house called Astor Courts overlooking the Hudson River.

It included traditions from both religions of the bride and groom. Ms. Clinton is Methodist and Mr. Mezvinsky is Jewish.

The wedding got an extreme amount of attention from the media. Some called it the wedding of the year – or the decade – or the century.

(MUSIC: "Here Comes the Bride")

MARIO RITTER: But many other weddings are taking place in the United States this summer. The most popular months are June, July and August.

Each year, more than two million weddings take place in the United States. More than seventy billion dollars is spent on those weddings. And that does not include honeymoon travel for the newlyweds.

Some people have big weddings and invite everyone they know. Some have small, simple weddings and invite only their closest friends and family members. And some elope. They get married first and tell people later.

KATHERINE COLE: Spending on weddings has reportedly dropped about ten percent in recent years because of the economic recession. Still, the average cost of a wedding is more than twenty thousand dollars.

However, people can find many ways to save money on their weddings. For example, they invite fewer people. Or they buy flowers from a local farmer's market instead of a professional florist. The bride may buy a used gown rather than paying thousands of dollars for a new one.

Traditionally the bride's parents pay for the wedding. But Americans now get married at an older age than they once did. So working couples might pay for some or all of the wedding themselves.

Or the two families share the costs. Many parents of brides think this is a wonderful idea.

MARIO RITTER: Many couples plan their weddings themselves. But some hire a wedding planner to organize everything for them. The planner helps the bride find a wedding dress as well as dresses for her bridesmaids.

The planner helps find a place for the reception after the ceremony. And the planner organizes all the details for the celebration, from the flowers to the food to the entertainment.

Finally, during the ceremony and reception, the planner makes sure that everything takes place as planned.

(MUSIC: "Chapel of Love" / Dixie Cups)

KATHERINE COLE: Some couples have a religious ceremony. Others have a civil wedding before a judge or some other official. And some have both.

During a wedding, the couple might read special vows or promises that they have written for each other.

Many ceremonies share common customs. For example, the bride may wear a long white dress and have a white veil over her face.

An old tradition says brides should wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. These four things are supposed to bring good luck.

The groom traditionally wears a tuxedo. Picture a nervous penguin if the suit is black and the shirt is white.

Usually the bride's father or another relative walks her down the aisle and presents her to the groom. Sometimes both parents share this tradition.

MARIO RITTER: Different cultures have their own traditions. For example, African-American weddings may include "jumping the broom." This is an old tradition where couples jump over a broomstick laid on the ground.

America is known as a nation of immigrants. Each group brings its own wedding customs and traditions to the mix. But one tradition at most weddings is music.

There might be recorded dance music or a live band at the reception.

At the wedding itself, many couples hire small chamber groups to play classical music before and at the end of the ceremony. One musical tradition is "Trumpet Voluntary."

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Another classical favorite at weddings is "Sheep May Safely Graze" by Johann Sebastian Bach.

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During the reception, the guests dance to popular music, like this song.

(MUSIC: "I Gotta Feeling" / Black Eyed Peas)

KATHERINE COLE: Some couples have a "destination wedding." Think of it as a wedding and honeymoon all in one. The bride and groom invite a small group of guests to travel someplace special for the ceremony.

Some couples want to get married in a famous place like Disneyland or Las Vegas. Others choose a place that will not be too far for all the guests to travel.

Or they choose someplace where many other people have gotten married. Many couples get married on the beach in Hawaii, in Mexico or an island in the Caribbean.

With many weddings, the celebration lasts three days. Many of the guests are invited to a dinner on the night before the wedding. Then there is the reception after the ceremony, and often another meal the following morning.

(MUSIC: "Wedding March")

MARIO RITTER: Thanks to the Internet, couples can make a lot of their wedding preparations online. One popular website, for example, is theknot.com. It provides information and tools to plan a wedding -- from dresses to invitations to cakes.

Technology has also made it easier for other people to decide what to give the couple for a wedding gift. The future newlyweds can go to stores and choose the gifts they would like to receive. The information is entered into a list on a wedding registry.

Friends and relatives do not even have to go to the store to choose a gift from the registry. They can order online. Gift registries help the bride and groom get things they want and avoid things they do not want -- like three of the same gift.

Some couples planning a wedding create their own websites so they can provide information to the people they invite.

KATHERINE COLE: With all the planning that goes into some weddings, it is easy to forget what the event is all about.

A minister in Maryland advises couples to remember one thing. The wedding is over quickly, but the feelings for each other have to last a lifetime.

(MUSIC: "At Last" / Etta James)

MARIO RITTER: Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and Shelley Gollust and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Mario Ritter.

KATHERINE COLE: And I’m Katherine Cole. Tell us about wedding traditions where you are. Go to voaspecialenglish.com or post your comments on Facebook or Twitter at VOA Learning English. You can also find transcripts and MP3s of our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, the website WikiLeaks published more than seventy-five thousand American military documents on the war in Afghanistan. These documents from the Army and Marine Corps included secret reports from the past six years.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the problems they describe are not new. But he says their release could harm troops and damage American relationships in that part of the world.

He says intelligence sources and methods will become known, and Afghans who have helped American forces may now be in danger.

AP

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen at the Pentagon on Thursday

ROBERT GATES: "Will people trust us? Will people whose lives are on the line trust us to keep their identities secret? Will other governments trust us to keep their documents and their intelligence secret?"

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, criticized the Australian-born founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

MICHAEL MULLEN: "Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing. But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family."

In London, Mr. Assange said WikiLeaks is still examining fifteen thousand more documents. He says the released documents do not include any top-secret reports or names of informants or information like troop movements.

AP

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at a press conference in London on Monday

JULIAN ASSANGE: " This material doesn't just reveal abuses, this material describes the past six years of war, every major attack that resulted in someone being detained or someone being killed."

WikiLeaks is a nonprofit organization that publishes documents from governments and businesses. It released the military documents on Sunday. It gave early copies to three news organizations in the United States, Germany and Britain.

The White House is urging WikiLeaks not to not publish any more classified documents about the Afghan war.

In April, the site posted video of an American helicopter strike in Iraq in two thousand seven.  That attack killed two Iraqis working for the Reuters news agency.

An American soldier is charged with releasing that video. Army Private Bradley Manning has also come under interest in the latest release of documents.

AFP

Afghan War Diary on WikiLeaks

Some of the documents suggest that members of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency are helping insurgent groups in Afghanistan.

Pakistan denies that. And Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says: "These are not new allegations."

JOHN KERRY: "We have been wrestling with these allegations, and we have made some progress."

But a vote in Congress this week showed weakening support for President Obama's war policy among members of his own party.

More than one hundred Democrats in the House of Representatives voted against an emergency spending measure. It included thirty-three billion dollars to send more troops to Afghanistan.

But the bill passed with strong Republican support. The president requested the money in February and the Senate agreed in May.

AP

U.S. Marines south of Kabul in Afghanistan

Democrat David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, explained why he could not support the measure.

DAVID OBEY: "Military experts tell us that it could take up to ten more years to achieve any acceptable outcome in Afghanistan. We have already been there nine years. I believe that is too high a price to pay."

Sixty-six deaths made July the deadliest month yet for American troops in Afghanistan.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Katherine Cole.

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Includes reporting by Jennifer Glasse, Sean Maroney, Suzanne Presto, Cindy Saine, Robert Raffaele and Dan Robinson

Lanny Rundell of Winnsboro, Louisiana. and his grandson Cole Uffman take a rest on their plane last year at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

One of the largest air shows in the United States is also one of the largest trade shows in the aircraft industry. AirVenture is taking place this week at an airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Ron Wagner is from the Experimental Aircraft Association, which holds the event each year.

RON WAGNER: "Nearly every major manufacturer is represented and a lot of minor, smaller ones."

Visitors can find everything from old passenger planes to new unmanned aircraft, like the Predator drone.

But Ron Wagner says the spirit of the event is best represented by the pilots and engineers who build their own aircraft.

RON WAGNER: "Much of the modern innovation has come from the home builder community. We are really and truly very fortunate here in the United States. We have a lot of freedom to build and design airplanes for our own use and build them and fly them."

AirVenture ends Sunday in the American Midwest. This year there is greater interest in electric-powered aircraft.

But if you are more interested in fast cars, here is a new turn in the world of motorsports.

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Suna Aweidah

Members of the Speed Sisters

The Speed Sisters are a racing a team of eight Palestinian women in the West Bank. The team is a dream come true for Suna Aweidah, the captain.

But not everyone was happy to see her in the driver's seat of the BMW race car she drives.

She says her family thought motor racing was not safe and mainly for men. But she says there is no sport that is especially for men or especially for women.

SUNA AWEIDAH: "I think that driving -- many of the people think that driving is just for men. I don't think that. I think that driving is driving for women, for men. It's a sport. And we can compete [with] men in all kinds of sports."

In June, the Speed Sisters became the first all-female racing team to compete in the Speed Test, a popular race in the West Bank. They faced some mechanical problems. But one of them finished in the top ten.

The team includes Muslims and Christians, mothers, a librarian, a business student and a woman who competed in a beauty pageant. Two of the drivers were born into racing families.

The Speed Sisters received money from the British Consulate in Jerusalem to buy a race car. They also received driving lessons and guidance from two British women in motorsports, Helen Elstrop and Sue Sanders.

Ms. Sanders says she knew right away they had the drive to succeed.

SUE SANDERS: "When Suna particularly said to me 'I really want to be best,' it was just such an instant affinity. And it really didn't matter whether we had the same language or the same culture, but we actually had the same passion and the same desires to achieve things."

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, with reporting by Kane Farabaugh and Leslie Hollis. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

The Battle of Manila in 1899 help push public opinion in America toward taking possession of the Philippines

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

The war between the United States and Spain in eighteen ninety-eight was one of the shortest in American history. The fighting lasted about three months.

Yet that short war led to long-term changes for America. Victory made the United States an increasingly important world power.

This week in our series, Larry West and Shep O’Neal tell about those developments.

LARRY WEST: The United States received several of Spain's island colonies as part of the peace agreement. The most important was the Philippines.

Many Americans thought the United States should not have overseas territories. But President William McKinley thought the Philippines were unprepared for independence. He decided to keep the islands and prepare the people for self-government in the future.

A Filipino nationalist group led by Emilio Aguinaldo rejected American control. Aguinaldo declared the formation of a Philippine republic. And he started a guerrilla war against the occupying forces.

SHEP O'NEAL: The rebellion in the Philippines became a major issue in America's presidential election of nineteen hundred.

The Republican Party renominated William McKinley as president. And it nominated a hero of the Spanish-American War, New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, as vice president. The Democratic Party, for the second time, nominated Congressman William Jennings Bryan as president. It nominated a former vice president, Adlai Stevenson, as vice president again.

LARRY WEST: William Jennings Bryan campaigned against the American takeover of the Philippines. He received support from a new group, the Anti-Imperialist League. Members included leading American politicians, businessmen, and writers.

President McKinley did not campaign much. He let vice presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt do it. Roosevelt spoke of America's success as a new economic and political power in the world. He said the Republican Party was responsible.

The majority of voters liked what Roosevelt said. They elected the Republican candidates.

SHEP O'NEAL: The Republican victory destroyed the hopes of many nationalists in the Philippines. With William McKinley in the White House again, they saw little chance of gaining independence. Nationalist leader Emilio Aguinaldo, however, refused to surrender. As long as he remained free, the guerrilla war would continue.

For months, American forces tried without success to find him. Finally, with the help of a tribe of Filipino mercenary soldiers called the Maccabebe Scouts, they captured him. Aguinaldo signed an agreement to support the United States.

With this agreement, the rebellion ended on the island of Luzon. But it continued for more than a year in the southern Philippines. Hostilities ended officially on July fourth, nineteen-oh-two.

LARRY WEST: American occupation of the Philippines made the United States a major power in the Far East. As such, it began to develop new policies toward Asia. Especially a new policy toward China.

Americans had been trading with China for years, but not heavily. As the American economy grew, however, businessmen saw China -- with a population of four hundred million people -- as a great market for American products.

Other countries were interested in this market, too. Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia all claimed special rights in parts of China. They began to divide the country into areas called spheres of influence. It seemed these areas could become foreign colonies. Then the United States would be cut off from trading directly with China.

To prevent that from happening, American Secretary of State John Hay proposed what became known as the "Open Door" policy.

SHEP O'NEAL: Secretary Hay asked the nations involved to agree to equal trading rights for all countries in all parts of China. No nation, he said, should interfere with the rights or powers of any other nation in China.

No one welcomed the proposal. But no one rejected it, either. Most of the nations involved said they agreed with the idea. But they said they could not approve it unless everyone else did.

Secretary Hay refused to wait for them to act. So in May, nineteen hundred, he announced that all the nations involved had given their approval to the "Open Door" policy.

The new policy was tested very soon. Within a month of Hay's announcement, violence broke out against foreigners in China.

LARRY WEST: The attacks were led by a secret group called Righteous, Harmonious Fists. Foreigners called its members Boxers.

Boxers hated all foreign influence in China. They organized in areas where foreign influence was strongest. They killed Christian missionaries and Chinese who had accepted the Christian religion. They also destroyed foreign industries, especially railroads.

The Chinese government in Beijing supported the Boxer Rebellion. It permitted the Boxers to occupy the capital.

The rebellion lasted about two months. It ended when an allied force of American, British, French, German and Japanese soldiers reached Beijing and ended the Boxer occupation.

SHEP O'NEAL: The foreign powers began to negotiate with China on paying for damages. The United States was worried about the results. It believed some of the nations involved would use the Boxer Rebellion as a way to gain more control over Chinese territory.

Secretary of State Hay quickly announced America's policy on the issue. The United States, he said, wanted a settlement which would bring peace and safety to China. The settlement must protect China's territorial rights so it would not be divided into foreign colonies.

Britain and Germany agreed. With their help, Secretary Hay got the others to accept money -- not territory -- as payment for damages.

The final settlement forced China to pay three hundred thirty-three million dollars. The United States used some of its share to pay for the education of Chinese students in America.

LARRY WEST: The results of the Boxer Rebellion and the Spanish-American War made clear that the new century would have a new world power: the United States. And this new power had a president with the political skills to do the job: William McKinley.

In September, nineteen-oh-one, President McKinley made a major foreign policy speech at the Pan-American Fair in Buffalo, New York. He spoke about the importance and the promise of America's new position in the world.

The next day, President McKinley went to the fair's temple of music. He planned to spend several hours meeting the public and shaking hands.

SHEP O'NEAL: A young man waited in line to see him. When the young man stepped in front of McKinley, McKinley reached out to shake his hand. Two shots rang out from a gun the man had hidden under a cloth. One of the bullets struck McKinley in the stomach.

The president was taken to an emergency hospital on the fairgrounds. He was not conscious. The bullet had damaged his stomach, pancreas, and one kidney. But doctors did not believe he was in danger of dying.

LARRY WEST: The man who shot McKinley was Leon Czolgosz.

Czolgosz was an anarchist. He believed all rulers were enemies of the people. He believed the people had the right to kill them.

Czolgosz also was mentally ill. He had tried to join several anarchist groups. They refused to accept him, however, because of his mental condition.

After shooting President McKinley, Czolgosz explained why he had done it. He said it was not right for one man to receive so much public honor, while he received none.

SHEP O'NEAL: For two days, the president remained in a coma. Then his condition changed. He regained consciousness and was able to talk. He rested and became stronger.

Then the president's condition changed again. An infection developed in his wound. It spread throughout his body. In another few days, he was dead.

LARRY WEST: Vice President Roosevelt hurried to Buffalo. He went to the house where the president's body lay. Then he went to another house to be sworn in as president. He was forty-two years old -- the youngest man ever to hold the office.

Roosevelt declared that the administration would go on as before. "It is my aim," he said, "to continue unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace, the prosperity, and the honor of our beloved country."

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ANNOUNCER: Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Larry West and Shep O’Neal. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and images at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.

Welcome to American Mosaic in VOA Special English.

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I’m Mario Ritter.

Today: Some new music from the West Coast band Wavves.

A question about a colorful bridge in Northern California.

And a mystery from the Old West concerning empty graves, a faraway homeland and long-forgotten papers.

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Chinese Immigrants in the Old West

MARIO RITTER: This next story is about emptied burial places and an unmet longing for home. It begins with a box of newly discovered documents about Chinese immigrants in the Old American West. Bob Doughty has more.

BOB DOUGHTY: The documents were given to a public radio station in Portland, Oregon by someone who did not want to be identified. The documents list names, dates and places. The names are of dead Chinese immigrant workers. Most died around one hundred years ago.

The information leads to a Chinese burial place in John Day, Oregon, where workers and miners were buried. Christina Sweet works at the Kam Wah Chung State Historic Site. It shows how Chinese communities developed all over the American West more than a century ago. They grew near mining areas and fish processing centers. Now, however, most signs of the towns have disappeared.

The records also lead to a Chinese cemetery in Baker City, Oregon. However, few Chinese immigrants are still buried there. Sixty-two years ago most of the remains were dug up and shipped back to China for reburial. This was so that families could visit the graves. And to honor the traditional Chinese belief that the spirits of the dead could protect the living.

Chinese groups organized the return of Chinese remains across the West. The newly recovered documents tell about two such campaigns of return. In nineteen twenty-eight, the remains of about six hundred Chinese immigrants were shipped home. After World War Two, about six hundred more were sent back.

Rebecca Liu teaches Chinese language classes for the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. That group was responsible for raising money for the returns. Ms Liu found records for the last big campaign in Portland. She says the organization would send a request to every city and Chinese community in Oregon. She says everyone would give a few dollars.

But things went wrong with the process. A wrong body was dug up. A shipping agent was accused of wrongdoing. But the biggest problem was the civil war in China. The last shipment of remains was sent to China in nineteen forty-nine.

Ivy Lin is a documentary film maker in Portland. She wanted to know what happened to the final remains. Her search turned into a movie called “Come Together Home.”

The carefully packed box of bones was sent to a hospital in Hong Kong. But Ms. Lin said the Chinese Communist Party had closed the borders. She says the bones from the nineteen forty-nine shipment remain in Hong Kong. And Chinese people outside the country stopped sending home their dead.

Golden Gate Bridge

MARIO RITTER: Several listeners have asked about the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. It is one of the world’s most beautiful bridges. It is also one of the most visited places in the world. Vehicles cross the bridge an average of forty-one million times each year. More than one billion eight hundred million vehicles have used the bridge since it opened more than seventy years ago.

The bridge has always been painted “International Orange” because that color went well with the natural surroundings. The color also is easier to see in the heavy fog that often covers the area. But the Golden Gate Bridge was not named for its orange color. It was named for the body of water that it crosses, the Golden Gate Strait.

The Golden Gate Strait is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate Bridge links the city of San Francisco with Marin County, California.

Planning for the bridge began in the nineteen twenties when the area around San Francisco was growing. People living in the area needed another way to get to the city besides the small ferry boats.

Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer for the project. Work began in nineteen thirty-three. Mister Strauss demanded the strongest safety protections in the history of bridge building. These included the first use of “hard hats” to protect the workers’ heads and special glasses to protect their eyes.

A special safety net was suspended under the bridge. This net saved the lives of nineteen men during the construction. However,eleven other workers were killed when they fell from the bridge through the net. Still, this was a new safety record for the time.

The Golden Gate Bridge opened in nineteen thirty-seven. It extends one thousand two hundred eighty meters across the water. The total length is two thousand seven hundred thirty-seven meters. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world until nineteen sixty-four. That is when the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened in New York City. Today, the Golden Gate Bridge is the ninth longest suspension bridge in the world.

The chief engineer, Joseph Strauss, wrote a poem called “The Mighty Task is Done” after the Golden Gate Bridge was completed. It is written on the bridge. Here is how the poem begins:

At last the mighty task is done;

Resplendent in the western sun

The Bridge looms mountain high;

Its titan piers grip ocean floor,

Its great steel arms link shore with shore,

Its towers pierce the sky.

Wavves / "King of the Beach"

MARIO RITTER: Musician Nathan Williams formed Wavves in San Diego, California in two thousand eight. He has released an album every year. But the latest recording, “King of the Beach,” is very different. Fritzi Bodenheimer has more on Wavves and the new album.

FRITZI BODENHEIMER: “King of the Beach” represents a new sound for Wavves. The guitars are quieter and the words are often understandable. This is partly because “King of the Beach” is the first Wavves album made in a real studio.

Nathan Williams had some concerns about this. He said he was excited but also nervous. He worried that producer Dennis Herring might have too much control over the final sound of the songs.

But Williams says the studio process just created a better song- writing environment. Here is the album’s title cut.

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Wavves also sounds different because is it now a band instead of a one-man operation. Drummer Billy Hayes and bassist Stephen Pope joined last year after meeting Nathan Williams in Barcelona, Spain. Williams had had a bad show there. He had fought on stage with a drummer he toured with. Williams later apologized online. He said he was sorry for being drunk and on drugs during his performance. Here is “Idiot” from “King of the Beach.”

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Wavves are performing across western Europe right now. The group returns to the United States in August and continues its “King of the Beach” tour for several more months.

We leave you with Wavves performing “Baby Say Goodbye.”

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MARIO RITTER:

I'm Mario Ritter. Our program was written by Tom Banse and Caty Weaver who was also the producer.

You can find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our shows at voaspecialenglish.com. If you have a question about American life, send an e-mail to mosaic@voanews.com. We might answer it on this show. Please remember to tell us your name and where you live.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.