History 365: United States Since 1945

Instructor: William Mood

Email: wmood@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

 

Purpose

This course examines the evolution of American society since World War II. It examines the rise of America as a world power and analyzes domestic debates about America's role as today's sole superpower. In addition, this course traces the development of American ideology and social life by examining the civil rights moment as well as the women's movement. Using a combination of congressional debates, private correspondence, diaries, and newspaper reports, you will examine the core beliefs of politicians and of the average person in the street. Topics will include: women in American society, Cold War diplomacy, Vietnam, Watergate, music and counter culture, as well as the changing role of the military in contemporary American to name just a few.

Textbook

Robert Griffith and Paula Baker, eds. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. 2nd Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001)

Michael Schaller, Virginia Scharff and Robert D. Schulzinger. Past Tense: The United States Since 1945. 2nd Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996)

Document Collections On-line:

• Amdocs: Documents for the Study of American History

• civnet.org

• Core Documents in US Democracy (GPO ACCESS)

• The Constitution of the United States. Analysis and Interpretation (Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress)

• Diplomacy 1778 to the present (Avalon Project, Yale University)

• OurDocuments.gov Teacher's Sourcebook

• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

  • U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA)

  • U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency

  • U.S. Department of Defense

  • U.S. Department of Justice

  • U.S. Department of State

  • U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

  • U.S. National Security Agency

Objectives

• Improve your understanding of American foreign policy by identifying key events and people associated with a particular historical period.

• Develop your analytical skills and understanding of the study of history by reading primary sources and by writing a research paper.

• Evaluate internet sites and secondary resources relevant to the study of American society.

• Analyze historical debates about social change in America in the post World War II period.

• Learn how to locate academic articles in the UMUC library databases.

Grading

• Class participation/Weekly Assignments (40%) Three (3) short writing assignments and one (1) class presentation.

• Group Project: PowerPoint Project or Web Page (15%) A short fun project on some aspect of American culture, for example clothing style, music, a national monument.

• Final (25%)

• A 10 page research paper, approximately 2500 words (20%) Turabian style

  In your short essays, you should:
   

• Respond in at least 750+ words, equivalent to three (3) double spaced, typed pages. Refer to Writing Historical Essays: A Guide For Undergraduates (Matt Matsuda and John Gillis, Rutgers University) for general writing tips.

• Included a well developed main idea/thesis. See The Thesis: Constructing A Thesis (Patrick Rael, Bowdoin College).

• Support your main idea with evidence from the textbook or outside sources and include appropriate citations. Use quotations with care and carefully paraphrase the text (see Writing Center Handbook as well as summarizing and paraphrasing).

Webcasts

• Robert Caro: The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate (Rice University Webcast) (May 9, 2002)

• Predictions of Future Climate Change (March 20, 2002)

On-line Supplemental Reading Assignments

• Outline of US History: Postwar America

• Lori Landay, "Millions "Love Lucy": Commodification and the Lucy Phenomemon" NWSA Journal Volume 11, number 3

• Jeff Williams, "COMICS: A TOOL OF SUBVERSION?" Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 2(6) (1994) 129-146

• Uncommon Knowledge: VETO NATO? The Future of NATO, with Peter Duignan and Melvyn Krauss. (Hoover Institute, Stanford Univ.) 12 Jan 1999.

• Uncommon Kowledge: ENEMIES OF THE STATE: Why the U.S. Is Hated 18 April 2002.

• Steve Craig, Madison Avenue versus The Feminine Mystique: How the Advertising Industry Responded to the Onset of the Modern Women’s Movement. A paper presented at the Popular Culture Association conference, San Antonio, Texas, March 27, 1997

• Journal of Women's History Volume 11, Number 1 WOMEN'S HISTORY IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM A Conversation across Three "Generations": Part I Anne Firor Scott, Sara M. Evans, Susan K. Cahn, and Elizabeth Faue

• Journal of Women's History Volume 11, Number 3 Heather Lee Miller, Getting to the Source: The World Wide Web of Resources for Women's History

UMUC Library Database [WilsonSelect Fulltext]

Examples of academic articles available:

Beschloss, Michael R., "A tale of two presidents: D.D. Eisenhower and J.F. Kennedy," The Wilson Quarterly v. 24 no 1 (Winter 2000) 60-70.

Flannery, Jeffrey, "Liking Ike: Eisenhower Biographer speaks at Library," Library of Congress Information Bulletin v. 58 no 12 (Dec 1999) p. 290.

Kengor, Paul, "Comparing presidents Reagan and Eisenhower," Presidential Studies Quarterly v. 28 no 2 (Spring'98) 366-93.