UNITED STATES HISTORY SINCE 1945
                                                           

 Course Objectives 

 1.  To develop a working knowledge of the most important changes and continuities in the history of the people of the United States and of United States domestic and foreign policy since the last year of World War II.      

 2.  To become familiar with using primary and secondary sources in order to develop a critical appreciation of history as lived experience, history as written by historians, and history as used by governments or other institutions to shape public opinion.    

 3.  To gain practice in using the skills of historical analysis:  writing accurate descriptions; making effective evidence-based arguments; making comparisons and contrasts; developing  reliable explanations; constructing thoughtful interpretations of the meaning and significance of historical events. 

 Learning Outcomes

 1.  Students will demonstrate the ability to distinguish between primary and secondary historical sources and to use these sources critically.

 2.  Students will demonstrate the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of competing points of view on issues addressed in primary and secondary sources.

3.  Students will demonstrate the ability to utilize skills of description, comparison and contrast, and synthesis in the construction of analytical essays based on evidence from primary and secondary sources. 

 Students who need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability are invited to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) in the Cowell Building on campus (phone: 510.430.2264; email: disability@mills.edu).

 Course Structure and Requirements

 This course covers the history of the United States from the end of World War II to contemporary times, emphasizing developments in politics, society, economics, and culture, including the role of race, sex, gender, and class issues.  The politics of government policy and the foreign relations of the United States also receive attention.  The history of the American people and the nation will be considered in  the larger context of world history.  No previous college level knowledge of United States history is assumed.  

Books to Purchase:

Michael H. Hunt, The World Transformed, 1945 to the Present. (WT)

Paul S. Boyer, Promises to Keep: The U. S. Since World War II. (PK)

Griffith & Baker  Major Problems in American History Since 1945, third edition (MP)

 Basis for Grading:

 Class participation        10%  (includes attendance and contribution to discussions) 

Take-home essays       60% (three essays, each worth 20%)

Class presentation       15%

Book review               15%

 Take-home Essays:

 The essays must utilize both primary and secondary sources from the assigned reading.  Additional primary sources, accompanied by complete citations, provided they are used in conjunction with, and supplement, the assigned readings may also be used, and must be used if students wish to qualify for an “A” grade.  Additional secondary sources may be used, but not as a substitute for primary sources.  Material from lectures should be used whenever the subject of the essay has been covered in lectures. Essays must be five pages maximum, typewritten, and double-spaced. Use a type font no smaller than 12. Staple the pages in the upper left-hand corner and do not use a cover page or a folder.  Essays will be assigned letter grades.  Grading will not be based on a grading curve.  Essays will be graded on composition as well as substance.  Guidelines for writing analytical history essays are available at: http://bss.sfsu.edu/issel/reviews.htm

Written work will be assigned letter grades.  Grading will  not be based on a grading curve.  All written work will  be graded on composition as well as substance. 

 First Essay (choose one)  DUE SEPTEMBER 25

 1. Describe the origins of the Cold War and evaluate the argument that the United States bears greater responsibility than the Soviet Union for the establishment of hostile relations between the superpowers.

 2.  Describe the “Culture of Consumerism” of the 1950s and evaluate the argument by critics of postwar prosperity that American life during the Cold War displayed moral weakness and spiritual emptiness.

 3. Describe the Red Scare and McCarthyism and evaluate the argument that the threat of Communism justified militant anti-Communism.

 Second Essay (choose one)  DUE NOVEMBER 6

 1. Compare and contrast the New Frontier and Great Society programs of presidents Kennedy and Johnson.  Which administration was more successful in creating social reform?  Why?     

2. Compare and contrast the use of presidential power by Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon.  Which president was more successful in achieving his foreign policy goals?  Why?

 3. Compare and contrast the role of the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court in expanding  civil rights during the 1960s and 1970s.  Who benefited the most from new legislation and court decisions?  Why? 

Third Essay (choose one)  DUE DECEMBER 4

 The questions below require you to create a synthesis based on all pertinent primary and secondary sources from the course reading and lectures.  Take into account as many causal factors as possible.

 1. Why did American politics take a “Right Turn” since the 1960s and what has been the impact on American life?  

 2. Why did the Watergate and Iran Contra scandals occur, and what has been the impact on American life?? 

 3.  Why did the United States go to war against Iraq twice since 1991, and what has been the impact on American life?

 Class Presentations:

 Each student will present an oral report based on a document relating to a significant issue during the discussion time scheduled for Thursday classes.  This will be a 15 to 25 minute presentation describing the document and analyzing its significance for understanding American history since 1945. Each student will submit a summary of 3 to 4 pages at the time of the presentation.  With one exception, the documents are accessible at the “Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy” web site:  http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/demo.htm

 Book Reviews:

 Each student will also prepare a critical review of a book selected in consultation with the instructor.  Reviews are due anytime during the semester but no later than Dec. 6.  The book review and the class presentation may be on the same or similar topic.  Guidelines for the books reviews are available at:

http://bss.sfsu.edu/issel/reviews.htm

Class Procedures:

 Completion of reading assignments in advance of class meetings and consistent presence and participation in class are fundamental requirements for the course.  If it is necessary for you to be late or absent, it is your responsibility to inform the instructor and to make arrangements for covering any material missed.  An excessive number of absences (more than three) will result in the lowering of the final grade by five percentage points per absence.  Please arrive on time to  class.   Occa­sional instances of arriving late may be unavoidable, but habitual lateness is rude and demonstrates disrespect to the instructor and to other students.  Please turn off cell phones, and plan to remain in class during the entire meeting.

 Students should review the guidelines below in order to prepare for active and productive participation in discussions.  Lectures will not merely review the assigned reading but will instead expand upon issues of controversy and interpretive questions related to the topic.  Getting the most out of lectures requires that you read the material on the lecture topic in the assigned books before the lecture, so that you can be prepared to understand the additional information provided in the lecture.  Attendance at  lectures, conventional wisdom to the contrary notwithstanding, is not a “passive” experience, at least not to those who choose to be fully – in mind as well as body – present.

 All written work will be evaluated on the basis of substance and composition.  Students are responsible for keeping copies of all written assignments that they submit.  The due dates for assignments  are made well in advance of the due dates,  so there  should be no reason for extensions to be granted.   Consequently,  all late papers will be penalized:  by one grade if the  paper  is not submitted in class on the  due  date;  by another  grade for every class meeting the paper is delinquent (no papers  will  be accepted after one week; a grade of  F  will  be recorded).  All course work must be completed in order to receive a passing grade in this class.  Only a doctor's written excuse or a similar  documen­tation  in writing of medical treatment, university  sports  team responsibility,  or  employment-related emergency will  exempt a student from the above requirement.

 Guidelines for Class Participation:

 Class participation will count 10% of your course grade and will be based on the criteria below.

 1.      Are the points you make in discussion substantive and relevant to the topic under consideration?  Are your comments linked to the comments of others?

2.      Do your comments indicate that you have been listening carefully to the lecture and to the discussion?

3.      Do your comments clarify and highlight the important aspects of earlier comments and do they lead to a clearer statement of the concepts and data being covered?

4.      Do your comments show that you are willing to interact in a positive and supportive manner with other class members and the instructor?

5.      Do your comments show evidence of analysis beyond a simple reaction based primarily on emotions, values, ideologies?

6.      Do your comments show your ability to distinguish among different types of analytical approaches, i. e. economic, political, social, cultural, psychological, linguistic, ideological, ethical, moral, etc.?

7.      Do your comments indicate your desire to advance our understanding of the subject matter by developing an appreciation of the complexity of human behavior?

8.  Do your comments indicate your willingness to examine and entertain new ideas and

     perspectives while at the same time adopting a skeptical and critical spirit?

Class and Exam Schedule.  Readings should be completed prior to the Tuesday meetings. 

 Aug. 30                        Introduction to the Course

 Week 1:  The Origins of Postwar America

 reading:          WT, Introduction

                        PK, Chapter 1

                        MP, chapter 1             

 Tues. Sept. 4    Lecture:  World War II at Home, Continuity and Change

Thu. Sept. 6     Discussion:  Paterson, Shafer, and Brinkley essays (MP)

                                                Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points Speech

                                                FDR’s Speech at Charlottesville, Virginia 

 Week 2:  The Beginning of the Cold War

 reading:          PK, Chapter 2

MP, chapter 2

                        WT, chapters 1-3

 Tu. Sept. 11     Lecture:  The Origins and Development of the Containment Policy

Th. Sept. 13     Discussion:  Gaddis and Offner essays (MP)

                                                The Atlantic Charter  

                                                The Marshall Plan Speech 

 Week 3:  Culture and Politics in the 1950s

 reading:          PK, Chapters 3-5

MP, chapter 3

                        WT, chapter 4

 Tu. Sept. 18     Lecture:  The Cold War and American Culture

Th. Sept. 20     Discussion:  Schrum and Marchand essays (MP)

                                                The Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy 

                                                The Brown v. Board of Education Decision 

 Week 4:  John F. Kennedy and the Cold War

 reading:          PK, Chapter 6

MP, chapter 4

                        WT, chapter 5

 Tu. Sept. 25     Lecture:  The Kennedy Foreign Policy, 1961-1963

Th. Sept. 27     Discussion:  Paterson and May/Zelikow essays (MP)

                                    JFK’s Speech to Southern Baptist Leaders

                                    The Gideon v. Wainwright Decision 

 Week 5:  The Civil Rights Movement, from 1945 to 1980

 reading:          PK, 72-76; Chapter 8 and Chapter 9: 244-251

                        MP, chapter 5

Tu. Oct. 2        Lecture:  Race, Religion, and the Civil Rights Movement

Th. Oct. 4        Discussion:  Payne and Sugrue essays (MP)

            Harlan Fiske Stone, Carolene Products Footnote

                                    The Korematsu Case

Harry Truman’s Executive Order 9981

                                    The Civil Rights Act of 1964 

 Week 6:          Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society

 reading:          PK, Chapter 7 

MP, chapter 6

 Tu. Oct. 9        Lecture:  The Great Society and the Limits of Liberalism

Th. Oct. 11      Discussion:  Katznelson and Lassiter essays (MP)

                                    LBJ’s American Promise Speech,  Regents v. Bakke Decision 

 Week 7:  War in the Cold War Era:  The Korean and Vietnam Wars

 reading:          PK, 55-61; Chapter 10 and Chapter 11: 299-306

MP, chapter 9

                        WT, chapter 6

 Tu. Oct. 16      Lecture:  The Containment Policy in Asia, 1950-1975

Th. Oct. 18      Discussion:  Hunt and Isaacs essays (MP)

                                    The Recall of General Douglas MacArthur 

                                    The New York Times v. United States Decision 

 Week 8:  American Political Culture in Transition: Left, Right, and Center

 reading:          PK, Chapter 9: 252-end and Chapter 11: 292-299

MP, chapter 7

                        WT, pages 175-189

 Tu. Oct. 23      Lecture:  Presidential Elections and Political Culture, 1960-1968

Th. Oct. 25      Discussion:  Isserman/Kazin and Heclo essays (MP)

                                    The Engle v. Vitale Case 

                                    The Reynolds v. Sims Case      

 Week 9:  Cultural Politics from 1945 to 1980, the Case of Women’s Rights

 reading:          PK, Chapter 12: 331-335

MP, chapters 8

                        WT, pages 218-236

 Tu. Oct. 30      Lecture:  Liberalism, Conservatism, and Equal Rights, the Long View

Th. Nov. 1       Discussion:  Bailey and Echols essays (MP)

                                    The Port Huron Statement 

                                     http://www.sdsrebels.com/port-huron.htm

                                     The NOW Statement of Purpose 

                                     Griswold v. Connecticut 

Week 10:  Richard M. Nixon and the “Imperial” Presidency

 reading:          PK, Chapter 10: 282-283 and Chapter 11

MP, chapter 9

                        WT, pages 303-317 in chapter 7

 Tu. Nov. 6       Lecture:  The Nixon Administration and the Media

Th. Nov. 8       Discussion:  The Powers of the Presidency in Wartime

                                    The Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer Decision 

                                    The U.S. v. Nixon Decision 

 Week 11:  Ronald Reagan and the “Triumph of Conservatism”

 reading:          PK, Chapters 13 and 14

MP, chapter 10

                        WT, 319-334 in chapter 7 and chapter 8

 Tu. Nov. 13     Lecture:  Was there a “Reagan Revolution”?

Th. Nov. 15     Discussion:  Ginsberg/Shefter and Tygiel essays (MP)

                                    James Baker’s Democracy and Foreign Policy Speech

                                    The Presidential Debates of 1992

 Tu. Nov. 20     Constitutional Crises:  Watergate and the Iran-Contra Scandal

 Week 12:  The Ending of the Cold War and the Global Era

 reading:          PK, chapters 15 and 16

MP, chapters 11 & 14

                        WT, chapter 9 and Conclusion

 Tu. Nov. 27     Lecture:  Did Ronald Reagan End the Cold War?

Th. Nov. 29     Discussion:  Gaddis, Lebow/Stein, and LeoGrande essays (MP)

            Jimmy Carter’s Human Rights and Foreign Policy Speech    

             The Sanctions Against South Africa

Week 13:  American Politics and Society the the Global Era

reading:          PK, chapters 15 and 16

                        MP, chapters 11 – 13

                        WT, chapters 9 and conclusion

 Tu. Dec. 4        Lecture:  The Imperial Presidency Debate Since Watergate

Th. Dec. 6        Discussion: Miroff, Crenson/Ginsberg, Gaddis, and Hunt essays (MP)