AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1877 History 331, Section 201 (CRN 1239) SPRING 1993 Meeting: Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 8:00am - 8:50am Smith Hall 416 Instructor: Mr. Michael J. McCarthy Office Hours: M - F, 9:00am - 4:30pm (or by appointment) Research & Economic Development Center 1050 Fourth Avenue (304) 696-6372 TEXTBOOKS Required: Capps, Walter. The Unfinished War: Vietnam and the American Conscience. 2nd ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1990. Madaras, Larry, and James M. SoRelle. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History. 4th ed. Vol. 2. Guilford, CT: Dushkin Publishing Group, 1991. Choice of one (required): Education Branch, Office of Public Programs. Women in Industry: World War II. Documents from the National Archives Series. Dubuque, Iowa. Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company. OR Education Branch, Office of Public Programs. Internment of Japanese-Americans. Documents from the National Archives Series. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company. OR Education Branch, Office of Public Programs. Watergate. Documents from the National Archives Series. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company. Recommended: Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992 [1984]. ABOUT THE COURSE This course will provide a survey of American History since the end of Reconstruction (1877). This survey cannot be a comprehensive treatment of all aspects of American History during that period, so much material which could be included must be omitted. Nonetheless, the approach of the course will be to balance the political, social, ethnic, legal, economic, intellectual, diplomatic and military history of the US, and perhaps even to highlight the interrelations of some of these seemingly diverse areas. History is not one-dimensional; instead, it has ties along both chronological and societal lines. A particular historical event is not only influenced by those events which happen concurrently, but also by those which precede it. The Civil Rights Movement, for example, was not only molded by the atmosphere of America in the 1950s and 1960s, but was also influenced by other movements among African-Americans which predated it. The impact of this aspect of the nature of history on survey courses is that generally only one of the two dimensions can serve as the organizational framework of the course. For example, the course can be presented chronologically (the approach of almost all textbooks), moving from decade to decade and highlighting the various events occurring in each time period. The drawback of this type of presentation is that history becomes compartmentalized by presidential administration, and that the overall evolution of major themes of history often fails to crystallize. Alternatively, the course can be presented thematically, highlighting the development of some of the driving themes of the American experience. The drawback to this type of presentation, of course, is that the interrelation of an event to its contemporary history is sometimes buried. As an experiment, this course will be presented thematically. Five major themes will be addressed, including the modernization of America, the evolution of reform, the rise to global power, the development of the women's movement and the struggle for racial justice. Each of these themes can culminate in a discussion of a current issue. For example: What does it mean to say that the American economy is shifting from one based on manufacturing to one based on the service sector? What implications might that have for American society and culture? How effective were previous attempts at reform in alleviating the ramifications of industrialization, and how might they have to adapt to yet another economic shift? Has American foreign policy lost its moorings with the "end" of the Cold War? What American diplomatic traditions might motivate US humanitarian intervention in Somalia? Why is the abortion controversy so important to those on both sides of the issue? What is the historical background of the racial divisions within our nation? Were the riots in Los Angeles symptoms of continued racial tension and inequality? To ensure that the student is cognizant of other, concurrent happenings at any point in the course, the student may consult a variety of resource materials, including: (1) the recommended survey textbook, (2) the instructor's lecture notes, which will be available on closed reserve in the library or in ASCII files on a computer disk (either 3.5" or 5.25", double or high-density, supplied by the student), and (3) a skeletal timeline of the topics discussed in this course, available with the lecture notes in the library. Please be considerate of your fellow students when using the lecture notes in the library. You are free to copy them, but please be sure to return the originals to the binders. You will find that this course will raise more questions than it will answer, for such is the nature of historical inquiry. If nothing else, you should learn to test the validity of any historical claims you may hear, and you will learn that historical interpretations are open to divisive dispute. EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS Five separate assignments will comprise your grade. Exams Three examinations will test knowledge of the lecture material and class discussion. Anything mentioned in class is fair game for the exam. Each exam will include essays and identification terms, which you will choose from a list of possible questions. A review session will be held prior to each exam, and copies of previous exams are available with the lecture notes in the library. If you are well-prepared, you should be able to complete the exam in the time period allotted for this class. If, however, you desire extra time, you may arrive as early as 7:30am on exam days to get a head start on the exam. The final exam will not be comprehensive, and will include only material covered since the previous exam. NOTE: You will need to supply your own exam booklets. Please bring four, small blue examination books to class prior to the first exam. Book Essay The book essay will test your comprehension of the supplemental book for the course, Capps's The Unfinished War. This essay will be "open book" and "open note," and will be taken in class. As with the examinations mentioned above, copies of previous essay questions (on other books) are available with the lecture notes in the library. Quizzes The quizzes will ensure that you come to class prepared for discussion and will test your comprehension of the reading in the Madaras and SoRelle book, Taking Sides. The quizzes will be brief, true/false exams, worth 10 points each. One quiz will be given from each chapter in the book that we cover, for a total of 15, of which the 10 highest will count toward your final grade. The quizzes will be given on the day that the assigned reading is due (see course calendar), and no make-ups will be given. If you are absent on the day of a quiz, you will receive a zero for that quiz. History Paper This paper will give you an opportunity to "play historian." The topic and material will come from your choice of one of the National Archives booklets listed above (Women in Industry: World War II, The Internment of Japanese-Americans or Watergate). You will use the materials in the booklet as sources and evidence and from them you will write a three to four page paper investigating a topic of your choice (you may develop your own topic, pursue a suggestion from the booklet itself or see your instructor for recommendations). As an historian, you will have to mine these documents and glean from them whatever glimpse of the past that you can. See the sheet labelled "FORMAT FOR HISTORY PAPER," below. These examinations and assignments will carry the following weights: Points EXAMINATIONS: ONE 200 TWO 200 FINAL 200 IN CLASS BOOK ESSAY: 100 QUIZZES (10 @ 10pts each): 100 HISTORY PAPER: 200 ==== TOTAL 1000 GRADING SCALE Total Possible Points: 1000 900 - 1000 = A 800 - 899 = B 700 - 799 = C 600 - 699 = D 0 - 599 = F ATTENDANCE POLICY This class will not have an official attendance policy, but class attendance is important. The material on the examinations will come from the class lectures, and class discussion will suffer without your presence and participation. Although you will incur no outright deductions from the final grade for absence, I will keep a record of those who do not attend. In the case of a borderline grade at the end of the semester, students who appear on this list more than three times will not be given the benefit of the doubt. CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM You are expected to do your own work in this course, both on in-class work and on the out-of-class assignment. The university's policies on cheating and plagiarism will be enforced. WITHDRAWAL POLICY See the "Course Calendar" below for important dates regarding withdrawal periods. Since you will have already had a major examination well before the beginning of the "WP"/"WF" period, you will need a passing grade in the class to receive a "WP." MAKE-UP EXAMS AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS Make-ups for the examinations and the book essay will be given on Thursday, 29 April, at 4:00pm. This will be the ONLY make-up date available. The make-up exams will be similar in format to regular tests, but will not offer you choices for the questions, since you will have had extra time for preparation. No make-ups will be given on quizzes from Madaras & SoRelle's Taking Sides. Late papers will be accepted, but will incur a penalty of one letter grade (20 points out of 200) for every day they are late, weekends excluded. (NOTE: This means every calendar day, NOT every class period. A paper due on Monday but turned in on the Wednesday would receive a deduction of 40 points). Papers must be turned in by the end of the class period on which they are due to avoid any penalties for tardiness. Papers may be turned in at the class meeting, may be given to the receptionist at Marshall's Research and Economic Development Center (1050 Fourth Avenue) or may be given to the History Department's Secretary on the 7th Floor of Smith Hall. COURSE CALENDAR (subject to revision) Week Date 1 11 January INTRODUCTION Course Introduction (syllabus and policies) 13 January The Nature of History TINDALL & SHI, pp. xi-xiii (NATURE.I) 15 January The State of the Union, 1877 MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 1 (NO QUIZ) TINDALL & SHI, pp. 693-733 (RECONST.I & ST_UN_76.I) 2 18 January MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY, NO CLASS 19 January Late Registration / Schedule Adjustment Closes 20 January Guaranteed "W" Withdrawal Period Begins; SECTION 1: THE MODERNIZATION OF AMERICA The Rise of Industrialism and Big Business in the Late 19th Century MADARAS & SORELLE, CHPS. 2 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 773-791 (INDUST.1) 22 January Applications for May graduation due in Dean's office The "Melting Pot?": Immigration, Urbanization and Cultural Change in Late 19th Century America MADARAS & SORELLE, CHPS. 4 & 6 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 810-846 & 860-866 (IMMIG.1 & URBAN.1) 3 25 January The New South and West: The Modernization of Agrarian America TINDALL & SHI, pp. 734-743, 750-772 & 882-885 (NEWSOUTH.1 & NEWWEST.1) 27 January Class Discussion 29 January The Battle Between Old and New: America in the 1920s TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1023-1037, 1044-1052 & 1064-1090 (1920S.1) 4 1 February In the Eye of the Great Depression: America in the 1930s TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1052-1063 & 1090-1100 (GREATDEP.1) 3 February Postwar America TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1259-1270 & 1272-1287 (POSTWAR.1) 5 February Class Discussion Review for First Examination 5 8 February SECTION 2: DISSENT, REFORM AND THE GROWTH OF FEDERAL POWER Working Class Response to Industrialization MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 3 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 791-808 & 846-850 (LABOR19.2) 10 February FIRST EXAM 12 February The Agrarian Revolt MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 5 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 866-882 & 885-897 (AGRARIAN.2) 6 15 February State-Level Progressivism and Reform TINDALL & SHI, pp. 851-852 & 935-944 (STATPROG.2) 17 February National-Level Progressivism and Reform MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 8 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 944-976 (NATPROG.2) 19 February Mobilization and Dissent in the First World War TINDALL & SHI, pp. 995-999 (WWI_MOB.2) 7 22 February Class Discussion 24 February "Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself:" FDR and The New Deal MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 12 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1101-1141 (NEWDEAL.2) 26 February Mobilization for World War II; The New Frontier and the Great Society MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 14 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1220-1228, 1288-1296, 1318-1321, 1325-1327, 1328-1335 & 1345- 1353 (WWII&GRS.2) 8 1 March The New Left and the Counterculture; Nixon & Watergate TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1275-1287, 1370-1381, 1393-1401 & 1403-1411 (NEWLEFT.2) 3 March Class Discussion Review for Second Examination 5 March Last Day to Drop Classes with "W" Grade SECTION 3: THE RISE TO GLOBALISM: AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY The Birth of Imperialism and the "Big Stick": American Foreign Policy, 1870- 1912 MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 9 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 898-923, 923-34 & 977- 981 (DIP70_12.3) 9 8 March "WP" / "WF" Period Begins From "Neutral in Thought and Action" to "Force Without Stint or Limit": America and the First World War MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 10 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 981-1006 (WWI_MIL.3) 10 March SECOND EXAM 12 March "Nothing for Tears": America and the Treaty of Versailles TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1006-1014 Class Discussion (WWI_PEAC.3) 10 15 March SPRING BREAK -- NO CLASS 17 March SPRING BREAK -- NO CLASS 19 March SPRING BREAK -- NO CLASS 11 22 March "The Illusion of Stability" America and the World, 1921-1933 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1142-1154 (DIP21_33.3) 24 March "Rise to Globalism:" American Foreign Policy, 1933-1945 MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 13 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1154-1178 & 1187-1219 (WWII_MIL.3) 26 March From "Containment" to "Massive Retaliation": The Origins of the Cold War TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1229-1240, 1246-1258, 1296-1304, 1315-1324 & 1340-1343 (COLDWAR.3) 12 29 March "On the Tiger's Back:" The United States in Vietnam, 1954-75 MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 15 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1304-1310, 1343-1345, 1358-1364 & 1385-1393 (VIETNAM.3) 31 March BOOK ESSAY (Capps, The Unfinished War) Class Discussion 2 April From Detente to the "End of the Cold War" Class Discussion MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 17 (NO QUIZ) TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1401-1403, 1418-1419, 1421-1422, 1439-1444, 1448-1452, 1459- 1460 & 1468-1481 (DETENTE.3) 13 5 April SECTION 4: THE PARADOX OF CHANGE: AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE 20th CENTURY Ideological and Progressive Roots of Women's Activism TINDALL & SHI, 848-854 (SUFFR1.4) 7 April World War I and The Fight for Suffrage TINDALL & SHI, pp. 995-998 & 1037-1040 (WMN_WWI.4) 8 April Last Day to Drop Individual Classes The Consequences of Suffrage, the Battle for the ERA and Women in the 1920s and 30s MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 11 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1034-1040 (SUFFR2.4) 9 April GOOD FRIDAY -- NO CLASS 14 12 April Complete Withdrawal Period Begins Class Discussion 14 April Women in World War II and Postwar America TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1182-1184, 1270-1272 & 1381-1383 (WN_PSTWR.4) 16 April HISTORY PAPERS DUE From Roe to Casey: Abortion in America Class Discussion TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1424-1426 (ABORTION.4) 15 19 April SECTION 5: THE STRUGGLE FOR RACIAL JUSTICE The New South and the New Negro MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 7 TINDALL & SHI, pp. 745-750 (JIMCROW.5) 21 April Black Nationalism and the Harlem Renaissance TINDALL & SHI, 1025-1027, 1040-1044 & 1184-1185 (HARLEM.5) 23 April From Brown to King's Dream: The Civil Rights Movement MADARAS & SORELLE, CHP. 16 TINDALL & SHI, 1310-1314 & 1335-1340 (CIVRTS.5) 16 26 April DEAD WEEK The Force of Law: The Civil Rights Acts and Judicial Mandates Class Discussion TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1353-1355 (CIVRTS.5) 28 April DEAD WEEK Black Power and Malcolm X TINDALL & SHI, pp. 1355-1358 & 1394-1397 Review for Final Exam (BL_POWER.5) 30 April Last Day to Withdraw Completely from University DEAD WEEK Class Discussion 17 3 May FINAL EXAM, Smith Hall 416 8:00am - 10:00pm 8 May Commencement 11:00am