HISTORY 369

The United States in the Modern Era

Allan M. Winkler

Fall Term 2007

Allan M. Winkler Office: 244 Upham Hall
Office Phone: 529-5132

Office Hours: T & Th 1:30-2:30 PM & by appt.

Home Phone: 523-2993
E-mail: winkleam@muohio.edu

Home Page: http://www.users.muohio.edu/winkleam/amw.htm


COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is the second half of a two-term sequence on the United States in the twentieth century. Each semester can be taken separately and has no prerequisite. History 369 begins with the Great Depression and describes the important political, diplomatic, social, and cultural issues of the past 70 years. It covers the rise and fall of the Roosevelt coalition, the subsequent development of a Republican coalition in the Reagan/Bush years, and the political debates of the 1990s. It explores the African American movement for civil rights, the efforts of women and minorities to gain equality in the United States, and other social movements that developed out of the turbulence of the 1960s. It examines America's changing role in the world. It also looks back at the 20th century as we move forward in the 21st. This year the course includes a service learning component (see below for a fuller description).

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

  • Class Attendance: Tuesday & Thursday, 8:00-9:15 AM
  • Mid-Term Exam: In class, Tuesday, October 9
  • Paper: Due in class, Thursday, November 15
  • Final Exam: Friday, December 14, 9:45 AM
FORMAT

The class will follow a discussion format. Material will be provided as necessary, but most of the time the class will be sitting in a circle and talking about the issues at hand. It is really important for you to participate in class. Your grade will reflect participation, but even more important, your active involvement will contribute to the quality of discussions. Films and recordings will be used in class, and occasionally documents will be distributed for discussion. From time to time, feature films may be recommended for viewing outside class. Some items may also be posted on Blackboard.

SERVICE LEARNING COMPONENT

As part of the course, each of you will be expected to work for 3 hours a week, over a period of 3 months, in a service organization of your choosing, either in Oxford or the larger metropolitan region. To choose an agency, please check out the volunteer opportunities on the Office of Community Engagement and Service website: http://www.units.muohio.edu/saf/service/ and then click on Service Opportunities at the left, and after that click on Volunteer Opportunities. You will find many possibilities here. You may also choose an altogether different agency. But all choices must have instructor approval, and will require your supervisor's signature.

You will be expected to choose your assignment in the first 2 weeks of the term. From time to time, on a regular basis, we will talk about your experiences in class. The paper, due as this part of the course comes to an end in mid-November, will ask you to integrate your own experiences and observations with the 20th century historical background of the issue with which your are involved. See below, in the discussion of the paper for a fuller description.

Please feel free to talk to staff members at the Office of Community Engagement and Service at Hanna House (telephone 9-2961). Monica Ways is director.

EXAMINATIONS

Both examinations will be essay tests. The final exam will be comprehensive and will cover all work done throughout the term.

PAPER

The paper is to be 8-10 double-spaced pages long. It is to deal with the larger issue with which you have been concerned in your service learning assignment. For example, if you choose to work with Habitat for Humanity, your paper would deal first with the issue of housing in the years from the Great Depression to the present, and the ways the government has dealt with the problem, then with your on-site experience, and finally with your reflections on the meaning of that experience. The paper is due in class on Thursday, November 15.

GRADING

  • Mid-Term Exam ------------- 25%
  • Paper --------------------------- 25%
  • Class Participation -------- 15%
  • Final Exam ------------------- 35%

REQUIRED BOOKS

  • William H. Chafe, Harvard Sitkoff, and Beth Bailey, A History of Our Time
  • Robert S. McElvaine, ed., Down & Out in the Great Depression
  • Richard D. Polenberg, The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • Allan M. Winkler, Home Front, U.S.A.
  • Allan M. Winkler, The Cold War: A History in Documents
  • Allan M. Winkler, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Making of Modern America
  • Judy Barrett Litoff and David C. Smith, American Women in a World at War
  • Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
  • Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions
  • Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
  • David Howard-Pitney, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malxolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s       and 1960s

WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

WEEK 1

August 21
  • Introduction to the Course
  • Twentieth Century Background

August 23

  • The Crash & the Onset of the Great Depression
  • READ: McElvaine, Down and Out, Part I

WEEK 2

August 28

  • The Impact of the Great Depression
  • READ: McElvaine, Down and Out, Parts II & III
  • READ: Polenberg, Era of FDR, Part Two/4 (Photographs)
  • READ: Winkler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prologue & Chapters 1-3

August 30

  • FDR & the New Deal
  • READ: McElvaine, Down & Out, Part IV
  • READ: Polenberg, Era of FDR, Part One & Part Two/1, 2, 3, 5, 6
  • READ: Winkler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chapters 4-6
  • Choice of Service Activity Due

WEEK 3

September 4

  • The Road to War & the Military Struggle
  • READ: Winkler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chapter 7

September 6

  • World War II: The Homefront
  • READ: Winkler, Home Front, U.S.A. (entire)
  • READ: Winkler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chapter 9 & Epilogue
  • READ: Polenberg, Era of FDR, Part Two/8 (posters)

WEEK 4

September 11

  • World War II: Men, Women, and the War
  • READ: Litoff and Smith, American Women (entire)

September 13

  • The Homefront in Film
  • NOTE: This is Rosh Hashonah, and I will not be in class, but there will be a film shown, and it will then be put on reserve at the IMC.

WEEK 5

September 18

  • World War II: Diplomacy in the War
  • READ: Winkler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chapter 8

September 20

  • Origins of the Cold War
  • READ: Winkler, The Cold War, Chapter 1
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 1, Pages 1-40
  • Discussion of Service Activities

WEEK 6

September 25

  • The Cold War in the 1950s
  • READ: Winkler, The Cold War, Chapter 3 (sections on 1950s) & Chapter 4 (pictures)

September 27

  • Anti-Communism and McCarthy
  • READ: Winkler, The Cold War, Chapter 2
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 1, Pages 41-63

WEEK 7

October 2

  • The Age of Ike
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 2, Pages 65-89
October 4
  • Kennedy & Foreign Affairs
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 2, Pages 90-93
  • Winkler, The Cold War, Chapter 3 (second half)

WEEK 8

October 9

  • MID-TERM EXAMINATION IN CLASS

October 11

  • Domestic Affairs in the 1960s
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 2, Pages 94-113
  • READ: Web Accounts of Great Society Measures
  • Discussion of Service Activities

WEEK 9

October 16
  • The Civil Rights Movement - Background and Development
  • Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 3, Pages 115-150
  • READ: Howard-Pitney, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Part 1 and Part 2, Pages 33-116

October 18

  • The Civil Rights Movement - A Personal View
  • READ: Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (entire)
WEEK 10

October 23

  • The Women's Movement - Background
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 4

October 25

  • The Women's Movement - A Personal View
  • READ: Steinem, Outrageous Acts (entire)
  • Discussion of Service Activities

WEEK 11

October 30

  • NO CLASS -- WORK ON SERVICE ACTIVITIES

November 1

  • The Vietnam War - Background
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 5
  • READ: Winkler, The Cold War, Chapter 5

WEEK 12

November 6

  • The Vietnam War - A Personal View
  • READ: O'Brien, The Things They Carried (entire)

November 8

  • The New Left and the Counterculture
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 6, Pages 273-299

WEEK 13

November 13

  • The Nixon Years
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 6, Pages 312-331
November 15
  • Watergate
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 6, Pages 300-311
  • READ: Web Documents (to be assigned)
  • PAPER DUE IN CLASS

WEEK 14

November 20

  • NO CLASS

November 22

  • NO CLASS -- THANKSGIVING

WEEK 15

November 27
  • Republican Ascendency
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 7

November 29

  • The End of the Cold War Era
  • Winkler, The Cold War, Chapter 6

WEEK 16

December 4

  • Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 8

December 6

  • Looking to the Future
  • READ: Chafe, A History of Our Time, Part 9

WEEK 17

FINAL EXAM -- FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 9:45 AM

Allan M. Winkler
Department of History
Miami University
Last updated: August 9, 2007
URL: http://www.users.muohio.edu/winkleam/hst369.htm