HISTORY 400

Senior Seminar on FDR

Allan M. Winkler

Fall Term 2004

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course examines the life and times of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It begins with several readings about FDR, but very quickly focuses on the real work of the term: a research paper to be done by each member of the course on some phase of Roosevelt's life. The course will include a trip to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, where you will work in the archives and have a chance to see the homestead. All work, from prospectus to outline to first paragraph to rough draft, will be shared with other members of the class.

COURSE EXPECTATIONS

This course seeks to encourage critical thinking about the sources you will examine. It also tries to promote research skills in working with both primary and secondary sources. And it is intended to teach you how to write good, crisp, descriptive prose.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Class attendance: Monday, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
• Active participation in all class discussion
• Participation in research trip to Hyde Park
• Prospectus
• Outline and first paragraph
• Rough draft
• Final draft (about 15 double-spaced pages with notes at end)

ATTENDANCE

Attendance WILL be taken at each class. Your attendance - and participation - are required. No absences will be acceptable.

FORMAT

The class will follow a discussion format, and each session will focus on either the assigned reading or on the student papers to be discussed.

READING

There will only be 2 formal reading assignments, both due in the first substantive meeting of the class:

• Richard D. Polenberg, The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-1945 (read Part One carefully and skim the documents in Part Two)
• Allan M. Winkler, "Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Making of Modern America" (available at the Oxford Copy Shop)

PAPER

The paper is the crux of the course. Your work will assist me as I rewrite my own manuscript on FDR, as well as teach you how historical scholarship is done.

PAPER TOPICS

The following are the paper topics to be written upon in the class:

• The Roosevelt Family - Relationship with Mother and Wife
• Roosevelt as Governor of New York
• Roosevelt and the Fireside Chats
• Roosevelt in the First Hundred Days
• Roosevelt and the Court Fight
• Roosevelt's Relations with Congress
• Roosevelt and the Recovery Effort
• Roosevelt and the Agricultural Effort
• Roosevelt and African Americans
• Roosevelt and Mobilization for War
• Roosevelt and the Japanese American Internment
• Roosevelt and the Jews
• Roosevelt and the Road to War
• Roosevelt and the Diplomacy of War
• Roosevelt and the World War II Home Front
  

WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

AUGUST 30 - Introduction to the course and to FDR

SEPTEMBER 7 (TUESDAY) - Read Polenberg and Winkler

SEPTEMBER 13 - Present Prospectus to the class

SEPTEMBER 20 - Report on research progress to the class

SEPTEMBER 27 - NO CLASS. Trip to Hyde Park, NY September 29 - October 1

OCTOBER 4 - NO CLASS. Work on own research and report to me individually

OCTOBER 11 - NO CLASS. Work on own research and report to me individually

OCTOBER 18 - NO CLASS. Work on own research and report to me individually

OCTOBER 25 - Present Outline and First Paragraph to the class

NOVEMBER 1 - Discussion of 4 first drafts

NOVEMBER 8 - Discussion of 4 first drafts

NOVEMBER 15 - Discussion of 4 first drafts

NOVEMBER 22 - Discussion of 3 first drafts

NOVEMBER 29 - NO CLASS

DECEMBER 7 - FINAL PAPER DUE

Allan M. Winkler
Department of History
Miami University
Last updated: August 18, 2004
URL: http://www.users.muohio.edu/winkleam/hst400c.htm