Course Description
The shifting patterns of political, economic, cultural, and social development in the United States as the nation confronted prosperity, depression, and war.
Athena Title
U S 1914-1945
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
Introduction to course, United States at the turn of the century Progressive Era – reformers and their response to industrialization, immigration, urbanization and corporate power Progressive Era - labor issues, African Americans, women WWI – home front, Committee of Public Information, legislation to stifle dissent , US participation in the war WWI – Class, race, gender, Wilson’s 14 Points, Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations debates WWI - postwar inflation, strikes, bombings, Palmer raids The 1920’s – overview, public & private power, business practices, new lobbying, The l920’s – prosperity, consumerism, leisure, work patterns, new feminism, changing social and sexual mores The l920’s - lost generation of writers, Harlem Renaissance, Southern Renaissance, religious conflicts, conformity, Red Scare, Klan, immigration restriction Depression - Herbert Hoover’s last days and FDR’s “ First Hundred Days” FDR – policies, critics on the left, impact of the depression FDR – New Deal l935, labor strife, unionization FDR – conflicts with the Supreme Court, assessment of FDR’s New Deal World War II – Rise of Hitler, Spanish Civil War, Axis aggression, Rape of Nanking, US conflicts with Japan World War II - Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal World War II - Battle of the Atlantic, Africa, Italy, Normandy invasion, Germany’s defeat World War II - home front, Japanese internment, Pacific theater (Marianas, Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Nagasaki, Hiroshima), Japanese surrender
Syllabus