Course Description
Social, economic, diplomatic, and political trends in the United States during the post-World War II era.
Athena Title
AMER 1945-PRESENT
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will develop skills in reading about, writing about, and discussing key events in the post-1945 period of United States history. Students will deepen their understanding of large-scale historical changes in American political, social, and economic life both from the perspectives of current historians and through the recollections of people who participated and observed history in the making. By the end of the course the students will have gained knowledge about post-1945 U.S. history and skills in written and oral communication that can serve as the basis for engaging actively in the civic duties of citizenship, teaching secondary pupils or developing a career in any profession requiring analytical skills, and for performing more advanced work in historical studies of any time period or place. Students will be evaluated on the basis of performance on two midterm exams, one comprehensive final exam, class participation, one short research paper, and one short book or film review. A 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
After decades of depression and war, the United States emerged after World War II as a dominant world force, experiencing unprecedented economic growth and rapid technological change. The promises and problems of prosperity took center stage in national politics, as a greatly enlarged federal government crafted social and economic policies in response to the demands of mobilized social movements. This course will examine the legacies of these interactions between society and state, including the politics of the Cold War, the political culture of mass consumption, labor and civil rights struggles, conflicts over the social welfare state, the war in Vietnam and the antiwar movement, second-wave feminism, the economic and environmental crises of the 1970s, the neo-conservative revolution, and global confrontations at the end of the century. The following is a possible topical outline: The Legacies of Depression and War Truman, the Cold War, and Containment Constructing a Postwar World Anti-Communism Supermarkets, Suburbs, and the Politics of Affluence Agribusiness and the Transformation of Rural Life Bebop, Rock n' Roll, and the Beats JFK and the Promise of American Liberalism LBJ and the "Great Society" The Civil Rights Era I: Inequality The Civil Rights Era II: Struggle The Civil Rights Era III: Politics The New Left and the New Right Vietnam: Into the Quagmire Second-Wave Feminism From Silent Spring to Earth Day Watergate and the Imperial Presidency The "Southernization" of America Panic at the Pump—The Global Politics of Food and Fuel Crises of Confidence—American "Malaise" The Reagan "Revolution" The End of the Cold War An Age of Uncertainty and Inequality
Syllabus