History 463: Final Exam
Instructions:
Instructions for the Take-Home Exam:
1. Answer any two of the essay questions below.
2. Your exam must be typed (word-processed), double-spaced with normal margins. The total length of the exam must be no more than eight double-spaced pages. Submit hard copy, not an e-mail attachment or website posting.
3. Your exam is due by Wednesday, December 7 at noon. Bring it to my office, 331 McKenzie. If I'm not there, make sure it's securely stapled together and slide it under my office door. Be sure your name is on it.
4. COLLABORATION: It is acceptable, in fact desirable, to study together and
work out strategies for answering questions. The answers, however, must
be your own. If you begin to wonder if you're collaborating too closely in
formulating your answers, it means you should stop and move to preparing
independent answers. If I see answers that duplicate or nearly duplicate each
other, both will be judged unacceptable.
5. If you quote or paraphrase another's words or distinctive ideas, you must
cite your source on the take-home final. The author's last name and page
number in parentheses should be usually adequate. If you need to provide more
information in order to let me know your source, provide that in a
clear, consistent form. You're welcome to use readings (or websites or
films, etc., for that matter) beyond those
assigned in the course, but you're not required to.
Instructions for the In-Class Exam:
1. At the time of the exam, I will eliminate one or two of the questions below. You will answer two of the questions offered at the time of the exam. You'll have at least five questions to choose among.
2. I've decided to drop the identification section from this exam.
3. The in-class exam is scheduled for Monday, December 5 at 10:15. You'll have two full hours for the test.
4. Please bring a blank examination booklet (or two) to the exam.
Final Exam Questions:
1. "The success of the American labor movement during the 1930s and World War II sowed the seeds of its own defeat. In a nutshell, the movement's accomplishments converted working class immigrant laborers and their children into middle class American consumers." Discuss and evaluate this claim.
2. Some analysts would say the New Deal ended with the political setbacks that FDR and his policies encountered. Others consider the New Deal a powerful political, social and cultural force in American life well into the 1950s and 1960s. When do you think the New Deal ended, and what ended it?
3. "World War II was far more important in changing American society than the New Deal was." Discuss and evaluate this claim.
4. The Dust Bowl migration was one of the most significant developments in
the history of the American West during 1930s. Discuss the main
characteristics of the following aspects of the Dust Bowl migration:
a. Reasons for the migration
b. Attitudes, policies and conditions
migrants encountered in California and the West Coast
c. Achievements and failures of the
migrants in California and the West Coast
5. Several historians and social critics have argued that the years of the Great Depression, despite (or because of) economic hardships, were in many ways happy and exciting times for Americans. Discuss and evaluate this point of view.
6. Why was there no social revolution in the United States during the Great Depression? (Or, you may wish to argue, there was a revolution.)
7. "Whatever the achievements of political leaders, reformers and radicals may have been during the 1930s, they failed to challenge the racism and sexism of American society effectively. The position of people of color and of women did not see fundamental improvement during the decade." Discuss and evaluate this claim.
History 463/Fall 2005