Spring 2005

History 203 - U.S. History, 1900-2000 ( CRN 35199)

Course Description:

“The past is never dead,” author William Faulkner once wrote, “It’s not even past.” This course is designed to demonstrate the power of historical thinking by posing a series of questions that every educated American should be able to answer, such as “How did Social Security get started? Why was the post-World War II American economy the most prosperous in the world? Who can immigrate to America? In trying to answer these and other questions, students will learn how deeply the past affects our thinking, not only about what happened over the course of the twentieth century, but also about issues that affect our lives today.

Website Information:

Important information about the course, including the syllabus, lecture outlines, and contact information for professors and discussion leaders, will be available each day on blackboard.uoregon.edu, so make it a habit to check the site regularly. If you need instructions on how to use blackboard, please check with your instruction or discussion leader.

Required Reading:

The American Story, vol. 2, 2 nd ed, by Robert Divine et al (Textbook)

The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents by Jeffrey P. Moran

Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High, by Melba Patillo Beals

Capital Moves: RCA’s Seventy-Year Quest for Cheap Labor, by Jefferson Cowie

The books by Moran, Patillo, and Cowie will be available on reserve at Knight Library as well as at the UO Bookstore; used copies may also be available in other bookstores. You will, however, have to go to the UO Boostore to purchase a new copy of the textbook, which comes with an access code for access to a website, MyHistoryLab,com, that we will also use for this class. Instructions for accessing MyHistoryLab.com are available on a cardboard sheet packaged with your textbook, and will also be posted on blackboard.

Format and Expectations:

The course will meet for large lectures (and sometimes videos) on M, W, and F from 11-11:50 in Willamette Hall 100. Each student is also signed up for a smaller discussion section that meets for one hour a week on Tuesday or Wednesday. Active participation, regular attendance, and completion of short assignments or quizzes given by your discussion leader will count as part of your grade for the course. The readings assigned for each week must be completed BEFORE your discussion section meets each Tuesday or Wednesday.

Requirements include two exams (a midterm and a final), one term paper, and attendance and active participation in discussion sections. Both exams with be a mixture of short-answer and essay questions. A copy of the term paper assignment is attached to this syllabus.

Grades:

Grades will be determined as follows: discussion section (20%), midterm exam (20%), term paper (25%), and final exam (35%).

Due Dates:

The due dates for the exams and the term paper are clearly listed on the syllabus, and all deadlines must be met. Late papers will be accepted only under the most exceptional circumstances, and will always be graded down at least one full grade. Requests for make-up exams will be accommodated only in case of documented illness or extreme emergency.

Academic Honesty:

In this course, as in any other, all the work you hand in must be your very own. Plagiarism, or presenting the work of others as if it were your own, is a serious academic offense, cause for failing this class and/or referral to the office of Student Judicial Affairs (for more information, see the University’s policy on academic conduct, on the web at http://www.uoregon.edu/~conduct/sai.htm). If you have any questions about how to cite sources and documents (including materials on the web as well as those in printed books), be sure to ask your instructor or discussion leader.

Accommodations:

Students with documented disabilities who need accommodations in this course are encourage to contact me right away.

Week 1: Toward Global and Economic Power

My History Lab: Register, Print Ch. 21 Document: The Platt Amendment (1901) and bring a copy to your discussion section.

Textbook, ch. 21 (will not be discussed in section this week)

 

Mar 28: Introduction

Mar 30: What is the U.S. doing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba?

Apr 1: How did the growth of monopoly capitalism affect American life?

 Week 2: Radicalism and Reform in the Progressive Era

Textbook, ch. 22 & 23

My History Lab:

Ch. 22 Document: Plunkitt on Honest Graft (1905)

Ch. 22 Document: Percy, “ Birmingham Under the Commission Plan” (1911)

Apr 4: Why did turn-of-the century workers need help—and who tried to provide it?

 

Apr 6: When was the first American sexual revolution?

Apr 8: Where does the phrase “special interests” come from?

Week 3: Federal Power, World War I, and the Fordist Economy

Textbook: ch. 24 AND pp. 626-631

My History Lab:

Ch. 24 Document: The Espionage Age (1917)

Ch. 23 Audio: The Speech That Sent Debs to Jail

 

Apr 11:    How did our National Parks and Forests get started?

Apr 13:   What is the link between the Red Scare and the growth of civil liberties?

Apr 15:   Why is the American economy of the 1920s called a Fordist economy?

 Week 4: Race, Space, and Culture in the Jazz Age

 Textbook, rest of ch. 25

The Scopes Trial (entire book)

My History Lab, ch. 24 Document: 1924 Immigration Law

 

Apr 18:    What was the Great Migration—and was there more than one?

Apr 20:   How were “white purity” and race segregation woven into American life and law?

Apr 22:   How did segregation affect American culture?

 Week 5: Hardship and Hope in the 1930s

 Textbook, ch. 26

Capital Moves, ch. 1

My History Lab:

Ch. 26 Document: Frances Perkins and the Social Security Act (1935,1960)

Ch. 26 Image: Social Security Act Poster

 

Apr 25:    What was the all-time worst crisis in the American economy?

Apr 27:   How did Social Security get started?

Apr 29:    Midterm Exam (BRING GREEN BOOKS)

  Week 6: World War II

 Textbook, ch. 27 AND pp. 730-738

Capital Moves, ch. 2

My History Lab. ch. 27 Document: Albert Einstein, Letter to President Roosevelt (1939)

 

May 2:    Why did World War II turn the U.S. into the “leader of the free world”?

May 4:    How did World War II put democracy on a collision course with race segregation?

May 6:   Why was the post-World War II American economy the most prosperous in the world?

 Week 7: Cold War, Civil Rights, and Anti-Communism

Textbook, ch.28 AND pp.; 739-744

Warriors Don’t Cry (entire book)

My History Lab:

Ch. 29 Document: Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Ch. 29 Document: The Southern Manifesto (1956)

 

May 9:    How did the Cold War shape the development of civil liberties?

May 11: What did it take to get the United States to commit to civil rights?

May 13: Who started the student protests of the 1960s—and why?

 Week 8: The 1960s

Textbook, ch. 30 to page 774

Capital Moves, ch. 3 & 4

My History Lab:

Ch. 30 Document: Carmichael and Hamilton, The Politics of Liberation in America (1967)

Ch. 30 Document: Gay Liberation Front, Come Out (1970)

 

May 16: What is the link between protests and the “Rights Revolution”?

May 18: How did Vietnam become the most unpopular war in U.S. history?

May 20: Why was 1968 a historical turning point?

 Week 9: The Growth of Conservatism

Textbook: pp. 774-778 AND ch. 31

Capital Moves, ch. 5 & 6

My History Lab, ch.33 Document: Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

 

May 23: Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail?

     Famous Trials Papers Due in Class

May 25: How did conservatism change from the 1960s to the 1980s?

May 27: Who can immigrate to the United States?

 Week 10: Globalization and Its Discontents

Textbook, ch. 32 & 33

Capital Moves, ch. 7

My History Lab:

Ch. 32 Document: Pickens, My Case for Reagan

Ch. 32 Document: Ronald Reagan, The Air Traffic Controllers Strike

 

May 30: Memorial Day Holiday (NO CLASS)

June 1:   Is there anything really new about globalization?

June 3:   Who will store America’s nuclear waste?

 Final Exam: Tuesday, June 7, at 10:15 a.m. (BRING GREEN BOOKS)

 Paper Assignment

Purpose of the Paper: The purpose of this assignment is to give you a chance to develop your skills at drawing connections between one of many famous legal trials in American history and the larger themes of twentieth-century American history. To get started, go to the website “Famous Trials” at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/ftrials.htm and look over the possibilities. For this assignment you can choose any of the trials between 1900 and 2000 except the Chamberlain “Dingo” Trial (which took place in Australia), so let your interests be your guide. Once you’ve chosen a trial, read the overview of the trial posted by legal historian Doug Linder and the other documents relating to the trial, then write a 5-7 page paper in your own words placing the trial in the context of larger trends in American history at that time of the trial.

Grading Standards:

Papers will be evaluated as follows:

A “C” paper is one that focuses almost entirely on what happened in the trial itself—the events, the people involved, and the outcome.

A “B” paper is one that places the trial in the context of larger themes in American history, using examples from the readings and documents assigned for the course.

An “A” paper is one that places the trial in the context of larger themes in American history, using examples drawn from the readings and documents assigned for the course and from the additional materials (documents, images, audio, and/or video) available on the textbook website on MyHistoryLab.com.

Citing Sources: When writing your paper, please be sure to keep in mind that you must NEVER present he words of others as if they were your own. Doing this is called plagiarism, which is cause for immediate failure in this course and/or referral to the office of Student Judicial Affairs. (For more information, see the University’s policy on academic conduct, on the web at http://www.uoregon.edu/~conduct/sai.htm.) This rule applies to materials found on websites (such as Doug Linder’s trial summaries) as well as to materials drawn from printed sources. Instructions for how to cite direct quotations from the website, the assigned readings, and other documents will be handed out during discussion sections. If you have any questions, please be sure to consult with your discussion leader before completing your paper.

Due Date: Your paper is due at the beginning of class on Monday, May 23 rd. Late papers will be accepted only in extraordinary circumstances, and will be reduced by at least one full grade.