The US Since 1945

Our first unit exam will be on Wednesday, Feb 22nd. It covers 1945-1963, which is Parts I and II in History of Our Time and Chapters 1-7 of Moss, Moving On.

Here’s the study guide (PDF). The exam will be open anything-printed. You can use textbooks, written notes, and notebooks. Internet access and mobile devices are not permitted. If you take your class notes on laptop, you can use it but I’ll arrange the seating in the room so that your laptop screen faces me.

Friday’s class will begin a new unit, on the long 1960s, with a look at the “Great Society” under Johnson. Reading is MO 118-126 and HOT 77-92.

This week’s agenda:

Monday 2/13 = Politics of the 1950s and the Election of 1960
Reading: MO 90-99 and HOT 66-76 (Port Huron, Young Americans for Freedom, JFK Inaugural)
*bring the HOT book to class so we can talk about these documents*

Also Monday 3:30 pm in Library, Rm 117 – a screening of James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause – feel free to bring friends.

Wednesday 2/15 = Congress Day #3, considering legislation and social issues of the 1950s

Friday 2/17 = Life in “Camelot” aka the Kennedy Years
Reading: MO 97-117 plus HOT 46-51. In addition, please choose one of the links below, and explore the digital archive of primary sources related to the Cuban Missile Crisis. You should choose, and be able to discuss in class, at least one document, recording or film.
JFK Library and Museum
History and Politics Out Loud (audio recordings, requires RealPlayer and a good internet connection)
The National Security Archive
Revelations from the Russian Archives (Library of Congress)
The Avalon Project
President Kennedy’s Television Address
“The Cuban Crisis,” Universal Studios newsreel from 25 October 1962

Looking ahead, a couple of reminders: on Monday 2/20 there’s no school, and Wednesday 2/22 will be the first in-class exam, covering 1945-1963.

Download the Study Guide for the exam here (PDF)

All this week, we’ll be looking at the world between 1945-1960 from several different angles:

Mon 2/6 – Postwar Suburbanization & the Baby Boom = demographics and the changing landscape of how and where Americans lived. Reading is HOT 55-65 (Hines, Marchand and Myers) + MO 57-63. Why does Hines argue they were the “luckiest generation”? Do you think that is true? Why or why not?

Wed 2/8 – Labor and the Economy. Reading is MO 45-50 and 58-67, plus these two additional readings in PDF form: “The Cold War and the Feminine Mystique” by Sara Evans, and “American Workers and the New World Order,” by Jacqueline Jones. You may want to compare their points of view – are they in agreement about the impact of the postwar economy on the American workforce, and the way in which that impact was gendered?

Links:
“To Secure These Rights,” full text at Truman library
CBS Edward R. Murrow, Harvest of Shame (1960)

Fri 2/10 – Juvies? Postwar Youth Culture. Reading is MO 90-99 plus a PDF packet that includes two readings from the 1950s that show society’s anxiety about young people’s values and behavior. Download that packet here.

To go with our discussion of labor issues and youth culture and get us ready for a day of Congressional hearings in the following week, I’ll be showing a classic fifties film at 3:30 pm on Monday, Feb 13th. It will either be Blackboard Jungle or Rebel Without a Cause or On the Waterfront. I know many of you work during that time so attendance isn’t required but it may be of interest if you can make it. I’ll announce the location when I have a room reserved.

On Monday 1/30 we talked about the Korean War, as a case study in American postwar foreign policy and geopolitical strategy.

On Wednesday 2/1 we’ll have our second Congress Day, and take up some of the legislative and foreign policy concerns of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Remember to bring your laptops!

Links for Wed:
Truman’s Inauguration, including transcript of his speech
Short clip of Truman’s Inaugural speech

For Friday 2/3, please read MO 72-74 and this PDF of an article by Georganne Scheiner, “Would You Like to be Queen for a Day?” We’ll be talking about television and broadcast media in the 1950s.

If you’re curious about the show, we’ll screen some clips in class – Youtube has a few posted to it.

I think we’ll stick to our original reading schedule, despite having given McCarthy short shrift on Friday (I really enjoyed our productive discussion on the term limits amendment, and I’ve updated the “Day1” link on the Congress Wiki to show what we did).

So, Monday we’ll talk about American foreign policy in Asia in the late 1940s/early 1950s, including the Korean War and the glimmerings of the start of the conflict in Vietnam. Reading is MO 34-40 and 86-89. You may also want to explore some of these online resources – some are better than others, so depending on your level of knowledge and interest, take a look.

The official Korean War Memorial on the Mall in Washington DC frames the “Forgotten War” this way – is this a fair assessment, in your view?

Online Resources for the Korean War:
BBC-History Korean War Overview
US Navy History site on the Korean War
History.com Topics: Korean War
Korean War Sources from the Truman Presidential Library
Korean War Sources from the Eisenhower Presidential Library
“Between the Eternities” – a blog post about visiting the DMZ in October 2011

Reading: HOT 18-37 (HUAC, McCarthy and Haynes/Klehr) + MO 40-44, 50-56, 79-82

*Don’t forget: Bring the HOT book with you to class*

Resources:
Political Cartoons about McCarthy by Herblock
“The Cold War Turns Hot” – documents from the Truman Presidential Library
McCarthyism and the Red Scare – documents from the Eisenhower Presidential Library
McCarthyism, Korea and the Cold War – Wisconsin Historical Society

Churchill, “Sinews of Peace” – the Iron Curtain Speech
Westminster College, Fulton MO, 5 March 1946

Truman Doctrine
Speech to Congress, 12 March 1947

“Duck and Cover” 1951 Civil Defense film

See also “Atomic Alert” (1951) and “About Fallout” (1963)

Reading: Moss 19-34  and HOT 13-18, 38-45 (Kennan, Good Housekeeping and Eisenhower)

Additional Resources:

Interactive map of Europe in the 20th century (BBC)
George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” from Moscow in 1946 (full text online)
Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech, delivered March 1946
Economic Recovery Act of 1948, aka “The Marshall Plan”
The Truman Doctrine speech, 1947
NSC-68, 1950 top-secret policy report, declassified in 1975 (see the full page-by-page scan at the Truman Library)
Cold War Museum
Nuclear toys and Atomic Brand Names (Retronaut)
“Atomic Energy as a Force for Good” (1955) Part I (13:09)