The US Since 1945

Our class discussion got off to a great start this week with our free-wheeling discussion of the US in 1945.

If you hadn’t arrived with a discussion question ready to hand off or a deep recollection of the reading, then please take steps to make sure you are checking the course syllabus and website before class and reading the assigned chapter(s) thoroughly. Use your level of class engagement as a guide – are you understanding the references people make to the reading? Could you answer the questions posed? Are you interested in and following the discussion even if you’re not speaking up? If the answer is no, you will want to step up your game, especially because this unit is short!

Mon 1/27 The Atomic Age. Read and prepare to discuss the documents in History of Our Time (HOT) Ch 1 and bring the book with you to class.

Links we will use in class:
Europe’s Changing Borders (BBC)
Venona Project Cables (PBS/Nova)
Cuban Missile Crisis (JFK Library)
“Duck and Cover” (1951 Civil Defense film for children)
Las Vegas: The Atomic Age (PBS/American Experience)

Wed 1/29 Wars Cold, Hot and Political. Reading: Moving On (MO) Ch 2-3

Links we will use in class:
Nuclear Detonation Timeline 1945-1998
Primary Documents of the Korean War (Truman Library)
Profile of Pete Seeger (1919-2014) from New Yorker, 2006

Fri 1/31 Congress Day #1. You don’t need to prepare anything but do bring laptops; you will be assigned into committees on that day and begin our semester-long Congress simulation.

Mon 2/3 The Affluent Society. Reading: MO 4 and HOT 2

Links we will use in class:
Take Me Back to the Fifties
Harvest of Shame (CBS, 1960)
1964 PBS American Experience

Wed 2/5 Exam #1 in class (MO 1-4 and HOT 1-2) – Click here for the study guide

Update: if class is cancelled due to snow, the exam will be on Friday in class, and we’ll bump Congress #2 into next week