HIST 203
The United States in the Twentieth Century

SPRING 2011
CRN 33073

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY: 9:00 - 9:50 AM
282 LILLIS HALL

PROFESSOR ELLEN HERMAN
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

office: 321 McKenzie Hall
phone: 346-3118
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Monday, 10:00 - 11:00; Thursday, 2:30 - 3:30

Graduate Teaching Fellows:

Carrie Adkins, cadkins@uoregon.edu
office hours: Monday, 10:00 - 11:00; Friday, 10:00 - 12:00 in 340P McKenzie

Lucas Burke, lburke@uoregon.edu
office hours: Wednesday, 1:30 - 3:30 and by appointment in 340B McKenzie

Sean Munger, mmunger@uoregon.edu
office hours: Monday, 2:00 - 3:00; Wednesday, 2:00 - 3:00 in 340C McKenzie

Adam Turner, act@uoregon.edu
office hours: Monday, 10:00 - 11:00; Wednesday, 4:00 - 5:00; Thursday, 2:00 - 3:00 in 340M McKenzie

COURSE DESCRIPTION

HIST 203 is the third in a three-quarter sequence of courses introducing U.S. history. Taking HIST 201 and/or 202 is helpful, but it is neither necessary nor required to do well in this course.

HIST 203 surveys most of the twentieth century. British historian Isaiah Berlin called this "the worst century there has ever been." Americans have tended to be more optimistic and also more arrogant. In 1941, publisher Henry Luce proclaimed "the American century" and declared that the United States should "exert upon the world the full impact of our influence, for such purposes as we see fit and by such means as we see fit." Supreme confidence in the purposes of the American nation-state may be older than the nation-state itself, but the unprecedented power to realize and enforce these purposes, both at home and abroad, was a key feature of U.S. history only during the twentieth century.

In addition to surveying major events that shaped domestic society and eventually made the United States into a global superpower, a central goal of this course will be to come to terms with the meanings of modern America. What makes modern America modern? In answering this question, we will pay particular attention to a wide range of issues: immigration, work, reform movements, war, peace, consumption and poverty, politics, mass culture, economic crisis and abundance, education, health, and family. During the past century, how and why have race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and other dimensions of public and private identity changed Americans' ideas about equality and freedom so profoundly?

Another important goal of the course is to introduce students to history as a way of thinking about the social world. What is history all about? Who belongs in it? Why does history matter? How do historians do what they do?

Format
This course follows a lecture format with weekly discussion sections. Several films, or parts of films, will be shown during class time. Students are expected to attend the lectures and to have the required reading done before their weekly discussion section meets. Active participation in discussion sections is crucial to your success in the course.

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

There will be two short (3-page, double spaced, 12-point type) writing assignments, a midterm exam, and a final exam. The short essays will interpret documents; the first one is due during week 3 and the second one is due during week 7. The goal is to expose students to the primary sources that historians use and the way that historians work with them to write history. Exams will cover material from lectures as well as required readings. You can expect them to include short and long essay questions as well as brief identifications and comparisons. The midterm exam is scheduled for Friday, April 29, 2011 and will cover material assigned during the first four weeks of the course. The final exam is scheduled for Monday, June 6 at 10:15 am. It will be comprehensive, but will pay relatively more attention to material covered after the midterm.

Note: GTFs may also give short quizzes or other brief assignments in discussion sections. The specifics of the short essays may also vary from section to section.

READING REQUIREMENTS

Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! 2nd Seagull edition (W.W. Norton, 2009).

Frederick Winslow Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management (Dover, 1998). [The full text can be found online through Google books and Project Gutenberg.]

Waldo E. Martin, Jr., ed., Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998).

Tim O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (Random House, 1975).

Arlene Stein, The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community's Battle Over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights (Beacon Press, 2001).

thinking Requirements

RULES

Academic Honesty
If this course is to be a worthwhile educational experience, your work must be original. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are very serious infractions and will not be permitted. Students who are uncertain about exactly how to cite published, electronic, or other sources should feel free to consult with the instructor and/or the GTFs. Please also read my Brief Guide to Plagiarism and Citation Guide.

Lateness Policy
No unexcused late assignments will be accepted or makeup exams given. Please take note that it will not be possible to pass the course without doing the two short writing assignments, even if you are taking the course P/NP.

Attendance Policy
Attendance during lectures and in weekly discussion sections is necesary if you want to do well in this course. Attendance will be taken in the sections by the GTFs. More than two unexcused absences from the weekly sections will result in a penalty of one-half letter grade.

Accommodations
If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please arrange to see me soon and request that Disability Services send a letter verifying your disability.

GRADES

two 3-page papers: 15% each
midterm exam: 25%
final exam: 30%
attendance, participation, and performance in discussion sections: 15%

Grades for HIST 203 will be recorded in Blackboard, where you can access them at your convenience. All other information about the course can be found here.

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

Course Calendar

 

Week 1

MAKING AMERICA MODERN

March 28, 2011: Introduction

March 30, 2011: How to Think Like a Historian

April 1, 2011: What were "modern times"?

Readings

Give Me Liberty!, chap. 18

Barack Obama, "A More Pefect Union," a speech on race and politics delivered on March 18, 2008 in Philadelphia.

Week 2

PROGRESSIVISM

April 4, 2011: Why was the early twentieth century full of reform movements?

April 6, 2011: profiles: Frederick Winslow Taylor; Jane Addams

April 8, 2011: Did World War I and the 1920s advance or impede Progressivism?

Key Terms

Readings

Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management, entire [The full text can be found online through Google book search.]

Taylor Reading and Discussion Questions

Give Me Liberty!, chaps. 19, 20.

Week 3

WELFARE STATES AND WARFARE STATES

THE 1930S

April 11, 2011: What made the Great Depression great?

April 13, 2011: What was the New Deal and what did it accomplish?

April 15, 2011: profile: Eleanor Roosevelt

Key Terms

Readings

Give Me Liberty!, chap. 21

Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (1933) audio file / text file

Dorothea Lange, "Migrant Mother." Look at and think about all five of the photos that Lange took for the FSA. Also, listen to the short testimony of Florence Thompson, the woman pictured in this iconic phogoraph.

Writing Assignment

Short essay #1 due at the beginning of your discussion section

Week 4

WORLD WAR II

April 18, 2011: What did it mean for the United States to be the "arsenal of democracy"?

April 20, 2011: Why is World War II known as the "good war"?

April 22, 2011: profiles: Little Boy and Fat Man

Key Terms

Readings

Give Me Liberty!, chap. 22

Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942

Korematsu v. United States (1944), excerpt

Program honoring the Japanese-American students whose educations at the University of Oregon were interrupted by the internment order of 1942.

Week 5

THE COLD WAR

April 25, 2011: What was the Cold War about?

April 27, 2011: Film: "Atomic Cafe"

April 29, 2011: in-class midterm exam (covers material through week 4)

Key Terms

Readings

Give Me Liberty!, chap. 23

Joseph McCarthy, speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, February 9, 1950

Nixon and Khruschev, Moscow, July 1959

Week 6

THE DEATH OF CONSENSUS

THE RIGHTS REVOLUTION

May 2, 2011: If Americans in the 1950s were so affluent, why was poverty such a major issue during the postwar era?

May 4, 2011: How did the African-American freedom struggle give birth to a rights revolution?

May 6, 2011: profiles: Bayard Rustin, Jacobus tenBroek

Key Terms

Readings

Martin, ed., Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents. Your GTF may assign additional selections, but please read at least the following: Introduction (p. 1); Plessy v. Ferguson, majority opinion (p. 76); Plessy v. Ferguson, dissenting opinion by John Harlan (p. 81); Appellants’ Brief, 1952 (p. 137); “The Effects of Segregation and the Consequences of Desegregation” (p. 142); Appellees’ Brief; 1952 (p. 151); Brown v. Board of Education (p. 168); Ruling on Relief (p. 194); Lillian Smith letter (p. 208); Zora Neale Hurston letter (p. 209); The Southern Manifesto (p. 220); “Forty Years and Still Struggling” (p. 228); Epilogue (p. 230)

Martin Reading and Discussion Questions

Give Me Liberty!, chap. 24

Jacobus tenBroek, "Cross of Blindness," July 6, 1957

United Nations, "Declaration on the Rigths of Mentally Retarded Persons," December 20, 1971

Week 7

THE LONG 1960S: ACTION AND REACTION

May 9, 2011: What was the Great Society?

May 11, 2011: Why was the Vietnam War the most divisive war in U.S. history?

May 13, 2011: profile: Robert McNamara

Key Terms

Readings

Tim O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone, pp. 1-100

O'Brien Reading and Discussion Questions

Give Me Liberty! chap. 25

Lyndon Baynes Johnson, "The Great Society" (1964) audio file / text file

Writing Assignment

Short essay #2 due at the beginning of your discussion section

Week 8

THE LONG 1960S: ACTION AND REACTION

May 16, 2011: Film: "Chicano: The Struggle in the Fields"

May 18, 2011: What impact did femimism and the sexual revolution have in public and in private?

May 20, 2011: profiles: Alfred Kinsey; Betty Friedan

Key Terms

Readings

Tim O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone, pp. 101-209

O'Brien Reading and Discussion Questions

Give Me Liberty! chap. 26

Loving v. Virginia (1967)

Week 9

THE AGE OF POLARIZATION

May 23, 2011: Why did the New Right and the Reagan revolution set out to undo the liberal gains of the 1960s?

May 25, 2011: profiles: Barry Goldwater; George Wallace, Phyllis Schlafly

May 27, 2011: Film: "The Most Dangerous Man in America"

Key Terms

Readings

Arlene Stein, The Stranger Next Door, chaps. 1-5

Stein Reading and Discussion Questions

 

Week 10

IS THE AMERICAN CENTURY HISTORY?

May 30, 2011: Memorial Day holiday

June 1, 2011: What did the end of the Cold War mean for the U.S. and the world?

June 3, 2011: Looking Backward to Look Forward

Readings

Arlene Stein, The Stranger Next Door, chaps. 6-10

Stein Reading and Discussion Questions

Give Me Liberty! chap. 27, 28

THE FINAL EXAM WILL BE ON MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2011 AT 10:15 AM