HIST 352 (CRN 13119)
THE UNITED STATES IN THE 1960S
FALL 2010
TUESDAY, THURSDAY 10:00-11:20
101 LEARNING LIVING CENTER

Professor Ellen Herman
Department of History
University of Oregon

office: 321 McKenzie Hall
phone: 346-3118
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Thursday, noon - 2

GTF/Graders:
Lucas Burke, 340B McKenzie Hall, 541-346-6239, lburke@uoregon.edu
office hours: Tuesday, Friday, 1 - 2 pm

Clinton Sandvick, 340T McKenzie Hall, 541-346-4821, csandvic@uoregon.edu
office hours: Tuesday, Thursday, 8:45 - 9:45 am

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

This course will be a place to read, think, and talk about the 1960s in two particular ways: as a watershed in modern U.S. history and as an era whose contested reputation continues to preoccupy scholars and observers. Issues and images associated with the 1960s inspire some Americans, trouble others, and serve as reference points for us all. Why is this the case? The course will investigate how the history of the 1960s has been challenged and changed by recent scholarship. Why, for example, is a period still popularly perceived as a progressive era of civil rights victories, student activism, dramatic institutional reform, feminist revolution, and stunning military defeat emerging as a turning point in the histories of racial anti-liberalism, educational crisis, Cold War triumphalism, and cultural and political conservatism? Interpretive fashions have changed, but the consensus points to the 1960s as a critical dividing line in modern U.S. history, culture and politics. What exactly do the 1960s represent and to whom? Are the 1960s even over yet?

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

There will be two 5-page essays (double spaced) and a final exam.

 

1. The first essay will be on Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative. It is due on October 26 before class. Specifics about the essay can be found here.

 

2. The second essay can be written either on The Battle for Welfare Rights or Patty's Got a Gun. It is due on November 23 before class. This essay will take the form of a book review. Please consult these guidelines for writing book reviews.

 

3. The final exam will consist mainly of essay questions that cover the readings and synthesize the main themes of the course. There may also be some short-answer questions or brief identificaitons and comparisons. It is scheduled for 8:00 - 10:00 am on Wednesday, December 8, 2010.

 

Please notice when the written work is due and plan your time accordingly.

READING REQUIREMENTS

Barry Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative (Regnery Publishing, 1990).

 

William Graebner, Patty's Got a Gun: Patricia Hearst in 1970s America (University of Chicago, 2008).

 

Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s (Oxford University Press, 2008).

 

Felicia Kornbluh, The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007).

 

Peter B. Levy, ed., America in the Sixties--Right, Left, and Center (Greenwood Press, 1998).

 

Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried (Broadway Book, 1990)

 

various documents linked to the course syllabus

 

List of Selected 1960s Memoirs

Not required, but recommended for your reading pleasure.

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 what plagiarism is, or who have questions about how to cite published, electronic, or other sources should feel free to consult with the instructor. You can also consult the brief guide to plagiarism and citation posted on my web site.

Lateness Policy: No unexcused late assignments will be accepted and no makeup exams will be given. Students who miss deadlines will be given an F for that assignment.

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

essays: 30% each
final exam: 40%

Calendar

 

Week 1

WHY DO THE 1960s MATTER? WHAT WERE THE 1960s ABOUT? WHEN DID THE 1960s BEGIN AND END?

September 28: Introduction to the Course

 

Read:
Patricia Cohen, "The ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire," New York Times, July 3, 2008.

 

Watch and Listen:
Billboard #1 hit in 1955: Bill Haley and His Comets, "Rock Around the Clock"

Billboard #1 hit in 1960: Percy Faith, "Theme from A Summer Place"

Billboard #1 hit in 1968: Beatles, "Hey Jude"
Billboard #1 hit in 1975: Captain and Tennille, "Love Will Keep Us Together"

 

September 30: The Big Picture, in Retrospect

 

Read:
Levy: all the documents in chapter 9.

Isserman and Kazin, chapter 1.


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

Please bring something to class that you think represents the 1960s either on its own terms, in collective memory, or both. It can be an artifact or an image, a document, a symbol, a piece of music or clothing, or something else. Use your imagination.

Week 2

THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY AND OTHER AMERICAS

October 5: People of Plenty

 

Read:
Levy: all the documents in chapter 1.

 

October 7: The African-American Freedom Movement

 

Read:
Levy: documents 2.1, 2.2, all the documents in chapter 3

Isserman and Kazin, chapters 2-3

 

Week 3

LIBERALISM AT HIGH TIDE

October 12: The Rediscovery of Poverty

 

Read:

The Battle for Welfare Rights, Introduction - chapter 3

 

Reading and Discussion Questions for Felicia Kornbluh,The Battle for Welfare Rights

 

film: “Harvest of Shame”

 

October 14: The Great Society and the War on Poverty

 

Read:

Levy: documents 2.6, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Isserman and Kazin, chapters 5-6, 9
LBJ, University of Michigan commencement address, May 22, 1964
Sargent Shriver, tesimony before the U.S. Senate, Committee on Education and Public Welfare, June 17, 1964

 

film: "American Idealist"

Week 4

BARRY GOLDWATER'S 1960s

October 19: Barry Goldwater and 1964

guest lecture: Jonathan Herzog, ACLS Postdoctoral Faculty Fellow

 

Read:

Levy: documents 2.4, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6
The Conscience of a Conservative

 

Reading and Discussion Questions for Barry Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative

 

October 21: The 1960s and the Conservative Revival

 

Read:

Levy: document 8.6

Isserman and Kazin, chapters 10-11

Week 5

THE RIGHTS REVOLUTION

October 26: The Welfare Rights Movement

 

Read:

The Battle for Welfare Rights, chapter 4 - Conclusion

 

first essay due before class


October 28: Meet the Author: Felicia Kornbluh

Week 6

VIETNAM

November 2: Who fought and why?

 

Read:
Levy: documents 5.1, 5.2, 5.8, 5.9, 6.8

Isserman and Kazin, chapter 4

 

begin Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

 

November 4: Who protested and why?

 

Read:
 Levy: documents 2.3, 2.5, 4.7, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.10

finish Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

Week 7

SEXUAL REVOLUTION

November 9: The Personal Politics of Second-Wave Feminism

 

Read:
Levy: documents 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, all of the documents in chapter 7

 

Watch and Listen:
Virginia Slims ads from 1968, "You've Come a Long Way Baby"

 

November 11: Gay Liberation

 

Read:
"Homo Nest Raided: Queen Bees are Stinging Mad," New York Daily News, June 6, 1969

three post-Stonewall documents: The Homophile Youth Movement on Mafia-Run Gay Bars; The Beginning of the Gay Liberation Front, July 24, 1969; The Radical "Gay" Challenge to "Homophile" Poltiics

 

 

Week 8

CULTURES AND COUNTERCULTURES

November 16: The New Left, Revolutionary Violence, and the Patricia Hearst Case

 

Watch and Listen:

Anti-Obama ad featuring Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground

 

Read:

Levy: documents 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

Graebner, Patty's Got a Gun, p. 1-113.

 

Watch and Listen:
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, "Blowing in the Wind"
Janis Ian, "Society's Child"
Phil Ochs, "I Ain't Marching Anymore"

 

November 18: The Patricia Hearst Case

 

Read:

Graebner, Patty's Got a Gun, p. 117-180.
Isserman and Kazin, chapters 8, 13

 

Famous Trials Website: The Trial of Patty Hearst

Week 9

THE VOICE OF THE SILENT MAJORITY

November 23: What was the New Right and what was it about?

 

Read:
Isserman and Kazin, chapters 11, 14

 

second essay due before class

 

November 25: Thanksgiving

Week 10

THE ENDURING LEGACY OF THE 1960s

November 30: The 1960s and the Death of Consensus

 

Read:
Isserman and Kazin, conclusion

 

December 2: Are the 1960s over?

Final Exam
December 8, 2010 at 8:00 am.