HIST 352
THE UNITED STATES IN THE 1960s

CRN 22700
WINTER 2015
TUESDAY/THURSDAY: 10:00-11:20, GSH 123

PROFESSOR ELLEN HERMAN
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

office: 335 McKenzie Hall
phone: 346-3118
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Tuesday/Thursday, 11:30 - 12:30

GTFs/Graders:

Feather Crawford, feather@uoregon.edu
office hours: Tuesday/Thursday, 2:45 - 3:45, McKenzie 350G

Adam Turner, act@uoregon.edu
office hours: Tuesday, noon - 2:00, McKenzie 340M

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

This course will be a place to read, think, and talk about the 1960s in two 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? This course will investigate how the history of the 1960s has been challenged and changed by recent scholarship. Why, for example, is a period popularly perceived as an era of civil rights victories, student activism, progressive reform, and stunning military defeat emerging as a turning point in the histories of anti-liberalism, educational crisis, and conservatism? Interpretive trends change, 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 for whom? When did the 1960s begin? Are the 1960s over yet?

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

There will be two 5-page essays (double spaced) and a final exam. Please submit both of them on Blackboard, using SafeAssign.

 

1. The first essay will draw on both Michael Harrington's The Other America and Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative. It is due on February 3 before class. You can find the essay question here. The length should be 5 pages, double-spaced.

 

2. The second essay may be either on Working-Class War or Patty's Got a Gun. It is due on March 3 before class. This essay will take the form of a book review. Please consult these guidelines for writing book reviews. The length should be 5 pages, double spaced.

 

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 identifications and comparisons. The final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 8-10 am.

 

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

READING REQUIREMENTS

Required reading does not mean required buying. You can find all of the texts below on reserve in Knight Library as well as at the UO Bookstore.

 

Appy, Christian G. Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers & Vietnam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.

 

Goldwater, Barry. The Conscience of a Conservative. Victor Publishing Company, 1960.

 

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

 

Harrington, Michael. The Other America. Penguin, 1962.

 

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

 

various documents linked to the course syllabus

 

Please consider reading this optional overview, which can help to fill in historial background and details: Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, 4th edition. Oxford University Press, 2011.

 

List of Selected 1960s Memoirs

Not required, but recommended for your reading pleasure.

THINKING REQUIREMENTS AND COURSE OBJECTIVES

History is a discipline that requires discipline, no less than music, neuroscience, or architecture. That means you should expect this course to require real time and effort. But history repays those who devote time and effort to it many times over. If you work hard in this course, you will end the term knowing something about the chronology and significance of the various topics listed on this syllabus. You can also expect the following tangible benefits, all applicable in a wide range of occupations and careers:

  • the habit of asking critical questions frequently
  • improved reading, writing, and analytical skills
  • the ability to recogize and evaluate primary and secondary source documents, with special attention to interpreting multiple and conflicting sources of information
  • practice in thinking about how economic, political, cultural, and social forces interact over time

My hope is that you will also experience the pleasure of learning. History promises to make us more interesting people and better, more insightful citizens of our communities and our world.

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.

 

Classroom Etiquette: In order to create an atmosphere conducive to mutual respect and learning, please refrain from activities such as eating meals, texting, or newspaper-reading during class time. Using computers to take notes is encouraged. If you would prefer to spend the class time on Facebook, shopping, or conducting other online activities, please do that. Just don't come to class!

Lateness Policy: No unexcused late assignments will be accepted and no makeup exams will be given. Students who miss deadlines or the final exam will be given 0% for that assignment. If you anticipate difficulty meeting a deadline, please talk to the instructor or one of the GTFs in advance. Medical emergencies cannot, by definition, be anticipated in advance. Accommodations will be made for these but documentation will be required.

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

 

One last note: I apologize for having all these rules! Try to imagine the administrative challenges your instructor faces in managing this large course in a way that is fair to all students. Please be patient with me and with your GTFs!

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?

January 6: Introduction

Read:
Adam Nagourney, Carol Pogath, and Tamar Lewin, "It's Not the Old Days, but Berkeley Sees a New Spark of Protest," New York Times, December 9, 2014.

 

January 8: The Big Picture

 

Read:
Levy: all the documents in chapter 9.

 

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 1970: Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Billboard #1 hit in 1975: Captain and Tennille, "Love Will Keep Us Together"

Billboard #1 hit in 1980: Blondie, "Call Me"

 

Bruce Springsteen on the music and legacy of the 1960s


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 family story, a piece of music or clothing, or something else. Use your imagination.

Week 2

THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY AND ITS DISCONTENTS

January 13: The Consumers' Republic

 

Read:
Levy: all the documents in chapter 1.

 

January 15: Poverty in the Affluent Society

 

film: “Harvest of Shame”

 

Read:
Levy: documents 2.1, 2.2, 7.7

 

Harrington, The Other America, Forward by Maurice Isserman, Introduction by Irving Howe, chap. 1 - chap. 4

 

Reading and Discussion Questions for Michael Harrington, The Other America

Week 3

LIBERALISM AT HIGH TIDE

January 20: Other Americas

 

Read:

Harrington, The Other America, chap. 5 - end (including the appendix and the afterword)

 

January 22: The Great Society and the War on Poverty

 

Read:

Levy: documents 2.6, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

 

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

 

Annie Lowrey, "50 Years Later, War on Poverty Is a Mixed Bag," New York Times, January 5, 2014.

Week 4

BARRY GOLDWATER'S 1960s

January 27: Barry Goldwater and the 1964 Election

 

Read:

Levy: documents 2.4, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6


Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative, entire

 

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

 

January 29: The 1960s as an Era of Conservative Mobilization and Redefinition

 

Read:

Levy: document 8.6

Week 5

THE RIGHTS REVOLUTION

February 3: Reasoning from Race: Pauli Murray and the Civil Rights Movement

 

first essay due before class

 

Read:

Levy: all the documents in chapter 3

 

February 5: The Rights Revolution Expands: Disability

 

Guest speaker: Mark Roberts

 

Read:

 

TenBroek, Jacobus. "Cross of Blindness." Vital Speeches of the Day 23, no. 23 (1957):732-36.

 

Shriver, Eunice Kennedy. "Hope for Retarded Children." The Saturday Evening Post, September, 22, 1962, pp. 71-75

 

Roberts, Edward V., oral history excerpt, University of California’s Cowell Hospital Residence Program for Physically Disabled Students, 1962-1975: Catalyst for Berkeley's Independent Living Movement, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History Series. [The complete oral history can be found online here]

 

Watch and Listen:

 

"60 Minutes" profile of Ed Roberts, 1989

 

Week 6

THE VIETNAM WAR

February 10: From Cold War to Working-Class War

 

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

 

Appy, Working-Class War, introduction and chaps. 1-4

 

Reading and Discussion Questions for Appy, Working Class War

 

February 12: The Antiwar Movement

 

Guest speaker: Christian Appy

 

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

 

Appy, Working-Class War, chaps. 5-9

Week 7

SEXUAL REVOLUTION

February 17: The Personal Politics of Second-Wave Feminism

 

Read:
Levy: documents 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5

 

Guidelines for Consciousness-Raising Groups, early 1970s

 

February 19: Gay Liberation

 

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

 

Levy: document 7.6

 

Watch and Listen:

clips from "Before Stonewall"

clips from "After Stonewall"

Week 8

COUNTERCULTURE, RADICALIZATION, AND VIOLENCE

February 24: The Counterculture and the New Left

 

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, pp. 1-113.

 

February 26: The Patricia Hearst Case

 

Read:

Graebner, Patty's Got a Gun, pp. 117-180.

 

supplementary material on the case can be found at the Famous Trials Website: The Trial of Patty Hearst

Week 9

MUSIC IN THE 1960s, THE 1970s, AND BEYOND

March 3: More than a Soundtrack, part 1

 

second essay due before class

 

films: "Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Grandmother of Rock & Roll," "A Hard Day's Night," "Janis"

 

March 5: More Than a Soundtrack, part 2

 

Watch and Listen:

Bob Dylan, "Blowing in the Wind"
Janis Ian, "Society's Child"
Phil Ochs, "I Ain't Marching Anymore"

The Music of Lou Reed, from the New York Times obituary, October 27, 2013

Sylvester, "You Make Me Feel"

 

Read:

James Miller, "Beatlemania," in Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977. Simon & Schuster, 1999, pp. 205-217.

 

Watch these clips from the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan show and several of their U.S. concerts in February 1964.

 

Ellen Willis, "Janis Joplin," in Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music. University of Minnesota Press, 2011[originally published in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock 'N' Roll, 1980].

 

Alice Echols, Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. W. W. Norton, 2010, chapter 2, "More, More, More."

Week 10

WHAT ARE THE ENDURING LEGACIES OF THE 1960s?

March 10: The New Right and the Defense of Family Values

 

Read:

Engel v. Vitale, 1962

 

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action." Washington, DC: Office of Policy Planning and Research, United States Department of Labor, March 1965, chapter II, "The Negro American Family."

 

Levy: document 7.8

 

Marabel Morgan, "The Total Woman," 1973

 

Anita Bryant, "When the Homosexuals Burn the Holy Bible in Public...How Can I Stand By Silently," 1977

 

Jerry Falwell, "Organizing the Moral Majority," 1980


March 12: The 1960s and the Death of Consensus


Final exam question bank

 

Three optional review sessions for the final exam wll be held in 375 McKenzie Hall, as follows:

Thursday, March 12, 2-3 pm

Friday, March 13, 8:30 - 9:30 am

Friday, March 13, 1-2 pm


Final Exam: Tuesday, March 17, 8-10 am