Course Syllabus

Augustana College, HI 132 THE UNITED STATES: WWII TO THE PRESENT

HI 132: The Enduring Questions

Everything we do in this course will engage one or more of the following questions:

“History is an argument without end.” —Peter Geyl

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO LEARN IN THIS CLASS

Knowledge: This course aims to broaden and deepen your knowledge of some of the most important events, people, developments, and issues in U.S. history from 1945 to the present.

Discernment: This course will help you sharpen fundamental skills of critical and historical thinking, such as reading for the main point, asking good questions, drawing connections, assessing the reliability of sources, constructing sound arguments, assessing change over time, and determining the limits of what can be known. Equipped with such skills, you will learn to exercise discernment when confronting historical claims people make about the past. In addition to learning how to “think like a historian,” you’ll also learn why it makes sense to want to do so.

A Point of View on American History: As we debate what "story" best makes sense of the history of the United States, you will develop your own perspective on the nation’s past and learn to recognize, critique, and understand other perspectives.

Rhetorical Skills: This course will help you improve your ability to speak and write persuasively.

REQUIRED TEXTS

EVALUATIONS & GRADES

Your final grade will be determined by your performance on the following:

"If history is educational . . . it must be an education in thinking and not merely in remembering." —C. V. Wedgewood

DESIGN OF THE COURSE

Topics In ten weeks it is impossible to cover everything of importance in U.S. history for this period. But in my judgment, the following topics stand out as being especially worthy of our examination: WWII, the origins of the Cold War, society & culture in the Fifties; the Civil Rights Movement, Kennedy/Johnson liberalism, the Vietnam War, 1960s cultural rebellion, modern conservatism, and the end of the Cold War.

Film Screenings Most of the time, our study of historical topics will begin with the screening of a historical film of some sort: a documentary, a Hollywood movie, a newsreel, a propaganda film. We begin our study of history this way because, growing up in a media culture, most of us find it easier to apprehend the past when we can see visual representations of it. Unfortunately, little in our culture equips us to be critical, discerning viewers of moving images. Therefore, on film days I will teach you basic skills of visual literacy that will sharpen your habits of critical thinking when it comes to watching moving images. As a means to this end, you will complete a film analysis for each film you view. Your film analyses will be collected in your course portfolio.

History Workshops On Workshop days, we will examine history in its "raw" state. In other words, before you read or hear what historians have to say about a topic, in the Workshop you will get the opportunity to examine relevant historical materials for yourself—letters, diaries, official documents, photos, drawings, music, etc.—and discuss them with classmates. The purpose of the Workshop is to stimulate your interest, spark debate, and stir up questions, thereby preparing you to profit from the reading assignment and lecture/discussion meeting that follows. You will be expected to prepare carefully for the Workshop and give the readings your best attention.

Workshop Assignments To prepare you to participate in the Workshops, you will be asked to read certain primary historical documents (from Shi & Mayer, For the Record) and complete an assignment:

Workshop Assignment #1: For the first Workshop, you will write a short essay—3 to 4 pages, typed, double-spaced—that articulates and defends a point of some kind you wish to make using the documents assigned for that day. This essay should not merely summarize the readings, but demonstrate that you thought about the documents and took the trouble to organize your musings and insights into the beginning of a coherent, defensible historical argument. This essay will be evaluated but not graded. The purpose of the evaluation is diagnostic: we want to determine your skill level when it comes to historical analysis. When this essay is returned to you, you will know exactly what skills you need to improve in order to do well on future graded essays.

Workshop Assignments #2, 3, & 4: For the next three Workshops, you will read the assigned documents in Shi & Mayer and complete an assignment given out on the previous class day. These assignments are designed to deepen specific skills of historical analysis. The assignments will also become the basis for our discussion in class on these days.

Workshop Assignment #5: This is your first graded assignment. You may submit either a revised version of Assignment #1 OR write a new essay based on documents from Workshops #2, #3, or #4.

Workshop Assignments #6-8: For each of the last three Workshops, you will prepare for class by writing a 3–4-page historical argument based on analysis of primary documents assigned for the Workshops. ONE of these essays—the one you judge to be your best work—will be submitted to me in week ten for a grade, the last of your graded Workshop essays.

Please Note: On Workshop days, the essays/assignments are your tickets to class. If you come to class without an essay or assignment, it tells the rest of the class and me you've come unprepared for that day, and you will be asked (politely) to leave.

Course Portfolio In week ten you will submit a portfolio of your course work that will count for a little over half your course grade. Your portfolio will consist of the Workshop essays you write in the course (6), your film analyses (8), and other work you will occasionally write up. Your portfolio grade will be determined by the quality of the Workshop essays and assignments, the completion of all assigned film analyses and other assigned work, and the overall professionalism displayed by your course work in the portfolio. Missing essays or assignments will lower the grade on the portfolio by a grade level (e.g., a B- will be reduced to a C+, etc.).

Lecture/Discussions Lecture/Discussion meetings will draw from questions and problems that arise in the Workshops and/or the assigned readings from Zinn and Johnson. The purpose of the Lecture/Discussion meeting is not to inundate you with facts and information (for this, the readings are your resource). Rather, the lecture will address matters relating to clarification, interpretation, criticism of arguments, and most importantly, of historical and moral meaning. Because what we discuss on lecture/discussion days could be very helpful to you when writing your final essay, you should take notes accordingly.

Quizzes Each Lecture/Discussion day will begin with a quiz on the assigned reading. The quizzes will be distributed as class begins and will be collected and graded within five minutes. If you are late for class, you will miss the quiz and receive a zero. There will be no make-up quizzes for any reason. However, you may take a quiz ahead of time if you know in advance that you will miss class. The purpose of the quizzes is to teach you how to read for an author’s main point

Class Attendance Students are pretty good judges of what classes are valuable and what classes are a waste of time. Hence, I do not take attendance and there are no formal penalties for not coming to class. But this is not the sort of class in which you can miss a lot of meetings and expect to make a good grade. Consider the consequences of non-attendance: If you miss a film screening—you miss a chance to formulate historical questions for the following Workshop essay/assignment, and your portfolio grade will suffer because you won’t have a film analysis to turn in. If you miss a Workshop meeting—you will miss training in the historical skills that will determine how well you do on the essays that count for over half the course grade. If you miss a lecture/discussion day—you get a zero for the quiz and miss information that could be vital for the writing of your final essay. These consequences may be waived only if 1) you inform me in advance of your absence so we can work out alternative ways for you to complete your course work, or 2) I receive an explanation for your absence from the Dean of Students.

What? No Textbook? In fact, we will read not one but two major histories: one by Howard Zinn, the other by Paul Johnson. These are not traditional “textbooks.” In fact, real people have been known to read them, which one can’t say about textbooks. But if you think you would like to have on hand a standard textbook as a supplement to Zinn and Johnson, I will be happy to loan you one from my collection. Just ask.

Final Essay Assignment

Write a memo addressing the following scenario:

Senator Robert C. Byrd is upset.

The distinguished senator from West Virginia is very upset. He is ranting in the hallways and offices of the Capitol. He is very, very upset. He has just read the Nation’s Report Card on U.S. History* and the results are not good; the results are upsetting. Fifty-seven percent of the nation’s high school seniors scored below the “basic” achievement level that denotes only partial mastery of significant historical knowledge and analytical skills. In no other subject do more than half of high school seniors register below basic. It is upsetting that 50 percent of high school seniors can’t place the Civil War in the correct century. It is upsetting that 59 percent can name the Three Stooges, but only 41 percent can name the three branches of government. This is all very upsetting. It was upsetting to see Senator Byrd pushed over the edge by The Tonight Show. On the Tonight Show, Senator Byrd watched Jay Leno go to a college graduation ceremony and ask the graduates, “What was the Gettysburg Address?” One student replied, “An address to Getty”; another said, “I don’t know the exact address.” At this, Senator Byrd’s face became red, and it is still red because he is very upset.

Senator Byrd has convinced Congress to spend $100 million in 2004-05 on programs to improve how history is taught in the public schools. But this is not enough. Byrd wants to do something for adults, too. He wants to get adult citizens thinking and talking about the nation’s history.

Senator Byrd’s wife was an enthusiastic member of Oprah’s national book reading group. Noting the popularity of book reading groups, Byrd has devised a plan to deal with Americans’ historical illiteracy. His plan is to have Congress declare July 2005 “American History Month.” In advance of this month, Congress will send, at government expense, a suitable history book to every citizen of voting age. Then, during the month of July, American citizens will be invited to participate in local book reading groups led by volunteer teachers, judges, college presidents, and corporate CEOs not in jail. Some people, of course, will not want to participate. To encourage a wide participation, Senator Byrd will propose that Congress provide free beer and mixed drinks to all book club participants. Nonparticipants, however, will be sentenced to 30 days of community service or ten hours of The Simple Life reruns.

You are a staffer for Senator Byrd. Byrd has directed his staff to submit proposals for books that could provide the basis for a national conversation on American history. Preliminary discussions have narrowed the choices down to either Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States or Paul Johnson’s A History of the American People. Byrd wants a recommendation from you on his desk Thursday, May 19, by 12 p.m. Your memo should summarize the different “stories” told by each historian, comparing and contrasting them, and make a case for why you think one book would be a better choice than the other.

Please type your essay, aiming for 5-7 pages.

*See the results of the U.S. Department of Education’s “The Nation’s Report Card on U.S. History” for yourself at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ushistory/

CLASS MEETINGS & ASSIGNMENTS

Week #

MONDAY

WEDNESDAY

FRIDAY

1

History for Beginners: What is History?

History for Beginners: Why Study History?
Film Clip: Do The Right Thing

History for Beginners: Can We Trust Historical Knowledge?
Do the Right Thing essay due
2

History for Beginners: What is the Story of American History?
”Story of America” essay due

(F) World War II: War Comes to America
(from Why We Fight)

(W#1) World War II
Shi & Mayer, ch. 30
Assignment #1 due
3

(LD) World War II
Zinn, ch. 16a
Johnson, pp. 768–804

(F) Origins of the Cold War
1945: Brave New World (from The People’s Century)

Easter Recess

4

(W#2) Origins of the Cold War
Shi & Mayer, ch. 31
Assignment #2 due

(LD) Origins of the Cold War
Zinn, ch. 16b
Johnson, pp. 804–837

(F) The Pursuit of Happiness: American Society in the 1950s
Happy Daze (from The Century)

5

(W#3) The Pursuit of Happiness: American Society in the 1950s
Shi & Mayer, ch. 32
Assignment #3 due

(LD) The Pursuit of Happiness: American Society in the 1950s

(F) The Civil Rights Movement
Freedom on My Mind

6

(F) The Civil Rights Movement Freedom on My Mind

(W#4) The Civil Rights Movement
Shi & Mayer, chs. 33–34 (CRM docs)
Assignment #4 due

(LD) The Civil Rights Movement
Zinn, ch. 17
Johnson, pp. 891–893; 947–959
7

(LD) 1960s Liberalism: JFK, LBJ, & the Great Society
Johnson, pp. 845–876
Assignment #5 due today 5 p.m.

(F) The Vietnam War
LBJ Goes to War
(from Vietnam: A TV History)

(W#5) The Vietnam War
Shi & Mayer, ch. 34 (Vietnam docs)
Assignment #6 due
8

(LD) The Vietnam War
Zinn, ch. 18
Johnson, pp. 877–890

(F) 1960s Culture Wars
In A Dark Time (from Making Sense of the Sixties)

(W#6) 1960s Culture Wars
Shi & Mayer, ch. 35
Assignment #7 due
9

(LD) 1960s Culture Wars
Zinn, ch. 19 (22 optional)
Johnson, pp. 959–976

(F) 1980s Culture Wars
A New World (from The Century)

(W#7) 1980s Culture Wars
Shi & Mayer, ch. 36
Assignment #8 due
10

(W) Crafting the Final Essay
Bring Zinn and Johnson to class
Portfolio due today 5 p.m.

(LD) 1980s Culture Wars
Zinn, ch. 21
Johnson, pp. 917–931

F: film screening; W: Workshop; LD: lecture/discussion

* This schedule is subject to change *