History 383: The United States Since 1920

Prof. Kevin M. Kruse

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1954-55

Readings and Class Schedule

(course packet readings noted by *)

Week 1

No precepts -- begin next week's readings.

Week 2

Readings (~250 pp.)

Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 1-144, 200-end.

*"Attorney General Palmer's Case Against the 'Reds,' 1920," and "Herbert Hoover on American Individualism, 1922," from Colin Gordon, ed., Major Problems in American History, 1920-1945 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999): 26-28.

*Sinclair Lewis, "Standard American Citizen" speech in Babbitt [1922] (New York: Penguin, 1992): 148-158.

*"The Governor of California on the 'Oriental Problem,' 1920," "Congress Debates Immigration Restriction, 1921" "A Jewish Leader Laments the Rise of Nativism, 1922," and "The Ku Klux Klan Defines Americanism, 1926" from Colin Gordon, ed., Major Problems in American History, 1920-1945 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999): 153-159.

Jobless Men, New York, 1932

John Takman Remembers a Bread Line, 1929 Bing Crosby Sings "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" 1932   Memories of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, 1940 Migrants Sing "Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad," 1941

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Week 3

Readings (190 pp.)

Polenberg, The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1-16, 39-92, 114-132.

Introduction
Documents, "FDR as President," "The New Deal," and "Right & Left Face"

Hamilton, The New Deal, 3-81, 103-125.

William E. Leuchtenburg, "The Triumph of Liberal Reform"
Barton J. Bernstein, "The Conservative Achievement of New Deal Reform"
Anthony J. Badger, "Unanticipated Consequences of New Deal Reform"
Alan Brinkley, "New Deal Liberalism and the New Deal State"
Mark H. Leff, "Soaking the 'Forgotten Man'"

Huey Long	Huey Long on the "Share Our Wealth" Plan, 1934   Father Charles Coughlin on "Roosevelt or Ruin," 1933 Father Charles Coughlin Attacks the New Deal, 1937
FDR's Inaugural Address, 1937   FDR's Fireside Chat on Reorganization of the Judiciary, 1937 Sen. Robert LaFollette Supports "Court Packing," 1937	Social Security Card

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Week 4

Readings (146 pp.)

Polenberg, The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 16-24, 93-183.

Introduction
Documents, "Eleanor Roosevelt and Women," "Race, Ethnicity & Reform," and "Constitutional Revolution"

Hamilton, The New Deal, 167-230.

Nancy J. Weiss, "Why Blacks Became Democrats"
Lizabeth Cohen, "Workers Make a New Deal"
Graham D. Taylor, "The Native American New Deal"
Winifred Wandersee, "Women and the New Deal"

*Richard Wright, "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow," in Uncle Tom's Children (New York: Harper Collins, 1991): 1-15.

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Week 5

Readings (136 pp.)

Polenberg, The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 24-33, 184-228.

Introduction
Documents, "Morale in Wartime" and "The Good War?"

Irons, The Courage of Their Convictions, 13-62.

"Lillian Gobitis v. Minersville School District"
"Gordon Hirabayashi v. United States"

*John W. Dower, "Race, Language and War in Two Cultures: World War II in Asia," from Lewis Erenberg and Susan E. Hirsch, eds., The War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness during World War II, 169-201.

 

FDR on the "Arsenal of Democracy" FDR Discusses Lend-Lease, 1941 Wendell Willkie Calls for an End to Isolationism, 1941   Buster Ezell Sings "Roosevelt and Hitler," 1943	Vanderlaan, "Waste Helps the Enemy"	Artist Unknown, n.d.
Anon., "This is the Enemy," 1942	FDR Asks Congress to Declare War on Japan, 1941 Georgia Quartet Sings "Pearl Harbor," 1943   Harry Truman Announces Japan's Unconditional Surrender, 1945	Artist Unknown, n.d.
Douglas Aircraft Corp., "Jap Trap"	Anon., "No Time to Let Loose!", 1943	Noel Coward Sings "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans"   Carson Robinson Sings "We're Going to Have to Slap (the Dirty Little Jap)" Spike Jones Sings "You're a Sap, Mr. Jap"

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Week 6

Readings (148 pp.)

Chafe and Sitkoff, History of Our Time, 7-67.

Thomas G. Paterson, "The Cold War Begins"
George F. Kennan, "The Necessity for Containment"
Henry A. Wallace, "Are We Only Paying Lip Service to Peace?"
Clark Clifford, "American Firmness vs. Soviet Aggression"
Harry S Truman, "The Truman Doctrine"
NSC-68
HUAC Investigates Hollywood
Joseph R. McCarthy, "The Internal Communist Menace"
Ellen Schrecker, "The Age of McCarthyism"

Schrecker, Age of McCarthyism, 109-154, 173-187, 192-195, 200-214, 235-246

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Spring Break

Week 7

Readings (265 pp.)

Irons, Courage of Their Convictions, 65-79, 107-127.

"J. D. Shelley v. Louis Kraemer"
"Daisy Bates v. Little Rock"

Raines, My Soul is Rested, 37-57, 71-129, 139-215, 233-290.

Chafe and Sitkoff, History of Our Time, 159-182.

Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"
Malcolm X, "Message to the Grass Roots"

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Week 8

Readings (157 pp.)

Chafe and Sitkoff, History of Our Time, 257-346.

Vietnam Introduction
John Garry Clifford, "Vietnam in Historical Perspective"
Leslie Gelb, "Causes of the War"
Richard Hammer, "One Morning in the War"
SDS, "The Port Huron Statement"
William H. Chafe, "Dump Johnson"
William Jefferson Clinton, "Letter to the Draftboard"
Jerry Avorn, "Up Against the Ivy Wall"
Karin Ashley et al., "You Don't Need a Weatherman…"
Allen J. Matusow, "Rise and Fall of a Counterculture"

Irons, Courage of Their Convictions, 153-178, 231-252.

"Daniel Seeger v. United States"
"Mary Beth Tinker v. Des Moines"

*Kwame Ture and Charles V. Hamilton, "Black Power: Its Need and Substance," in Black Power: The Politics of Liberation (New York: Vintage, 1992): 34-56.

"Police Charge," Paul Sequeira, Chicago 1968	Lyndon Johnson Announces He Will Not Seek Re-Election, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy Announces the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968 Jerry Rubin Addresses the Yippie Convention, Chicago, 1968 Mayor Richard Daley on the Chicago "Police Riot," 1968
Fannie Lou Hamer on Registering to Vote Bob Moses Describes the Freedom Summer Project, 1964   Malcolm X on Black Power, 1964 Bobby Seale on Non-Violence After King's Assassination, 1968	Malcolm X

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Week 9

Readings (283 pp.)

Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis.

Chafe and Sitkoff, History of Our Time, 347-359.

Peter Schrag, "The Forgotten American"

Spiro Agnew on the "Liberal Media," 1969 Spiro Agnew on Student Protests, 1970 An Eyewitness Account of Kent State Shootings, 1970	George Wallace Campaign Button, 1968
Sam Ervin at the Watergate Hearings, 1973	The "Smoking Gun" Tape, 1972   Richard Nixon and Charles Colson Discuss the Bugging, 1973 John Ehrlichmann Remembers the Cover-Up
Richard Nixon Discusses Press Coverage of Watergate, 1972 Richard Nixon: "I'm Not a Crook," 1973 Richard Nixon Announces His Resignation, 1974	Photographers at the Watergate Hearings

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Week 10

Readings (203 pp.)

Luker, Abortion & the Politics of Motherhood, 1-10, 92-245.

Irons, Courage of Their Convictions, 255-279, 307-329.

"Dr. Jane Hodgson v. Minnesota"
"Jo Carol LaFleur v. Cleveland Board of Education"

Chafe and Sitkoff, History of Our Time, 239-243.

Justice Harry Blackmun, "Roe v. Wade"

National Organization for Women logo	Colleen Parro on Women's Expectations in the 1950s Gloria Steinem Addresses the National Women's Political Caucus, 1971 Sandra Day O'Connor on Marriage, 1981 Phyllis Schlafly, "The ERA -- Is There a Future?" 1984
Roe v. Wade (Oral Argument) Roe v. Wade (Reargument) Ronald Reagan on the 10th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, 1983   Lyndon Johnson Unveils Plan for "Affirmative Action," 1965 Bakke v. Regents of the University of California (decision), 1977	Abortion Rights Rally Poster, 1971

Please bring to class on Wednesday:

*"Regents of the University of California v. Bakke" and "Roe v. Wade" transcripts in May It Please The Court: The Most Significant Oral Arguments before the Supreme Court since 1955, ed. by Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton (New York: New Press, 1993): 305-319, 343-360.

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Week 11

Readings (167 pp.)

Chafe and Sitkoff, History of Our Time, 387-398.

Jimmy Carter, "America's Crisis of Confidence"
Ronald Reagan, "The Second American Revolution"

*Hugh Heclo, "Reaganism and the Search for a Public Philosophy," in Perspectives on the Reagan Years, ed. by John Palmer (Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press, 1986): 33-66.

*Kevin Phillips, selections from The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath (New York: Random House, 1990): 3-31, 52-116, 210-221.

Irons, Courage of Their Convictions, 283-303, 355-403.

"Demetrio Rodriguez v. San Antonio"
"Ishmael Jaffree v. George Wallace"
"Michael Hardwick v. Michael Bowers"

Ronald Reagan, "A Time for Choosing," 1964 (text only)   Ronald Reagan on Government Ronald Reagan on His Economic Policies, 1983	Reagan Pin, 1980
Iran-Contra Protest Sign	Ronald Reagan Defends Arms Sales to Iran, 1986 Ronald Reagan on Iran-Contra, 1987

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Week 12

Readings (230 pp.)

Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, 3-168, 205-246, 268-292.