HIST-221 American History Since 1945

Students will study the major political, economic, social, and cultural trends from the end of World War II to the present. In particular, students will focus on the origins, implementation, and the end of our Cold War foreign policies as well as study changes on the recent domestic scene such as the imperial Presidency, the welfare state, the technetronic economy, the Black Revolution, Women's Liberation and the evolving social, cultural, and moral landscape.

Credits

Prerequisite

ENGL-121

Hours Weekly

3 hours weekly

Course Objectives

1. Explain how America's participation in World War II and the Cold War brought about a shift in
America's foreign policy from one of political isolationism to one of political internationalism.
2. Explain the military and/or political reasons which lay behind President Truman's decision to
drop the atomic bomb on Japan in August of 1945.
3. Compare and contrast the (1) traditional, (2) revisionist and (3) realist points of view concerning
the origins, development, and ending of the Civil War.
4. Explain the shifting currents of our foreign policy of "containment" against Communist
expansionism from Presidents Truman through Bush.
5. Discuss the involvement of the United States in the Korean War (1950-1953) from both the
traditional and revisionist points of view.
6. Discuss United States/Cuban relations from 1898 to the present as background to the Cuban
Missile Crisis of October 1962. Examine whether President Kennedy exercised a restrained use
of Presidential power or whether he overreacted and unnecessarily brought America to the verge
of Nuclear War?
7. Examine the events from the Truman administration in 1945 through the Nixon/Ford years (1969-
1975) leading to both our involvement and withdrawal from Vietnam.
8. Explain how the events of the 1930's Depression and World War II and the Cold War brought
about a "welfare state" where affluence and inflation replaced poverty and unemployment as the
major problems of middle-class Americans.
9. Examine the second Red Scare and the McCarthy movement.
10. Critically examine the (1) legal, (2) non-violent (3) black power and (4) assimilation/voluntary
separatist phases of the Black Revolution from 1941 to the present.
11. Critically evaluate the short and long-term effects of the 1960's student protest and counterculture
movements on the values of American society.
12. Critically evaluate changes which have taken place in men, women, and the American family
between World War II and the present.
13. Examine the rise and growth of the Women's Movement since the late 1960's.
14. Rank and critically examine the Presidents from Truman through Bush as regards the following
Presidential roles: (a) Commander of Chief of State; (b) Chief Administrator; (c) Chief of
Party; (d) Chief Legislator; (e) Commander-in-Chief; (f) Chief Diplomat

Course Objectives

1. Explain how America's participation in World War II and the Cold War brought about a shift in
America's foreign policy from one of political isolationism to one of political internationalism.
2. Explain the military and/or political reasons which lay behind President Truman's decision to
drop the atomic bomb on Japan in August of 1945.
3. Compare and contrast the (1) traditional, (2) revisionist and (3) realist points of view concerning
the origins, development, and ending of the Civil War.
4. Explain the shifting currents of our foreign policy of "containment" against Communist
expansionism from Presidents Truman through Bush.
5. Discuss the involvement of the United States in the Korean War (1950-1953) from both the
traditional and revisionist points of view.
6. Discuss United States/Cuban relations from 1898 to the present as background to the Cuban
Missile Crisis of October 1962. Examine whether President Kennedy exercised a restrained use
of Presidential power or whether he overreacted and unnecessarily brought America to the verge
of Nuclear War?
7. Examine the events from the Truman administration in 1945 through the Nixon/Ford years (1969-
1975) leading to both our involvement and withdrawal from Vietnam.
8. Explain how the events of the 1930's Depression and World War II and the Cold War brought
about a "welfare state" where affluence and inflation replaced poverty and unemployment as the
major problems of middle-class Americans.
9. Examine the second Red Scare and the McCarthy movement.
10. Critically examine the (1) legal, (2) non-violent (3) black power and (4) assimilation/voluntary
separatist phases of the Black Revolution from 1941 to the present.
11. Critically evaluate the short and long-term effects of the 1960's student protest and counterculture
movements on the values of American society.
12. Critically evaluate changes which have taken place in men, women, and the American family
between World War II and the present.
13. Examine the rise and growth of the Women's Movement since the late 1960's.
14. Rank and critically examine the Presidents from Truman through Bush as regards the following
Presidential roles: (a) Commander of Chief of State; (b) Chief Administrator; (c) Chief of
Party; (d) Chief Legislator; (e) Commander-in-Chief; (f) Chief Diplomat