Walter T. Howard, PhD
Professor of History
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
114 Old Science Hall
570-389-4863/whoward@bloomu.edu
Hangin' with my three sons on Panama City Beach [August 2009].
Who does it look like won this race? ........................................................................................... The genius sleeps!
Communist History Network Newsletter Online
Historians of American Communism
American Communism and Anticommunism: A Historian’s Bibliography and Guide to the Literature
Black Communists Speak on Scottsboro: A Documentary History [Temple University Press]
We Shall Be Free! Black Cmmunist Protest in Seven Voices [Temple University Press]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Syllabus Spring 2013 42-121-03 MWF 11am to 11:50am
Syllabus Fall 2013 42-121-04 MWF 2pm to 2:50pm
[1/28-2/1]: Introduction to the Course
Part One: 1/30 to 2/22 [Week 1-4]: Columbus to American IndependenceReading Assignments in Zinn:
Chapter 1, "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress" covers early Native American civilization in North America and the Bahamas, the genocide and enslavement committed by the crew of Christopher Columbus, and incidents of violent colonization by early settlers. Topics include the Arawaks, Bartolome de las Casas, the Aztecs, H. Cortes, Pizarro, Powhatan, the Pequot, the Narragansett, Metacom, King Philip's War, and the Iroquois.
Chapter 2, "Drawing the Color Line" addresses the early enslavement of Africans and servitude of poor British people in the Thirteen Colonies. Zinn writes of the methods by which he says racism was artificially created in order to enforce the economic system. He argues that racism is not natural because there are recorded instances of camaraderie and cooperation between black slaves and white servants in escaping from and in opposing their subjugation.
Chapter 3, "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition" describes Bacon's Rebellion, the economic conditions of the poor in the colonies, and opposition to their poverty.
Chapter 4, "Tyranny is Tyranny" covers the movement for "leveling" (economic equality) in the colonies and the causes of the American Revolution. Zinn argues that the Founding Fathers agitated for war to distract the people from their own economic problems and stop popular movements, a strategy that he claims the country's leaders would continue to use in the future.
Chapter 5, "A Kind of Revolution" covers the war and resistance to participating in war, the effects on the Native American people, and the continued inequalities in the new United States. When the land of veterans of the Revolutionary War was seized for non-payment of taxes, it led to instances of resistance to the government, as in the case of Shays' Rebellion. Zinn wrote that "governments - including the government of the United States - are not neutral... they represent the dominant economic interests, and... their constitutions are intended to serve these interests."
Part Two: 2/25-3/15 [Week 5-7]: Federalist Era to the Mexican War
Reading Assignments in Zinn:
Chapter 6, "The Intimately Oppressed" describes resistance to inequalities in the lives of women in the early years of the U.S. Zinn tells the stories of women who resisted the status quo, including Polly Baker, Anne Hutchinson, Mary Dyer, Amelia Bloomer, Catharine Beecher, Emma Willard, Harriot Hunt, Elizabeth Blackwell, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Sarah Grimke, Angelina Grimke, Dorothea Dix, Frances Wright, Lucretia Mott, and Sojourner Truth.
Chapter 7, "As Long As Grass Grows or Water Runs" discusses 19th century conflicts between the U.S. government and Native Americans (such as the Seminole Wars) and Indian removal, especially during the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
Chapter 8, "We Take Nothing By Conquest, Thank God" [Mexican War]
Week 8: Spring Break 3/18-3/22 No Class
Part Three: 3/25-4/19 [Week 9-12]: Slavery, Abolitionism and the Coming of the Civil War
Reading Assignments in Zinn: Chapter 9, "Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom"
Documentary: The Abolitionists
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/abolitionists/
Video Transcripts for “The Abolitionists”: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/abolitionists-transcript/Part Four: 4/22-5/10 [Week 13-15]: Civil War and Reconstruction
Reading Assignment in Zinn:
Chapter 10, "The Other Civil War"Documentary on Abraham and Mary Lincoln: Video Transcripts:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/lincolns-transcript/
Final Exam Essay: Due 5/17
Resources for the Course 42-121
- European Background
- Colonial Society and Culture
- Lecture Notes on 17th Century America
- Lecture Notes on 18th Century America
- Rise of Modern Humanism
- Republicanism
- The Presidents: John Q. Adams to Polk [Video: History Channel]
- Lecture Notes on Antebellum America
- Early Industrial Revolution
- Immigration during the Antebellum period [Gangs of New York Handout]
- Lecture Notes on Slavery and Old South
- Slavery and Southern Society
- The Presidents: Taylor to Lincoln
- Lecture Notes Race: Civil War and Reconstruction
- Film: Glory Part 1
- Film: Glory Part 2
- Film: Glory Part 3
- Film: Glory Part 4
- Film: Glory Part 5
- Film: Glory Part 6
- Film: Glory Part 7
- Film: Glory Part 8
- Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge
- Ida B. Wells [short video]
- Ida B. Wells [Book Discussion on Ida B. Wells]
- Reconstruction
- From Slavery to the Prison-Industrial Complex
- Video: Self Destruction
- Video: We Shall Be Free
Syllabus Fall 2013 42-122-05 MW 3pm to 4:15pm
Part One: 1/30 to 2/22 [Week 1-4]
- Introduction to the course
- Video: The People Speak Zinn
- Video: The People Speak
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Instructor's teaching philosophy
- 2. Review Questions on Political Ideology
Chapter 11. Robber Barons And Rebels
"Robber Barons and Rebels" covers the rise of industrial corporations such as the railroads and banks and their transformation into the nation's dominant institutions, with corruption resulting in both industry and government. Also covered are the popular movements and individuals that opposed corruption, such as the Knights of Labor, Edward Bellamy, the Socialist Labor Party, the Haymarket martyrs, the Homestead strikers, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs, the American Railway Union, the Farmers' Alliance, and the Populist Party.Journal Issue: What was the role of the Anarchists in late 19th century America? [Example for the class of how to answer a journal question]
Emma Goldman Video Transcripts
Chapter 12. The Empire and the People
"The Empire and the People" covers American imperialism during the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War, as well as in other lands such as Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Zinn portrays the wars as being racist and imperialist and opposed by large segments of the American people.Chapter 13. The Socialist Challenge
"The Socialist Challenge" covers the rise of socialism and anarchism as popular political ideologies in the United States. Covered in the chapter are the American Federation of Labor (which Zinn argues provided too exclusive of a union for non-white, female, and unskilled workers; Zinn argues in Chapter 24 that this changes in the 1990s), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Joe Hill, the Socialist Labor Party, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Progressive Party (which Zinn portrays as driven by fear of radicalism).- Journal Issue: What was the historical significance of the American Socialist Movement at the turn of the 20th century?
- Video: Eugene Debs
- Video: Eugene Debs antiwar
Chapter 14. War Is the Health of the State
"War is the Health of the State" covers World War I and the anti-war movement that happened during it, which was met with the heavily enforced Espionage Act of 1917. Zinn argues that the United States entered the war in order to expand its foreign markets and economic influence.- Video: The Lost Battalion [1]
- Video: The Lost Battalion [2]
- Handout on "The Lost Battalion" Video
- Journal Issue: How were civil liberties suppressed in the US during World War I, 1917-18?
Part Two: 2/25-3/15 [Week 5-7]
Chapter 15. Self-help in Hard Times
"Self-Help in Hard Times" covers the government's campaign to destroy the IWW and the Great Depression. Zinn states that, despite popular belief, the 1920s were not a time of prosperity, and the problems of the Depression were simply the problems of the poor (who Zinn states are in permanent depression) extended to the rest of the society. Also covered is the Communist Party's attempts to help the poor during the Depression.Video: Henry Ford and Video Transcripts for Henry Ford documentary
Video Transcripts: Henry Ford/American Experience
Journal Issue: How did Henry Ford fundamentally change the nature of American capitalism in the 1920s and how did he respond to the onset of the Great Depression?
Chapter 16. A People's War?
"A People's War?" covers World War II, opposition to the war, and the effects of the war on the people. Zinn, a veteran of the war himself, notes that "it was the most popular war the US ever fought," but states that this support may have been manufactured through the institutions of American society. He cites various instances of opposition to fighting (in some cases greater than those during WWI) as proof. Zinn also argues against the US's stated intentions to fight racism in Europe, as it was not fighting against systematic racism in the US such as the Jim Crow laws (leading to opposition to the war from African-Americans). Another argument made by Zinn is that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not necessary, as the US government had already known that the Japanese were considering surrender beforehand. Other subjects from WWII covered include Japanese American internment and the bombing of Dresden. The chapter continues into the Cold War. Here, Zinn reveals how the US government used the Cold War to increase control over the American people (for instance, eliminating such radical elements as the Communist Party) and at the same time create a state of permanent war, which allowed for the creation of the modern military-industrial complex. Zinn believes this was possible because both conservatives and liberals willingly worked together in often-hysterical anti-Communism. Also covered is the US's involvement in the Greek Civil War, the Korean War, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and the Marshall Plan.- Double Victory website
- "Red Tails" essay
- Journal Issue: What was the role of race in the American war effort in World War II?
- Reds [transcripts]
- Video: “Reds” [shown in class]
- Reds (1948–1953) Fears of the leadership of both sides in the Cold War were projected inwards towards their own people. In the United States the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the Tydings Committee carried out investigations into alleged Communist sympathizers in US public life, in particular the State Department and Hollywood. In the Soviet Union a personality cult emerged around Stalin, and a repressive police environment and comprehensive surveillance kept the population fearful. In response to Yugoslavia's maverick foreign policy, Stalin inspired the Prague Trials to warn Eastern European leaders not to stray away from emulating the Soviet model. Repression in the Soviet Union peaked with the investigations into the so-called Doctor's Plot, just before Stalin's sudden death in 1953.
- Journal Issue: What were the consequences in US history of the "politics of fear" during the Cold War era?
Chapter 17. "Or Does It Explode?"
"'Or Does It Explode?'" (named after a line from Langston Hughes' poem "A Dream Deferred," referred to as "Lenox Avenue Mural" by Zinn), covers the Civil Rights movement. Zinn argues that the government began making reforms against discrimination (although without making fundamental changes) for the sake of changing its international image, but often did not enforce the laws that it passed. Zinn also argues that while nonviolent tactics may have been required for Southern civil rights activists, militant actions (such as those proposed by Malcolm X) were needed to solve the problems of black ghettos. Also covered is the involvement of the Communist Party in the movement, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Freedom Riders, COINTELPRO, and the Black Panther Party.- Video Transcripts: The 1960s and the Cold War: Make Love, Not War
- Video: The 1960s and the Cold War: Make Love, Not War [Shown in class]
- Journal Issue: Why do historians say that 20th century “Liberalism” reached its peak in US history during the 1960s?
Week 8: Spring Break 3/18-3/22 No Class
Part Three: 3/25-4/19 [Week 9-12]
Chapter 18. The Impossible Victory: Vietnam
"The Impossible Victory: Vietnam", covers the Vietnam War and resistance to it. Zinn argues that America was fighting a war that it could not win, as the Vietnamese people were in favor of the government of Ho Chi Minh and opposed the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, thus allowing them to keep morale high. Meanwhile, the American military's morale for the war was very low, as many soldiers were put off by the atrocities that they were made to take part in, such as the My Lai massacre. Zinn also tries to dispel the popular belief that opposition to the war was mainly amongst college students and middle-class intellectuals, using statistics from the era to show higher opposition from the working class. Zinn argues that the troops themselves also opposed the war, citing desertions and refusals to go to war, as well as movements such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Also covered is the US invasions of Laos and Cambodia, Agent Orange, the Pentagon Papers, Ron Kovic, and raids on draft boards.- Video Transcripts: TheVietnam War
- Video: The Vietnam War [shown in class]
- Power Point: Vietnam War [Overall History]
- Powerpoint: Vietnam War [LBJ Years]
- Journal Issue: What were the historical reasons for the US failure in Vietnam?
Chapter 19. Surprises
"Surprises" covers other movements that happened during the 1960s, such as second-wave feminism, the prison reform/prison abolition movement, the Native American rights movement, and the counterculture. People and events from the feminist movement covered include Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, Patricia Robinson, the National Domestic Workers Union, National Organization for Women, Roe v. Wade, Susan Brownmiller’s Against Our Will, and Our Bodies, Ourselves. People and events from the prison movement covered include George Jackson, the Attica Prison riots, and Jerry Sousa. People and events from the Native American rights movement covered include the National Indian Youth Council, Sid Mills, Akwesasne Notes, Indians of All Tribes, the First Convocation of American Indian Scholars, Frank James, the American Indian Movement, and the Wounded Knee incident. People and events from the counterculture covered include Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Malvina Reynolds, Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death, Jonathan Kozol, George Dennison, and Ivan Illich.- Video Transcripts: Eyes on the Prize II: A Nation of Law?
- Video: Eyes on the Prize II: A Nation of Law? [shown in class]
- Journal Issue: In what ways, in the years between 1968-1971, was black activism increasingly met with a sometimes violent and unethical response from state and federal law enforcement agencies.
Chapter 20. The Seventies: Under Control?
"The Seventies: Under Control?" covers American disillusion with the government during the 1970s and political corruption that was exposed during the decade. Zinn argues that the resignation of Richard Nixon and the exposure of crimes committed by the CIA and FBI during the decade were done by the government in order to regain support for the government from the American people without making fundamental changes to the system; according to Zinn, Gerald Ford’s presidency continued the same basic policies of the Nixon administration. Other topics covered include protests against the Honeywell Corporation, Angela Davis, Committee to Re-elect the President, the Watergate scandal, International Telephone and Telegraph's involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, the Mayagüez incident, Project MKULTRA, the Church Committee, the Pike Committee, the Trilateral Commission's The Governability of Democracies, and the People's Bi-Centennial.Chapter 21. Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus
"Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus" covers the Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush administrations and their effects on both the American people and foreign countries. Zinn argues that the Democratic and Republican parties keep the government essentially the same (that is, they handled the government in a way that was favorable for corporations rather than for the people) and continued to have a militant foreign policy no matter which party was in power. Zinn uses similarities between the three administrations' methods as proof of this. Other topics covered include the Fairness Doctrine, the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, Noam Chomsky, global warming, Roy Benavidez, the Trident submarine, the Star Wars program, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the Iran-Contra Affair, the War Powers Act, US invasion of Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War, the Invasion of Grenada, Óscar Romero, the El Mozote massacre, the Bombing of Libya, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States invasion of Panama, and the Gulf War.Video Transcripts: End of the Cold War
Journal Issue: What role did Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush play in ending the Cold War?
Part Four: 4/22-5/10 [Week 13-15]
Chapter 22. The Unreported Resistance:
"The Unreported Resistance" covers several movements that happened during the Carter-Reagan-Bush years that were ignored by much of the mainstream media. Topics covered include the anti-nuclear movement, the Plowshares Movement, the Council for a Nuclear Weapons Freeze, the Physicians for Social Responsibility, George Kistiakowsky, The Fate of the Earth, Marian Wright Edelman, the Citizens' Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes, the Three Mile Island accident, the Winooski 44, Abbie Hoffman, Amy Carter, the Piedmont Peace Project, Anne Braden, César Chávez, the United Farm Workers, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Teatro Campesino, LGBT social movements, the Stonewall riots, Food Not Bombs, the anti-war movement during the Gulf War, David Barsamian, opposition to Columbus Day, Indigenous Thought, Rethinking Schools, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.Chapter 23. The Clinton Presidency and the Crisis of Democracy
"The Clinton Presidency" covers the effects of the Bill Clinton administration on the US and the world. Zinn argues that, despite Clinton's claims that he would bring changes to the country, his presidency kept many things the same as in Reagan-Bush era. Topics covered include Jocelyn Elders, the Waco Siege, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Crime Bill of 1996, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the 1993 bombing of Iraq, Operation Gothic Serpent, the Rwandan Genocide, the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the 1998 bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan, the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, Stand for Children, Jesse Jackson, the Million Man March, Mumia Abu-Jamal, John Sweeney, the Service Employees International Union, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, the Worker Rights Consortium, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Spare Change, the North American Street Newspaper Association, the National Coalition for the Homeless, anti-globalization, and WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity.Chapter 24. The Coming Revolt of the Guards
"The Coming Revolt of the Guards" covers Zinn's theory on a possible future radical movement against the inequality in America. Zinn argues that there will eventually be a movement made up not only of previous groups that were involved in radical change (such as labor organizers, black radicals, Native Americans, feminists), but also members of the middle class who are starting to become discontented with the state of the nation. Zinn expects this movement to use "demonstrations, marches, civil disobedience; strikes and boycotts and general strikes; direct action to redistribute wealth, to reconstruct institutions, to revamp relationships- Introduction to Documentary "Too Big to Fail"
- Website: Too Big to Fail
- Journal Issue: How would you evaluate the major steps taken by the Bush administration to address the 2008 economic recession?
- Website for Video: Capitalism: A Love Story
- Essay on Capitalism: A Love Story
- Journal Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?
Chapter 25. The 2000 Election and the "War on Terrorism"
"The 2000 Election and the 'War On Terrorism'" covers the 2000 presidential election and the War on Terrorism. Zinn argues that attacks on the US by Arab terrorists (such as the September 11, 2001 attacks) are not caused by a hatred for our freedom (as claimed by President George W. Bush), but by grievances with US foreign policies such as "stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia... sanctions against Iraq which... had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children; [and] the continued U.S. support of Israel's occupation of Palestinian land." Other topics covered include Ralph Nader, the War in Afghanistan and the USA PATRIOT Act.- Video Transcripts: The Wounded Platoon
- Video: The Wounded Platoon
- Journal Issue: What was the human cost of war for American troops in Iraqi?
Final Exam Essay: Due 5/17
==========================================================================================
U.S. Labor History Fall 2012
Syllabus: 42-472 US Labor History [Spring 2013]
Introduction: The American Labor Movement
- Week 1 [1/28-2/1]: Introduction to the Course
- Week 2 [2/4-2/8]: American Labor in the 1880s and 1890s
- Issue: What was the role of the Anarchists in the American labor movement in late 19th century America?
- Week 3 [2/11-2/15]: Progressive Era [1900-1917], part 1
- Issue: What was the historical significance of the American Socialist movement at the turn of the 20th century?
- Week 4 [2/18-2/22]: Progressive Era [1900-1917], part 2
- Issue: What were some of the consequences of the1911 Triangle Fire for US labor history?
- Week 5 [2/25-3/1]: The Industrial Workers of the World ]Wobblies]: “We Shall Be All”
- Issue: Analyze the labor philosophy of the IWW?
- Week 6 [3/4-3/8]: Labor during the 1920s and the Great Depression
- Issue: How did Henry Ford fundamentally change the nature of American capitalism in the 1920s and how did he respond to the onset of the Great Depression?
- Week 7 [3/11-3/15]: The Rise of the United Auto Workers [UAW] and the CIO
- Issue: Evaluate the role of Walter Reuther and the UAW in the labor movement in the 1930s and 1940s.
Week 8: Spring Break 3/18-3/22 No Class
Midterm Exam Due [3/25]
- Week 9 [3/25-3/29]: Historiographical Issues: The Old Labor History: John R. Commons and the “Wisconsin School”
- Issue: What does Isserman, an historian from the 1960s, say about the conservative nature of Common’s labor history?
- Week 10 [4/1-4/5]: The New Labor History
- Issue: What are the differences between Old Labor History and the New Labor History?
- Week 11 [4/8-4/12]: The Historiography of Labor and Race
- Issue: Analyze the main themes in the historiography of labor and race as presented in the scholarship of historian Robert Zieger.
- Week 12 [4/15-4/19]: The Historiography of Labor and Gender
- Issue: Analyze the main themes in the historiography of labor and gender as presented in the reading assignment.
- Week 13 [4/22-4/26]: The 2008 Recession
- Issue: How would you evaluate the major steps taken by the Bush administration to address the 2008 economic recession?
- Week 14 [4/29-5/3]: The Revolt Against Contemporary Capitalism
- Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?
- Week 15 [5/6-5/10]: The Labor Movement Today
- Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?
Final Exam Essay: Due 5/17
- Week 1 [8/27 - 8/31]: Introduction to the Course
- Labor Song: "There is Power in a Union" [Joe Hill]
- The People Speak Zinn
- Video: The People Speak
- Contemporary American Working Class Identity: “Born in the USA” [Lyrics]
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1.Course Orientation: History "from the bottom up" [This is an online copy of the American Communist History article]
- American Communist History Volume 10, Number 1 (April 2011): 91-99.
- 2. “Dead Man's Town: ‘Born in the U.S.A.,’ Social History, and Working-Class Identity,” American Quarterly - Volume 58, Number 2, June 2006, pp. 353-378 [Cowie, Jefferson R. and Boehm, Lauren]
- 3. Review Questions on Political Ideology
- Practice Quiz: Friday, 8/31
- Week 2 [9/5 - 9/7]: American Labor in the 1880s and 1890s
- 9/3 Labor Day, No Class
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Ch. 11 Robber Barons and Rebels
- "Robber Barons and Rebels" covers the rise of industrial corporations such as the railroads and banks and their transformation into the nation's dominant institutions, with corruption resulting in both industry and government. Also covered are the popular movements and individuals that opposed corruption, such as the Knights of Labor, Edward Bellamy, the Socialist Labor Party, the Haymarket martyrs, the Homestead strikers, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs, the American Railway Union, the Farmers' Alliance, and the Populist Party.
- 2. Philip Dray, There is Power in a Union, Ch. 3 and 4
- 3. Emma Goldman Video Transcripts
- The plight of immigrant workers in late 19th century America
- Haymarket Riot [1886] and American Anarchism
- Anarchism as a political theory and violence
- Homestead Strike [1892]and American Anarchism
- Unemployment and the Panic of 1893
- Emma Goldman, Gender and Working Class Women
- Anarchist assassination of President William McKinley
- Emma Goldman Video
- Quiz #1: 9/7
- Issue: What was the role of the Anarchists in the American labor movement in late 19th century America?
- Week 3 [9/10 - 9/14]: Progressive Era [1900-1917], part 1
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Chapter 13, “The Socialist Challenge”
- "The Socialist Challenge" covers the rise of socialism and anarchism as popular political ideologies in the United States. Covered in the chapter are the American Federation of Labor (which Zinn argues provided too exclusive of a union for non-white, female, and unskilled workers; Zinn argues in Chapter 24 that this changes in the 1900s), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Joe Hill, the Socialist Labor Party, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Progressive Party (which Zinn portrays as driven by fear of radicalism).
- 2. Dray, Ch. 5, “Industrial Democracy,” and Political Ideologies [Zieger]
- 3. Eric Foner, “Why is there no Socialism in the United States?” History Workshop Journal (1984) 17(1): 57-80.
- Eric Foner [Powerpoints]
- Industrial American Society
- Video: Eugene Debs
- Quiz #2: 9/14
- Issue: What was the historical significance of the American Socialist movement at the turn of the 20th century?
- Week 4 [9/17 - 9/21]: Progressive Era [1900-1917], part 2
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Dray, Ch. 5, “Industrial Democracy”
- 2. Transcripts: Triangle Fire
- 3. "Sweatshops and Strikes before 1911"
- Video: 1911 Triangle Fire
- The 1911 Triangle Fire
- It was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. A dropped match on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sparked a fire that killed over a hundred innocent people trapped inside.
- Website for the Triangle Fire
- Historians discuss the Triangle Fire
- Quiz #3: 9/21
- Issue: What were some of the consequences of the1911 Triangle Fire for US labor history?
- Week 5 [9/24 - 9/28]: The Industrial Workers of the World ]Wobblies]: “We Shall Be All”
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Dray, Ch. 6 “We Shall Be All”
- Video: “The Wobblies”
- Web Site: "The Wobblies" is a history of the Industrial Workers of the World, researched lovingly and corroborated by the reminiscences of some of the union's former members, who are now in their 80's and 90's. Along with filming interviews with these stalwarts, the directors — Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer — have collected songs, posters, portraits and animated and live-action footage of the period. In assembling these ingredients, they divide their attention between actual and exaggerated images of the labor movement — between the facts of its history and the propaganda.
- Powerpoints: Overall View of Labor History
- Issue: Analyze the labor philosophy of the IWW?
- Week 6 [10/1 - 10/5]: Labor during the 1920s and the Great Depression
- Model Presentation on Labor Historian E.P. Thompson
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Dray, Ch. 8, “Let us have peace and make cars”
- Video: A Job at Ford's [Great Depression Video]
- Quiz #5: 10/5
- Issue: How did Henry Ford fundamentally change the nature of American capitalism in the 1920s and how did he respond to the onset of the Great Depression?
- Week 7 [10/8 - 10/12]: The Rise of the United Auto Workers [UAW] and the CIO
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Dray, Ch. 8, “Let us have peace and make cars”
- 2. History of the CIO
- 3. History of the UAW
- Video: “Sit Down and Fight: Walter Reuther and the UAW”
- Issue: Evaluate the role of Walter Reuther and the UAW in the labor movement in the 1930s and 1940s.
- Midterm Exam Due [10/12/2012]
- Week 8 [10/15 - 10/19]: Historiographical Issues: The Old Labor History: John R. Commons and the “Wisconsin School”
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- I. A. Institutional/liberal--John R. Commons and the "Wisconsin School"
- 1.Isserman article on Commons
- Quiz #6: Friday, 10/19
- Issue: What does Isserman, an historian from the 1960s, say about the conservative nature of Common’s labor history?
- Week 9 [10/22 - 10/26]: The New Labor History
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. E.P. Thompson and Labor History
- Marxist/ Neo-Marxist
- 1. "Classical" Marxist approaches
- a. Philip Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United States (Multi-volume work).
- b. Melvyn Dubofsky, "Give Us That Old Time Labor History: Philip S. Foner and the American Worker," Labor History, 26 (1985), 118-35.
- c. Sally M. Miller, "Philip Foner and 'Integrating' Women into Labor History and African-American
- History," in Labor History 33 (Fall 1992), 456-469.
- 2. Neo-Marxist
- a. Michael Reich, "Capitalist Development, Class Relations, and Labor History," pp. 30-54 in Carroll
- Moody and Alice Kessler Harris, Perspectives on American Labor History: The Problems of
- Synthesis (Dekalb, Ill.: Northern Illinois University Press, 1989).
- b. David Montgomery's Workers' Control in America (Cambridge, 1979).
- c. Herbert G. Gutman, "Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America, 1815-1919," pp. 3-78 in
- Gutman's Work, Culture & Society in Industrializing America (New York, 1977). [75 pp].
- c. Herbert G. Gutman, Power and Culture: Essays on the American Working Class (New Press, 1992).
- Quiz #7: 10/26
- Issue: What are the differences between classical Marxist and neo-Marxist labor history?
- Week 10 [10/29 - 11/2]: The Historiography of Labor and Race
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Race and labor bibliography: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/zieger/paper7.htm and http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/zieger/race-labor%20bib.html
Quiz #8: 11/2- Issue: Analyze the main themes in the historiography of labor and race as presented in the scholarship of historian Robert Zieger.
- Week 11 [11/5 - 11/9]: The Historiography of Labor and Gender
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Elizabeth Faue, "Gender and the Reconstruction of Labor History: An Introduction." Labor History, 34 (Spring-Summer 1993), 169-177.
- 2. Alice Kessler-Harris, "Treating the Male as "Other": Redefining the Parameters of Labor History." Labor History, 34 (Spring-Summer 1993), 190-204.
- Quiz # 9: 11/9
- Issue: Analyze the main themes in the historiography of labor and gender as presented in the reading assignment.
- Week 12 [11/12 - 11/16]: Labor Films
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Labor Film: Matewan
- 2. United Mine Workers and UMW
- Quiz #10: 11/16
- Issue: How did the miners of West Virginia respond to the UMW campaign to organize black and immigrant miners?
- Week 13 [11/19]: The 2008 Recession
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. “Late-2000s Financial Crisis”
- Introduction to Documentary "Too Big to Fail"
- Website: Too Big to Fail
- Issue: How would you evaluate the major steps taken by the Bush administration to address the 2008 economic recession? Week 15 [April 30-May 4]: 21st Century Revolt
- Thanksgiving: 11/21 and 11/23 No Class
- Week 14 [11/26 - 11/30]: The 2008 Recession
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- Zinn, Chapter 23, “The Coming Revolt of the Guards”
- 1. "The Coming Revolt of the Guards", covers Zinn's theory on a possible future radical movement against the inequality in America. Zinn argues that there will eventually be a movement made up not only of previous groups that were involved in radical change (such as labor organizers, black radicals, Native Americans, feminists), but also members of the middle class who are starting to become discontented with the state of the nation. Zinn expects this movement to use "demonstrations, marches, civil disobedience; strikes and boycotts and general strikes; direct action to redistribute wealth, to reconstruct institutions, to revamp relationships."
- Website for Video: Capitalism: A Love Story
- Quiz #11: 11/30
- Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?
- Week 15 [12/3 - 12/7]: The 2008 Recession
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- Zinn, Chapter 23, “The Coming Revolt of the Guards”
- 1. "The Coming Revolt of the Guards", covers Zinn's theory on a possible future radical movement against the inequality in America. Zinn argues that there will eventually be a movement made up not only of previous groups that were involved in radical change (such as labor organizers, black radicals, Native Americans, feminists), but also members of the middle class who are starting to become discontented with the state of the nation. Zinn expects this movement to use "demonstrations, marches, civil disobedience; strikes and boycotts and general strikes; direct action to redistribute wealth, to reconstruct institutions, to revamp relationships."
- Website for Video: Capitalism: A Love Story
- Quiz #12: 11/30
- Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?
Final Exam Essay: Due last day of class
==========================================================================================
42-208 Contemporary Issues [Summer 2012]
Course Syllabus [Summer 2012]
COURSE OUTLINE
- Week 1: Introduction
- Barack Obama: Background and Context
- Reading List: Barack Obama
- Video: Dreams of Obama
- Transcripts of "Dreams of Obama"
- Week 2 [Monday]: Election of 2008
- Game Change website
- Essay on Game Change [Film]
- Week 2 [Wens]: “Obamacare”
- Video: Obama's Deal
- Transcripts for Obama's Deal
- Obama: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- Obama: Health Care and Reconciliation Act of 2010
- Week 3 [Mon and Wens]:Obama and the Recesssion
- Video 1: Money, Power and Wall Street: Part One
- Transcripts for Part 1
- Video 2: Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Two
- Transcripts for Part 2
- Video 3: Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Three
- Transcripts for Part 3
- Video 4: Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Four
- Transcripts for Part 4
- Week 4 [Monday]: Obama's War on Terror
- Top Secret America
- Transcripts for Top Secret America
- Week 4 [Wens]: Obama’s War on Terror
- Video: Kill/Capture [Obama's War on Terror]
- Transcripts for Kill/Capture Video
- Week 5 [Monday]: The Human Cost of War
- Video: The Wounded Platoon
- Video Transcripts: The Wounded Platoon
- Week 5 [Wens.]: The Human Cost of Capitalism
- Website for Video: Capitalism: A Love Story
- Essay on Capitalism: A Love Story
- Week 6 [Monday and Wens.]: What happened to American Liberalism?
- Critique of Liberalism: Chris Hedges, "Death of the Liberal Class"
- Chris Hedges, fellow at the Nation Institute, argues that America's liberal class has collapsed and with it the citizenry's protection against what the author deems, the "corporate state." Mr. Hedges contends that the liberal class, which includes universities, labor movements, the press, the Democratic Party, and liberal religious groups, has been gradually corrupted by corporate entities. He believes that without the existence of a liberal class there will no longer be checks and balances against corporate interests. Chris Hedges discussed his book at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- European Background
- Colonial Society and Culture
- Lecture Notes on 17th Century America
- The Evolution of Colonial Society, 1700-1765
- Lecture Notes on 18th Century America
- Film: The Last of the Mochicans [Part 1]
- Film: The Last of the Mohicans [Part 2]
- Film: The Last of the Mohicans [Part 3]
- Film: The Last of the Mohicans [Part 4]
- Film: The Last of the Mohicans [Part 5]
- Film: The Last of the Mohicans [Part 6]
- Film: The Last of the Mohicans [final scenes]
- Film: The Last of the Mohicans [ending]
- The Presidents: Washington to Monroe [Video: History Channel]
- Rise of Modern Humanism
- Republicanism
- The Presidents: John Q. Adams to Polk [Video: History Channel]
- Lecture Notes on Antebellum America
- Early Industrial Revolution
- Immigration during the Antebellum period [Gangs of New York Handout]W
- Women’s Movement in American History: Documentaries and Music Videos
- ===========================================================================
- The Marginalized and Powerless [African American Women] as Moral Teachers in American Society
- Yes We Can Can Video
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVxv6AFt7YM
- ===========================================================================
- Women Workers: Birth of the Industrial Working Class
- Spinning Mills Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ssi6ZXrp2_s
Lowell Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkJwOYagvuI
Union Maid Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs5_gB582IM- ===========================================================================
- Women Workers and the American Labor Movement
- Norm Rae UNION scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te9JZhSZUZE
There is Power in a Union Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmPX9cJHXyI- Mother Jones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKg_JlV0_WQ
Solidarity Forever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7NPuK_QhEk&feature=related- =============================================================================
- Women and Peace Movement
- Emma Goldman speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz-0Shljq88
One Tribe Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5C6c5S0ft0- =============================================================================
- Lecture Notes on Slavery and Old South
- Slavery and Southern Society
- The Presidents: Taylor to Lincoln
- Lecture Notes Race: Civil War and Reconstruction
- Film: Glory Part 1
- Film: Glory Part 2
- Film: Glory Part 3
- Film: Glory Part 4
- Film: Glory Part 5
- Film: Glory Part 6
- Film: Glory Part 7
- Film: Glory Part 8
- Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge
- Ida B. Wells [short video]
- Ida B. Wells [Book Discussion on Ida B. Wells]
- Reconstruction
- Course Summary: "Prince Among Slaves"
- From Slavery to the Prison-Industrial Complex
- Video: Self Destruction
- Video: We Shall Be Free
Syllabus Spring 2012 42-122-03
Spring 2012 42-122-03 US 1877 to the Present [MWF 2-2:50pm]
- Week 1 [Jan. 23-27]: Introduction to the course
- The People Speak Zinn
- Video: The People Speak
- Born in the USA [Lyrics]
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Instructor's teaching philosophy
- 2. “Dead Man's Town: ‘Born in the U.S.A.,’ Social History, and Working-Class Identity,” American Quarterly - Volume 58, Number 2, June 2006, pp. 353-378 [Cowie, Jefferson R. and Boehm, Lauren]
- 3. Review Questions on Political Ideology
- Practice Quiz: Friday, Jan. 27
- Week 2 [Jan. 30-Feb. 3]: America in the 1880s and 1890s
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- "Robber Barons and Rebels" covers the rise of industrial corporations such as the railroads and banks and their transformation into the nation's dominant institutions, with corruption resulting in both industry and government. Also covered are the popular movements and individuals that opposed corruption, such as the Knights of Labor, Edward Bellamy, the Socialist Labor Party, the Haymarket martyrs, the Homestead strikers, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs, the American Railway Union, the Farmers' Alliance, and the Populist Party.
- 2. Political Ideologies [Zieger]
- 3. Emma Goldman Video Transcripts
- The plight of immigrant workers in late 19th century America
- Haymarket Riot [1886] and American Anarchism
- Anarchism as a political theory and violence
- Homestead Strike [1892]and American Anarchism
- Unemployment and the Panic of 1893
- Emma Goldman, Gender and Working Class Women
- Anarchist assassination of President William McKinley
- Emma Goldman Video
- Quiz #1: Friday, Feb. 3
- Issue: What was the role of the Anarchists in late 19th century America?
- Week 3 [Feb. 6-10]: Progressive Era [1900-1917]
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- "The Socialist Challenge" covers the rise of socialism and anarchism as popular political ideologies in the United States. Covered in the chapter are the American Federation of Labor (which Zinn argues provided too exclusive of a union for non-white, female, and unskilled workers; Zinn argues in Chapter 24 that this changes in the 1990s), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Joe Hill, the Socialist Labor Party, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Progressive Party (which Zinn portrays as driven by fear of radicalism).
- 2. Political Ideologies [Zieger]
- 3. Eric Foner, “Why is there no Socialism in the United States?” History Workshop Journal (1984)
- Video: Eugene Debs
- Quiz #2: Friday, Feb. 10
- Issue: What was the historical significance of the American Socialist Movement at the turn of the 20th century?
- Week 4 [Feb. 13-17]: World War I
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Chapter 14. War Is the Health of the State
"War is the Health of the State" covers World War I and the anti-war movement that happened during it, which was met with the heavily enforced Espionage Act of 1917. Zinn argues that the United States entered the war in order to expand its foreign markets and economic influence.- 2. Emma Goldman Video Transcripts
- Emma Goldman Video
- Video: Eugene Debs antiwar
- Quiz #3: Friday, Feb. 17
- Issue: How were civil liberties suppressed in the US during World War I, 1917-18?
- Week 5 [Feb. 20-24]: From WWI to the Great Depression
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Chapter 15. Self-help in Hard Times
"Self-Help in Hard Times" covers the government's campaign to destroy the IWW and the Great Depression. Zinn states that, despite popular belief, the 1920s were not a time of prosperity, and the problems of the Depression were simply the problems of the poor (who Zinn states are in permanent depression) extended to the rest of the society. Also covered is the Communist Party's attempts to help the poor during the Depression.- Bonus Army March on DC [1932] part 1
- Bonus Army March on DC [1932] part 2
- Bonus Army March on DC [1932] part 3
- Video: A Job at Ford's [Great Depression Video]
- Quiz #4: Friday, Feb. 24
- Issue: How did Henry Ford fundamentally change the nature of American capitalism in the 1920s and how did he respond to the onset of the Great Depression?
- Week 6 [Feb. 27-March 2]: World War II
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Chapter 16. A People's War?
- "A People's War?" covers World War II, opposition to it, and the effects of the war on the people. Zinn, a veteran of the war himself, notes that "it was the most popular war the US ever fought,” but states that this support may have been manufactured through the institutions of American society. He cites various instances of opposition to fighting (in some cases greater than those during World War I) as proof. Zinn also argues against the US' true intention was not fighting against systematic racism such as the Jim Crow laws (leading to opposition to the war from African-Americans). Another argument made by Zinn is that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not necessary, as the US government had already known that the Japanese were considering surrender beforehand. Other subjects from WWII covered include Japanese American internment and the bombing of Dresden.
- Video: Double Victory This video spotlights the historic role of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, revealing the ways these African Americans bravely fought a war on two fronts - they helped the world triumph against fascism abroad and they fought valiantly for racial justice and equality at home. Though the Tuskegee Airmen faced the enormous challenges of discrimination from military officers, inferior equipment and heightened scrutiny, these pilots and their support personnel excelled. Featuring many Tuskegee pilots who tell powerful stories of their experiences during the war, Double Victory shows how these airmen helped defeat fascism in Europe and helped inspire the Civil Rights Movement upon their return.
- Double Victory website
- "Red Tails" essay
- Quiz #5: Friday, March 2
- Issue: What was the role of race in the American war effort in World War II?
- Week 7 [March 5-March 9]: The Red Scare, 1948-1953
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- Zinn, Chapter 16. A People's War?
- 1. The chapter continues into the Cold War. Here, Zinn writes that the US government used the Cold War to increase control over the American people (for instance, eliminating such radical elements as the Communist Party) and at the same time create a state of permanent war, which allowed for the creation of the modern military-industrial complex. Zinn believes this was possible because both conservatives and liberals willingly worked together in the name of anti-Communism. Also covered is the US' involvement in the Greek Civil War, the Korean War, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and the Marshall Plan.
- 2. Reds [transcripts]
- Video: “Reds” [shown in class]
- Reds (1948–1953) Fears of the leadership of both sides in the Cold War were projected inwards towards their own people. In the United States the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the Tydings Committee carried out investigations into alleged Communist sympathizers in US public life, in particular the State Department and Hollywood. In the Soviet Union a personality cult emerged around Stalin, and a repressive police environment and comprehensive surveillance kept the population fearful. In response to Yugoslavia's maverick foreign policy, Stalin inspired the Prague Trials to warn Eastern European leaders not to stray away from emulating the Soviet model. Repression in the Soviet Union peaked with the investigations into the so-called Doctor's Plot, just before Stalin's sudden death in 1953.
- Issue: What were the consequences in US history of the "politics of fear" during the Cold War era?
- Midterm Exam [Friday, March 9, 2012]
- Week 8: Spring Break [March 12-16]
- Week 9 [March 19-23]: The Sixties
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Chapter 17. "Or Does It Explode?"
- "'Or Does It Explode?'" (named after a line from Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem" from "Montage of a Dream Deferred," referred to as "Lenox Avenue Mural" by Zinn), covers the Civil Rights movement. Zinn argues that the government began making reforms against discrimination (although without making fundamental changes) for the sake of changing its international image, but often did not enforce the laws that it passed. Zinn also argues that while nonviolent tactics may have been required for Southern civil rights activists, militant actions (such as those proposed by Malcolm X) were needed to solve the problems of black ghettos. Also covered is the involvement of the Communist Party in the movement.
- 2. Video Transcripts: The 1960s and the Cold War: Make Love, Not War
- Video: The 1960s and the Cold War: Make Love, Not War [Shown in class]
- Quiz #6: Friday, March 23
- Issue: Why do historians say that 20th century “Liberalism” reached its peak in US history during the 1960s?
- Week 10 [March 26-30]: Vietnam
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- Zinn, Chapter 18, The Impossible Victory: Vietnam
- 1. "The Impossible Victory: Vietnam", covers the Vietnam War and resistance to it. Zinn argues that America was fighting a war that it could not win, as the Vietnamese people were in favor of the government of Ho Chi Minh and opposed the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, thus allowing them to keep morale high. Meanwhile, the American military's morale for the war was very low, as many soldiers were put off by atrocities such as the My Lai massacre. Zinn also tries to dispel the popular belief that opposition to the war was mainly amongst college students and middle-class intellectuals, using statistics from the era to show higher opposition from the working class. Zinn argues that the troops themselves also opposed the war, citing desertions and refusals to go to war, as well as movements such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Also covered is the US invasions of Laos and Cambodia, Agent Orange, the Pentagon Papers, Ron Kovic, and raids on draft boards.
- 2. Video Transcripts: TheVietnam War
- Video: The Vietnam War
- Power Point: Vietnam War [Overall History]
- Powerpoint: Vietnam War [LBJ Years]
- Quiz #7: Friday, March 30
- Issue: What were the historical reasons for the US failure in Vietnam?
- Week 11 [April 2-6]: US, 1968-1971
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- Zinn, Ch. 19, “Suprises”
- 1. "Surprises" covers other movements that happened during the 1960s, such as second-wave feminism, the prison reform/prison abolition movement, the Native American rights movement, and the counterculture. People and events from the prison movement covered include George Jackson, the Attica Prison riots, and Jerry Sousa.
- 2. Video Transcripts: Eyes on the Prize II: A Nation of Law?
- Video: Eyes on the Prize II: A Nation of Law? [shown in class]
- Quiz #8: Friday, April 6
- Issue: In what ways, in the years between 1968-1971, was black activism increasingly met with a sometimes violent and unethical response from state and federal law enforcement agencies.
- Week 12 [April 9-13]: 20th Century American Right
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Ch. 21, “Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus”
- 2. Video Transcripts: End of the Cold War
- Video Transcripts: Star Wars [Reagan and Gorbochev]
- "Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus" covers the Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush administrations and their effects on both the American people and foreign countries. Zinn argues that the Democratic and Republican parties keep the government essentially the same (that is, they handled the government in a way that was favorable for corporations rather than for the people) and continued to have a militant foreign policy no matter which party was in power. Zinn uses similarities between the three administrations' methods as proof of this. Other topics covered include the Fairness Doctrine, the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, Noam Chomsky, global warming, Roy Benavidez, the Trident submarine, the Star Wars program, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the Iran-Contra Affair, the War Powers Act, US invasion of Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War, the Invasion of Grenada, Óscar Romero, the El Mozote massacre, the 1986 Bombing of Libya, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States invasion of Panama, and the Gulf War.
- Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and a defense of "Western civilization from the challenges of modernist culture and totalitarian governments.” The history of American conservatism has been marked by tensions and outright contradictions. Economic conservatives and libertarians favor small government, low taxes, limited regulation, and free enterprise. Social conservatives want a strong government to enforce Christian morality. Neoconservatives want to expand American ideals throughout the world. The conservative movement of the 1950s attempted to bring together these divergent strands, stressing the need for unity to prevent the spread of "Godless Communism.”
- In the 1980s President Ronald Reagan solidified conservative Republican strength with tax cuts, greatly increased government spending, deregulation, a policy of rolling back Communism (rather than just containing it), a greatly strengthened military, and appeals to family values and conservative Christian morality. The Reagan model became the conservative standard for social, economic and foreign policy issues, and that period of American history became known as the "Reagan Era." After the fall of Soviet Communism in 1991, key conservative domestic issues become what conservative columnist William Safire calls "God, guns, and gays." Conservative voters tend to oppose abortion, gun control, and homosexuality. From 2001 to 2008 Republican President George W. Bush stressed cutting taxes, increasing spending, minimizing regulation of industry and banking, and the use of American military power to fight terrorists, promote democracy, and secure American Oil interests in the Middle East.
- Other modern conservative beliefs include:
- skepticism about the importance or validity of various environmental issues
- the importance of self-reliance instead of reliance on the government to solve problems
- support for the state of Israel
- support for prayer in the public schools
- support for the right to bear arms
- opposition to stem cell research
- opposition to illegal immigration
- support for a strong Law and Order policy, strict enforcement of the law, and long jail terms for repeat offenders
- Video: End of the Cold War (1989–1991) Gorbachev and Bush meet at Malta in December 1989 to consider the recent dramatic events. Only the previous week the Communist government resigned in Czechoslovakia; and shortly Nicolae Ceaușescu would be deposed and executed in the bloody Romanian Revolution. Gorbachev permits German reunification and removes Soviet troops from Europe, but fails to secure financial support from the West. As the Soviet economy collapses, Gorbachev faces opposition from both reformers and hardliners. Sharing their abhorrence of Soviet disintegration, Gorbachev brings in hardliners to his government and cracks down on the Lithuanian independence movement. However, they later turn on Gorbachev and stage a coup. Boris Yeltsin is instrumental in rallying the public and military to defeat the coup. Sidelining Gorbachev, Yeltsin sets the course for Russia to leave the Soviet Union by establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Soviet Union ends on 25 December 1991, and in his Christmas Day address Bush announces the Cold War is over. The cost of the Cold War is considered in retrospect.
- Quiz # 9: Friday, April 13
- Issue: What role did Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush play in ending the Cold War?
- Week 13 [April 16-20]: The War on Terrorism
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- 1. Zinn, Ch. 25, Chapter 25, "The 2000 Election and the 'War On Terrorism'", covers the 2000 presidential election and the War on Terrorism. Zinn argues that attacks on the US by Arab terrorists (such as the September 11, 2001 attacks) are not caused by a hatred for our freedom (as claimed by President George W. Bush), but by grievances with US foreign policies such as "stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia... sanctions against Iraq which... had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children; [and] the continued U.S. support of Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.” Other topics covered include Ralph Nader, the War in Afghanistan, and the USA PATRIOT Act.
- 2. Video Transcripts: The Wounded Platoon
- Video: The Wounded Platoon
- Quiz #10: Friday, April 20
- Issue: What was the human cost of war for American troops in Iraqi?
- Week 14 [April 23-27]: The 2008 Recession
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- Introduction to Documentary "Too Big to Fail"
- Website: Too Big to Fail
- Quiz #11: Friday, April 27
- Issue: How would you evaluate the major steps taken by the Bush administration to address the 2008 economic recession?
- Week 15 [April 30-May 4]: 21st Century Revolt
- READING ASSIGNMENT:
- V Zinn, Chapter 23, “The Coming Revolt of the Guards”
- 1. "The Coming Revolt of the Guards", covers Zinn's theory on a possible future radical movement against the inequality in America. Zinn argues that there will eventually be a movement made up not only of previous groups that were involved in radical change (such as labor organizers, black radicals, Native Americans, feminists), but also members of the middle class who are starting to become discontented with the state of the nation. Zinn expects this movement to use "demonstrations, marches, civil disobedience; strikes and boycotts and general strikes; direct action to redistribute wealth, to reconstruct institutions, to revamp relationships."
- Website for Video: Capitalism: A Love Story
- Essay on Capitalism: A Love Story
- Quiz #12: Friday May 4
- Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?
Final Exam: Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 8am-10am
Syllabus: 42-472 US Labor History [Spring 2012]
Spring 2012 42-472 US Labor History [MWF 11-11:50pm]
Final Exam: Wens. May 9, 2012, Wens. 10: 30am
FRONTLINE profiles a single Fort Carson platoon of infantrymen -- the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry -- and finds a group of young men changed by war. Many battle a range of psychiatric disorders, and since returning from Iraq, three members of the 3rd Platoon have been convicted on murder or attempted murder charges; one has been jailed for drunk driving and another for assaulting his wife; and one has attempted suicide. The investigation also examines an overwhelmed military mental health system -- at Fort Carson the rate of PTSD diagnosis has risen 4,000 percent since 2002 -- and the widespread use of prescription psychiatric drugs both at home and in combat.
A 21st Century Imperative makes the case that U.S. global competence in the 21st century is not a luxury, but a necessity. Whether engaging the world, or our culturally diverse homeland, the United States' future success will rely on the global competence of our people. Global competence must become part of the core mission of education—from K-12 through graduate school.
Pennsylvania History
Lectures: African History/Black Atlantic
In the 1980s President Ronald Reagan solidified conservative Republican strength with tax cuts, greatly increased government spending, deregulation, a policy of rolling back Communism (rather than just containing it), a greatly strengthened military, and appeals to family values and conservative Christian morality. The Reagan model became the conservative standard for social, economic and foreign policy issues, and that period of American history became known as the "Reagan Era." After the fall of Soviet Communism in 1991, key conservative domestic issues become what conservative columnist William Safire calls "God, guns, and gays." Conservative voters tend to oppose abortion, gun control, and homosexuality. From 2001 to 2008 Republican President George W. Bush stressed cutting taxes, increasing spending, minimizing regulation of industry and banking, and the use of American military power to fight terrorists, promote democracy, and secure American Oil interests in the Middle East.
Other modern conservative beliefs include
42-208 Contemporary Issues [Summer 2011]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
42-210 Values in Conflict [Summer 2011]
- INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
- Course Syllabus 42-210
- Powerpoint: Introduction to Course
- 1960s Documentaries on History Channel
- Video: 1968 [Tom Brokaw]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 1: JFK and Civil Rights
Video: The Freedom Riders
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/watch
Transcripts: The Freedom Riders
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/about/transcript
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2: LBJ/Vietnam/Civil Rights- Critique of Liberalism: Chris Hedges, "Death of the Liberal Class"
- Chris Hedges, fellow at the Nation Institute, argues that America's liberal class has collapsed and with it the citizenry's protection against what the author deems, the "corporate state." Mr. Hedges contends that the liberal class, which includes universities, labor movements, the press, the Democratic Party, and liberal religious groups, has been gradually corrupted by corporate entities. He believes that without the existence of a liberal class there will no longer be checks and balances against corporate interests. Chris Hedges discussed his book at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Powerpoint: LBJ and the Great Society
Video: LBJ Biography
Video Transcripts LBJ- Video: Anti-War Movement Part 1
- Video: Anti-War Movement Part 2
- Video: Anti-War Movement Part 3
- Video: Anti-War Movement Part 4
- Video: Anti-War Movement Part 5
- Anti-War Music: Fixing to Die Rag
- Anti-War Music: Born in the USA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 3: The American Right/Conservative Era -1968-PresentRonald Reagan and American Conservatism
Video: Ronald Reagan
Transcripts for Ronald Reagan VideoAmerican Radical Right
Socialism vs. Fascism. Students often profess to be confused about the differences between socialism and fascism. (Recall that by "socialism," I refer here to the ideas, policies, programs, and activities of the socialist and social democratic parties and movements of the West during the late 19th and 20th centuries [see No. 3, above]). Socialism and fascism are antithetical concepts. About their only point of agreement is that government must be used as a positive instrument of social and economic development. There are grounds for confusion, though. For example, Hitler's Nazi movement in 1920s and 1930s Germany adopted the name "National Socialist Party," and there are some conservative critics-historian John Lukacs is a good example-who believe that the kinds of enhanced government power advocated by socialists, as well as their scapegoating of certain categories of people-capitalists; the bourgeoisie; non-socialist politicians-is broadly equivalent to the authoritarianism and scapegoating central to fascism. But, unlike fascists or "national socialists" such as the Nazis, western socialists have never celebrated authoritarian rule, nor have they sought the physical liquidation of the people whom they identify as class enemies.
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part 1
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part 2
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part 3
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part 5
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part 6
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part 7
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part 8
Video: Nazi America: A Secret History Part- Part 4: How Far Right can America Go?
- Video: Obama's Deal
- Transcripts for Obama's Deal
- Obama: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- Obama: Health Care and Reconciliation Act of 2010