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? [August 2009] ...................................... The genius sleeps!

Bloomsburg University

BU History Department

Curriculum Vitae

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

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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:
  • 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. 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:
  • 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 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.
• 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
•          "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:
1. skepticism about the importance or validity of various environmental issues
2. the importance of self-reliance instead of reliance on the government to solve problems
3. support for the state of Israel
4. support for prayer in the public schools
5. support for the right to bear arms
6. opposition to stem cell research
7. opposition to illegal immigration
8. 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:
  • 1. “Late-2000s Financial Crisis”
  • Historical Players in 2008 Crisis
• 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 Spring 2012 42-122-04

Spring 2012 42-122-04 US 1877 to the Present [MW 3-4:15pm]

• Week 1 [Jan. 23-25]: 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: Jan. 25
•  
• Week 2 [Jan. 30-Feb. 1]: America in the 1880s and 1890s
• 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. 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: Feb. 1
• Issue: What was the role of the Anarchists in late 19th century America?

• Week 3 [Feb. 6-8]: Progressive Era [1900-1917]
• 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 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: Feb. 8
• Issue: What was the historical significance of the American Socialist Movement at the turn of the 20th century?
•  
• Week 4 [Feb. 13-15]: 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: Feb. 15
• Issue: How were civil liberties suppressed in the US during World War I, 1917-18?

• Week 5 [Feb. 20-22]: 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.
• Video: A Job at Ford's [Great Depression Video]
• Quiz #4: Feb. 22
• 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. 27-29]: 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: Feb. 29
• Issue: What was the role of race in the American war effort in World War II?

• Week 7 [March 5-7]: 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 [March 7, 2012]

• Week 8: Spring Break [March 12-16]
•  
• Week 9 [March 19-21]: 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: March 19
• Issue: Why do historians say that 20th century “Liberalism” reached its peak in US history during the 1960s?

• Week 10 [March 26-28]: 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: March 28
• Issue: What were the historical reasons for the US failure in Vietnam?

• Week 11 [April 2-4]: 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: April 4
• 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 9-11]: 20th Century American Right
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
•      1. Zinn, Ch. 21, “Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus”
•      2. Video Transcripts: End of the Cold War
•          "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:
1. skepticism about the importance or validity of various environmental issues
2. the importance of self-reliance instead of reliance on the government to solve problems
3. support for the state of Israel
4. support for prayer in the public schools
5. support for the right to bear arms
6. opposition to stem cell research
7. opposition to illegal immigration
8. 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: April 11
• Issue: What role did Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush play in ending the Cold War?

• Week 13 [April 16-18]: 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: April 18
• Issue: What was the human cost of war for American troops in Iraqi?

• Week 14 [April 23-25]: The 2008 Recession
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
  • 1. “Late-2000s Financial Crisis”
  • Historical Players in 2008 Crisis
• Introduction to Documentary "Too Big to Fail"
• Website: Too Big to Fail
• Quiz #11: April 25
• Issue: How would you evaluate the major steps taken by the Bush administration to address the 2008 economic recession?

• Week 15 [April 30-May 2]: 21st Century Revolt
• 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
• Essay on Capitalism: A Love Story
• Quiz #12: May 2
• Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?

Final Exam: Monday, May 7, 1-3pm.

----------------------------------------------------------

Syllabus Spring 2012 42-122-07

Spring 2012 42-122-07 US 1877 to the Present [M 6pm]

• Week 1 [Jan. 23]: 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: Jan. 23
•  
• Week 2 [Jan. 30]: America in the 1880s and 1890s
• 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. 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: Jan. 30
• Issue: What was the role of the Anarchists in late 19th century America?

• Week 3 [Feb. 6]: Progressive Era [1900-1917]
• 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 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: Feb. 6
• Issue: What was the historical significance of the American Socialist Movement at the turn of the 20th century?
•  
• Week 4 [Feb. 13]: 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: Feb. 13
• Issue: How were civil liberties suppressed in the US during World War I, 1917-18?

• Week 5 [Feb. 20]: 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.
• Video: A Job at Ford's [Great Depression Video]
• Quiz #4: Feb. 20
• 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]: 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: Feb. 27
• Issue: What was the role of race in the American war effort in World War II?

• Week 7 [March 5]: 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 [March 5, 2012]

• Week 8: Spring Break [March 12-16]
•  
• Week 9 [March 19]: 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: March 19
• Issue: Why do historians say that 20th century “Liberalism” reached its peak in US history during the 1960s?

• Week 10 [March 26]: 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: March 26
• Issue: What were the historical reasons for the US failure in Vietnam?

• Week 11 [April 2]: 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: April 2
• 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]: 20th Century American Right
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
•      1. Zinn, Ch. 21, “Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus”
•      2. Video Transcripts: End of the Cold War
•          "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:
1. skepticism about the importance or validity of various environmental issues
2. the importance of self-reliance instead of reliance on the government to solve problems
3. support for the state of Israel
4. support for prayer in the public schools
5. support for the right to bear arms
6. opposition to stem cell research
7. opposition to illegal immigration
8. 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: April 9
• Issue: What role did Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush play in ending the Cold War?

• Week 13 [April 16]: 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: April 16
• Issue: What was the human cost of war for American troops in Iraqi?

• Week 14 [April 23]: The 2008 Recession
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
  • 1. “Late-2000s Financial Crisis”
  • 2. Historical Players in 2008 Crisis
• Introduction to Documentary "Too Big to Fail"
• Website: Too Big to Fail
• Quiz #11: April 23
• Issue: How would you evaluate the major steps taken by the Bush administration to address the 2008 economic recession?

• Week 15 [April 30]: 21st Century Revolt
• 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
• Essay on Capitalism: A Love Story
• Quiz #12: April 30
• Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?

Final Exam: Monday, May 7, 2012, 6:30pm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Syllabus: 42-472 US Labor History [Spring 2012]

Spring 2012 42-472 US Labor History [MWF 11-11:50pm]

• Week 1 [Jan. 23-27]: Introduction to the Course
• Author: Philip Dray on labor history
  • 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"
•           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, Jan. 27
•  
• Week 2 [Jan. 30-Feb. 3]: American Labor in the 1880s and 1890s
• 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: Friday, Feb. 3
• Issue: What was the role of the Anarchists in the American labor movement in late 19th century America?

• Week 3 [Feb. 6-10]: 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.
• 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]: 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. The private industry of the American factory would never be the same.
• Website for the Triangle Fire
• Historians discuss the Triangle Fire
• Quiz #3: Friday, Feb. 17
• Issue: What were consequences of the1911 Triangle Fire for US labor history?

• Week 5 [Feb. 20-24]: 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.
• Quiz #5: Friday, March 2
• Issue: Analyze the labor philosophy of the IWW?
•  
• Week 6 [Feb. 27-March 2]: Labor during the 1920s and the Great Depression
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
•      1. Dray, Ch. 8, “Let us have peace and make cars”
• 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 7 [March 5-March 9]: 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 [Friday, March 9, 2012]

• Week 8: Spring Break [March 12-16]
•  
• Week 9 [March 19-23]: 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. Maurice Isserman, "`God Bless Our American Institutions': The Labor History of John R. Commons," 
• Labor History, 17(Summer, 1976), 309-328.
• Quiz #6: Friday, March 23
• Issue: What does Isserman, an historian from the 1960s, say about the conservative nature of Common’s labor history?

• Week 10 [March 26-30]: 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: Friday, March 30
• Issue: What are the differences between classical Marxist and neo-Marxist labor history?

• Week 11 [April 2-6]: 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: Friday, April 6
• Issue: Analyze the main themes in the historiography of labor and race as presented in the scholarship of historian Robert Zieger.

• Week 12 [April 9-13]: 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: Friday, April 13
• Issue: Analyze the main themes in the historiography of labor and gender as presented in the reading assignment.

• Week 13 [April 16-20]: Labor Films
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
•      1. Labor Film: Matewan
•      2. United Mine Workers and UMW
• Quiz #10: Friday, April 20
• Issue: How did the miners of West Virginia respond to the UMW campaign to organize black and immigrant miners?

• Week 14 [April 23-27]: The 2008 Recession
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
• 1. “Late-2000s Financial Crisis”
• 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:
•      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: Friday May 4
• Issue: What are the differences between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement?

Final Exam: Wens. May 9, 2012, Wens. 10: 30am

42-210 Values in Conflict

• Course Syllabus 42-210
• Powerpoint: Introduction to Course
• Powerpoint: Postmodern, Modern and Medieval Values: A Study in Contrast
• 1960s Documentaries on History Channel
• Video: 1968 [Tom Brokaw]

• Part 1
• Powerpoint: The Fifties
• Powerpoint: Early Civil Rights Movement
• Eyes on Prize JFK and Ole Miss part 1
• Eyes on Prize 2
• Eyes on Prize 3
• Powerpoint: 1960s Politics JFK Years
• Part 2
• Powerpoint: LBJ and the Great Society
• Video: LBJ Biography
• Powerpoint: LBJ and Civil Rights
• Video Transcripts Bridge to Freedom
  
• Powerpoint: Malcolm X and NOI
• Video: Malcolm X: Make It Plain
• Transcripts for Malcolm X Video
• Part 3
• Powerpoint: American Culture to 1968
• Powerpoint: Vietnam War
• Video: America in Vietnam Part 1
• Video: America in Vietnam Part 2
• Video: America in Vietnam Part 3
• Staughton Lynd v William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Video: Soldiering On Part 1
• Video: Soldiering On Part 2
• Video: Soldiering On Part 3
• Powerpoint: The Counter Culture
• Powerpoint: The New Left
• Video: Che Guevara Documentary
• The Secret Government: A History
• Part 4
• Powerpoint: 1968: Turning Point
• Powerpoint: Black Panther Party
• Video Transcripts: A Nation of Law?
• Powerpoint: The Weathermen
• Video Information: The Weather Underground
• Weather Underground Video
• Video: Environmental History: Earth Days
• Transcripts of Environment History
• Powerpoint: Gender and Ethnicity during the 1960s
• Video: The Wounded Platoon/
  Transcripts: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/woundedplatoon/etc/script.html

  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.

• Early 21st Century:
• U.S. Global Competence: A 21st Century Imperative

  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.

• Video Lecture: Xenophobic America

• 42-374 US Social and Cultural History
• Syllabus Summer 2010
• Course Overview
• Powerpoint: Introduction to Course
• 1950s: Video: Ballad of the Green Beret
• 1960s: Video: Fixin' To Die Rag
• Powerpoint: The Fifties
• Powerpoint: Early Civil Rights Movement
• Video transcripts: Sit Ins and Freeedom Rides
• Powerpoint: 1960s Politics JFK Years
• Video: The Times They are a Changin'
• Video: Yes We Can Can
• Video: Blowin' in the Wind
• Powerpoint: LBJ and the Great Society
• Video: LBJ Biography
• Video: The politics of Compassion [Homeless]
• Powerpoint: LBJ and Civil Rights
• Video Transcripts Bridge to Freedom
  
• Powerpoint: Malcolm X and NOI
• Video: Malcolm X: Make It Plain
• Transcripts for Malcolm X Video
• Powerpoint: American Culture to 1968
• Powerpoint: Vietnam War
• Video: America in Vietnam Part 1
• Video: America in Vietnam Part 2
• Video: America in Vietnam Part 3
• Video: Soldiering On Part 1
• Video: Soldiering On Part 2
• Video: Soldiering On Part 3
• Powerpoint: The Counter Culture
• Powerpoint: The New Left
• Powerpoint: 1968: Turning Point
• Powerpoint: Black Panther Party
• Video Transcripts: A Nation of Law?
• Powerpoint: The Weathermen
• Video Information: The Weather Underground
• Powerpoint: Gender and Ethnicity during the 1960s
• Reference Materials
• 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
• Chapter 3 Rise of Modern Humanism
• Chapter 4 Republicanism
• Lecture Notes on Antebellum America
• Early Industrial Revolution
• Lecture Notes on Slavery and Old South
• Slavery and Southern Society
• Lecture Notes Race: Civil War and Reconstruction
• Reconstruction
• Lecture Notes on Industrial America
• Industrial American Society
• American Pragmatism
• Lecture Notes on Urban America
• Urban America
• Early 20th Century Black Urban Migration and Civil Rights
• Lecture Notes on American Society 1920s
• Social History of the 1920s
• American Society and Culture during the Second Half of the 20th century

Pennsylvania History

Pennsylvania: 1865-1945

Pennsylvania, 1945-Present

Lectures: African History/Black Atlantic

• Africa Lecture 1 Intro & Geography
• Lecture 1 Introduction and Geography
• Africa Lecture 2 Images of Africa Past & Present
• African History Human Origans
• Stone Age in Africa Ch1 Mastering a Continent
• Africa Lecture on Race
• African Languages
• Afrocentricism
• Ancient Egypt and Nubia
• Three Sudanic Empires: Ghana, Mali, Songhai
• Timbuktu
• Sundiata Online
• Summary of Sundiata
• Sundiata Discussion Questions
• Sundiata
• Review for Exam 1
• Sample Exam 1
• Atlantic Slave Trade
• The Amistad
• Touissaint Loverture
• The Haitian Revolution
• Amazing Grace
• Tuskegee Airmen
• Tuskegee Airmen 2

• Reference Material for Values Course
• Powerpoint: Heidegger and Postmodernism
• The Values and Ethics of the American Founding Fathers
• Lecture Notes 2 Historical Origins of Ethics
• Lecture Notes: Introduction to the History of Ethics
• Powerpoint 3: A History 0f God, Chapter 1
• History of God Video Online
• Video: Does God Make Sense [Closer to Truth Video]
• Powerpoint 4: A History of God, Chapter 2
• History of God Video Online
• Review: Definitions
• Powerpoint 5: A History of God Chapter 3
• Powerpoint 6: A History of God Chapter 4
• Powerpoint 2: Greek Ethics
  Lecture Notes 3 Greek Ethics [Aristotle]
• Lecture Notes 4: Later Greek and Roman Ethics [Stoicis and Epicureans]
• Video: A History of Stoicism
• Video: Epicurus on Happiness
• Stoic Characters
• Lecture Notes 5: St. Augustine's Ethics
• Audio: Philosophy Talk/St. Augustine
• Powerpoint: St. Augustine and Free Will
• Powerpoint 7: A History of God Chapter 5
• Powerpoint 8: A History of God Chapter 6 [Islamic Philosophy]
• Online Video: The Koran [1]
• Online Video: The Koran [2]
• Video: Dante's Inferno
• Video: Midevial Philosophy
• Video: The Ontological Argument
• Reference Outline: Greek Ethics [Sophists to Plato]
• Online Article: Philosophy of Religion
• Outline: Judaism
• Video: Seneca on Anger
• Audio: Jewish Philosophy [Philosophy Talk: Jewish Thought]
• Audio: Believing in God [Philosophy Talk: Believing in God]
• Audio: The Concept of God [Philosophy Talk: Richard Swinburne]
• Outline: Christianity
• Outline: Ethics of Medieval Christendom
• Outline: Islam
• Prof. Mashhad Al-Allaf Website: Islamic Philosophy
• Audio: Islamic Philosophy [Philosophy Talk]
• Outline: Hindusim Hindusim
  Outline: Buddhism
  Buddhism Handout
• Powerpoint 9: A History of God Chapter 6 [Christian Philosophy]
• Video: Name of the Rose [Part 1]
• The Name of the Rose [Exam Review Guide]
• Video: Name of the Rose [Part 4]
• The Name of the Rose [Exam Review Guide]
  Powerpoint 9: A History of God Chapter 6 [Christian Philosophy]
• Video: The Ontological Argument
• Powerpoint 10: A History of God Chapter 7
• Powerpoint: Renaisance and Reformation Ethics
• Lecture Notes: Renaissance and Reformation Ethics
• Powerpoint: Utilitarian Ethics
• Powerpoint: Deontological Ethics [Kant]
• Lecture Notes: 19th Century Ethics: Marx and Nietzsche
• Powerpoint: Darwin and Freud
• Powerpoint: A History of God Chapter 10

• Values Course Reference Material
• Part 1: 20th Century Old Left
• Anarchism: The anarchist criticism of capitalism is both similar to and very different from that of the Marxist. "Man was born free," declared Rousseau in the 18th century, "but is everywhere in chains." In common with Marxists, anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin denounced the exploitation inherent in capitalism. But whereas Marx and later socialists saw as the goal of revolutionary activity the gaining of state power, anarchists warned that any government, no matter how formally democratic, would inevitably degenerate into tyranny. This would especially be true of a socialist government that combined political and economic functions. Instead of gaining control of government, whether by revolutionary or legal means, anarchists believed, it was necessary for workers and citizens to gain democratic control of their workplaces and neighborhoods. While socialists envisaged a kind of superstate, coordinating everything from the top, anarchists believed in grass roots activism, without formal structures of governmental authority being necessary. Only through local activism and the insistence on grass roots democratic decision-making could people be truly free.
   
  Some anarchists turned to violence, believing that "propaganda by the deed" could shatter the existing order and provide a liminal moment in which old structures of capitalist economics and bureaucratic government might be destroyed, providing room for the sprouting of innumerable popular organizations in workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities. Some anarchists preached sabotage and even assassination and indeed during this period there were many episodes of political murder (e.g., the killing of President William McKinley in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz, a self-styled anarchist) and bombings perpetrated by violent anarchist groups in the US, Russia, and Western Europe. Most anarchists, however, rejected violence. Over the years, the repression and victimization of anarchists (and other radicals) by public authorities and private vigilantes in the West far exceeded the violence perpetrated by radicals.
• Emman Goldman Video 1
• Emma Goldman [Video transcripts]
• Socialism. Socialism is the generic term applied to those on the Left who believed (and believe) that a truly just and humane society cannot be achieved so long as the means of production, distribution, and exchange remain in private hands and who believe that the state must play a crucial role in the transition to a new form of social organization. Traditionally, socialism has been associated with government ownership and operation of economic activities, although many socialists believe(d) that only the "commanding heights"-the large, concentrated, critical industries and utilities such as railroads, steel, banking-need be publicly owned. There are and have been many varieties of socialism but in the absence of explicit qualifying remarks, for the purposes of this class when reference is made to "socialism," it means the ideas and programs and movements associated with the main socialist political parties and labor organizations in the western countries (i.e., industrialized regions, mainly Western Europe, the British Commonwealth, the US) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These socialist movements were strongly critical of the inequities of capitalism, strongly supportive of organized labor, and quite confident that socialism represented the wave of the future. In Europe, socialist organizations were at the forefront of those seeking to expand the suffrage and to bring working people into the political community. In more recent decades, socialists have lost much of their previous confidence but they continue to be critical of market capitalism, which they believe breeds inequality, waste, political corruption, and the disempowerment of ordinary people.
• Socialism in America
• Mother Jones Speaks
• The Death of Mother Jones
• Eugene Debs on WWI

• Communism: Leninism, Bolshevism, or Soviet Communism are roughly synonymous terms. Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) was the leader of the Bolshevik faction of the main Russian socialist party and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and head of the new Soviet state. Two main ideas characterize Leninism: 1) rather than waiting for the masses of people to develop a revolutionary consciousness, a small cadre of dedicated revolutionaries must foment revolution and control its processes, bringing the masses along through their example and through the instruments of state power developed in the Bolshevik seizure of power; 2) the only reason that capitalism in the industrialized West has not followed the trajectory outlined by Marx is because of western states' imperial expansion and domination of what later would be called "the Third World." In effect, Lenin argued, western capitalist regimes had been able to buy off their working classes through economic exploitation of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the wealth of which provided a sufficient surplus for capitalists and their political henchmen to raise living standards at home and thus deflect potentially revolutionary activism. While the Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union initially derived from the common critique of capitalism shared by all on the Left, it soon developed a dynamic and a character of its own. Particularly after Lenin's death in 1924 and the emergence of Josef Stalin (1879-1953) as the Soviet leader, the Russian Communist regime deepened the authoritarianism toward which Leninist doctrine seemed in any event to tend. The term "Stalinism" has come to indicate a particularly brutal authoritarianism. During the 1930s and World War II, many western liberals and radicals chose to ignore the more sinister features of Soviet Communism under Stalin in light of the Great Depression that afflicted the West and the Russian people's heroic struggle against Nazi Germany in the Second World War. Others in labor, socialist, and liberal movements, however, viewed Stalinism as the perversion of socialism and opposed it root and branch even during this period.
   
  A major fault line among people on the Left even today runs between those who see the crimes of Stalinism has having perverted and betrayed the original, hopeful promise of the Bolshevik Revolution, and those who see the evils of Stalinism (and Maoism in China) as being traceable directly to the Bolsheviks' contempt for "mere" democracy and due process. Still another dimension of the dramatic controversies that swirled about the Russian Revolution and that made the "short" twentieth century (1914-1989) so ideologically and politically turbulent is provided by Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), a brilliant co-revolutionary, founder of the Red Army, and, many thought, heir apparent to Lenin. First exiled and then murdered in 1940 by a Stalinist agent, Trotsky remains for some the embodiment of the tragic failure of the Russian Revolution, while to others he remains squarely-if with greater charisma and intellectual brilliance-firmly within the authoritarian and murderous traditions of Bolshevism and Soviet Communism.
• Video: American Experience: Love in the Cold War [Video outline for this video is in the course packet]
• Video: Seeing Red [Handout on this video in the course packet]
• 
  
• Part 2: 20th Century Liberalism and the New Left
• Liberalism: The term "The Left" dates back to the French Revolution when in the constituent assembly, the more extreme and militant delegates occupied seats to the left of the front of the hall from the viewpoint of someone facing the delegates. In more modern parlance, it refers to those who perceive some urgent need for democratic and egalitarian change in existing circumstances and who believe that collective action is necessary to achieve it. Leftists can be defined in part by what they oppose, notably militarism, racism, elitism, authoritarianism. But within the broad tent occupied by people of The Left, there are many diverse tendencies, movements, perspectives, and organizations. Some of the fiercest political battles of the 20th century were among people who saw themselves as being part of The Left but who disagreed sharply-even at times, violently-with others who also claimed that rubric. One broad division is between those who believe that capitalism must be supplanted by common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, on the one hand, and those who believe that meaningful democratic and egalitarian reform can take place within capitalist structures.
• Powerpoint: LBJ and the Great Society
• Video: LBJ Biography
• Video Transcripts LBJ
• Powerpoint: The New Left
• Video: Che Guevara Documentary
• Website for Che Guevara Documentary
• Powerpoint: 1968: Turning Point
• Powerpoint: Black Panther Party
• Video Transcripts: A Nation of Law?
• Powerpoint: The Weathermen
• Video Information: The Weather Underground
• Weather Underground Video

• Part 3: The 20th Century American Right
• 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

  1. opposition to a world government
  2. skepticism about the importance or validity of various environmental issues
  3. the importance of self-reliance instead of reliance on the government to solve problems
  4. support for the state of Israel
  5. support for prayer in the public schools
  6. support for the right to bear arms
  7. opposition to stem cell research
  8. opposition to illegal immigration
  9. support for a strong Law and Order policy, strict enforcement of the law, and long jail terms for repeat offenders
• Video: Ronald Reagan
• Transcripts for Ronald Reagan Video
• American Radical Right
• 8. 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
• How Far Right can America Go?
• Video: The Changes in American Conservatism part 1
• Video: The Changes in American Conservatism part 2
• Early 21st Century:
• U.S. Global Competence: A 21st Century Imperative 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.
• Video Lecture: Xenophobic America

42-208 Contemporary Issues [Summer 2011]

• Course Syllabus [Summer 2011]
• Barack Obama: Background and Context
• Reading List: Barack Obama
• Video: Dreams of Obama
• Transcripts of "Dreams of Obama"

• Culture Wars at the turn of the 21st century
• The American Right in Popular Culture and Politics:
• Religious Right on 9/11
• Jon Stewart v Glenn Beck
• -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Video: Obama's Deal
• Transcripts for Obama's Deal
• Obama: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
• Obama: Health Care and Reconciliation Act of 2010
• -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Populism: The People vs Economic Elites [I Hate Banks]
• Video: Frontline: The Warning
• Transcripts for "The Warning"
• Introduction to Documentary "Too Big to Fail"
• Video: Too Big to Fail [Docudrama]
• Website: Too Big to Fail
• Website for Video: Capitalism: A Love Story
• Obama's War on Terror
• Video: Kill/Capture [Obama's War on Terror]
• Transcripts for Kill/Capture Video
• Video: Are We Safer?
• How Far Right can America Go?
  Video: The Changes in American Conservatism part 1
  Video: The Changes in American Conservatism part 2
• Powerpoints for Lynching
• 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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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-Present

  Ronald Reagan and American Conservatism
  Video: Ronald Reagan
  Transcripts for Ronald Reagan Video

  American 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