Housing Subdivision, Levittown Pennsylvania (c. 1955)

HIST164a: UNITED STATES HISTORY SINCE 1945

Professor Rachel Knecht | rknecht@brandeis.eduCourse Meeting: Mondays & Wednesdays, 5-6:20pm in [ROOM]Office Hours: Wednesdays 11am-1pm in Olin-Sang 219

COURSE OVERVIEWThat last seventy-five years of American history are among the most ideologically contested of any in the nation’s past. Today, the meaning of events like the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the Women’s Movement, the Reagan Administration, and more remain politically fraught for ordinary Americans of every political stripe. This course aims to clearly and rigorously cover the United States’ post-WWII history by presenting the ideas and interpretations that historians use to understand these crucial years. Readings will cover the major political, economic, and cultural events that defined the period, and ask how they shaped—and continue to shape—our present.The course will begin in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, with the onset of the Cold War, and end in the present day. Students will use both primary and secondary sources discussing elections, laws, and government institutions; the social history of liberal, radical, and conservative movements; the macroeconomic processes of the postwar period; and cultural productions, including music, movies, and television.

Course Objectives: By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Identify and recount the important events, ideas, people, and processes that drove changes in American history in the decades following World War II;

Analyze the intersections of social identity, economic need, and political exigency in shaping the direction and outcome of postwar American history; and

Develop skills in historical thinking, and understand the importance of context and contingency in studying how and why events happened as they did.

COURSE POLICIES

REQUIRED READING MATERIALS: Required Books: The following books will be available at the bookstore and on reserve at the Goldfarb Library. They can also be purchased at the online retailer of your choice.

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1947)Dang Thuy Tram, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace, trans. Andrew X. Pham

(2007)Robert P. Ingalls & David K. Johnson (eds.), The United States Since 1945: A

Documentary Reader, First Edition (2009)

A required reading packet containing all additional readings for the course is also available for purchase at the bookstore. It is imperative that you bring all reading materials to class. The assigned films and television episodes will be available through LATTE.

GRADED ASSIGNMENTSThis course requires four written assignments: three short papers analyzing the readings from a week of your choice, and a 6-8 page final paper synthesizing themes from the course. In addition, there will be two in-class exams. Grades will be distributed as follows:

Three Response Papers: 25% Varies1st Midterm Evaluation: 20% In Class: October 32nd Midterm Evaluation: 20% In Class: November 19Final Paper: 20% Due: December 14Class Participation: 15% Weekly

Response Papers: Over the course of the semester, you will turn in three one-page (single-spaced) response papers analyzing the week’s readings. Each should advance an argument about the larger themes and ideas in the readings. These papers can be turned in at any time, but at least one paper

must be turned in before the first exam, and another before the second exam. Papers that miss these deadlines will be docked a full letter grade.

In-Class Exams: Each of the midterm exams will consist of a combination of short-answer ID questions and an essay with a choice of prompts. They are intended to evaluate your ability to think on your feet and recall and combine material that you are familiar with but don’t have immediately in front of you. Both exams will cover everything up to that point. Students who miss exams will take a different, make-up exam at a later date.

Final Paper: Based on the themes and issues discussed in class, write a 6-8 page (double-spaced) paper based on one of the prompts that will be provided during the final two weeks of class. You will not need to do any additional research for this paper, but you should still advance an original argument using both primary and secondary materials from the course. All students are encouraged to come speak with me about their ideas for their final paper. It should be submitted as a Word document, via email, by 5pm on December 14.Class Participation: Participation will be a key component of the course. Keep in mind that attendance in class is mental as well as physical. I ask that you do all the assigned readings and come to class prepared to listen and respond to your peers. If you agree with something stated, build off it with your own analysis. If you disagree, pose a constructive challenge. If you are shy or otherwise have trouble speaking up in groups, please come talk to me and we will find a way for you to participate fully, so you can get the most out of the class.

ADDITIONAL CLASS POLICIES To pass the course, students must consistently come prepared for

discussion and turn in every assignment. Three absences will be excused; more than that will result in a half letter grade being docked from the final grade.

If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me in my office right away so that we can set up the appropriate accommodations.

Barring special accommodation, students will keep laptops closed and phones off during class meetings. All materials will be available in printed form, and recent studies consistently show that note-taking by hand prompts students to listen more deeply and learn more effectively. The temptation to surf the web is irrepressible, and distracts not only you, but everyone sitting around you. Additionally, please do not record lectures or discussions without first getting permission from me.

You are expected to be honest in all your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Allegations of alleged dishonesty can include a failing grade for the course and/or suspension from the university. Course assignments will include citation guidelines, but you may also consult me or the LTS Library Guides.

Course communication will occur in class and via email. Should there be any changes to the schedule (such as in the case of school cancellation), I will send out a revised syllabus via email. The syllabus and assignments will be handed out in class as well as posted on the LATTE course website. Students are always welcome to come talk to me in my office during my office hours; no appointment is necessary.

COURSE SCHEDULEPart I: Postwar Politics and Society

August 29: A New World OrderReading: Ingalls and Johnson, The United States Since 1945, pp. 1-12

September 5: Anti-Communism AbroadReading: Kathryn Weathersby, “The Korean War Revisited” The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Summer, 1999), pp. 91-95 [RP]; “The Truman Doctrine” (1946), “The Policy of Containment” (1947), “A Soviet View of U.S. Policy” (1946), & “The Falling Domino Principle” (1954) in Ingalls/Johnson.

September 6: Anti-Communism at HomeReading: Ellen Schrecker, “McCarthyism: Political Repression and the Fear of Communism” Social Research, Vol. 71, No. 4 (2004) [RP]; “The Red Scare” (1950), “The Lavender Scare” (1950), & “A Defense of Civil Liberties” (1952) in Ingalls/Johnson.

September 12: Breadwinner LiberalismReading: Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1947), all.

September 17: A Consumers’ RepublicReading: Lizabeth Cohen, “From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America” The American Historical Review, Vol. 101, No. 4 (Oct., 1996), pp. 1050-1081 [RP]; “The Growth of Suburbia” (1949) & “Consumer Culture and the Home” (1947) in Ingalls/Johnson.

September 25: Mass Culture & Suburban LifeReading: Sarah Igo, “The Private Lives of the Public” in The Averaged American (2007), pp. 234-280 [RP]; “Women’s Roles” (1950) & “Men’s Roles” (1956) in Ingalls/Johnson.

Also WATCH “Happy Weekend” from Leave It to Beaver (1958)

September 26: The Radical… 50s?Reading: Glen Altschuler, “All Shook Up: Popular Music in American Culture” in All Shook Up: How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America (2003), pp. 3-34 [RP]; “A Critique of Suburbia” (1962), “The Beat Generation” (1956), “Protest Against Bus Segregation” (1954), & “The Southern Manifesto” (1956) in Ingalls/Johnson.

OCTOBER 3: FIRST MIDTERM EXAM

Part II: A World Turned Upside-DownOctober 8: Vital Center Politics

Reading: Alan Brinkley, “The Posthumous Lives of John F. Kennedy” in Liberalism and its Discontents (1998) [RP]; “The Cuban Missile Crisis”(1962) in Ingalls/Johnson

Also WATCH: Dr. Strangelove (1964)

October 10: The Great SocietyReading: “The Great Society” (1965) in Ingalls/Johnson; Lyndon Johnson, “Remarks at the University of Michigan” (1964) [RP]; Adam Yarmolinsky, “The ‘Great Society’—Another American Dream?” The World Today 24, no. 5 (1968), pp. 203-08 [RP].

October 15: The Long Civil Rights Movement, Pt. 1Reading: Charles M. Payne, “‘The Whole United States Is Southern!’: Brown v. Board and the Mystification of Race” The Journal of American History, Vol. 91, No. 1 (2004), pp. 83-91 [RP]; “Remembering the Sit-In Demonstrations” (1998) “Nonviolent Direct Action” (1963), & “Women in the Civil Rights Movement” (1964) in Ingalls/Johnson.

October 17: The Long Civil Rights Movement, Pt. 2Reading: Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past” The Journal of American History, Vol. 91, No 4 (Mar., 2005), pp. 1233-1263 [RP]; “Black Nationalism” (1964) & “Economic Justice” (1965) in Ingalls/Johnson.

October 22: Second-Wave Feminism, Pt. 1Reading: Serena Mayeri, “‘A Common Fate of Discrimination’: Race-Gender Analogies in Legal and Historical Perspective” The Yale Law Journal Vol. 110, No. 6 (Apr. 2001), pp. 1045-1087 [RP]; “Second Wave Feminism” (1963) & “The National Organization for Women” (1966) in Ingalls/Johnson.

October 24: The Permissive SocietyReading: Whitney Strub, “Perversion for Profit: Citizens for Decent Literature and the Arousal of an Antiporn Public in the 1960s” Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 15, No. 2 (May, 2006), pp. 258-291 [RP]; “The Gay Liberation Movement” (1969) & “Abortion Rights” (1973) in Ingalls/Johnson.

October 29: Third World LiberationReading: Elizabeth A. Cobbs, “Decolonization, the Cold War, and the Foreign Policy of the Peace Corps,” Diplomatic History 20:1 (Winter 1996), pp. 79-105; “Cesar Chavez and la causa” (1966) & “The American Indian Movement” (2004) in Ingalls/Johnson.

October 31: Youth Culture & Campus ActivismReading: “Young Americans for Freedom” (1960), “Students for a Democratic Society” (1962), & “The Hippie Counter Culture” (1967) in Ingalls/Johnson.

Also WATCH: The Graduate (1968)

November 5: The War in VietnamReading: Dang Thuy Tram, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace (trans. Andrew X. Pham), all; “Experiencing the War” (1965-70), “A Defense of the War” (1965), “Kent State Shooting” (1970) & “Vietnam Veterans Against the War” (1971) in Ingalls/Johnson.

November 7: The Election of 1968Reading: Michael W. Flamm, “‘Law and Order" at Large’: The New York Civilian Review Board Referendum of 1966” The Historian, 64, no. 3/4 (2002), pp. 643-65 [RP]; “The Tet Offensive” (1968) & “The 1968 Election” (1968) in Ingalls/Johnson.

November 12: Second Wave Feminism, Pt. 2Reading: Robin Morgan, “Goodbye to All That” (1970) [RP]; Charlotte Bunch, “Lesbian Feminist Politics” (1973) [RP]; Andrea Dworkin, “Renouncing Sexual ‘Equality’” (1974) [RP]; “Radical Feminism” (1973) in Ingalls/Johnson.

Also WATCH: “Love Is All Around” from The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970)

November 14: Antifeminism & The ERAReading: Robert Self, “The Price of Liberty: Antifeminism and the Crisis of the Family” in All In The Family (2012), pp. 309-338 [RP]; “Opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment” & “The Pro-Family Movement” (1977) in Ingalls/Johnson.

NOVEMBER 19: SECOND MIDTERM EXAM

Part III: The Second Gilded AgeNovember 26: The Post-Industrial Economy

Reading: James Fallows, “What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?” (1977) [RP]; “The Crisis of Confidence” (1979) & “Life in the Rust Belt” (1987) in Ingalls/Johnson.

November 28: Morning in AmericaReading: Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals” (1983) [RP]; “The Religious Right” (1980), “A Critique of the Religious Right” (1982), & “The Second American Revolution” (1985) in Ingalls/Johnson.

December 3: The End of the Cold WarReading: Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?” The National Interest, no. 16 (1989), pp. 3-18 [RP]; “The End of Big Government” (1996), “Recent Immigration” (2006), & “Organized Labor and ‘Undocumented” Immigrants” (2000) in Ingalls/Johnson.

December 5: The Security StateReading: Ruth Wilson Gilmore, “Globalisation and U.S. Prison Growth: From Military Keynesianism to Post-Keynesian Militarism” Race & Class, 40, 2/3 (1998/1999), pp. 171-188 [RP]; “The War on Terrorism” (2007) In Ingalls/Johnson.

December 10: Politics & Society in the Internet AgeReading: Farhad Manjoo, “Can Facebook Fix Its Own Worst Bug?” The New York Times Magazine (April 2017) [RP]; “The Internet & Political Activism” (2004) in Ingalls/Johnson.

Also WATCH Citizenfour (2014)

FINAL PAPER DUE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 BY 5PM