History 41.7: U.S. History since 1950

This course examines U.S. history since 1950, with a focus on events in politics, public policy, and the law. Topics include the development of the Cold War; the Red Scare; the civil rights movements; the elections of the 1960s; the Americanization of the Vietnam War; the collapse of the New Deal political order; the decline of the 1970s American economy; the age of Reagan; the end of the Cold War; 1990s partisanship; the causes and effects of 9/11; and the election of Barack Obama.

All documents and other primary sources will be posted on the course website; articles will be e-mailed.

Lecture Handouts

Requirements

Exams (midterm and final): 50 percent
Research paper (12-15 pages): 30 percent
Reading-based quizzes (2 lowest grades dropped): 10 percent
Participation: 10 percent

My Contact Information:

email: kcjohnson9@gmail.com
cell: 207-329-8456
skype: kcjohnson9

spring office hours: Tuesday, 6.30-7.30, Thursday, 2.30-3.30, Whitehead 501

January 28: Introduction

February 2: McCarranism, McCarthyism, and the Cold War

Manfred Berg, “Black Civil Rights and Liberal Anticommunism: The NAACP in the Early Cold War,” Journal of American History

February 4: Triumph of the Republicans

Fred I. Greenstein, “Eisenhower as an Activist President: A Look at New Evidence,” Political Science Quarterly

Bill Katz, “The Checkers Speech“

February 9: The Emergence of the Civil Rights Movement

Anthony Badger, “The South Confronts the Court: The Southern Manifesto of 1956,” Journal of Policy History

Timothy Thurber, Timothy M., “Racial Liberalism, Affirmative Action, and the Troubled History of the President’s Committee on Government Contracts,” Journal of Policy History

February 11: The 1960 Election

Laura Gifford, “’Dixie is no longer in the bag’: South Carolina Republicans and the Election of 1960,” Journal of Policy History

February 16: The Kennedy Agenda

Dean Kotlowski, “With All Deliberate Delay: Kennedy, Johnson, and School Desegregation,” Journal of Policy History

Peyton McCrary & Steven Lawson, “Race and Reapportionment, 1962: The Case of Georgia Senate Redistricting,” Journal of Policy History

February 18: NO CLASSES—conversion day

February 23: LBJ Takes Charge

Hugh Davis Graham, “The Origins of Affirmative Action: Civil Rights and the Regulatory State,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

James F. Findlay, “Religion and Politics in the Sixties: The Churches and the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Journal of American History

February 25: The 1964 Election

Thomas Sugrue, “Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction Against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964,” Journal of American History

March 2: The Demise of the New Deal Coalition

Joseph Crespino, “The Best Defense Is a Good Offense: The Stennis Amendment and the Fracturing of Liberal School Desegregation Policy, 1964-1972,” Journal of Policy History

Kenneth O’Reilly, “The FBI and the Politics of the Riots, 1964-1968, ” Journal of American History

March 4: The 1968 Election

Dan T. Carter, “Legacy of Rage: George Wallace and the Transformation of American Politics, “ The Journal of Southern History

March 9: The Nixon Agenda

Gareth Davies, “Richard Nixon and the Desegregation of Southern Schools,” Journal of American History
Kimberly Morgan, “A Child of the Sixties: The Great Society, the New Right, and the Politics of Federal Child Care,” Journal of Policy History

March 11: Watergate

Barton J. Bernstein, “The Road to Watergate and beyond: The Growth and Abuse of Executive Authority since 1940,” Law and Contemporary Problems

David Thelen, “Introduction: Remembering the Discovery of the Watergate Tapes,” Journal of American History
“Conversations between Alexander P. Butterfield and David Thelen about the Discovery of the Watergate Tapes,” Journal of American History

March 16: Reform & Rights-Related Liberalism

Donald Critchow and Cynthia Stachecki, “The Equal Rights Amendment Reconsidered: Politics, Policy, and Social Mobilization in a Democracy,” Journal of Policy History

Julian Zelizer, “Seeds of Cynicism: The Struggle over Campaign Finance, 1956-1974,” Journal of Policy History

March 18: Midterm

March 23: Rise of the Right

Dennis A. Deslippe, “’Do Whites Have Rights?’: White Detroit Policemen and “Reverse Discrimination” Protests in the 1970s,” Journal of American History

Robert Freedman, “The Religious Right and the Carter Administration,” The Historical Journal
Presentation : 1976 New York Democratic Senate primary–Moynihan vs. Abzug

March 25: The 1980 Campaign

Cary R. Covington, Kent Kroeger, Glenn Richardson and J. David Woodard, “Shaping a Candidate’s Image in the Press: Ronald Reagan and the 1980 Presidential Election,” Political Research Quarterly
Jerome L. Himmelstein and James A. McRae, Jr., “Social Conservatism, New Republicans, and the 1980 Election, The Public Opinion Quarterly
Presentation : 1980 New York Republican Senate primary–D’Amato vs. Javits

March 30, April 1, April 6: NO CLASSES—spring break

April 8: The Reagan Era

Hugh Davis Graham “The Surprising Career of Federal Fair Housing Law,” Journal of Policy History

Andrew Van Alstyne, “Media, Advertising, and the 1984 Election.”

April 13: Scandal & Success

Michael A. Bernstein, “The Contemporary American Banking Crisis in Historical Perspective,” The Journal of American History

Loch K. Johnson, “Covert Action and Accountability: Decision-Making for America’s Secret Foreign Policy,” International Studies Quarterly

April 15: The Rise of Partisanship

Mark Stern, “Party Alignments and Civil Rights: Then and Now,” Presidential Studies Quarterly

April 20: The 1992 Campaign

Stephen Borrelli, “Finding the Third Way: Bill Clinton, the DLC, and the Democratic Platform of 1992,” Journal of Policy History
James A. McCann, Ronald B. Rapoport and Walter J. Stone, “Heeding the Call: An Assessment of Mobilization into H. Ross Perot’s 1992 Presidential Campaign,” American Journal of Political Science
Presentation : 1992 Pennsylvania Senate race–Specter vs. Yeakel

April 22: The Clinton Agenda

WJ Rorabaugh, “Critical Perspectives: Did Prosperity Contribute to the South’s Abandonment of the Democratic Party?,” Journal of Policy History
Norman Graebner, “The End of Liberalism,” Journal of Policy History
Bailey, Sigelman and Wilcox, “Presidential Persuasion on Social Issues: A Two-Way Street?,” Political Research Quarterly

April 27: Impeachment

Benjamin Highton, “Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the 1998 House Elections,” The Public Opinion Quarterly
Susan Low Bloch, “A Report Card on the Impeachment: Judging the Institutions That Judged President Clinton,” Law and Contemporary Problems

April 29: The 2000 Election

“Television’s Performance on Election Night 2000.”

May 4: 9/11 and Its Effects

Douglas Brook and Cynthia King, “Civil Service Reform as National Security: The Homeland Security Act of 2002,” Public Administration Review
Chait & Ponnuru on “Bush hatred”
Slate on the Patriot Act
Presentation : 2002 Georgia Senate race–Chambliss vs. Cleland

May 6: The Travails of the Bush Administration

Lawrence Powell, “What Does American History Tell Us About Katrina?,” Journal of American History
Kent Germany, “The Politics of Poverty and History: Racial Inequality and the Long Prelude to Katrina,” Journal of American History
Presentation : 2004 South Dakota Senate race–Thune vs. Daschle

May 11: The 2008 Campaign