HIST 416A/616A
Era of FDR: 1920 – 1945
Goals and Objectives:
The primary goal of this course is to describe and evaluate the main issues and events in American history from 1920-1945. The course will also acquaint students with the major historical interpretations of the period. The main objective of the course is to help students develop their analytical skills in both oral and written forms by encouraging critical thinking and policy analysis.
Course Requirements:
Students will read four books and we will have a class-long discussion of each of them during the semester. There will be questions relating to these discussions on the midterm and final examinations. All students are expected to participate actively in class discussion. Failure to do so will result in the lowering of your final grade.
Term Paper:
Undergraduates will be asked to read three items (one of which must be a book) from the course bibliography and then write a review essay (of about 10-12 pages) in which they describe and, where appropriate, criticize the main findings and viewpoints of each author.
Graduate students will select five items (two of which must be a book) and write 15-20 pages. Graduate student essays should be written at a higher level than the rest of the class and should be patterned after the review essays often found in history journals. We will discuss this further after class.
Any student may also write an original paper based on primary sources. See me about this if you are interested.
Papers are due the last day of class.
Grades:
Grades will be determined primarily by your performance on the midterm and final examinations. Once the course grade is calculated, your term paper can raise or lower the grade to the next level. For example, a course grade of B+ would become an A- with a good term paper. A great paper could bump the grade higher. A weak term paper can lower the grade. Extraordinary discussion can also bump up a grade.
Disabilities:
If you have a documented disability that may require assistance, you will need to contact disability services to coordinate your academic accommodations. They are located in Reynolds Student Services SSC-137 Phone: 895-0866
Religious Holidays:
Tests will not be given on a major religious holiday or during “study week” (the last week of class).
Plagiarism or Cheating:
Anyone engaging in plagiarism or cheating on a test will receive a grade of F for the course.
Handouts:
Many course handouts can be found on my website, http://emoehring.faculty.unlv.edu/. Click on appropriate course webpage; links to handouts are embedded in the course syllabus on the left side of the page.
Lecture Guides: The lecture guides for each half of the course are more like an outline of the lecture, listing what will be discussed. They are not lecture notes and do not take the place of lecture notes. On exams it won’t be enough to mention, for example, the Revenue Act of 1921 Act or the Glass-Steagall Act. You will have to explain what they did and why they were significant. To do that, you will need to be in class and take good lecture notes. See handouts provided below.
Examination Review Guides: These will not list the questions to be asked on the test, but will instead review what was important in the lectures and encourage you to master that information. See handouts provided below.
Attendance: While I do not take attendance in class, I expect you to be there! Anyone can miss a class or two because of illness or a personal emergency. But if I see that you are absent from class more than a few times during the semester, I will lower your final course grade accordingly!
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Required Readings:
Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt BabbittDiscQuestions
Donald Worster, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1920s WorsterDiscQuestions
Harvard Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks SitkoffDiscQuestions
Michael C. C. Adams, The Best War Ever AdamsDiscQuestions
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Lecture Topics:
The “Brave New World”: America and the Progressive Era
The Postwar Malaise: Repression and Recession
“Return to Normalcy:” Harding, Coolidge and Hoover–Read Babbitt
An Age of Anxiety: African Americans, Immigrants, and Women
A “Lost Generation:” Revolt of the Intellectuals, 1914-1929
“The Long Weekend:” Technology and Social Change- Read Worster
The “Reluctant Giant:” American Foreign Policy, 1920-1932
Laissez-Faire under Storm: Herbert Hoover and the “Great Crash”
Midterm Examination–Date To Be Announced
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Franklin D. Roosevelt and the First New Deal, 1933-1935
The Second New Deal, 1935-1938
Roosevelt and African Americans–Read Sitkoff, 1-235; 298-325
Frontier America Challenged: Depression and New Deal in the West
Escape from Reality: Popular Culture in the 1930s
Isolationism Under Fire: U.S. Foreign Policy, 1929-1939
Mobilizing for War, 1940-1945–Read Adams
Domestic Life on the Home Front: 1941-1945
Wartime Diplomacy: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
Final Examination–Date to Be Announced
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On reserve: For your reference, I have put the following textbook on reserve: Arthur and William Link, The Twentieth Century: An American History. I’ve also added an excellent, extended bibliography of works on the period: Robert Burke and Richard Lowitt, eds., The New Era and the New Deal, 1920-1940.