HST 2015 - Topics in Twentieth Century American History

3 lecture hours 0 lab hours 3 credits

Course Description
Often described as “the American Century,” the phrase itself reflects America’s growth as a world power and the exceptionalism that accompanied that growth. Begun with an imperialistic war and presidential assassination, the century ends with international attacks upon the US, connected to the actions and imperialism that occurred during the twentieth century itself. Along the way there were two world wars, a global financial depression, a Cold War that included a domestic political witch hunt, a counterculture movement that helped end a war, a civil rights movement that aimed to re-set the country’s racial as well as sexual identity, and the impact of technology that changed communication, medicine, and commerce during the century’s final decade. The focus on different course topics may change with different instructors. This course meets the following Raider Core CLO requirement: Think Critically or Exhibit Curiosity. (prereq: none)

Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Connect the impact of domestic political policy on international actions by the US government
Recognize the effects of global dominance
Identify actions taken by the US government and American people to change injustice based on race and sex through protest and legal action
Explain the role of technology in improving daily lives as well as escalating war and weaponry
Consider the concept of “The American Dream” and the many interpretations of it as the century progressed

Prerequisites by Topic

None

Course Topics

Expansion into Central America, South America, and the Caribbean
Muckraking and the involvement of government into worker and child safety
Theodore Roosevelt and the “bully pulpit” of the executive
Women’s suffrage movement and the passage of the 19^th amendment
The rise of national parks
World War One and US isolationism
The impact of international exposure on US culture: illness, race, business
The jazz age: de-regulating business, women
Mass media
Prohibition
The Great Depression
The Dust Bowl
The workers’ movement
FDR and the New Deal
The ascendency of the presidency
War in Europe
US entry in WWII
The Atlantic theater and the impact of D-Day
The Pacific theater
The homefront: industrial work’s impact on sex and race
Atomic power and the end of the Pacific war
Re-setting alliances
Beginnings of the Cold War
The Korean War
Vaccinations
McCarthyism
Brown v. Board and the growth of the civil rights movement
CIA involvement in other countries’ governments
JFK assassination
Vietnam
Counterculture and its overlapping with race and feminist movements
Roe v. Wade
Watergate and Nixon’s resignation
Rise of the Middle East and the Iran hostage crisis
Reaganomics
The first Gulf War
NAFTA
Personal computers and the internet
The first attack on the WTC
The election of 2000
9/11

Coordinator
Margaret Dwyer

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HST 2015 - Topics in Twentieth Century American History