430: Unit 3

History 430: United States, 1941-Present, Spring 2021

Part III: Research Project

Intro | 1 | 2 | 3

21. Research Phase II begins. Research and writing. You are responsible for working independently during and between class meetings. I will check in on you periodically. Today there will be no zoom session, but instead we will use the Canvas Discussion function.

    • Homework: Check your email for notes from Mr. Jordan, especially if you didn't turn in a bibliography during Phase 1.

    • Homework: Fill out and turn in via canvas, the "proposal with source list." Due at the beginning of class. Read instructions for note-taking here.

    • In class: work independently. Read and take notes. Enter any questions you have in the Canvas Discussion.

22. Research

Resource: The Department-wide research paper standards.

Homework and class time: read and take notes. You should be thinking about your research question and the historical significance of your findings. What worthwhile thing will your reader learn about the topic? During class meeting times 22, 23, and 24, I will be available for individual consultations. Go to the Announcements section of Canvas for the ZOOM LINK.

23. Research

Continue to work independently, but log into zoom. I would like to speak individually with students who haven't yet turned in their proposal-with-sources assignment and anyone else who wants to run something by me, like an outline (thesis + topic sentences), or the rest of their I-am-studying statement (topic-question-significance).

24. Research

Continue to work independently. Log into zoom. (Optional)

25. Rough Draft Due on both Canvas (electronically) and at Room 028 (hard copy)

Please note: as explained in the Course Requirements page, the automatic extension policy does not apply to research papers, either rough or final drafts. (Lateness on the rough draft is factored into the process grade; lateness of the final draft requires a reduction on the paper grade)

I will be in my classroom in the last ten minutes of the class to give back the last group of essays. Before that, I'll be available via Zoom for individual consultations.

Go to the Research paper assignment page to find the Rough Draft Checklist. Don't use long URLs!

NOTE: YOU ARE NOT EXPECTED TO WORK ON YOUR RESEARCH PAPER BETWEEN NOW AND WHEN WE BEGIN PHASE 3, WHILE WE ARE MEETING IN CLASS TO DISCUSS READINGS.

26. America in a Funk (we are back in the classroom)

READ Yawp, 366-370, 377-386 & Docs, Marcetic, “Year of the Conservative” & Carter, “Crisis of Confidence”

What does the Democratic Party stand for in the Carter years?

27. Morning in America

READ Yawp, 386-396, 399-406 & Docs, Reagan First Inaugural Address & “Maybe there was another way” and “Socialism, Vermont Style.”

Can you explain Reagan’s popularity? Why did the Democrats go along?

Watch Reagan in Berlin, June 12, 1987:

Best high school scene about history Harkness teaching in in a movie (1986):

28. Fin de siècle: The Cold War ends, and the Culture War heats up.

READ Yawp, 396-399, 411-419 & Docs, Buchanan on the Culture War, & Clinton, on Free Trade and Deregulation

What are the battle lines in this culture war?

29. Research paper, Phase III: Revision

Check Canvas for the new ZOOM LINK. Today, we'll talk about the METIC and standards for great and a good 333 paper. MEET via Zoom.

30. Revision. Today, we'll talk about writing an introduction paragraph. Here are three examples with three different types.

31. Revision. I will be available on Zoom for consultations. If you have not submitted a rough draft as of yet you are required to check in at the start of the format. Others may work independently.

32. Revision. Release time. Contact me if you need help.

33. Final draft due, on both Canvas (electronically) and at Room 028 (hard copy)

34. 9-ll, Iraq, and the end of Truth

READ Yawp, 419-425 & Perlstein, 441-43 (Top) & Docs Excerpt from Frank Rich, “Greatest Story Ever Sold” & “Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president”

How do you know what is true?

35. Obama

READ 426-437 & take this quiz; then peruse the Hidden Tribes Report

In his 2004 keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, Illiniois state Sen. Barack Obama made the following remarks:

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.

The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?

The Hidden Tribes study was conducted in the aftermath of Obama's presidency. What does it tell us about American body politic a decade and a half after this speech?

36. The election of 2016: Right v. Left populism

READ Docs: “Defining Populism,” Sanders, Liberty University Speech, & Trump Convention Speech

WATCH Sanders ad:

WATCH Trump ad:

What is similar and different about the brands of populism that Sanders and Trump were offering

Intro | 1 | 2 | 3