Download Updated Syllabus ODD 3rd Period

United States History – Mrs. Reddy
Essential Questions:
 What was the nature of America’s “containment” strategy during the Cold War, and how did it evolve
during the fifties and sixties? 
 What was the impact of the Cold War / communist threat inside the United States? 
 How did American society and culture evolve during the “Baby Boom” era of the 1940s and 1950s? 
 How and why did the U.S. almost come to nuclear war duing the Cuban Missile crisis? 
 How did the civil rights movement develop and evolve during the 1960s? 
 Why were the programs of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” significant? 
 Why did the United States get into the Vietnam War, and what was its impact on the country? 
 What were the major changes in American society during the sixties and seventies? 
Due Date
Assignment
Wed 4/24 (day 1)
TEST
Friday 4/26 (day 3)
The Fifties – First read pp. 726-48 in Brinkley.
Terms: Hydrogen bomb; ICBM; Sputnik; Apollo program; the Beats; Elvis Presley and rock and roll; Little
Rock; Rosa Parks; Martin Luther King;
Issues:
 Why did the Cold War seem to become more threatening to Americans during the 1950s? 
 Take note of how American mainstream society was evolving during this era: particularly
consumerism and the suburbs. 
 What was television like in its early days? Why did the show I Love Lucy have a particular impact? 
 What were some of the major criticisms of American society during this era? Why was someone like
James Dean so popular? 
 Pay close attention to the first steps of the civil rights movement – very important! 
Then read the excerpts from Brown vs. Board of Education. What major arguments were made by the
Supreme Court in support of the decision to end segregation?
Tuesday 4/30 (day 5)
Kennedy Presidency and continued Cold War crises -- First, please read 74961 (stop at “Lyndon-Johnson”) in Brinkley, and 771-773.
Terms: John Foster Dulles; “massive retaliation” and “brinksmanship”; “New Frontier”; “flexible response”;
“Bay of Pigs”;
Issues:
 How did Dulles approach the Cold War differently?
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For now, you can skip the section on Vietnam; we’ll be coming back to it next week.
What competing concerns did America have in the Middle East (specifically Israel vs. its Arab
neighbors)?
What was America’s role in Cuba?
How does Brinkley assess Eisenhower’s approach to the Cold War overall?
Regarding Kennedy: what was the source of his popularity?
The Cuban Missile Crisis is very important: why did it occur, how was it resolved, and what was its
long range impact?
Second, read “Word for Word,” on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Don’t get bogged down in the details; the main
thing here is to get a feel for how close the U.S. came to nuclear war, and why some thought it might be
necessary to risk it at that time.
Wed 5/1 (day 6)
761-770 in Brinkley.
BUMP: First, please read Johnson Era: The Great Society and Civil Rights –read pp.
Terms: Great Society (very important); Barry Goldwater; Medicare and Medicaid; SNCC; March on
Washington; “Freedom Summer”; Civil Rights Act (of 1964); Voting Rights Act (1965); Affirmative Action;
Black Power movement
Issues:
 How was Lyndon Johnson different from John F. Kennedy?
 What were the major programs of the Great Society? What was it’s long term impact? (important)
 How and why did the civil rights movement expand during the 1960s?
 What major scholarly disagreements exist about the civil rights movement?
 How did the emphasis of the civil rights movement shift after 1965?
 Why were there outbreaks of urban riots during the late 1960’s?
Then please read Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail (Moodle)
5/2 (day 7)
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Vietnam War – In Brinkley, read the following sections on the war:
Pp. 751-52 regarding the 1950s
Pp. 773-80 regarding the evolution of the war through 1968;
Pp. 803-08 regarding the last years of the war
Focus on the following major issues:
 Why did the United States make a military commitment to fight communism in Vietnam?
 How was the war fought?
 What was the impact of the war in the United States?
 Why did our efforts to stop communism in Vietnam fail?
Terms: Ho Chi Minh (very important); Dienbienphu; Ngo Dinh Diem; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; Tet
offensive (very important); Vietnamization; Kent State; Pentagon Papers; My Lai; “Christmas bombing” ;
Fall of Saigon
Issues:
 What role did the U.S. take in Vietnam in 1954?
 Why did the U.S. gradually become committed to Diem? How did the U.S. aid South Vietnam while
Kennedy was president?
 How and why did the U.S. escalate its commitment to Vietnam under Johnson?
 What strategies did the U.S. pursue with combat troops in Vietnam?
 What was the impact of the war inside the U.S?
 According to scholars, how could the war have been fought more effectively?
 How did Nixon adjust America’s approach to the Vietnam War?
 Why, despite a peace agreement in January 1973, were U.S. efforts in Vietnam ultimately a failure?
M 5/6 (day 9)
BUMP: “The Sixties” Broadly Defined – read pp. 781—803 in Brinkley.
W 5/8 (day 1)
Nixon and The Seventies – Read Brinkley 808-829
F 5/10 (day 3)
Post-Watergate to the “Reagan Revolution”: Read Brinkley pp. 824-836
T 5/14 (day 5)
“Reagan Revolution” to Clinton: Read Brinkley pp. 836-851
Wed 5/15 (day 6)
BUMP: The Age of Globalization: Read Brinkley pp. 854-891
Annotated Bibliography Due May 24
Final Exam Format TBA