HIS-269 United States Since 1945
This course focuses on "America’s Century," from its victorious participation in the Second World War, through its rise to global political, military, economic and cultural preeminence during the Cold War, to the present. Using a variety of media and striking a judicious balance between foreign policy and domestic developments, this course covers the events, personalities and issues that have shaped Modern America. Major topics include, WWII, birth of the atomic age, McCarthyism, the mass consumer society of the 1950s, Cold War crises in Berlin, Cuba, Korea and Vietnam, LBJ’s "Great Society," civil rights movement, Nixon and Watergate, the space race, Ford-Carter Years, Reagan Revolution, Clinton’s Middle Way, America after 9/11 and the Obama presidency.
Course Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic narrative of the political, economic, social, military, intellectual and cultural history of the United States since 1945
- Demonstrate an understanding of America's evolving relationship with the rest of the world since 1945, and thereby obtain the historical knowledge necessary to live interdependently in a diverse global community
- Demonstrate an understanding of the political evolution of America since 1945, including developments in the three branches of federal government, the dynamic of successive presidential and congressional elections and landmark Supreme Court rulings, as well as influential socio-political movements since WWII, so as to better equip themselves with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to be involved in their communities
- Demonstrate the ability to comprehend, interpret, analyze and evaluate college-level primary and secondary source readings
- Identify, analyze and evaluate arguments made by some of the major authors in the field of Modern American history, and, in their own writing, demonstrate well-reasoned and evidence-supported arguments when interpreting historical subject matter
- Demonstrate the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, use and share information from a range of published/printed and electronic historical resources