HIST 352, Spring 2016

THE UNITED STATES IN THE 1960s

CRN 36052
Tuesday, Thursday, 2:00 – 3:20 in 123 Global Scholars Hall

Professor Ellen Herman
office: 335 McKenzie Hall and 280G Knight Law Center
phone: 346-3118 or 346-3699
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Tuesday, Thursday, 3:30 5:00 in 280G Knight Law Center

GTFs/Graders

Lucas Burke, lburke@uoregon.edu
Feather Crawford, feather@uoregon.edu

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

This course will be a place to read, think, and talk about the 1960s in two ways: as a watershed in modern U.S. history and as an era whose contested reputation continues to preoccupy scholars and observers. Issues and images associated with the 1960s inspire some Americans, trouble others, and serve as reference points for us all. Why? This course will investigate how the history of the 1960s has been challenged and changed by recent scholarship. Why, for example, is a period popularly perceived as an era of civil rights victories, student activism, progressive reform, and stunning military defeat emerging as a turning point in the histories of anti-liberalism, educational crisis, and conservatism? Interpretive trends change, but the consensus points to the 1960s as a critical dividing line in modern U.S. history, culture and politics. What exactly do the 1960s represent? When did the 1960s begin? Are the 1960s over yet?

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

There will be two 5-page essays (double spaced), five brief in-class writing assignments, and a final exam. Please submit both of your essays on Canvas.

1. The first essay will draw on both Michael Harrington’s The Other America and Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative. It is due on April 26 before class. You can find the essay question here. The length should be 5 pages, double-spaced.

2. The second essay may be either on Working-Class War or Patty’s Got a Gun. It is due on May 26 before class. This essay will take the form of a book review. Please consult these guidelines for writing book reviews. The length should be 5 pages, double spaced.

3. There will be five brief in-class writing assignments over the course of the term. They will address key questions in the readings and lectures. They will not be announced in advance and cannot be made up if you miss them.

4. The final exam will consist mainly of essay questions that cover the readings and synthesize the main themes of the course. There may also be some short-answer questions or brief identifications and comparisons. The final exam is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8 at 12:30 pm. Please don’t forget to bring one or two green books with you.

Final Exam Information and Question Bank

Please notice when the written work is due and plan your time accordingly.

READING REQUIREMENTS

Required reading does not mean required buying. You can find all of the texts below on reserve in Knight Library as well as at the UO Bookstore. Please complete the required reading before class. Doing so will make the lectures more understandable and interesting. It will also prepare you for the in-class writing assignments.

Appy, Christian G. Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers & Vietnam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.

Goldwater, Barry. The Conscience of a Conservative. Victor Publishing Company, 1960.

Graebner, William. Patty’s Got a Gun: Patricia Hearst in 1970s America. University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Harrington, Michael. The Other America. Penguin, 1962.

Levy, Peter B., ed., America in the Sixties–Right, Left, and Center.Greenwood Press, 1998.

various documents linked to the course syllabus

Recommended

This optional overview can help to fill in historical background and details: Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, 5th edition. Oxford University Press, 2015.

List of Selected 1960s Memoirs

THINKING REQUIREMENTS AND COURSE OBJECTIVES

History is a discipline that requires discipline, no less than music, neuroscience, or architecture. That means you should expect this course to require real time and effort. But history repays those who devote time and effort to it many times over. If you work hard in this course, you will end the term knowing something about the chronology and significance of the various topics listed on this syllabus. You can also expect the following tangible benefits, all applicable in a wide range of occupations and careers:

  • the habit of asking critical questions frequently
  • improved reading, writing, and analytical skills
  • the ability to recogize and evaluate primary and secondary source documents, with special attention to interpreting multiple and conflicting sources of information
  • practice in thinking about how economic, political, cultural, and social forces interact over time

My hope is that you will also experience the pleasure of learning. History promises to make us more interesting people and better, more insightful citizens of our communities and our world.

RULES

Academic Honesty: If this course is to be a worthwhile educational experience, your work must be original. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are very serious infractions and will not be permitted. Students who are uncertain about what plagiarism is, or who have questions about how to cite published, electronic, or other sources should feel free to consult with the instructor. You can also consult the brief guide to plagiarism and citation posted on my web site.

Classroom Etiquette: In order to create an atmosphere conducive to mutual respect and learning, please refrain from activities such as eating meals, texting, or newspaper-reading during class time. Using computers to take notes is encouraged. If you would prefer to spend the class time on Facebook, shopping, or conducting other online activities, please do that. Just don’t come to class!

Lateness Policy: No unexcused late assignments will be accepted and no makeup exams will be given. Students who miss deadlines or the final exam will be given 0% for that assignment. If you anticipate difficulty meeting a deadline, please talk to the instructor or one of the GTFs in advance. Medical emergencies cannot, by definition, be anticipated in advance. Accommodations will be made for these but documentation will be required.

Accommodations: If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please arrange to see me soon and request that the Accessible Education Center send a letter verifying your disability.

One last note: I apologize for having all these rules! Try to imagine the administrative challenges your instructor faces in managing this large course in a way that is fair to all students. Please be patient with me and with your GTFs!

GRADES

essays: 25% each
in-class writing assignments: 3% each (15% in total)
final exam: 35%


COURSE CALENDAR

Week 1: WHY DO THE 1960s MATTER? WHAT WERE THE 1960s ABOUT? WHEN DID THE 1960s BEGIN AND END?

March 29, 2016: Introduction

Read:
Diane Dietz, “University of Oregon students ask UO Foundation to drop fossil fuel stocks,” Eugene Register-Guard, March 8, 2016.

Meet-the-New-Student-Activists,” New York Times, February 1, 2016.

Nikil Saval, “Google and Apple: the High-Tech Hippies of Silicon Valley,” New York Times, March 28, 2016.

March 31, 2016: The Big Picture

Please bring something to class that you think represents the 1960s either on its own terms, in collective memory, or both. It can be an artifact or an image, a document, a family story, a piece of music or clothing, or something else. Use your imagination.

Read:
Levy: all the documents in chapter 9.

Watch and Listen:
Billboard #1 hit in 1955: Bill Haley and His Comets, “Rock Around the Clock”

Billboard #1 hit in 1960: Percy Faith, “Theme from A Summer Place”

Billboard #1 hit in 1968: Beatles, “Hey Jude”

Billboard #1 hit in 1970: Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

Billboard #1 hit in 1975: Captain and Tennille, “Love Will Keep Us Together”

Billboard #1 hit in 1980: Blondie, “Call Me”

Bruce Springsteen on the music and legacy of the 1960s

Barack Obama, “A More Pefect Union,” a speech on race and politics delivered on March 18, 2008 in Philadelphia


Week 2: THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY AND ITS DISCONTENTS

April 5, 2016: The Consumers’ Republic

Read:
Levy: all the documents in chapter 1.

April 7, 2016: Poverty Amid Affluence

film: “Harvest of Shame”

Read:
Levy: documents 2.1, 2.2, 7.7

Harrington, The Other America, Forward by Maurice Isserman, Introduction by Irving Howe, chap. 1 – chap. 4

Reading and Discussion Questions for Michael Harrington, The Other America


Week 3: LIBERALISM AT HIGH TIDE

April 12, 2016: Other Americas

Read:
Harrington, The Other America, chap. 5 – end (including the appendix and the afterword)

April 14, 2016: Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society

Read:
Levy: documents 2.6, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

LBJ, University of Michigan commencement address, May 22, 1964

Sargent Shriver, tesimony before the U.S. Senate, Committee on Education and Public Welfare, June 17, 1964

Annie Lowrey, “50 Years Later, War on Poverty Is a Mixed Bag,” New York Times, January 5, 2014.


Week 4: THE CONSERVATIVE 1960s

April 19, 2016: Barry Goldwater and the 1964 Election

Read:
Levy: documents 2.4, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6

Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative, entire

Reading and Discussion Questions for Barry Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative

April 21, 2016: The 1960s as an Era of Conservative Mobilization, Redefinition, and Realignment

Read:
Levy: document 8.6


Week 5: THE VIETNAM WAR

April 26, 2016: From Cold War to Working-Class War

first essay due before class

Read:
Levy: documents 5.1, 5.2, 5.8, 5.9, 6.8

Appy, Working-Class War, introduction and chaps. 1-4

Reading and Discussion Questions for Appy, Working Class War

April 29, 2016: The War at Home

Read:
Levy: documents 2.3, 2.5, 4.7, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.10

Appy, Working-Class War, chaps. 5-9


Week 6: RIGHTS REVOLUTIONS I

May 3, 2016: The African-American Freedom Struggle

Read:
Levy: all the documents in chapter 3

May 5, 2016: New Interpretations of the Civil Rights Movement

McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance−a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010, excerpt from the prologue

We will have the opportunity to speak with Danielle McGuire in class.


Week 7: RIGHTS REVOLUTIONS II

May 10, 2016: Reasoning from Race: Disability

Read:
TenBroek, Jacobus. “Cross of Blindness.” Vital Speeches of the Day 23, no. 23 (1957):732-36.

Shriver, Eunice Kennedy. “Hope for Retarded Children.” The Saturday Evening Post, September, 22, 1962, pp. 71-75

Roberts, Edward V., oral history excerpt, University of California’s Cowell Hospital Residence Program for Physically Disabled Students, 1962-1975: Catalyst for Berkeley’s Independent Living Movement, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History Series. [The complete oral history can be found online here]

Watch and Listen:
“60 Minutes” profile of Ed Roberts, 1989

May 12, 2016: Reasoning from Race: Sexuality

Jim Farber, “Before the Stonewall Uprising, There Was the ‘Sip-In,New York Times, April 20, 2016
film: “Before Stonewall”


Week 8: GENDER, SEXUALITY, COUNTERCULTURE, RADICALIZATION

May 17, 2016: Second Wave Feminism and Gay Liberation

Read:
Levy: documents 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6

May 19, 2016: The Counterculture and the Fragmentation of the New Left

Watch and Listen:
Anti-Obama ad featuring Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground

Read:
Levy: documents 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

Graebner, Patty’s Got a Gun, pp. 1-113.


Week 9: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE: REFERENDUM ON THE 1960S?

May 24, 2016: What was the case about?

Read:
Graebner, Patty’s Got a Gun, pp. 117-180.

supplementary material on the case can be found at the Famous Trials Website: The Trial of Patty Hearst

May 26, 2016: The Rise of the New Right

second essay due before class

Read:
Engel v. Vitale, 1962

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.” Washington, DC: Office of Policy Planning and Research, United States Department of Labor, March 1965, chapter II, “The Negro American Family.”

Levy: document 7.8

Marabel Morgan, “The Total Woman,” 1973

Anita Bryant, “When the Homosexuals Burn the Holy Bible in Public…How Can I Stand By Silently,” 1977

Jerry Falwell, “Organizing the Moral Majority,” 1980


Week 10: WHAT ARE THE ENDURING LEGACIES OF THE 1960s?

May 31, 2016: Echoes of the 1960s

June 2, 2016: The End of Consensus and the Beginning of Permanent Polarization?


Final Exam:  Wednesday, June 8, 2016, 12:30 – 2:30