Week 1:
8/23 (F): Introduction: Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations.
Week 2:
8/26 (M):
Who Saved the American Revolution?
8/28 (W):
Diplomacy of a New Nation and the “Great Debate” of the 1790s
8/30 (F): Thomas Jefferson and the War of 1812
Week 3:
9/2 (M): HOLIDAY
9/4 (W): Manifest Destiny, “Indian Removal,” and the War
with Mexico
9/6 (F): Discussion of Weeks, Building the Continental Empire. (Paper #1 due)
Week 4:
9/8 (M):
The Civil War Era
9/11 (W): The Perils of Empire: Spain and Cuba
9/13 (F): What’s in a name?: The Philippine “Insurrection”
Week 5:
9/16 (M):
Opening Doors and Carry Big Sticks
9/18 (W):
Discussion of Hunt, Ideology and
U.S. Foreign Policy. (Paper #2 due)
9/20 (F): The War to End All Wars
Week 6:
9/23 (M): Woodrow Wilson’s Legacy
9/25 (W):
Rethinking “Isolationism” in the 1920s
9/27 (F): The Illusion of Neutrality: The U.S. and the World in the 1930s
Week 7:
9/30 (M):
WWII: “The Good War?”
10/1 (W):
The A-bomb Controversy
10/3 (F): Discussion of Kennan, American
Diplomacy, pgs. 3-103, 168-179. (Paper #3 due)
(Note: Pay
special attention to pgs. 91-103 & 168-179!)
Week 8:
10/7 (M): QUIZ I (covering through WWII)
10/9 (W): Wartime Diplomacy and the Coming
of the Cold War
10/11 (F): Origins of the Cold War
Week 9:
10/14 (M):
Cold War Gets Hot: Berlin to Korea
10/16 (W):
Stalin’s Death and the Question of Missed Opportunities
10/18 (F): Total Cold War: Eisenhower’s New Look
Week 10:
10/21 (M): Discussion of Leffler, Spectre
of Communism. (Paper #4 due)
10/23 (W):
In-Class Film: “Reds”
10/25 (F):
In-Class Film: “The Wall”
Week 11:
10/28 (M):
The CIA and American Foreign Policy
10/30 (W):
JFK and Cuba
11/1 (F): Discussion of Cullather, Secret History. (Paper #5 due)
Week 12:
11/4 (M): Dictatorship and
De-Colonization
11/6 (W):
Into the Quagmire: Vietnam
Part I
11/8 (F): “That Bitch of a War”: Vietnam Part II (Progress Report for Final Project due, by email)
Week 13:
11/11 (M):
“The Secret Plan”: Vietnam Part III
11/13 (W):
Discussion of O’Brien, If I Die in
a Combat Zone. (Paper #6 due)
11/15 (F): Détente and Confrontation
in the 1970s
Week 14:
11/18 (M): The U.S. and the Middle East
11/20 (W):
Reagan’s Cold War
11/22 (F): “The New World Order”?
Week 15:
11/25 (M): QUIZ
II (covering 1945-2002)
11/27 (W): TBA
11/29 (F): HOLIDAY.
Week 16:
12/2 (M):
Presentations Final Projects Due.
12/4 (W):
Presentations
Week 17:
12/11 (W): 10:30-1:00 Presentations (during scheduled final exam period)
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