Major Problems in American History Since 1945

by Griffith, Robert; Baker, Paula

• ISBN13: 9780618550067
• ISBN10: 0618550062
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-20
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Designed to encourage critical thinking about history, the Major Problems series introduces students to both primary sources and analytical essays on important topics in U.S. history. This reader serves as the primary anthology for the introductory survey course, covering the subject's entire chronological span. Comprehensive topical coverage includes the Cold War, the cultural and political movements of the 60s, the return of conservatism, life in the new information age, and race and ethnicity. In the Third Edition, greater emphasis is placed on social and cultural history, and a new chapter focuses on 9/11, the war on terror, and the war in Iraq. Key pedagogical elements of the Major Problems format have been retained: 14-15 chapters per volume, chapter introductions, headnotes, and suggested readings. New!A new chapter on democracy and civic life in the age of information considers the roles of media, cyberspace, and spin in the American political landscape from the 90s to the present. New!Coverage of race and ethnicity over the past ten years is highlighted in a new chapter. New!A new chapter on the economy of the 1990s examines shifting markets and socioeconomic groups, as well as the effects of technology on business during the economic boom at the end of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
CHAPTER 1 The Origins of Postwar America	1	(35)
ESSAYS
Thomas G. Paterson
The Origins of the Postwar International System	3	(13)
Alan Brinkley
The Legacies of World War II	16	(8)
Byron E. Shafer
The Puzzle of Postwar Politics	24	(10)
FURTHER READING	34	(2)
CHAPTER 2 The Origins of the Cold War	36	(45)
DOCUMENTS
1. President Harry S Truman Discusses the Atom Bomb at Potsdam, July 1945	38	(1)
2. George F. Kennan's "Long Telegram," 1946	39	(3)
3. Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace Urges a Conciliatory Approach, July 1946	42	(1)
4. Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov Reports on the U.S. Drive for World Supremacy, September 1946	43	(3)
5. The Truman Doctrine, March 1947	46	(3)
6. Senator Joseph McCarthy Charges the Democrats Are "Soft on Communism," 1950	49	(2)
7. The President's Advisers Urge Military Expansion (NSC-68), April 1950	51	(4)
ESSAYS
Arnold A. Offner
President Harry S Truman and the Origins of the Cold War	55	(8)
John Lewis Gaddis
Two Cold War Empires	63	(16)
FURTHER READING	79	(2)
CHAPTER 3 The Consumer's Republic: The 1950's and the Emergence of a New Economy of Mass Consumption	81	(44)
DOCUMENTS
1. U.S. Business Celebrates the "Miracle of America," 1948	82	(2)
2. A Report on the Baby Boom, 1954	84	(1)
3. Newsweek Decries the Problem of Dangerous Teens, 1955	85	(3)
4. Life Magazine Identifies the New Teen-age Market, 1959	88	(2)
5. U.S. News and World Report Assesses the Perils of Mass Culture and the Evils of Television, 1955	90	(4)
6. Vance Packard Warns Against the "Hidden Persuaders," 1957	94	(3)
ESSAYS
Roland Marchand
Visions of Classlessness	97	(12)
Kelly Schrum
Making the American Girl	109	(15)
FURTHER READING	124	(1)
CHAPTER 4 John F. Kennedy, the Cuban Revolution, and the Cold War	125	(48)
DOCUMENTS
1. Fidel Castro Denounces U.S. Policy Toward Cuba, 1960	127	(3)
2. President John F. Kennedy Calls for an Alliance for Progress, 1961	130	(1)
3. A Board of Inquiry Reports on the Bay of Pigs, 1961	131	(3)
4. A Senate Committee Investigates U.S. Plots to Assassinate Castro, 1960-1965 (1975)	134	(2)
5. President Kennedy and His Advisers Debate Options in the Missile Crisis, October 16, 1962	136	(8)
6. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev Appeals to President Kennedy, October 26, 1962	144	(3)
7. Soviet Ambassador Anatoly I. Dobrynin Reports on His Meeting with Robert Kennedy, October 28, 1962	147	(1)
ESSAYS
Thomas G. Paterson
Spinning Out of Control: Kennedy's War Against Cuba and the Missile Crisis	148	(11)
Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow
Aftermath	159	(12)
FURTHER READING	171	(2)
CHAPTER 5 The African American ,Struggle for Equality	173	(39)
DOCUMENTS
1. The New York Times Reports a Murder in Georgia, 1946	175	(1)
2. African American Parents Petition the Clarendon, S.C., School Board, 1949	176	(2)
3. A South African Novelist Examines the Plight of "The Negro in the North," 1954	178	(2)
4. Franklin McCain Remembers the First Sit-in, 1960	180	(2)
5. Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream," 1963	182	(3)
6. Stokely Carmichael Explains "Black Power," 1967	185	(2)
7. A Senate Committee Reports on the FBI's Campaign Against Martin Luther King, 1963-1968 (1976)	187	(2)
8. Police and Fire Department Logs Record an Urban Riot, 1967	189	(4)
ESSAYS
Charles M. Payne
The View from the Trenches	193	(10)
Thomas J. Sugrue
The Continuing Racial Crisis	203	(6)
FURTHER READING	209	(3)
CHAPTER 6 The Great Society and the Politics of Liberal Reform	212	(32)
DOCUMENTS
1. President Lyndon B. Johnson Declares War on Poverty, 1964	214	(2)
2. Congress Strikes Down Segregation in Public Accommodations: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title II (1964)	216	(1)
3. Ronald Reagan Warns of the Dangers of the Welfare State, 1964	217	(1)
4. Two White House Aides Report the Achievements of the Great Society, 1966	218	(2)
5. A Conservative Strategist Hails an "Emerging Republican Majority," 1969	220	(4)
6. Earth Day, 1970	224	(2)
ESSAYS
James T. Patterson
The Rise of "Rights Consciousness"	226	(7)
Matthew D. Lassiter
Suburban Politics and the Limits of the Great Society	233	(9)
FURTHER READING	242	(2)
CHAPTER 7 The New Radicalism: Politics and Culture in the 1960's	244	(36)
DOCUMENTS
1. Students for a Democratic Society Issue the Port Huron Statement, 1962	245	(5)
2. Jerry Rubin Declares Himself a "Child of Amerika," 1970	250	(1)
3. Radicals Proclaim: "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows," 1969	251	(1)
4. The FBI's Secret Campaign Against the New Left, 1968-1971 (1976)	252	(3)
5. Raymond Mungo Searches for a New Age at Total Loss Farm, 1970	255	(3)
6. A Pollster Reports on "The Big Chill," 1974	258	(2)
ESSAYS
Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin
The Contradictory Legacy of the Sixties	260	(10)
Hugh Heclo
The Sixties and the Origins of "Postmodern" America	270	(8)
FURTHER READING	278	(2)
CHAPTER 8 From the Feminine Mystique to "Second Wave" Feminism	280	(44)
DOCUMENTS
1. Betty Friedan on "The Problem That Has No Name," 1963	281	(3)
2. NOW Statement of Purpose, 1966	284	(2)
3. Redstockings Manifesto, 1970	286	(2)
4. Welfare Is a Women's Issue, 1972	288	(2)
5. A Redbook Magazine Reader Discovers Consciousness-Raising, 1973	290	(2)
6. The Supreme Court Rules on Abortion: Roe v. Wade, 1973	292	(3)
7. Equal Rights Amendment, 1972	295	(1)
8. Phyllis Schlafly Proclaims the Power of the Positive Woman, 1977	295	(3)
ESSAYS
Alice Echols
Women's Liberation and Sixties Radicalism	298	(12)
Beth Bailey
Women at Work	310	(12)
FURTHER READING	322	(2)
CHAPTER 9 Vietnam and the Crisis of American Empire	324	(26)
DOCUMENTS
1. The Vietnamese Declare Their Independence, 1945	325	(2)
2. President Dwight D. Eisenhower Explains the Domino Theory, 1954	327	(1)
3. Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, 1954	328	(2)
4. A South Vietnamese Peasant Explains Why He Joined the Vietcong, 1961 (1986)	330	(1)
5. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 1964	331	(1)
6. President Lyndon Johnson's Advisers Debate Expanding the War, 1965	332	(2)
7. A "Tunnel Rat" Testifies About the My Lai Massacre, 1969	334	(2)
8. The Paris Accords, 1973	336	(2)
ESSAYS
Michael H. Hunt
The Wages of War	338	(4)
Arnold R. Isaacs
Competing Memories	342	(5)
FURTHER READING	347	(3)
CHAPTER 10 Ronald Reagan and the Transformation of America	350	(44)
DOCUMENTS
1. President Jimmy Carter and the Crisis of the American Spirit, 1979	353	(2)
2. Presidential Candidate Ronald Reagan Calls for New Economic Policies, 1980	355	(1)
3. A New Right Activist Explains Conservative Success, 1980	356	(4)
4. President Ronald Reagan Proclaims America's "Spiritual Reawakening," 1983	360	(1)
5. A Congressional Committee Reports on "Irangate," 1987	361	(5)
6. An Environmentalist Attacks the Administration's Record, 1988	366	(3)
7. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop Recalls the Administration's Response to the AIDS Crisis, 1981-1988 (2001)	369	(3)
ESSAYS
Benjamin Ginsberg and Martin Shefter
The Republicans Take Control	372	(10)
Jules Tygiel
A Disputed Legacy	382	(10)
FURTHER READING	392	(2)
CHAPTER 11 The Promises and Perils of a New Economy	394	(41)
DOCUMENTS
1. "New Democrats" Hail the New Economy, 1998	395	(2)
2. A Federal Reserve Report Extols "Mass Customization," 1998	397	(6)
3. Money Magazine Asks of Wal-Mart, "How Big Can It Get?" 1999	403	(2)
4. A Critic Assails the Influence of Wal-Mart, 1999	405	(3)
5. A Columnist Decries "Outsourcing" in the New Global Economy, 2004	408	(1)
6. Americans for Democratic Action Reports Growing Poverty and Inequality, 2004	409	(2)
7. A Research Firm "Segments" the American Market, 2000	411	(2)
ESSAYS
Barbara Ehrenreich
Working at Wal-Mart	413	(10)
Michael J. Weiss
The Fragmenting of America	423	(11)
FURTHER READING	434	(1)
CHAPTER 12 E Pluribus Unum: Race and Ethnicity in a Changing World	435	(36)
DOCUMENTS
1. Coming to America, 1900-2002	437	(1)
2. Proposition 187: Californians Seek to Close the Door to Undocumented Immigrants, 1994	438	(1)
3. Two Reporters Describe Los Angeles's Racial Tensions, 1995	439	(3)
4. Social Scientists Report on the "New Americans," 1997	442	(4)
5. An African American Novelist Decries "Race Talk," 1993	446	(2)
6. Richard Rodriguez Ponders What It Means to Be "Brown," 2002	448	(2)
7. Americans Express Support for Both Unity and Diversity, 2003	450	(2)
ESSAYS
George J. Sanchez
Race, Immigration and Nativism	452	(7)
Thomas C. Holt
Race, Nation, and the Global Economy	459	(9)
FURTHER READING	468	(3)
CHAPTER 13 Politics and Political Culture in "Postmodern" America	471	(38)
DOCUMENTS
1. Presidential Candidate Bill Clinton Promises a "New Covenant," 1992	473	(2)
2. "Gays in the Military" Prompts Mobilization of Conservatives, 1993	475	(3)
3. The Republican "Contract with America," 1994	478	(2)
4. President Bill Clinton Ends "Welfare as We Know It," 1996	480	(2)
5. Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr's Indictment of President Bill Clinton, 1998	482	(2)
6. Who Voted for Whom in 2000: A Chart	484	(1)
7. A Columnist Reports on How the Nation's Agenda Is Set, 2000	485	(3)
ESSAYS
Bruce Miroff
Bill Clinton and the Postmodern Presidency	488	(13)
Matthew A. Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg
The Imperial Presidency Redivivus	501	(6)
FURTHER READING	507	(2)
CHAPTER 14 New World Order	509
DOCUMENTS
1. Presidential George H.W. Bush Announces a New World Order, 1990	511	(1)
2. One World: An American Diplomat Hails the Opportunities of a New Era, 1995	512	(2)
3. Osama Bin Laden Declares Jihad Against America, 1998	514	(2)
4. The New York Times Reports Last Words from the World Trade Center, 2001	516	(3)
5. President George W. Bush Announces a New National Security Strategy, 2002	519	(3)
6. Senator Robert C. Byrd Charges "The Emperor Has No Clothes," 2003	522	(2)
7. An Army Officer Ponders How America Is Losing Hearts and Minds in Iraq, 2004	524	(3)
ESSAYS
John Lewis Gaddis
Setting Right a Dangerous World	527	(7)
Michael H. Hunt
In the Wake of September 11	534	(8)
FURTHER READING	542