Final Exam Review Sheet

The Final Exam for this class will be given on Wednesday, May 19 from 4-6 in 102 Thompson Hall.

The Final will consist of short answer and identification questions as well as an essay question.

Possible Essay Questions

As 50% of the Final Exam, you will be asked to write an essay responding to one of the questions listed below. In your answer, you should remember to include and explain evidence from the course reading, lecture, and films to support your argument. Good historical arguments support their clams by referring to specific dates and events placed in their historical context. This is your chance to demonstrate that your command of course materials and themes.

(1) In 1916, Woodrow Wilson was re-elected President under the slogan, ≥He kept us out of the war.≤ Would you characterize the isolationist sentiment expressed by the American public at the time of Wilsonπs re-election as representative of popular sentiments in the United States throughout the twentieth century? In your answer, you should compare U.S. attitudes toward ≥interventionist≤ foreign policy in at least two different global conflicts from the Spanish-Cuban-Philippine War to the Persian Gulf War. Is there a relationship between popular views of isolation or intervention and approaches taken to mobilize the country?

(2) The major wars in which Americans have participated have each altered the tone, spirit, and direction of American life and government. Evaluate the argument that these wars represented major turning points in American history. Choose two of the following wars -- the Spanish-Cuban-Philippine-American War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, or the Vietnam War, and discuss the impact of those two wars on any three of the following: (1) the history of American reform, (2) the history of American foreign policy, (3) individual liberties, (4) the role of women in American society, (5) race relations, (6) the tone, spirit and direction of American life.

(3) At the 1963 March on Washington, John Lewis pointed commented he was not sure that SNCC could support the Civil Rights Bill because it had compromised so much of the Movementπs economic focus. As he put it, "What is in the [civil rights] bill that will protect the homeless and starving people of this nation? What is there in this bill to insure the equality of a maid who earns $5.00 a week in the home of a family whose income is $100,000 a year?" How did the Civil Rights Movement address economic disparities? When the civil rights movement was not addressing economic disparities, what issues was it addressing? How has the issue of economic disparity been addressed by the federal government in the twentieth century? You may want to consider Melba Bealπs Warriors Donπt Cry and James Carrollπs An American Requiem in your answer, as well as FDRπs New Deal and LBJπs Great Society Program.

(4). Why did the U.S. enter the Cold War? What was the impact of the Cold War in terms of U.S. actions at home and abroad? In your answer you may want to consider ≥the loss of China,≤ the nuclear arms race, containment policy, the Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as HUAC, McCarthyism, and the American Space Program.

(5). The events of 1968 had a tremendous impact in the United States. What happened in 1968 to alter the course of the civil rights movement, the student movement, and national politics?

(6). In Melba Bealπs Warriors Donπt Cry and James Carrollπs An American Requiem, we are given two perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement. Compare and contrast their experiences of the civil rights movement. How did each describe the role of the government in the fight for civil rights? You may want to consider both the state and federal government in your answer.