The Rise of Reagan and the Legacy of the New Conservatism

The aftermath of the Nixon Administration left many things in doubt, however, the growing conservatism of the nation was not one of them.  As much as the Vietnam War forced America to re-evaluate its military role in the world, as much as student protests and the Hippie Movement brought forward a strong counter-culture awareness that belied the cookie-cutter/Leave It To Beaver simplicity of the 1950s, and as much as the rise of the Middle East and of Japan, South Korea, and China as emerging powers called into question the economic influence of the United States, the country itself was clearly on a trajectory of greater and greater social conservatism - in time, this social tendency would become reflected politically and economically.

 

Discuss the administrations of Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, and Clinton in terms of their political response to the social and economic demands of the conservative electorate that was largely identified by Nixon back in the 1950s and then cultivated by the Nixon administration from 1968-1974.  What were the major issues and proposed solutions that emerged from the American people in response to both domestic and foreign concerns.  How did each of these presidents attempt to respond and perhaps lead this push by The People.

 

Clearly identify the major social, political, and economic concerns that characterize this time period of growing conservatism in America.  Contrast it with the recent very liberal period groing back to FDR.

 

DUE DATE: Monday, April 29, 2013 by midnight

 

Word Count: 1,000 words minimum

 

 

From Open Skies to a New Frontier to a Great Society: Ike, JFK, and LBJ

  

Discuss the evolution of American Society from 1955 to 1968 by focusing on the major social, political, and economic concerns that affected life on the homefront.  Make use of the essay at the end of Chapter 38 to evaluate the 1960s and whether or not they were a constructive time period or a destructive one, or, perhaps, a combination of both (remember, sometimes in order to build, you have to tear down, and sometimes one tears down in order to open the possibility for new building later).

As part of your discussion, evaluate each of the three administrations for their strengths and weaknesses, the things they got right and the things they got wrong.  So, frame your discussion of American Society in terms of these three administrations: a paragraph at least about Ike, then about JFK, then about LBJ.  It may prove useful to extend your frame outward a few years on each end to include the influence of Truman and Nixon as the bookends of this time period.

 

DUE DATE: Friday, April 26, 2013 by midnight

Word Count: 1,000 words minimum

The Little Rock Nine, Federal Authority, and Civil Rights

On September 24, 1957, in response to the use of the Arkansas National Guard by Governor Orval Faubus to prohibit the entry of nine African-American students from physically entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne (an elite military force that gained fame for taking down Hitler's forces in Europe during World War II) into Arkansas while simultaneously federalizing all 10,000 National Guardsmen in the state to make sure that these nine students could safely enter the school, attend classes, and then leave school unmolested by protesters.  This was a singular event in American History, seen by some as the fulfillment of the words of Thomas Jefferson nearly two hundred years earlier that "all men are created equal," while to others it was seen as the embodiment of an over-reaching and perhaps tyrannical Federal government now taking charge of public education which had long been a states' rights concern historically.

In class, we investigated the story of this event through several documents.  Your task, now, is to use those documents and any and all relevant and concise outside information (historical from lectures, from the history book, from documentaries, from works of literature, etc.) you can muster to answer the following prompt from an FRQ on the 1999 APUSH Exam:

How did the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s address the failures of Reconstruction?

Make use of all of the documents and the information from Chapters 37 & 38 as well as looking back at your notes and other materials relating to Reconstruction (Chapter 22).  Although this is an FRQ prompt, I am requiring that you treat it as a DBQ exercise, so be thorough in your synthesis of the information, but also be concise.  It will be important to address the role and growing power of the Federal Government and the example of the Little Rock Nine in your response.

DUE DATE:  Monday, April 15, 2013 by midnight

Word Count:  1,000 words minimum

Key Ideas & Terms to help focus your response:
Dred Scot Case
Plessy v. Ferguson
Brown v. Board of Education
Emancipation Proclamation
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
15th Amendment
Freedman's Bureau
Radical Republicans
Southern Democrats
Jim Crow
KKK
NAACP
SNCC
Freedom Riders
Rosa Parks
March on Washington
Black Panthers
Martin Luther King, Jr. v. Malcolm X