HIST 342 View From 9/11: US Security
This seminar is designed around the theme of national security, especially foreign threats to national security and their ramifications on the domestic scene, from post- World War II to present. Our major question is whether our responses to the 9/11 attacks and our current foreign policy represent continuity or change in American history. In addressing this question, we will examine the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and issues in the Vietnam War as examples from our foreign policy. Likewise, we will examine selected issues on the home front, i.e., the domestic scene, especially McCarthyism, the perception of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Black Power as threats to security and the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on foreign policy. We will also consider financial, environmental and medical threats. Students will be required to complete a major primary source- based research paper on a topic of their choosing. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.