TITLE:  History 5322 – Studies in U.S. Diplomatic History (since 1900)

 

TIME:  T, 3:00-5:50 p.m., 141 Holden Hall

              Spring Semester 2003, Texas Tech University

 

INSTRUCTOR:  Dr. David L. Snead

                             Visit my web site at www3.tltc.ttu.edu/snead

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OFFICE HOURS:  TTh, 7:30-8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.-noon; and by appointment.  Generally, I am in my office by 7:15 a.m. and stay to 3:30 p.m. everyday.  If I am in my office, please feel free to stop by if you need to see me.  If it is not a good time, I will let you know.  You can also email me at david.snead@ttu.edu or call me at 742-1004 (ext. 240).

Office:  49 Holden Hall

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES:  To gain an introduction to the history and historiography of American foreign policy in the 20th Century.

 

REQUIRED READINGS:

 

Williams, William Appleman.  The Tragedy of American Diplomacy.  New York:  W.W. Norton and Co., 1988.

 

Levin, N. Gordon, Jr.  Woodrow Wilson and World Politics:  America’s Response to War and Revolution.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1968.

 

Foglesong, David S.  America’s Secret War Against Bolshevism:  U.S. Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1917-1920.  Chapel Hill:  The University of North Carolina Press, 1995.

 

Langley, Lester D.  The Banana Wars:  United States Intervention in the Caribbean, 1898-1934.  Wilmington, DE:  Scholarly Resources, Inc., 2002.

 

Heinrichs, Waldo.  Threshold of War:  Franklin D. Roosevelt & American Entry into World War II.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1988.

 

Leffler, Melvyn P.  A Preponderance of Power:  National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War.  Stanford University Press, 1992.

 

Bowie, Robert R., and Richard H. Immerman.  Waging Peace:  How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1998.

 

Snead, David L.  The Gaither Committee, Eisenhower, and the Cold War. Columbus, OH:  Ohio State University Press, 1999.

 

Naftali, Timothy, and Alexsandr Fursenko.  “One Hell of a Gamble”:  Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy 1958-1964 – The Secret History of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  New York:  W.W. Norton & Company, 2001.

 

Brands, H.W.  The Wages of Globalism:  Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1995.

 

Thornton, Richard C.  The Nixon-Kissinger Years:  The Reshaping of American Foreign Policy.  St. Paul, MN:  Paragon House Publishers, 2001.

 

Fischer, Beth A.  The Reagan Reversal:  Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War.  Columbia:  University of Missouri Press, 1997.

 

Oberdorfer, Don.  From the Cold War to a New Era: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1983-1991.  Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:  Members of this class will be responsible for all material addressed in this course.  The final course grade will be based on the following:

 

1) Three essays – each student will write three 4 to 6 page essays.  In each paper, the student will evaluate the strengths and weakness of one of the supplementary readings for that week.   In essence, each student will need to identify the book’s arguments and analyze how effective the author is in making them.   The student will use books already read in class as the basis for analysis.  Cite specific examples using footnotes to support your arguments.  The format for the footnotes can be found on Dr. Snead’s website, www3.tltc.ttu.edu/snead, at the “Reading and Writing Tips” link.  Each essay will be worth 20% of the student’s final grade.

 

2) Thirteen summaries of required readings – students will be required to turn in a two-page summary each week for the assigned reading.  The purposes of these assignments are to prepare students for class discussion and to force students to have a summary of each book when they prepare for future preliminary and/or comprehensive exams.  These summaries will count a combined 20% of your final grade.

 

3) Participation/Discussion – since this class is built around readings and discussion, it is essential that students be prepared to discuss the assigned readings each week.  Additionally, students turning in papers each week will make an approximately five minute presentation on their extra book.  This presentation will introduce students to another historiographical work on the topic.  Student presentations and participation in discussion will count 20% of a student’s grade.

 

Grade Schedule:  A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F.

 

****All work done in this class must adhere to Texas Tech University’s honor code.****

 

ATTENDANCE POLICY:  Regular attendance is expected.  Absences will adversely affect your grade.

 

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES (Americans with Disabilities Act):  I will make every reasonable accommodation to assist students with disabilities.  It is the responsibility of the student to let me know of the disability as soon as possible and to help develop the best program for accommodating his/her needs.

 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

 

Week 1  (1/21)  – No class

 

Week 2 (1/28)   – Required Reading:  Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy

                               

Supplementary Readings:

                             

Beale, Howard K.  Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power.   New York:  Collier Books, 1956, 1973. (p. 413)

Marks, Frederick W.  Velvet on Iron:  The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt.  Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press, 1979. (p. 247)

Challener, Richard.  Admirals, Generals, and American Foreign Policy, 1898-1914.  Princeton University Press, 1973. (p. 433)

 

Week 3 (2/4)     – Required Reading:  Levin, Woodrow Wilson and World Politics

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Knock, Thomas J.  To End All Wars:  Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1992. (p. 381)

Ambrosius, Lloyd.  Woodrow Wilson and the American Diplomatic Tradition:  The Treaty Fight in Perspective.  New York : Cambridge University Press, 1987.  (p. 323)

Cooper, John Milton.  Breaking the Heart of the World:  Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations.  New York:  Cambridge University Press, 2001. (p. 454)

 

Week 4 (2/11)   – Required Reading:  Foglesong, America’s Secret War Against Bolshevism

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Kennan, George F.  The Decision to Intervene:  Soviet-American Relations, 1917-1920.  Vol. II.  New York:  W.W. Norton, 1956, 1984. (p. 513)

Unterberger, Betty M.  America’s Siberian Expedition, 1918-1920.  Durham, NC:  Duke University Press, 1956. (p. 271)

Graves, William S.  America’s Siberian Adventure, 1918-1920.  New York:  P. Smith, 1931, 1941. (p. 363)

 

Week 5 (2/18)   – Required Reading:  Langley, The Banana Wars

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Gardner, Lloyd C.  Wilson and Revolutions, 1913-1921.  Philadelphia:  Lippincott, 1976. (p. 149)

Healy, David.  Drive to Hegemony: The United States in the Caribbean, 1898-1917.  Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. (p. 370)

Pérez, Louis A., Jr.  Cuba under the Platt Amendment, 1902-1934.  University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986.  (p. 410)

 

Week 6  (2/25)  – Required Reading:  Heinrichs, Threshold of War

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Iriye, Akira.  The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific.  New York:  Longman, 1987. (p. 202)

Reynolds, David.  From Munich to Pearl Harbor : Roosevelt's America and the origins of the Second World War.  Chicago:  Ivan R. Dee, 2001. (p. 209)

Dalleck, Robert.  Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1933-1945.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1979. (p. 657)

 

Week 7 (3/4)     – Required Reading:  Leffler, A Preponderance of Power        

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Hogan, Michael J.  A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945-1954.  New York:  Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Offner, Arnold A.  Another Such Victory:  President Truman and the Cold War, 1945-1953.  Stanford University Press, 2002.

Gaddis, John L.  What We Now Know:  Rethinking Cold War History.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1997.

 

Week 8 (3/11)   – Required Reading:  Bowie and Immerman.  Waging Peace

                               

Supplementary Readings:

 

Gaddis, John.  Strategies of Containment:  A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1982.   (p. 432)

Brands, H.W. Cold Warriors: Eisenhower's Generation and American Foreign Policy.  New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. (p. 252)

Greenstein, Fred I. The Hidden-Hand Presidency:  Eisenhower as Leader.  New York:  Basic Books, 1982.  (p. 286)

 

Spring Break (3/16-3/23)

 

Week 9 (3/25)   – Required Reading:  Snead, The Gaither Committee, Eisenhower, and the Cold War

 

Supplementary Readings:

                        

Divine, Robert.  The Sputnik Challenge.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. (p. 245)

Roman, Peter J.  Eisenhower and the Missile Gap.  Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1995. (p. 264)

Wenger, Andreas.  Living with Peril:  Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nuclear Weapons.  Lanham, MD:  Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1997.  (p. 461)

 

Week 10 (4/1)   – Required Reading:  Naftali and Fursenko, “One Hell of a Gamble”

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Freedman, Lawrence.  Kennedy’s Wars:  Berlin, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 2000. (p. 524)

Nash, Philip.  The Other Missiles of October:  Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the Jupiters, 1957-1963.  Chapel Hill:  University of North Carolina Press, 1997. (p. 231)

Rabe, Stephen G. The Most Dangerous Area in the World:  John F. Kennedy Confronts Communist Revolution in Latin America.  Chapel Hill:  University of North Carolina Press, 1999. (p. 257)

 

Week 11 (4/8)   – Required Reading:  Brands, The Wages of Globalism

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

McMahon, Robert J.  The Limits of Empire:  The United States and Southeast Asia since World War II.  New York:  Columbia University Press, 1999. (p. 276)

McMaster, H. R.  Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam.  New York:  HarperCollins, 1997. (p. 446)

Hammond, Paul Y.  LBJ and the Presidential Management of Foreign Relations.  Austin:  University of Texas Press, 1992. (p. 288)

 

Week 12 (4/15) – Required Reading:  Thornton, The Nixon-Kissinger Years

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Terriff, Terry.  The Nixon Administration and the Making of U.S. Nuclear Strategy.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995. (p. 252)

Kunz, Diane B.  Butter and Guns:  America's Cold War Economic Diplomacy.  New York:  Free Press, 1997. (p. 422)

Berman, Larry. No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam.  New York:  Free Press, 2001. (p.334)

 

Week 13 (4/22) – Required Reading:  Fischer, The Reagan Reversal

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

Shimko, Keith L.  Images and Arms Control:  Perceptions of the Soviet Union in the Reagan Administration.  Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991. (p. 277)

LeoGrande, William M. Our Own Backyard:  The United States in Central America, 1977-1992.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. (p. 773)

Scott, James M.  Deciding to Intervene:  The Reagan Doctrine and American Foreign Policy Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996. (p. 333)

 

Week 14 (4/29) – Required Reading:  Oberdorfer, From the Cold War to a New Era

 

Supplementary Readings:

 

FitzGerald, Frances.  Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. (p. 592)

Freedman, Lawrence, and Efraim Karash.  The Gulf Conflict, 1990-1991.  Princeton, N.J.:  Princeton University Press, 1993. (p. 504)

Greene, John Robert.  The Presidency of George Bush.  Lawrence:  University Press of Kansas, 2000. (p. 245)

 

 

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