1952 Harry Truman Oversaw Answer These Questions
1.By analyzing Wilson’s diplomacy at Versailles, the response of the Republicans and their diplomatic polices in the 1920s, and the program in foreign affairs of FDR in the 1930s, evaluate the extent to which U.S. foreign policy in the interwar period from 1919 – 1941 can be characterized as a failure.
2.In his presidency from 1945 to 1952 Harry Truman oversaw a revolution in America’s traditional military and diplomatic policies. What were these traditional policies and what measures did Truman support that radically transformed them? Be sure that your essay deals with U.S. involvement in the Korean War and the consequences of that involvement for U.S. military and diplomatic policies.
3.Compare and contrast the goals and tactics of American foreign policy under Eisenhower in the 1950s and Kennedy and Johnson in the 1960s. Whose policy would you evaluate as the most successful? Explain and justify your reasoning.
4.How and why did the U.S. become involved in Vietnam from the end of World War II down through 1973? What accounts for the inability of American policy makers to achieve their objectives in Vietnam? Be certain that your essay includes a discussion of the Geneva Accords of 1954 and the U.S. reaction to them.
1.Why were the 1920s a decade of overwhelming Republican dominance and how did the economic and cultural legacies of U.S. involvement in World War I contribute to that dominance? What were the structural weaknesses in the economy that help explain the onset of the Great Depression and the end of Republican dominance?
2.Write an essay on the rise, peaking, and fall of the New Deal. Begin with the guiding assumptions of the New Dealers, outline their major programs and the rationale behind them, and explain why the New Deal peaked by 1936 only to lose its way by 1938.
3.Do you agree with the generalization that the 1950s were primarily a decade of fulfillment and the 1960s a decade of disillusionment?Support your reasoning by setting forth and explaining the distinctive features of the politics and culture of these two decades and by making clear why and when any significant shift occurred in political or cultural terms.
4.How can it be argued that a turn to political conservatism was the dominant theme in American politics from 1968 to 1988? Topics to be addressed should include: the election of 1968, the decline of liberalism, and the core features of the foreign and domestic programs of the national administrations from Nixon to Reagan.