COURSE OUTLINE

FIRST SEMESTER

Unit 1: World War I

1. The causes of the war in Europe.
2. The US entry into the war.
3. The war on the home front.
4. Wilson’s fight for peace was unsuccessful.
5. The Treaty of Versailles helped create an atmosphere in Europe that led to WWII.

Unit 2: The Politics and Culture of the 1920s

1. Post war trends and fears caused problems in the US.
2. Harding’s scandal ridden presidency
3. Coolidge’s pro-business presidency.
4. Prohibition aided in the rise of organized crime in the 1920s.
5. Women experienced some liberation in the 1920s.
6. Education and culture changed the lives of many Americans in the 1920s.

Unit 3: The Great Depression and the New Deal

1. Economic problems led to the Crash and Great Depression.
2. Hoover’s poor handling the hardship and suffering of the Great Depression.
3. FDR’s New Deal attempted to end the Great Depression.
4. The New Deal’s effect on the lives of Americans.

Unit 4: World War II

1. The Dictators of the 1930’s set the stage for WWII.
2. Hitler’s invasion of Poland finally started WWII in Europe.
3. Hitler used the Jews as the scapegoat for all of German’s problems.
4. The US moved toward war.
5. The US entry into WWII after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
6. The US fought a 2 front war in Europe and the Pacific.
7. The aftermath of WWII in Europe and Japan.

Unit 5: Cold War Conflicts and Post War Boom

1.       The origins of the Cold War emerged from the different political and economic

systems in the US and the Soviet Union.

2.       The Cold War heated up in Korea.

3.       The Cold War’s effect on the American home front.

4.       The US policy of Containment and Brinkmanship.

Unit 6: The New Frontier and the Great Society

1.       The Kennedy administration and Cold War confrontations.

2.       Kennedy’s domestic program.

3.       The Great Society.

SECOND SEMESTER

Unit 7: Civil Rights Movement

1.       Taking on segregation.

2.       The triumphs of the crusade for civil rights.

3.       The challenges for and changes in the Civil Rights movement.

Unit 8: War in Vietnam

1.       Origins and motivations

2.       The antiwar movement

3.       1968

4.       The end of the war and its legacy.

Unit 9: Domestic and International Challenges of the 1970s

1.         Women fight for equality.

2.         Nixon’s domestic program and foreign policy

3.         Watergate

4.         The Ford and Carter years   the Watergate scandal forced him; to resign from office.        

Unit 10: The Reagan Revolution and the Conservative Tide

1.          The conservative movement emerges.

2.          Conservative politics under Reagan and Bush.

3.          Foreign policy after the Cold War.

Unit 11: The Clinton and Bush Administrations

1.          Clinton’s domestic agenda and the economic boom.

2.          Foreign policy challenges and impeachment.

3.          The controversial election of 2000.

4.          Bush and the War on Terrorism.

5.          Bush and the War in Iraq.

Unit 12: War on Terrorism

1. The attack on America--9/11.

2. The hunt for terrorists.

3. The impact on American life.