DIS 1
2. The Populist Movement proposed new directions for government involvement in the private and public sectors. Read The ‘Omaha Platform’ of the People’s Party (1892). Once all reading is complete respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the document and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- According to the platform, what are the major issues facing the nation?
- How do the Populists propose to address issues of wealth distribution and rights of labor?
- What were the Populist’s views on the role of government in addressing corruption, corporate influence, fair elections, and management of railroads and communications infrastructure?
- What proposals in the platform eventually became a reality?
DIS 2
Feminist author Charlotte Perkins Gilman sounded an alarm on the state of gender relations in the Victorian era. Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper" and The Yellow Wallpaper. Once all reading is complete respond to the following questions. Make to reference specific passages from the document,the story itself, and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- What does Gilman's story, The Yellow Wallpaper, reveal about gender relations in Victorian society?
- According to Gilman, from where do men derive their authority over women and how is that authority enforced and perpetuated?
- How is the main character kept confined in her room, and what does this suggest about the nature of the oppression of women during this historical period?
- How does the main character resist and what is the cost of that resistance?
- What does Gilman's physical description of the wallpaper represent?
- By not naming the main character until the final scene, what do you think Gilman is suggesting about identity and complicity? And why does the author have the husband "faint" in the final scene?
DIS 3
President Wilson explains why and with what aims the US enters the first world war. Read Woodrow Wilson Requests War (April 2, 1917). Once all reading is complete respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the document and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- What were the key factors and events that led President Woodrow Wilson to request the declaration of war against Germany in 1917?
- What arguments did Wilson present to Congress to justify the U.S. entry into World War I, particularly in relation to the sinking of American ships and the challenge posed by German submarine warfare?
- What did Wilson mean by making the world “safe for democracy?”
- What vision did Wilson articulate for the post-war world, including the role of the United States in shaping the peace and safeguarding democracy?
DIS 4
Huey Long’s program on public spending and wealth redistribution amid the Great Depression. Read Huey P. Long, ‘Every Man a King’ and ‘Share our Wealth’ (1934). Once all reading is complete respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the document and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- What were the most radical aspects of Long's plan?
- Did any of his ideas become reality?
- Upon whose law did Long base his ideas?
- What did Long predict would be the consequences if the nation failed to adopt a program such as his?
DIS 5
. In 1942 more than a hundred thousand Americans of Japanese ancestry were confined in Internment Camps. Read Executive Order, 9066, and Aiko Herizg-Yoshinaga on Japanese Internment, and this selection from Densho. Once all reading is complete respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the documents and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- Why were Americans of Japanese ancestry incarcerated during the war?
- What factors were at play during the interim between the attack on Pearl Harbor in December and the decision to issue Executive Order 9066 the following February?
- How would you characterize the nature of confinement of Japanese Americans in the camps?
- How does the military service of Japanese Americans during the war complicate the history of the Internment?
- What are the overall implications of the Internment on American civil liberties?
DIS 6
Chapter 26 begins with the suggestion by John Kenneth Galbraith that fulfilling the desires of the Affluent Society of the 1950s was "unsound, unsustainable, and, ultimately, immoral." With that in mind read this excerpt from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Then view this video on the widespread use of DDT during the years of the 'affluent society.' Once all reading and viewing is complete respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the resources and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- According to Carson, what are the consequences of prevailing attitudes toward the environment?
- How did industry scientists respond to Carson's findings?
- Why and on what grounds did they seek to undermine her work?
- Describe the role of marketing and advertising in shaping attitudes toward the use of such a dangerous substance (DDT was banned in the US ten years after Carson's book came out).
- How does this story relate to contemporary times?
- Have we learned anything as a society over the six decades since Carson's book came out?
DIS 7
President Johnson calls for legislation on Voting Rights. Read Lyndon Johnson on Voting Rights and the American Promise (1965). Once all reading is complete respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the reading and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- In his speech, Lyndon B. Johnson mentioned historical events like Lexington and Concord, Appomattox, and Selma. How did he use these references to frame the civil rights movement and voting rights as part of American history?
- How did he argue that equal rights and dignity should be extended to all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or place of birth?
- What message did Johnson convey to those who wanted to maintain purely local control over elections, and how did he link local control to the need for open polling places and the extension of citizenship rights?
Dis 8
President Clinton advocates for free trade and deregulation. Read Bill Clinton on Free Trade and Financial Deregulation (1993-2000). Once all reading is complete respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the reading and/or textbook to support your discussion:
- According to Clinton, what will be the benefits of NAFTA and the projected dismantling of “trade barriers?”
- What contradictions are apparent in his argument for embracing the global economy?
- What is the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act designed to do?
- Who advocated deregulating the derivatives market, and what do these entities represent?
- In the longer run, did NAFTA along with the deregulation of financial markets produce the benefits that Clinton envisioned? Why or why not?