ChapterDiscussionQuestions


 * Ch.** **27– American Imperialism**


 * 1) What were the causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War? Did the results of the war (particularly the acquisition of the Philippines) flow from the nature of the war, or were they unexpected?
 * 2) How was American expansionism overseas similar to previous continental expansion westward, and how was it different?
 * 3) Was the taking of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines really a violation of fundamental American ideals of self-government and democracy?
 * 4) What were the elements of “idealism” and “realism” in American expansionism in the 1890s? How have Americans incorporated both of these seemingly contradictory philosophies in their foreign policy?
 * 5) Why was the Philippine-American War such a brutal affair, and why is it not as well remembered as the less costly Spanish-American War?
 * 6) Did Roosevelt more often “speak softly” or use the “big stick”? Was his approach to foreign policy aggressive or simply energetic?
 * 7) How did the Roosevelt Corollary distort the Monroe Doctrine? What were the consequences of the Roosevelt Corollary for American relations with Latin America?

**Ch.** **28 – Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt**


 * 1) Why did the progressives believe that strong government action was the only way to tackle the social and economic problems of industrialization? How did this approach differ from traditional American emphasis on voluntary solutions to social problems?
 * 2) Why were women so critical to the successes of the progressive movement? What were their weaknesses in their ideas and approaches to social reform?
 * 3) Why was Roosevelt such a popular progressive leader? In what ways did he sound like a more ardent reformer than he really was?
 * 4) To what extent was progressivism really a “middle class” reform effort that did not really reflect the interests or concerns of the poor and working classes it claimed to benefit? How did some of the progressive concern for conservation and environment reflect the perspectives of more affluent Americans?
 * 5) Did the progressive movement make any long lasting contributions to American society?

**Ch.** **29 – Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad**


 * 1) Were Wilson’s progressive legislative achievements in his first term consistent with his New Freedom campaign? Why or why not?
 * 2) How was Wilson’s progressive presidency similar to Theodore Roosevelt’s, and how was it different? Were the differences ones of personality or policy?
 * 3) Why did Wilson fail in his attempt to develop a more “moral,” less imperialistic policy in Latin America? Were his involvements really an attempt to create a new mutual relationship between the United States and the neighboring republics, or was it just an alternative form of American domination?
 * 4) Was the United States genuinely neutral during the first years of World War I, or was it biased in favor of the Allies against Germany? Was it possible for the U.S. to remain neutral? Why or why not?

**Ch.** **30 – The War to End War**


 * 1) What were the ideological results of Wilson’s proclamation of World War I as a “war to end all wars” and “a war to make the world safe for democracy”?
 * 2) Was it necessary to suppress dissent in order to win the war?
 * 3) Was the Treaty of Versailles a violation of Wilson’s high wartime ideals or the best that could be achieved under the circumstances?
 * 4) What was the fundamental reason America failed to join the League of Nations?

**Ch.** **31 – American Life in the “Roaring Twenties”**


 * 1) Why did the United States, which had welcomed so many millions of immigrants for nearly a century, suddenly become so fearful of immigration in the 1920s that it virtually ended mass immigration for two decades? What is your evaluation of this change in policy?
 * 2) To what extent was the Scopes Trial only about competing theories of human origins, and to what extent was it a focal point for deeper concerns regarding the role of religion and traditional moral authorities in American life and the new cultural power of science?
 * 3) Was the new “mass culture” as reflected in Hollywood films and radio a source of moral and social change, or did it really reinforce the essentially conservative business and social values of the time? (Consider the role of commercial advertising in particular.)
 * 4) Were the intellectual critics of the 1920s really disillusioned with the fundamental character of American life, or were they actually loyal to a vision of a better America, and only hiding their idealism behind a veneer of disillusionment and irony?

**Ch.** **32 – The Politics of Boom and Bust**


 * 1) In what ways were the 1920s a reaction against the progressive era?
 * 2) Was the American isolationism of the 1920s linked to the rise of movements like the Ku Klux Klan? In what ways did the movements like fundamentalism reflect similar “antimodern” outlooks, and in what ways did they reflect more basic religious disagreements?
 * 3) To what extent did the policies of the booming 1920s contribute to the depression? Was the depression inevitable, or could it have been avoided? Why or why not?
 * 4) How did the depression challenge the traditional belief of Hoover and other Americans in “rugged individualism”?

** Chapter 33 – The Great Depression and the New Deal **


 * 1) Which of Roosevelt’s measures were more effective in fighting the depression? Why?
 * 2) How did Roosevelt alter the role of the federal government in American life? Was this necessary for American survival?
 * 3) How did ordinary workers and farmers effect social change in the 1930s?
 * 4) What were the positive and negative effects of the New Deal’s use of the federal government as an agency of social reform?

** Chapter 34 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War **


 * 1) Why did the neutrality laws fail to prevent America’s growing involvement with the military conflicts in Europe and Asia?
 * 2) How did the process of American entry into World War II compare with the entry into World War I?
 * 3) Would it have been more straightforward of Roosevelt to have openly called for a declaration of war against Hitler rather than increasing involvement gradually while claiming that he did not want war?
 * 4) Would the United States have entered \World War II even if the Japanese had not attacked Pearl Harbor?

** Chapter 35 - America in World War II **


 * 1) How did America’s domestic response to World War II differ from its reaction to World War I?
 * 2) What was the wisest strategic decision in World War II, and what was the most questionable?
 * 3) How were the European and Pacific wars similar, and how were they different?
 * 4) What was the significance of dropping the atomic bomb, now and then?


 * Chapter 36: The Cold War Begins, 1945 - 1952 **
 * 1) Which development caused the greatest change in American society in the immediate postwar years: increased affluence, the migration to the suburbs, the entry of women into the workforce, or the baby boom?
 * 2) Was the primary threat from the Soviet Union military or ideologicalthat is, was the danger that the Soviet army would invade Western Europe or that more and more people in Europe and elsewhere would be attracted to communist ideas?
 * 3) Were there any legitimate concerns behind the red-hunting anticommunism of the late 1940s and early 1950s? How were McCarthy and others able to turn the search for spies and subversives into an assault on freethinkers, adulterers, homosexuals, and others deemed different in some way?
 * 4) Was Truman right to fire MacArthur when and how he did? What would have happened if MacArthur had gotten his way and expanded the conflict with the Chinese?


 * Ch. 37: The Eisenhower Era, 1952-1960 **
 * 1) How does EIsenhower's political leadership compare with that of other general-presidents: Washington, Jackson, Taylor and Grant?
 * 2) Was Eisenhower's seeming caution and inactivity a lack of vigorous leadership or a wise prudence in the exercise of power?
 * 3) Was the 1950s a time of American triumph abroad and affluence at home, or was it a period that actually suppressed many problems of race, women's roles, and cultural conformity?
 * 4) Which writers and artists best expressed the concerns of American culture in the 1950s? Was there a connection between the rise of pop-culture figures like Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and the changes in art and writing (like the Beats and the new Southern writers)?
 * 5) Compare and contrast the literary outpouring of WWI with that of WWII. What caused the shift from realism in literature to a more fantasized and psychedelic prose?


 * Chapter 38: The Stormy Sixties, 1960 - 1968 **
 * 1) Did Kennedy fulfill his promise to get America moving again? Why or why not?
 * 2) Was the nonviolent civil rights movement of the 1960s a success? Why or why not? Can it be argued that the violent protests of the civil rights movement were more successful than the nonviolent protests?
 * 3) What were the causes of the Vietnam War?
 * 4) Was America justified going into Vietnam? What if the Communist countries invaded a country to contain the spread of Democracy, would this be justified? What is the difference between the two situations?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Were the cultural upheavals of the 1960s a result of the political crisis, or were developments like the sexual revolution and the student revolts inevitable results of affluence and the baby boom?


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Chapter 39: The Stalemated Seventies, 1968 - 1980 **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Could any of Nixons achievements in office compensate for his Watergate crimes? What should history say about the Nixon presidency?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What were the short-term and long-term consequences of the communists victory in Vietnam? How do these affect an assessment of the war? What could America have done differently to win the war in Vietnam?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">How was the civil rights movement affected by federal policies in the 1970s, especially affirmative action?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What were the consequences of Americas new economic vulnerability? How did it affect politics at home and abroad during the 1970s?


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Chapter 40: The Resurgence of Conservatism, 1980 - 1992 **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">To what extent was the election of Reagan an endorsement of his conservative ideology, and to what extent was it a repudiation of the perceived failures of federal government policies in the stalemated 1970s?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In what ways might the 1980s and 1990s be compared with the 1920s in economic, social, and foreign policies? Did the economic boom of each period represent a genuine revival of American innovation, or was it fundamentally marred by the growing gap between rich and poor?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What were the successes and failures of American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era? Was the use of American military power in the Persian Gulf War and the Balkans a model for how American power could be effectively brought to bear, or did it demonstrate the limits of even the sole superpowers ability to resolve regional conflicts?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What was the real cause of the end of the Cold War? Did America win the Cold War, or did the Soviets lose the Cold War is there a difference?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Compare and contrast the rise of the Moral Majority in the 1980s with that of the Beats of the 1950s and the Hippies of the 1960s and 70s. What commonalities do they have with each other?
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">How should history view the presidency of Ronald Reagan? Was he a great, good, fair, or bad president and why?


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Chapter 41: America Confronts the Post-Cold War Era, 1992 - 2004 **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What is likely to be the enduring legacy of Bill Clinton in American politics? Did the focus on his personality and the scandals leading to impeachment drastically alter the way he is likely to be viewed by future historians, or will his economic policies and his political success in steering the Democratic party toward the political center be viewed as substantive achievements outweighing the weaknesses?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Compare and contrast American foreign policy at the beginning of the twentieth century to that of the beginning of the twenty-first century. What differences are there? Are there any similarities?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What similarities are there to the spread of Communism during the post-World War II era to the spread of Democracy in the post-Cold War era? If America was justified in intervening in halting the spread of communism in Asia, would Iraqi insurgents be justified in intervening in halting the spread of democracy in Iraq? Why or why not?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">How successful was America in punishing the attackers of 9/11? Was Americas war on terror a success or failure? Why or why not?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What is likely to be the enduring legacy of George W. Bush in American politics? How will American history view his presidency; great, good, fair, or poor? Justify and support your answers.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Chapter 42: The American People Face a New Century **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Was the growing inequality in American wealth and incomes the result of natural economic market forces, or was it encouraged by deliberate political policies, especially the tax cuts and trade policies of the 1980s?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Has the American family been in decline, or has it simply changed forms while developing different kinds of strengths? What causes the fears of a generational war between the expanding numbers of elderly and younger Americans?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Has the nature of American race relations been substantially altered since the 1960s civil rights movement, or are relations between whites and African Americans fundamentally the same? Has African American society itself undergone substantial changes?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Why has culture become the focus of a series of wars between different intellectuals and social groups in the past ten years? Why are many of these wars over issues fought in American colleges and universities?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What lies in Americas future? What kinds of cultural, economic, and foreign dilemmas will future American politicians face? What will be the defining moment in the twenty-first century?