History 371

Devine

Fall 2010

 

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

 

FINAL EXAMINATION 12:45 pm – 2:45 pm Monday, December 13, 20010, SH 186

 

The final will cover all lectures and readings since the midterm.

 

The final will have the same basic format as the midterm.  ALL questions will be drawn directly from the review questions listed below.

 

In Part I (60%), you will answer 7 of 10 short essay questions. Provide as much specific information as you can – SHOW, don’t tell.  Demonstrate why something is true, don’t just assert it. A one or two sentence answer is insufficient if you wish to receive full credit.

 

In Part II (25%), you will answer 1 of 3 long essay questions. Be sure you state your answer to the question at the very beginning – this is your thesis. Then, using specific examples, spend the rest of the essay demonstrating that your thesis is true. Don’t write in generalities or assertions – give specific facts that support your case.

 

In Part III (15%), you will answer 1 of 3 long essay questions based on Michael Patrick MacDonald, All Souls.

 

PLEASE BRING AN UNMARKED BLUE BOOK WITH YOU TO CLASS.

 

 

Final Exam Study Questions

 

  1. How did German war reparations and French and British war debt involve the United States? How did this 3-way relationship work and why did it cause international economic instability?
  2. What factors – both domestic and international – brought on the Great Depression of the 1930s?
  3. Why did stock prices rise so high during the mid-1920s and why, in 1929, did the bubble burst?
  4. Explain why prosperity in the 1920s was “real, but fragile.”
  5. Why was the U.S. government’s raising of tariffs and refusal to forgive European war debt during the 1930s a bad idea?
  6. Why did Franklin Roosevelt believe that public works projects – building post offices, bridges, and dams – would help to stimulate the economy?  Why did he prefer such projects to straight welfare payments to those in need?
  7. What steps did President Roosevelt take to restore public confidence in the U.S. banking system?
  8. Why were farmers suffering during the 1930s? How did Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal propose to help them?
  9. How did Roosevelt’s programs intended to help farmers end up hurting consumers and even some farmers?
  10. How do the policies and programs associated with Roosevelt’s New Deal continue to affect our daily lives today?
  11. What were some of the changes to occur during the early years of World War II that, according to Paul Fussell, marked the Allies’ switch from “light duty” to “heavy duty”?  Why did the Allies switch approaches?
  12. What sorts of “blunders” occurred throughout World War II?  What caused them?  Why, today, are they largely unknown?
  13. During World War II, how did magazine advertisements distort the grim realities of the conflict? How did the ads use the war to “pitch” their products or to enhance the reputation of the company selling the products?
  14. Why, according to Fussell, did few Americans on the home front ever get a real sense of what the soldiers in combat had to endure during World War II?
  15. Explain the origins of World War II in Europe.  How and why did the conflict begin? Who was involved? What were the key events that led to the official beginning of the war on September 1, 1939?
  16. During the late 1930s, why did the British and French choose to “appease” Hitler rather than confront him?  How did they justify this decision?
  17. Identify the two biggest mistakes that Hitler made during World War II and explain why these mistakes were so costly.
  18. Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor?  In hindsight, why did this prove a costly mistake?
  19. Why was the opening of a “second front” in France an important issue for Josef Stalin during World War II?  What effect did the delay in opening a second front have on US-Soviet relations?
  20. The 1950s were characterized by the “Four A”s – anxiety, anticommunism, affluence, and alienation.  Explain how each “A” led logically to the next one.
  21. Why were many Americans anxious after the end of World War II? Why was the 1950s considered a decade of anxiety?
  22. What major events around the world and within the United States caused the vast majority of Americans to become anti-communist during the 1950s? Why did these events stir up anti-communist sentiment?
  23. Why were so many Americans ardently anticommunist during the 1950s?  Why did they tend to focus their anticommunism inward (at their fellow citizens) rather than demand that their government directly confront the Soviets?
  24. How did the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan propose to “contain” Communism after World War II?
  25. Why did many Americans become more affluent during the 1950s? 
  26. Why did the “red scare” of the 1950s make American society more conformist?
  27. What specific groups of Americans were alienated during the 1950s? Why were they aliened?
  28. Why was Betsy and Tom Rath’s marriage so strained after Tom returned from the war?  Why did they find it difficult to communicate?
  29. How does Betsy Rath change as a character over the course of Sloan Wilson’s novel The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit?  How does she help her husband avoid turning into just another “man in a gray flannel suit”?
  30. How does Tom and Betsy Rath’s struggle for affluence lead to alienation?
  31. How does Sloan Wilson’s novel, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, demonstrate that after World War II the transition from wartime to peacetime life was not as easy and seamless as it is often depicted in history books?
  32. Explain why the early 1960s have been called a “promising time.”  How did John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address capture the spirit of the times?
  33. Some have argued that the United States did not understand what the conflict in Vietnam was all about and intervened when it should not have. Why do they say this?
  34. What is the significance of the Tet Offensive?  Why did it mark a turning point in the Vietnam war?
  35. Who was Eugene McCarthy and why did he play a significant role in the presidential election of 1968?  [Do not confuse Eugene McCarthy with Joseph McCarthy, the leader of the anticommunist crusade during the early 1950s.]
  36. In 1968, why did many Americans believe Robert F. Kennedy would make a good president?
  37. In 1968, why did it appear that the political “center” might not hold?  In answering, be sure to review how various events of that year undermined confidence in both the government and the civility of American society in general.
  38. In what ways did Janis Joplin challenge traditional 1950s notions about how a woman should look, behave, and live her life?
  39. Despite her fame and success in the music business, why did Janis Joplin often seem so vulnerable and unhappy with her life?
  40. What was “stagflation” and why did it seem to break the laws of economic theory?
  41. Why were inflation and high interest rates especially harmful to unemployed Americans during the 1970s?
  42. Why does government deficit spending (i.e. when the government spends more than it takes in and therefore has to borrow a lot of money) have a negative effect on the private sector of the economy?
  43. How did the oil crisis of the 1970s affect the American economy?
  44. Why did Ronald Reagan defeat Jimmy Carter in the presidential election of 1980 even though many at the time thought Reagan was too conservative to be elected?  In answering, consider 1) the loss of confidence in liberal policies 2) the economic conditions of the 1970s and 3) the foreign policy crises of the 1970s
  45. Staying loyal to the neighborhood meant everything to the residents of Southie. Was this more a source of strength or the source of the people’s problems? Did it help them survive or keep them from living more fulfilling lives?
  46. How did Whitey Bulger exploit the residents of Southie by appealing to the very values that many residents believed made their neighborhood special?
  47. Why did government-sponsored measures intended to improve race relations and alleviate poverty – such as busing, the enforcement of “hate crimes” laws, provision of public housing, and welfare payments – actually end up fueling racism in Southie and making poverty more difficult to escape?
  48. Why did the residents of Southie have such a difficult time escaping poverty?
  49. What is the difference between a “market economy” and a “market society”? Why is the latter potentially damaging to the social fabric of a nation?
  50. Explain why Tony Judt believes the increasing economic inequality in the U.S. over the past 30 years is so damaging to the nation.