History 479B

Devine/Adams

Fall 2012

Essay #2

 

This essay is due Sunday, December 2 by 11:59 pm. If you have not yet met with a writing tutor – one of the course requirements – you must do so in conjunction with this paper. When you email me your essay, please indicate in the email whether it is a draft that you will review with a writing tutor or the final version of your paper that I will grade.

 

If the essay you submit on December 2 is a draft, it must be a complete draft – that is, 1500 words. You will lose points from your final grade if your draft is not complete. If you schedule a meeting with one of the writing tutors, your revised paper will be due by December 8th.

 

 

DIRECTIONS

 

HOW LONG SHOULD THE PAPER BE?

 

Papers MUST be 1500 words and no more than 1900 words.

 

HOW SHOULD I FORMAT THE PAPER?

 

• Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins all around.

 

• Please number your pages.

 

• Give your essay a title that indicates what the paper is about. (Something more revealing than “Essay #2” or “Economic History Essay”) Clever titles will be duly noted.

 

• Base your essay entirely on the assigned course reading. You do not have to (nor should you) draw on any outside sources.

 

HOW DO I CITE?

 

If you are quoting directly from a source, cite the author and page number in parentheses within the body of the text, i.e. (Wells, 47). All direct quotes MUST be in quotation marks and must be cited. Paraphrases of ideas drawn from the book MUST also be cited.

 

HOW WILL I BE GRADED?

 

You will be graded on:

                                                                                           

1)    focus (do you have a thesis statement and does it answer the question asked?)

 

2)    evidence (do you back up your argument with specific information from the reading and is the supporting information especially effective in making your case)

 

3)    coherence (is your argument consistent and understandable throughout the piece? do your sentences make sense?)

 

4)    scope (does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth?) 

 

THE ASSIGNMENT

  

Answer ONE of the following questions:

 

1. Explain why there was an economic boom in the United States after World War II and, how, as a result of this prosperity, many Americans’ daily lives and their sense of themselves changed – often, though not always – for the better.

[In answering, draw on the readings by Wells, Oakley, Hine, Nickles, and Baughman. For the second part of the question you might consider, among other things, how consumption patterns (and attitudes about consumption) changed; how prosperity affected people’s hopes and their visions of the future; and what role advertising may have played in changing people’s daily lives. You might also show how the same factors that brought about prosperity also changed people’s patterns of living.]

 

2. President Lyndon Johnson believed the United States had unlimited resources and could do anything it wanted to do. In economic policy, he, like John F. Kennedy, was a proponent of “growth liberalism.”  What were the fundamental premises of “growth liberalism”?  How did “growth liberalism” inform other US policies – for example, the nation’s defense strategy, its policy toward Vietnam, its social welfare policies, and its approach to the space race?  Though “growth liberalism” seemed to promise prosperity for everyone, what were some of its negative (and unintended) consequences?

[You will need to draw on the readings by Collins and Wells to answer this question. Hine’s Populuxe may also inform your response.]

 

3. The American economy went into a tailspin during the 1970s. What were some of the key factors that caused this economic reversal of fortune? Why were Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter largely unable to secure the return of prosperity?

[You will need to draw on the readings by Wells and Schulman to answer this question.  A thorough essay will discuss specific policies each president pursued and explain why these policies did not achieve their goals. Among the reasons for their failure may be decisions made or policies pursued during the 1960s. You might also focus on the individual character traits, approach to politics, and leadership ability of these men. How did such factors keep them from succeeding?]

 

4. Between 1983 and 2001 the United States enjoyed a long period of prosperity with only a few bumps along the way (the 1991-1992 recession, for example). What factors contributed to this prosperity? How did both the private and public sectors facilitate economic expansion? Why did this period of economic expansion also see growing degrees of inequality between the nation’s richest and poorest citizens?

     [In answering, be sure to address each aspect of the question – explain not only the reasons for and policies behind the prosperity, but also why growing inequality accompanied economic expansion.]