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Department of History

Accidental President: Harry S Truman and Mid-Century America (HI2XX)

Module Convenor: Rebecca Stone

 

This second year module will explore and examine the presidency of Harry S Truman (1945-1952). Each weekly lecture will introduce a new facet of Truman's presidency; the corresponding seminars will then invite students to consider Truman's impact on the topic alongside the topic's impact on post war and cold war US history (and global history). It will address key themes such as race and resistance, hot and cold war, peacemaking and re-conversion, post war foreign and domestic policy, american exceptionalism and presidential legacies. This module will focus on Truman's first and second administrations (1945-1952) but will consider his whole lifetime (1884 - 1972) and beyond.

This module will examine the development of post war US history and politics through the lense of Harry Truman's presidency. This period represents a vital turning point in modern history through which many modern geopolitical and sociological developments can be better understood. Truman oversaw the end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War, the atomic bomb and ensuing arms race, proxy wars, anticommunism, the early civil rights movement and the beginnings of desegregation, consideration of the American 'welfare state' and the USA as a global superpower. Yet Truman was not elected to his first term and did not expect to win his second. He was not a successful politician, a skilled policymaker or an experienced statesman. Using Truman's presidency as an example, this module will also consider the role of The President in foreign and domestic policy, the reach and limits of presidential power, the significance of the postholder and the fragility of the office.

Syllabus
  1. The First Sixty Years – Seminar: Failure
  2. Accidental President – Seminar: The Atomic Bomb
  3. Cold War – Seminar: The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
  4. The Fair Deal – Seminar: Education
  5. Truman and Civil Rights – Seminar: Desegregation
  6. Reading Week
  7. 1948 Election – Seminar: 'Dewey Defeats Truman'
  8. Korea – Seminar: NSC-68 and Escalation
  9. Anticommunism - Seminar: McCarthyism
  10. Memory and Legacy – Seminar: The Truman Library

 

Assessment
  • 1500 word applied task (40%)
  • 3000 word essay (50%)
  • Seminar contribution (10%)