Seminar in United States History

HIUS 4501 (1)

Seminar in United States History

"The United States and the Origins of the Cold War"

Melvyn P. Leffler

In this course we will examine several key questions:  What was the Cold War?  When, how, and why did it begin?  We will look at the impact of World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the death of Roosevelt, the personality of Stalin, the dropping of the atomic bomb, the crises in Iran, Turkey, and Greece, the division of Germany and Korea, the Soviet occupation of eastern Europe, and the civil war in China.  We will cover key topics like the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the North Atlantic Treaty, and the Korean War.

In our weekly meetings, much emphasis will be placed on discussion and on the vetting of one another's seminar papers.

We will look at some of the essays, articles, chapters, and books of leading scholars on the Cold War, such as John Lewis Gaddis, Vladimir Zubok, Vladimir Pechatnov,  Odd Arne Westad, and Marc Trachtenburg.  We will also read parts of the memoirs of key policymakers, such as Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, and George F. Kennan.   

The focus of the course will be on the preparation of a major research paper based on primary sources.  Students will be expected to examine official government documents from the State Department, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council, records from the Truman Library, congressional hearings, memoirs, and contemporary newspapers.  Students will need to integrate these findings with insights gleaned from the voluminous secondary literature.  Early in the semester students will submit a research proposal, a working bibliography, and an outline.  Later in the semester students will discuss drafts of their paper with the entire seminar.  They will then have a chance to revise their drafts and submit a final essay of about 25-30 pages, plus notes and bibliography.  Papers will be graded on the basis of content, research, style, organization, and clarity.

This course fulfills the second writing requirement.