The Cold War Era

HIST 4575, Spring 2007                        
Dr. Günter Bischof
T Th 12:30 – 1:45
Room: ED 103
Office Hours: T Th 2 – 3 pm
Tel: 280-3223    e-mail: gjbhi@mobiletel.com or gjbischo@uno.edu

Click here to download this Syllabus as a Word-document

The Cold War Era

Class Readings

• Walter LaFeber. America, Russia and the Cold War, 1945-2006. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill 2008

• Jussi Hanhimäki and Odd Arne Westad, eds. The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. New York Oxford UP 2004

• Graham Greene. The Quiet American: Text and Criticism. Ed. John Clark Pratt New York: Penguin 1996.

• Aleksandr Fursenko/Timothy Naftali. “One Hell of A Gamble”: The Secret History of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: W.W. Norton 1997

• Richard Pells. Not Like US: How Europeans have loved, hated, and transformed American culture since World War II. New York: Basic Books, 1997

• Jermey Suri. Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente. Cambridge: Harvard UP 2003

• Douglas Little. American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 2002

• Jack Matlock, Jr. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. New York 2005.

Additional Readings

• Paul Gordon Lauren/Gordon A. Craig/Alexander L. George. Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Challenges of Our Time. 4th ed.New York: Oxford UP 2007

• Howard J. Wiarda. The Crisis of American Foreign Policy: The Effects of a Divided America. Lanham/MD: Rowman & Littlefield 2006

For excellent Internet Websites offering recent documents on the Cold War from archives of former Communist countries see:

1) The Cold War International History Project, Wilson Center, Washington, D.C.: http://www.cwihp.si.edu

2) The Parallel History Project (Web Site at Swiss Institute of Technology):
http://www.isn.ethhz-ch/php/

Informative Personal Homepages

3) Mark Trachtenberg’s Website: http://www.polisci.ucla/faculty/trachtenberg

4) Reinhold Wagnleitner’s “Cold War” links in his personal website (with many links to Cold War sites and a bibliography – in German):
http://www.sbg.ac.at/ges/people/wagnleitner/kalterkrieg2005/home.htm

Important Journals: Journal of Cold War Studies, Cold War History, Diplomatic History, Diplomacy & Statecraft

Required Class Work and Grading Policy

Midterm                    1/3
Final Exam                    1/3
Papers & Presentation, Class Participation     1/3

Graduate Credit
Graduate Student who enroll in this class have to write an additional book review and do additional research and write a 15-page paper!

Attendance Policy:
Students have to attend ALL of Dr. Bischof’s class lectures; unexcused absences will result in one grade drop per unexcused absence

Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is fundamental to the process of learning and evaluating academic performance. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following: cheating, plagiarism, tempering with academic records and examinations, falsifying identity, and being accessory to acts of academic dishonesty. Refer to the UNO Judicial Code for further information. The Code is available online at http://www.uno.edu/~stlf/policy%20Manual/judicial_code_pts.htm.

Students with Disabilities
Students who qualify for services will receive the academic modifications for which they are legally entitled. It is the responsibility of the student to register with the Office of Disability Services (UC 260) each semester and follow their procedures for obtaining assistance.

Class Learning Objectives

•  Know the basic political geography of the U.S.’s global presence after 1945

• Know the basic chronology of major Cold War events and the key turning points

• Understand the political culture of the major Cold War players

• Have a sense of the “Americanization” of the world during the Cold War

• Critically examine the issue of “American empire-building” in the Cold War

• Comprehend the nature of Cold War diplomacy (postwar peace-making, arms control etc.)

• Assess the changing Cold War international system vis-à-vis the pre- & post-Cold War international arena

Weekly Class and Reading Schedule

I. T Jan 16       

Introduction: Themes, Historiography, and Periodization of the  Cold War: Why do we study the Cold War?
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 1

Th Jan 18       

Origins of the Cold War I: World War II
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War. ch. 1 Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 1

II. T Jan 23       

Origins of the Cold War II: 1945-47
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, chs. 2-3, Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, chs. 2-3

Th Jan 25       

The Dawning of the Nuclear Era & Militarization of the Cold War
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 4, Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 4
Film Clips: U.S. Marshall Plan propaganda films

                    
III. T Jan 30       

Americanization: Coca-Colonization
Read: Pells, Not Like US (entire) Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 13

Book Review (2-3 pp): Review of Pells’ Not Like US --  How significant is cultural diplomacy in US Cold War strategy? How significant were the intellectual Cold Wars against communism?

Th Feb 1       

The Cold War in Asia I – Japan, Korea
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold War, ch. 5-6 Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 6

IV. T Feb 6       

Eisenhower’s New Look
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 7-8 Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 9

            
Th Feb 8       

Cold War Battle Ground: Near East I
Read: Little, American Orientalism, pp. 1-75, 117-56, 193-66

V. T Feb 13       

Between East and West: The Neutral Option

Th Feb 15       

The Cold War in Asia II – China
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 10

VI. Feb 17 - 23    MARDI GRAS HOLIDAYS

+ Book Review Due for BAIS students (3 pp): Lauren/Craig/George, Force and Statecraft – how has the craft of diplomacy changed in the course of the 20th century?

VII. T Feb 27       

Decolonization & the Cold War on the Periphery: VietnamRead novel: Greene, The Quiet American (entire) Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 11

Th Mar 1        

The Cold War on the Periphery: Latin America
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 12

VIII. T Mar 6       

Cold War Battleground: Cuba and Cuban Missile Crisis
Read: Fursenko/Naftali, One Hell of a Gamble (entire)

Th Mar 8       

JFK & The Cold War in Europe: The Gaullist Challenge and Berlin Crisis Read:  LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 9 Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 10

IX. Mar 13        MIDTERM EXAM

Th Mar 15       

Cold War Battleground: American Interventionism & the War in  Vietnam
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 10 Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 14

            
X. Mar 20        

Détente – Europe
Read: Suri, Power and Protest, pp. 1-163 Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 15

            
Th Mar 22       

Détente – Soviet Union & China
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 11 Suri, Power and Protest, pp. 164-271

XI. T Mar 27       

Cold War & Israel: Near East II
Read: Little, American Orientalism,  77-116, 267-318

Th Mar 29        No Class!

XII. Apr 2 - 8        SPRING BREAK

XIII. T  Apr 10   

Carter and the Foreign Policy of Human Rights Read: Little, American Orientalism, Pp. 229-66, Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 16

        
Th Apr 12        

Reagan and the Second Cold War
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 12, Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 17, Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, pp. 3-173

                
XIV. T Apr 17       

Nuclear Fear:
Movie:  The Day After

Th Apr 19       

Gorbachev, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 13, Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 18, Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, pp. 174-331

XV.Apr 24 T         Class presentation of papers I

Paper Due (10-12 pp; graduate students 15 pp): Write a research paper of your choice on the theme of East-West conflict during the Cold War. Any case study of American or Soviet regional, cultural, political, economic influence in the world is acceptable. Address the theme of superpower hegemony and empire building during the Cold War

        
Th Apr 26        Class presentation of papers II                


XVI. T May 1       

The “New World Order” and the Post-Cold War World Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 14 Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 19

+ Book Review for Graduate Students (3 pp): Review Wiarda’s The Crisis of American Foreign Policy -- Is American foreign policy in a state of crisis in the 21 st century?

Th May 3       

Bush and the Crisis of American Empire
Read: LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, ch. 15

Thursday May 10        1:00 – 3:00 FINAL EXAM