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MIDTERM
EXAM STUDY GUIDE
AMERICA
IN THE VIETNAM WAR ERA (HI346)
Instructor:
Dr. Randall Stephens, Fall 2005
syllabus
The first exam will consist of ten short
answer questions (4-5 sentences each, 50% of test grade) and one long essay
(50%). Be prepared to answer questions on any of the material covered
in class: the readings from your texts and from handouts, as well as lecture
content and film clips.
ESSAY QUESTION
You will receive one of three questions below on the essay section.
You will not know which one of the three will be on the exam, so study
for all of them. Some pointers: answer the question as directly and
clearly as possible. Be sure to address all the components of the
question. Remember to integrate the relevant reading and lecture
material to support your argument. Always avoid vague generalizations.
Refer to specific events, policies, groups, ideas and individuals in your
answers. A blue book will be provided for your longer essay.
Do not make any markings, outlines, or notes on scratch paper prior to
the exam.
1. As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, few Americans were prepared
for the significant changes that would take place in the new decade.
Yet many transformations were already underway. How did certain trends
and ideas of the 1950s prepare the way for the coming decade? Write
an essay on the individuals, movements, and events that would later shape
the 1960s.
2. How did Michael Harrington’s book, The Other America, alter
the nation’s policy toward the poor? Discuss the affect Harrington’s
book had on Americans and on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in
particular.
3. Describe what was “new” about the new right and the new left.
How did both political movements represent a departure from earlier political
movements?
TERMS, NAMES, EVENTS, IDEAS
Be prepared to provide a four to five sentence synopsis of any of the
items below. If you are familiar with the terms and names below,
it should help you considerably on the exam. Remember, it is best to know
the “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” and “why” of these. The “why”
or the significance of any term or name is most important.
The 1960 presidential election
David Farber’s “consumer equality” theme
Vice President Richard Nixon’s kitchen debate with Nikita Khrushchev
The Peace Corps
The Bay of Pigs invasion
John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier program
The Warren Commission Report
Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative
Office of Economic Opportunity
“Judicial Activism” in the 1960s
The sit-in movement
SNCC
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
White Citizens’ Council
David Farber on the cultural significance of the Beverly Hillbillies
Black Power
Resurrection City
Brian Ward’s on “pop biracialism”
Stokely Carmichael
Barry Goldwater’s Conscience of a Conservative
The Students for a Democratic Society
C. Wright Mills
George Wallace
Young Americans for Freedom
Ayn Rand on the “collectivist society”
Billy James Hargis
Evangelical resurgence in the 1960s
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