HISTORY 478 GROUP PRESENTATIONS                FALL 2009

27 OCTOBER
1. Pretend that it is 1935.  Nazi Germany will be hosting the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  Should Americans boycott the games?

2. Pretend that it is late February 1945.  U.S. and British bombers have just dropped incendiary bombs on the German city of Dresden, deliberately creating a firestorm that killed 35,000 people, mostly civilians.  Was the firebombing justified?

29 OCTOBER
3. Pretend that it is 1962.  The government of Brazil has just nationalized property owned by the U.S. company ITT (International Telephone and Telegraph).  In response, the U.S. Congress passed the “Hickenlooper Amendment,” which threatens to cut U.S. foreign aid to countries acting as Brazil did.  Is the Hickenlooper Amendment justified, or is it economic imperialism?

5 NOVEMBER
4. Pretend that it is the mid-1960s.  Should the U.S. continue its policy of trade and travel restrictions on Cuba?

5. Pretend that it is 1953.  The CIA has just helped overthrow Iran’s democratically-elected government led by Mohammed Mossadeq.  Was the U.S.-backed coup justifiable?

10 NOVEMBER
6. It is 2009.  In the early 1970s, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger authorized covert action to undermine Chile’s democratically-elected government led by socialist Salvador Allende.  With Allende gone, Nixon and Kissinger then supported the murderous right-wing dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.  Nixon and Pinochet are both dead, but Kissinger is alive.  Should he stand trial?

17 NOVEMBER
7. Pretend that it is 1972.  The U.S. military is engaged in bombing raids over North Vietnam.  Jane Fonda, a Hollywood celebrity and antiwar activist, has just visited North Vietnam, protesting the U.S. war and giving moral support to the United States’ enemy.  Is she a traitor or a hero?

19 NOVEMBER
8. It is 2009.  Sub-Saharan Africa countries such as Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Angola have become sites of new oil production for international oil companies.  Looking back from the 1990s to today, has the growth of the oil industry helped or hurt these countries?

1 DECEMBER
9. Pretend that it is 1993.  The final proposal for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is in the works.  Should NAFTA be created?

10. It is 2009.  George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes for his role in the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.