History 478 Fall 2011 Response Questions

U.S. International Relations in the Twentieth Century
Professor Chris Endy

 General Instructions on the Response Assignments
** Unless the instructions say otherwise, please answer all the questions for any given response assignment in this class.  A good answer will consist of about 5-7 thoughtful sentences per question and will draw specific examples from the assigned readings.  Whenever possible, write down specific page numbers in parentheses.  This will help you later with class discussion and with the essays.

History 478    Fall 2011         Response One (based on the Early Documents)

1. Use the evidence in the Early Documents to argue that Americans' economic self-interest was the primary driving force guiding U.S. international relations.  In other words, interpret the Early Documents through the economic lens.

2. Use the evidence in the Early Documents to argue that Americans' desire to gain more power vis-a-vis other nations and empires (especially the European empires). In other words, interpret the Early Documents through the strategic lens.

Note: A good answer for each of the above questions should draw on brief quotations from four or five different primary sources.


History 478    Fall 2011         Response Two (based on Alidio)

1. In analyzing the letters of Harry and Mary Cole, Alidio describes their “intimate complicity in an ideology of ruleâ€ï¿½ over the Philippines.  How exactly were the Coles intimately complicit in the U.S. project of occupying the Philippines and remaking the Filipinos?

2. Describe something in Alidio's article that particularly surprised you.  Explain the reasons for your reaction.  Why should more Americans today know about this little piece of history that you have selected?  Note: Please select an issue or topic that you haven't already written about in this response.

History 478    Fall 2011         Response Three (based on Tucker)

Please answer two of the following three questions.

1. Compare the expansion of U.S.-based companies in Central and South America to the earlier process of U.S. territorial expansion into lands held by Native Americans.  Using the Tucker chapter as well as the relevant Early Documents, what key parallels and  differences do you see?  Pay particular attention to white Americans' views of nature and  of non-white peoples.

2. To what extent is the concept of "empire by invitation" useful in explaining the history of U.S. banana companies in Central and South America?  What information provided by Tucker fits this model?  What information does not?

3. What were the human and environmental costs of widespread banana production?  Do you personally think that the costs were worth it?  Why or why not?

History 478    Fall 2011    Response Four         (based on Hunt, Chapter 2)

Please answer both questions.

1. Pretend that it is late November 1941 and that you are a U.S. policymaker.  Give four different reasons why the U.S. government is on the right side in its dispute with Japan.  For each reason, refer to at least one specific primary source in Hunt's chapter.

2. Do the same for the Japanese government's position.

-Come to class prepared to assume the position of both sides for a mock debate with your classmates.
-Although not part of the written response assignment, also consider this question: Which of our big three causal models (strategic, economic, or cultural) do you think best explains why the United States and Japan went to war in 1941? 

History 478            Fall 2011                         Response Five            (based on Hunt, Chapter 3)

Please answer two of the following three questions.

1. What adjectives would you choose to describe the Soviet position and Soviet attitudes in these documents?  Explain briefly with reference to specific primary sources.

2. When do you think the Cold War began?  Is there a particular event that best marks its beginning?  What is it about that event that makes it a good symbolic starting point for the Cold War?  Which primary sources show this start?

3. Play the "blame game."  Which nation do you think deserves most responsibility for starting the Cold War?  Which primary sources best support your answer?

History 478            Fall 2011                         Response Six            (based on Hunt, Chapter 4)

Please answer two of the following three questions.

1. Which lens or lenses (strategic, economic, cultural) best explain the foreign policy decision-making of Mao's China?

2. How well do you think Truman handled the Korean crisis during its early stages (1948 through June 1950)?  Could he have done anything better?

3. How well do you think Truman handled the Korean crisis during its later stages (after June 1950)?  Could he have done anything better?

 

History 478    Fall 2011        Document Response Seven        (based on Cullather article) 

Please answer both questions.

1. Which interpretative model (strategic, economic, or cultural) do you think best explains the failure of U.S. modernization and “nation-building” in Afghanistan?

2. Think about some of our earlier readings in this class, especially the Early Documents, the Tucker article, or the Alidio article.  Explain one interesting continuity or change you find between (A) Cullather’s story about U.S. modernization efforts in Afghanistan and (B) a passage from one of these three earlier reading assignments.


History 478    Fall 2011        Document Response Eight        (based on Hunt chapter 5)

Please answer all three questions.

1. Give Kennedy a grade (A through F) for how well he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis. 
2. Do the same for Khrushchev.
3. Do the same for Castro.
Note: As always, be sure to refer to specific primary sources in your response.  In assigning your grade, consider these important crisis-management criteria:
    A. Were his actions appropriate given what was at stake for his nation?
    B. How skillfully did he communicate or negotiate during the crisis?
    C. What did his nation gain or lose at the end of the crisis?

History 478    Fall 2011        Document Response Nine        (based on Hunt chapter 6)

Please answer two of these three questions.

1. What were the concerns and calculations of the Vietnamese revolutionaries?  In your mind, what value or issue was most important to them (nationalism, communism, land reform, etc.)?  Pick two primary sources that you think best illustrate your answer.

2. What were the major critiques of U.S. policy articulated by some of Johnson’s advisors?  Why do you think that Johnson did not follow their advice?

3. If you could show President Obama one primary source from this chapter, which one would it be and why?  What lesson for today would that primary source reveal?

History 478    Fall 2011        Document Response Ten   (based on Hunt, “Lords of War”)

Please answer two of these three questions.

1. Some Americans today believe that the United States could have won its war in Vietnam if only U.S. soldiers and Americans at home had kept up their morale and will to fight.  We can call this the “stab in the back” thesis.  To what extent does this set of primary sources support the “stab in the back” interpretation?

2. During the Cold War, many Americans held to the “communist monolith” belief and assumed that the North Vietnamese government and the NLF were “puppets” of either Moscow or Beijing.  To what extent does this set of primary sources support the “monolith” interpretation?

3. How positively would you rate Nixon’s policymaking during the Vietnam War?  Find at least one thing that he did well and at least one thing that he did poorly, and explain your overall evaluation of Nixon.

Abbreviations used in the chapter
ARVN: Army of the Republic of Vietnam (the anti-communist South Vietnamese army)
COSVN: Central Office for South Vietnam (the political-military office of the Vietnamese Communist Party for South Vietnam)
DRV: Democratic Republic of Vietnam (the Communist-led government in the North, based in Hanoi)
GVN: Government of Vietnam (a shorthand used by U.S. officials to refer to the government of South Vietnam, officially known as the Republic of Vietnam, based in Saigon)
NLF: National Liberation Front (the communist-led popular front movement active in the south)
PAVN: People’s Army of Vietnam (the DRV’s army)
VC: Viet Cong (literally, Red Vietnamese; used by Americans and Diem to refer to both the NLF and the PAVN)

History 478    Fall 2011                Response Eleven (on Hunt chapter 7)
Please answer two of these three questions.

1. Which lens (strategic, economic, or cultural) seems most useful for explaining U.S. relations with Iran from the 1940s through 1978?  Why is that lens more important than the others?  (Note: we all know by now that the lens are closely related to each other.  Still, if you had to pick just one, what would it be and why?)

2. Was Khomeini more anti-American or more anti-imperial?  For this question, “anti-American” refers to a deep-seated cultural or religious dislike of Americans and all things American.  “Anti-imperial” refers to criticism of specific U.S. foreign policies on grounds that they constitute a form of U.S. imperialism that harms Iranian national sovereignty and self-determination.

3. To what extent does Carter deserve responsibility for the breakdown in U.S.-Iranian relations in 1979?  Did he have available realistic options that could have avoided the breakdown?

History 478    Fall 2011        Response Twelve (on “American Business in the World”)
Please answer both questions, or skip the questions and do option B.

1. Based on the readings, how important was the U.S. government to the rise of multinational corporations after World War II?  Summarize your findings by choosing two adjectives or brief phrases that convey the role of the U.S. government.  Make sure you have at least two specific examples from the readings for each adjective or phrase.

2. Based on the readings, what kinds of international economic polices should the U.S. government pursue today?  You can discuss current economic events in your answer, but be sure to draw at least two specific examples from the readings to support your recommendations for today.

OPTION B: Skip questions 1 and 2 and instead do a primary source activity for this chapter.  Follow the same rules as the earlier primary source activity.  Your thesis should argue what your chosen source would add to the sources assembled by Blaszczyk and Scranton.  Special note #1: Because of the “up-to-the-minute” nature of this chapter, an article by an economist or other commentator writing in 2011 about current events counts as a primary source.  Special note #2: It is not enough to pick a source from 2011 or 2010 and say that this source adds to the chapter simply because it conveys more recent events that took place after the chapter’s publication in 2006.  That is too easy.  Instead, think carefully about what themes, topics, or perspectives are not in the existing chapter and explain what your source would add.  You are, of course, also encouraged to find a primary source from the more distant past, such as the 1940s or 1970s, or even the 19th century.

History 478    Fall 2011                Response Thirteen (on Makdisi and Bush)
Please answer both questions.

1. Both George W. Bush and Ussama Makdisi have tried to answer the question: “Why do they hate us?”  How are their two answers similar?  How are they different?  What are the pros and cons of Bush’s explanation?  (Try to find both something positive and something critical to say on Bush.)

2. If we follow Makdisi’s analysis on the roots of militant Islam, what are three specific policies that the United States should adopt to promote U.S. security?

History 478    Fall 2011        Response Fourteen (on Cullison and Obama readings)
Please answer both questions.

1. Based on the documents that Cullison uncovered, what were two sources of strength for the Al Qaeda organization?  What were two weaknesses?  If you were to pick one particular strength or weakness that was most surprising to you, which would it be and why?

2. Consider the readings on Obama’s recent trip to Hawaii.  If you were a top advisor to Obama, what kind of advice would you give him when thinking about U.S. policy toward Asia?  Identify and explain specific passages from the readings that you find either insightful or misguided.