Hist 360 Final Exam Study Guide. 25% of course grade.

Fall 07, Pennock

The final exam will take place in our regular classroom on Thursday, December 13, 8:30-11:00 am. It concentrates on material since the midterm. Please bring a blue book. Make-up exams will only be allowed in the case of a legitimate, documented emergency.

Part I: 3 I.D.’s @ 10 points each = 30 points total. Five terms will appear on the exam, and you will choose three to write about.

To complete an I.D., you should 1) explain the pertinent information such as who, what, where, when, why, how; and 2) explain its historical significance. This means that somewhere in your answer you should establish historical context – it is very important to situate your I.D. in time. You should also think about cause and effect relationships. (Was it a result of something? Did it cause something? Was it representative of a larger phenomenon or trend? Make connections.)

In terms of length, each I.D. answer should consist of a thorough paragraph: several sentences.

A list of possible I.D.s appears at the bottom of this page.

Part II: One Essay: 70 points

Two of the following questions will appear, verbatim, on the final exam. You will choose one to answer in a well-organized, comprehensive essay that uses specific evidence to support an argument.

1. How has American foreign policy been affected by the legacy of the Vietnam War? Make sure your analysis considers the assumptions that took the country into the war, and how different groups and leaders have used what they perceive as “lessons” from the war to shape (or in some cases, not shape) foreign policy since Johnson’s administration.

(You may trace this history all the way up to today, or you may stop at the end of the Clinton presidency.)

2. Over the period 1960 to 2000, what did American leaders think was the proper role of the federal government in helping economically disadvantaged people in America? More specifically, examine how national political leaders and political parties have confronted the problem of economically disadvantaged Americans (what should we do about poor people in this democratic-capitalist country?), and you should point out changes, conflicts, and consistencies in policies and positions over time. (liberals, conservatives, “new” liberals, “new” conservatives)

3. How did the social movements and events of the 1960s change America (politics, culture, society)? How did Americans in the 1970s through the 1990s incorporate and/or resist what they perceived as legacies of the Sixties? [note: this question is not meant to focus on foreign policy]

Hist 360 Final Exam, possible I.D.s:

Carmichael, Stokely

Clinton, welfare reform

Communes

Consciousness-raising groups

Contract With America

Diem, Ngo Dinh

Free Speech Movement

Goldwater, Barry

Gorbachev, Mikhail

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Immigration Act of 1965

LSD

Medicare & Medicaid

National Organization for Women

North, Oliver

Persian Gulf War

Port Huron Statement

"Reagan recession"

Reagan, tax policy

Selma, Alabama protest

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Tet Offensive

Vietnamization

Wallace, George

Woodstock