TOPICS FOR DBQ PROJECT: 1950-1995

This is a sample list of topics; you can be as narrow or specific as you like. If you found another topic you would like to research that deals with this time period, please ask (by the way we only go to 1995 because an essay on the AP exam will not be solely after this time period, so this helps us focus)

I. 1950's

  1. The Eisenhower presidency (Modern Republicanism)
  2. McCarthyism
  3. Dennis v. US (1951)
  4. HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)
  5. Alger Hiss
  6. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
  7. Civil Rights movement in the 1950's
  8. Foreign policy under John Foster Dulles (Eisenhower administration)
  9. Containment
  10. Brinkmanship
  11. Domino theory
  12. American society of the 50's
  13. Consumer culture
  14. consensus of values (conformity)
  15. rejection of conformity (Beatniks)
  16. prosperity
  17. Impact of the Baby Boom
  18. Levittown
  19. Interstate Highway Act
  20. Space race in Cold War context
  21. U-2 incident
  22. Sputnik
  23. National Defense and Education Act
  24. NASA

II. 1960's

  1. The Kennedy presidency
  2. The New Frontier
  3. Peace Corp
  4. Civil Rights (1960-1965)
  5. Rise of feminism
  6. Betty Friedan “Feminism Mystic”
  7. Warren Court & Civil Liberties expansion (Miranda & other cases)
  8. Vietnam (1960's)
  9. Kennedy foreign policy: Cold War standoff
  10. Domestic political upheaval related to Vietnam (1960's)
  11. Civil Rights (1965-1975)
  12. Lyndon Johnson 's Great Society Program
  13. War on poverty
  14. Medicare
  15. Medicaid
  16. Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policies
  17. Impact of 1968 (society – domestic & world events)

III. 1970's

  1. Kent State & Jackson State other domestic upheaval related to Vietnam
  2. Nixon-Kissinger foreign policy
  3. Vietnam
  4. China
  5. USSR
  6. Détente
  7. New Federalism
  8. Watergate crisis and resignation
  9. CREEP (committee to re-elect the president)
  10. “plumbers”
  11. Gerald Ford's presidency
  12. Pardoning Nixon
  13. Fall of Saigon
  14. Jimmy Carter's presidency
  15. Energy crises of the 1970's
  16. Iranian hostage crisis
  17. The Environmentalist movement (1960s-1990)
  18. Native American militancy (AIM)
  19. Hispanic American issues in American society (Caesar Chavez)
  20. U.S. Middle East policy (1960's-1995)
  21. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

IV. 1980's

  1. Ronald Reagan's economic policy (supply-side economics / Reaganomics)
  2. Defense changes under Reagan (buildup and Strategic Defense Initiative/ Star Wars)
  3. Resurgent fundamentalism
  4. Televangelists
  5. Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell
  6. Moral majority
  7. American/Soviet (and others) treaties regarding armament (1960-1985)
  8. SALT I
  9. SALT II

V. 1990 – 1995

  1. NAFTA
  2. Gulf War
  3. Operation Desert Shield
  4. Operation Desert Storm

VI. Themes that transcend multiple decades:

  1. Changing American culture as reflected in the media (TV)
  2. Election of 1960
  3. Civil Rights movement
  4. Vietnam War
  5. Changing American culture as reflected in protest music
  6. Late 1960s – 70s
  7. 1980s – 1990s
  8. Anti war
  9. Pro environment
  10. Anti government
  11. American response to international & domestic terrorism
  12. Camp David Accords
  13. PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization); Yassir Arafat
  14. Somalia 93’
  15. World Trade Center Bombing 93’
  16. Oklahoma City Bombing 95’