1
American Studies 185b Spring 2014
The Culture of the Cold WarMr. Whitfield
Block D M W Th 11-11:50
This seminar addresses American political culture from the end of the Second World War until the revival of liberal thought and radical criticism. Attention will be paid to the specter of totalitarianism, the "end of ideology," the crisis of civil liberties and the strains on the pluralistic consensus under the impact of anti-Communism.
1) Jan 13 MIntroduction
No assignment
2) Jan 15W"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
T. S. Eliot, The WasteLand
Lecture on the atomic bomb
Read: John Hersey, Hiroshima
3) Jan 16 ThBy the bomb's early light
Discuss: Martin J. Sherwin, "The Atomic Bomb and theOrigins of
the Cold War," in Dinnerstein and Jackson (eds.), American Vistas, II (on LATTE as “Atomic Diplomacy”)
4) Jan 22 WThe paymaster in the death camp
Discuss: Dwight Macdonald, "The Responsibility of Peoples," in
Memoirs of a Revolutionist (on LATTE)
5) Jan 23 ThThe concentration camp universe
Discuss: Hannah Arendt, Totalitarianism, chapters 12
6) Jan 27 MComplete discussion of Totalitarianism, chapters 34
7) Jan 29 WLecture on the origins of the Cold War
No assignment
8) Jan 30 ThX marks the spot. . .
Discuss: George F. Kennan, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," and
Walter Lippmann, The Cold War(on LATTE)
9) Feb3 MComplete discussion of "The Sources of Soviet Conduct"and The
Cold War
10) Feb 5 WThe personal is political
Discuss: essays by Arthur Koestler and Ignazio Silone in
Crossman, ed., The God That Failed
11) Feb 6 ThDiscuss essays by Richard Wright and Louis Fischerin TheGod
That Failed
12) Feb 10 MDestroyer of worlds
Lecture on J. Robert Oppenheimer
No assignment
13) Feb 12 W"If I had to choose between betraying my country andbetraying
my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country"E. M. Forster
Lecture on the Hiss/Chambers case
Read: Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War, chapters 1-2
14) Feb 13 ThThe Hiss/Chambers case, closed
No assignment
Read: Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism, pp. 134-151,190-220
15) Feb 24 MThe crisis of civil liberties
Discuss: Richard Rovere, Senator Joe McCarthy, chapters13, and
Schrecker, The Age ofMcCarthyism, pp. 237-241
16) Feb 26 WPatriot games
Complete discussion of Senator Joe McCarthy, chapters 46,see
See It Now, "A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy" (on DVD)
17) Feb 27 ThFIRST EXAMINATION
18) Mar 3 M"Are you now, or have you ever been--?"
Discuss: Testimony of Larry Parks, Budd Schulberg,EliaKazan
and Lee J. Cobb, in Eric Bentley(ed.), Thirty Years of Treason, pp. 308347,434-457, 482496, 653666 (on LATTE)
19) Mar 5 WSeeing Red
Discuss: Hollywood on Trial (on DVD) and Schrecker, The
Age of McCarthyism, pp. 242-257
20) Mar 6 Th"How deeply our children will be ashamed. . . rememberinghow
in so strange a time/common integrity could look like courage"Yevgeny Yevtushenko, "Talk"
Discuss: Testimony of Lillian Hellman and Arthur Miller, in
Bentley (ed.), Thirty Years of Treason, pp. 533543, 791825 (on LATTE); and Whitfield, Culture of the Cold War, ch. 5
21) Mar 10 MNo way to treat a lady
Discuss: Lillian Hellman, Scoundrel Time (on reserve);
Whitfield, Culture of the Cold War, chapter 8
22) Mar 12 W"In our time, informing is a duty"Red Army defector Walter
Krivitsky, quoted in Whittaker Chambers, Witness (1952)
Discuss: Elia Kazan (dir.), On the Waterfront
23) Mar 13 ThThe politics of pragmatism
Discuss: Sidney Hook, Political Power and PersonalFreedom,
chapters 9, 11, 1314, 16
24) Mar17 MComplete discussion of Political Power and PersonalFreedom,
chapters 18-22
25) Mar 19 WObedience to authority
Discuss: Edward Dmytryk (dir.), The Caine Mutiny; and
Whitfield, Culture of the Cold War, chapters 3, 67
26) Mar 20 ThPublic places, private faces
Discuss: Robert Redford (dir.), Quiz Show
27) Mar 24 MThe power and the glory: lecture on Reinhold Niebuhr
Read: Whitfield, Culture of the Cold War, chapter 4
28) Mar 26 WSECOND EXAMINATION
29) Mar 27 ThA few bad men
Discuss: C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite, chapters 15
30) Mar 31 MContinue discussion of The Power Elite, chapters 610
31) Apr2 WComplete discussion of The Power Elite, chapters 1115
32) Apr 3ThNukes and kooks
Discuss: Stanley Kubrick (dir.), Dr. Strangelove, or How ILearned
to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
33) Apr 7 MThe "comfortable concentration camp"
Discuss: Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, chapters19
34) Apr 9 WComplete discussion of The Feminine Mystique, chapters1014
35) Apr 10ThThe end of Cold War ideology
Discuss: Noam Chomsky, "The Responsibility ofIntellectuals," in
American Power and the New Mandarins (on LATTE)
36) Apr 14 MEven paranoids have enemies
Discuss: John Frankenheimer (dir.), The ManchurianCandidate,
and Whitfield, Culture of the Cold War, chapter 9
37) Apr 23 WPraxis makes perfect: lecture on the Frankfurt School
No assignment
38) Apr 24 ThFrom the Fifties to the Sixties
Discuss: Whitfield, "The Stunt Man: Abbie Hoffman (1936-
1989)," inBarbara L. Tischler, ed.,Sights on the Sixties, pp. 103-19 (on LATTE)
39) Apr 28 WConclusion
No assignment
REQUIREMENTS
A THIRD EXAMINATION will be given during the final exam week, to cover only the material since the second exam was administered.
A critical essay of about 7 pages is also required, on a book dealing with a significant and relevant feature of this era, to be determined in consultation with the instructor. The paper should be analytical and interpretive. It is due Wednesday, May 1, with no exceptions or extensions apart from medical reasons. WARNING: The grade on the paper will be lowered in cases of egregious lapses of proofreading (such as spelling and punctuation) and errors of grammar. All unacceptable papers must be resubmitted, with corrections made in accordance with the comments of the instructor. These rewritten papers are due at the time of the third examination, in order to complete the requirements of the course, though the grade on the original paper will not be changed nor its significance reduced.
Attendance and participation in this seminar are also required.
Because computers are distracting, please do not use them in the classroom, except by special permission.
The following books are available for purchase in the bookstore:
Arendt, HannahTotalitarianism
Crossman, Richard, ed.The God That Failed
Friedan, BettyThe Feminine Mystique
Hersey, JohnHiroshima
Mills, C. WrightThe Power Elite
Rovere, RichardSenator Joe McCarthy
Schrecker, Ellen, ed.The Age of McCarthyism, 2nd. ed.
Whitfield, Stephen J.The Culture of the Cold War
All other assignments are available in LATTE.
Read carefully Section 3 of Rights and Responsibilities, to ensure that all work submitted in Amst 185b satisfies the criteria of academic integrity.
Any student who has a documented disability should inform the instructor at the beginning of the semester so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
office hours: 1-2:30 MW in Brown 314 and by appointment (x63035).