LSC Connections Between Various Aspects of The Cold War Discussion

Part I

World War II shaped the course of American history perhaps more than any other set of events. Overseas, the U.S. abandoned neutrality and engaged with allies to a greater extent than ever before as Germany and Japan rampaged across Europe and Asia. At home, the U.S. pursued full-scale war mobilization with a level government spending that dwarfed the New Deal and unprecedented control over economic production. In the end, the bloodiest and most destructive conflict in history cost 60-80 million lives around the world and reshaped life for various groups of Americans during and after the war. What aspects of World War II at home or abroad do you think might connect to issues and events in the world today?

1. Post an open-ended question that will engage your fellow students and encourage genuine, robust, and meaningful responses that will build upon your ideas and enrich the discussion. Try to connect the historical topic to issues, events, ideas, and/or challenges that our society faces today. 

http://www.americanyawp.com/text/24-world-war-ii/ 

Part II. 

After World War II, U.S. economic and military power extended beyond the Western Hemisphere into Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa while global powers like Britain and France retreated from their empires. As the U.S. expanded its influence around the world, it actively sought to “contain” communism to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe through both interventions in foreign countries as well as the rapid expansion of nuclear weapons and aerospace technology. At home, the Cold War took the form of “red scare” anti-communist hysteria that required adherence to Christian nationalist values and attacked academics, Hollywood figures, and even government officials as “deviants.” Do you think there are connections between various aspects of the Cold War and issues and events today?

1. Post an open-ended question that will engage your fellow students and encourage genuine, robust, and meaningful responses that will build upon your ideas and enrich the discussion. Try to connect the historical topic to issues, events, ideas, and/or challenges that our society faces today. 

http://www.americanyawp.com/text/25-the-cold-war/ 

Part III 

The G.I. Bill, the continuation of key New Deal programs, suburbanization, and the Baby Boom contributed to a massive expansion of the consumer capitalist economy in Post-WWII America. The growing middle class could now afford to own homes, automobiles, and a huge variety of household goods recently considered luxury items. But such affluence was not enjoyed equally among all groups of Americans. Racial minorities were largely shut out of homeownership, perhaps the most important aspect of middle class life, and continued racial oppression prompted new efforts in the struggle for Black freedom. Traditional gender roles were reinforced by the men who controlled the major institutions of society and women who weren’t confined to the home were limited in their opportunities outside the home. Also simmering below the surface of the Affluent Society was a cultural rebellion, mostly among young people, represented by Rock ‘n’ Roll, jazz, and the beat movement.

1. Post an open-ended question that will engage your fellow students and encourage genuine, robust, and meaningful responses that will build upon your ideas and enrich the discussion. Try to connect the historical topic to issues, events, ideas, and/or challenges that our society faces today. 

http://www.americanyawp.com/text/26-the-affluent-society/

Part IV 

The 1960s in America was a decade of social and political volatility at home and brewing Cold War conflict overseas. The counterculture movement emerged as a rejection of the conformist middle class values of consumer capitalism. The Black Freedom movement entered a new phase with Sit-Ins, Freedom Rides, and other direct action protests confronting ongoing Jim Crow racial oppression in the South, while inner city black populations in places like Los Angeles and Detroit exploded in violence in response to grinding poverty and racist police brutality, prompting the Black Power movement and new ideas about Black identity. Latinos, women, the LGBT community, environmental activists, and others organized similarly against various forms of oppression and injustice. Several of these protest movements dovetailed with the growing antiwar movement that emerged as the U.S. waged a brutal war in Vietnam. Cold War anxieties were already heightened after the botched Bay of Pigs invasion and the subsequent Missile Crisis in Cuba, which had brought the world closer than ever to the brink of nuclear war.

1. Post an open-ended question that will engage your fellow students and encourage genuine, robust, and meaningful responses that will build upon your ideas and enrich the discussion. Try to connect the historical topic to issues, events, ideas, and/or challenges that our society faces today. 

http://www.americanyawp.com/text/27-the-sixties/