Introductory description

This second year module will explore and examine the presidency of Harry S Truman (1945-1952). Each weekly lecture will introduce a new facet of Truman's presidency; the corresponding seminars will then invite students to consider Truman's impact on the topic alongside the topic's impact on post war and cold war US history (and global history). It will address key themes such as presidential power, race and resistance, hot and cold war, peacemaking and re-conversion, post war foreign and domestic policy, american exceptionalism and presidential legacies. This module will focus on Truman's first and second administrations (1945-1952) but will consider his whole lifetime (1884 - 1972) and beyond.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. The First Sixty Years – Seminar: Failure
2. Accidental President – Seminar: The Atomic Bomb
3. Cold War – Seminar: The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
4. The Fair Deal – Seminar: Education
5. Truman and Civil Rights – Seminar: Desegregation
6. Reading Week
7. 1948 Election – Seminar: 'Dewey Defeats Truman'
8. Korea – Seminar: NSC-68 and Escalation
9. Anticommunism - Seminar: McCarthyism
10. Memory and Legacy – Seminar: The Truman Library.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand Harry Truman's life and work, his path to the Presidency, impact on US social development and global politics.
• Critically analyse historical writing about Truman and identify what has typically drawn focus, how Truman has been memorialised and how the historiography has developed over time and in response to contemporary understanding.
• Critically engage with the reach and restrictions of presidential power.
• Develop a deeper understanding of mid-century American history, its relevance and importance to contemporary understanding.
• Improve study, research and communication skills.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Research element

See Assessment.

Interdisciplinary

This module explores an explicitly political focus on a period often characterised through social experience. Students will be asked to consider historical developments alongside examinations of political power; how it is gained, wielded and lost within the context of US governance. Students will explore the importance of individual and system to their historical engagements.

International

This module will focus on the history of the USA.

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

Use a range of tools to conduct second year appropriate primary and secondary research. Develop strong analytical and evaluation skills. Further develop critical thinking skills. Communicate clearly and effectively in small and large group discussions. Build understanding of research processes and interdisciplinary research methods. Build digital research skills.