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David Alexander

Google Earth

 

LECTURES FOR THE FOURTH EXAM

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FOREIGN POLICY CONCERNS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY:  This short written lecture addresses where the United States believed its foreign policy concerns lay in the decades before World War I.  Its purpose is to show that the nation had a strong western-hemisphere orientation before WWI.  This meant the US was largely unprepared and unaware when World War I erupted.

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You need to know the following:

  • Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy. 

  • The Panama Canal 

  • The Roosevelt Corollary 

  • Roosevelt in Asia 

  • Dollar Diplomacy 

  • Missionary or Moral Diplomacy 

  • The American Occupation of Vera Cruz 

  • Pancho Villa 

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THE ROAD TO WORLD WAR I and WWI:  Here, two lectures turned attention to one of the most significant events of the 20th century: WORLD WAR I. This lecture discussed the origins of the war, the nature of warfare in the industrial age, the weapons involved, and the United States’ role in the conflict.

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You should know the following:

  • How WWI started. 

  • Franz Ferdinand and Sarajevo

  • Conditions in Europe before the War – especially in regard to Germany

  • Trench Warfare 

  • The Weapons of World War I 

  • The dates of WWI

  • The Western Front 

  • Verdun, The Somme

  • Plastic Surgery Advances in WWI

  • American behavior as a neutral

  • The Lusitania 

  • Unrestricted Submarine Warfare 

  • The Zimmerman Telegram 

  • April 2, 1918

  • November 11, 1918 

  • Belleau Wood

  • The Fourteen Points - especially #14

  • The situation in Europe after WWI

 

THE END OF PROGRESSIVISM AND THE 1920s: The subject of this WRITTEN lecture needs little explanation. It explained the decline of the Progressive Movement, examined American culture and society in the 1920s, and explained the causes of the Great Depression of 1929-1941.Here, the 1920s was introduced as the culture and society that emerged from the combination of the Gilded Age and Progressive/reform eras. The 1920s, after all, had a second industrial revolution, technological invention, a lot of investment, big business, and entrepreneurs, JUST LIKE THE GILDED AGE. Thanks to the work of early-1900s reformers, however, the 1920s did NOT have a Triangle Fire, a Cherry Mine disaster, a Johnstown Flood, a Homestead Strike, or a Great Railroad Strike. Instead, the 1920s to some extent brought the nation a tamer version of the Gilded Age. Reformers, in other words, from Farmers’ Alliancemen to Progressives like Woodrow Wilson, had an impact on American society. 

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You need to know the following:

  • Government regulations during World War I. What did the national government control during the conflict? 

  • The various federal administrations and boards created during WWI. 

  • Freedom of speech during World War I. 

  • Schenck Vs USA 

  • The labor strikes that erupted in the aftermath of WWI. 

  • The Red Scare 

  • A. Mitchell Palmer and the Palmer Raids 

  • The Second Industrial Revolution 

  • Henry Ford 

  • The 1920s presidents and the behavior of the national government between 1921-1929. 

  • The acceptance of big business.

  • The discovery of insulin and how the relaxed feelings about big business accelerated its discovery and production.

  • Significant authors and literature of the 1920s. 

  • The Scopes Trial 

  • Leopold and Leob and their significance in the Scopes Trial.

  • Prohibition and the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. 

  • Al Capone 

  • Speakeasies 

  • The problems within the 1920s economy. 

  • Buying on the margin 

  • October 29, 1929. 

 

THE GREAT DEPRESSION:  This lecture described the origins of and conditions during the economic catastrophe known as the Great Depression. It also examined how on president in particular – Herbert Hoover – tried to deal with the crisis.  Hoover’s background is examined and his actions are analyzed for intent and effectiveness.

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You need to know the following:

  • Great Depression unemployment statistics. 

  • The destruction of the American economy between 1929 and 1932 

  • Black Blizzards 

  • The Dust Bowl 

  • What was happening in the US and the global economy to generate this huge depression

  • Herbert Hoover 

  • Hoover’s attempts to relieve the Great Depression. 

  • High Wage Policy

  • The Smoot-Hawley Tariff

  • The Reconstruction Finance Corporation 

  • The Federal Home Loan Act

 

THE NEW DEAL:  Hoover’s policies had little effect on the Great Depression, which lead to his being replaced by Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.  This lecture examines Roosevelt’s attempt to deal with the depression.  He signed a set of laws that are collectively known as the New Deal.  This lecture deals with the laws that made up the New Deal and assesses their effectiveness. 

 

You need to know the following:

  • Franklin Roosevelt  - his biography and background.

  • Polio and its significance to Franklin Roosevelt.

  • The First Inaugural

  • The Banking Crisis

  • The Bank Holiday 

  • The Emergency Banking Act 

  • Fireside Chats

  • The First New Deal and Second New Deal

  • The complexity of the New Deal

  • AAA, TVA, CCC, NIRA, NRA, PWA 

  • The Second New Deal 

  • FDR's critics

  • Social Security Act 

  • Fair Labor Standards Act 

  • Works Progress Administration

  • The effects of the New Deal

  • The problems within the New Deal

 

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