HISTORY 3402: THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1865
Brendan O’Malley, Instructor - History Department - Brooklyn College
Fall 2012
FDR ESSAY
Due Date: Monday, Dec. 3—hard copy
given to me at the beginning of class
(please do not wait until the last minute
to print it out!).
You will be writing an essay of about
three-to-four pages (double-spaced with
a twelve-point font). You have two
options for this essay, but both options
have a common requirement: You must
read the entirety of “Franklin D.
Roosevelt: The Patrician as
Opportunist,” a chapter from Richard
Hofstadter’s The American Political
Tradition (New York: Knopf, 1948). This
reading is available as two files on the
“Readings” page of the course website.
1932 FDR campaign pin
OPTIONS:
1) SUMMARY/RESPONSE PAPER: The first option is a relatively straightforward
summary/response paper toward the Hofstadter reading. In your paper, you will
summarize the author’s main points and either agree or disagree with each, citing your
reason why. An excellent guide to writing a an effective summary/response paper can be
found here:
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/rst/pop5i.cfm
I’d highly recommend that you format your essay in one of the two ways this webpage.
(You might also consider reading some background material on Hofstadter—there are
some excellent essays about the historian and his work listed at the bottom of the
Wikipedia entry on him, including several that can be accessed through Brooklyn College
academic databases like JSTOR and Project MUSE.
2) AN OP-ED PIECE ON A ROOSEVELT POLICY: In this option, you will find a
contemporary Op-Ed piece either supporting or criticizing one of Roosevelt’s policies
during his administration, from the New Deal Era through World War II. After reading
about Roosevelt in the Brinkley textbook and in the Hofstadter essay, you should have
enough background to contextualize and analyze such a piece. The Op-Ed piece should
be about a major policy of the FDR administration. Some possibilities could be (but are
not limited to):
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Emergency Banking Act (Mar. 1933)
Social Security Act (passed Aug. 1935)
1937 Judicial Procedures Reform Bill (“Court-Packing Plan”)
Executive Order 9066: Japanese Internment (Feb. 1942)
FINDING AN OP-ED PIECE: Find an opinion or editorial piece published around the
time of the enactment of the policy you have chosen. Please note that an opinion or
editorial is different from a straightforward reporting of the news. An editorial expresses
the opinion of the newspaper’s editors (and thus has no byline), while an opinion piece
conveys the opinion of an attributed individual or group of authors. If you are having
trouble distinguishing between an op/ed and regular newspaper piece, than please
consult with the instructor before making your final choice.
There are several historical newspaper databases that you might use that are available
through the Brooklyn College Library database page, which you can find here:
http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu/resources/?view=databases
For most of these, you will need your Brooklyn College email log-in to access them off
campus. Some of the newspaper and magazines I’d suggest looking at are as follows:
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Nation Archive – The Nation is a progressive magazine that is still published
today.
New Republic Archive – The New Republic is a center/liberal magazine that is
still published as well.
New York Times Historical Edition – I know a lot of you will use this as it is the
easiest, so those who go out of there way to use something different might get a
small grade boost!
NewspaperArchive.com – Gives access to smaller, local newspapers across the
U.S. (I don’t like the interface, though).
It will be best to enter time parameters you to narrow your search. For example, with the
“Court-Packing Plan,” the bill was being discussed from January through March 1937, so
it would be best to narrow your search to those initial months.
Note: Unfortunately the “America’s Historical Newspapers” and “Early American
Newspaper” databases only goes up to 1920, the New York Tribune ends in 1922, and
the old Brooklyn Eagle database only goes to 1902. The “Popular Magazines” database
starts in 1980, and the Wall Street Journal database only begins in 1984. None of these
databases can be used.
PART TWO: THE ESSAY
After picking your piece, begin to formulate an idea for a brief essay--no more than about
four or five double-spaced pages—which will have three parts:
1) SUMMARY/CONTEXT: In this section, you will summarize what the op/ed is saying,
and also provide any relevant context that might help us understand possible biases or
underlying ideologies of the author or editors of the newspaper. DO NOT QUOTE THE
PIECE; SUMMARIZE IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
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2) ANALYIS: Answer the following kinds of questions about the opinion/editorial piece
that you have selected: What is the author’s main argument or message? Is the message
entirely explicit, or is there some implicit message that is meant to be “read between the
lines”? What methods does the author use to convey his or her message? What does this
piece reveal about the general arguments that are being made about FDR’s policy at this
time? Is there an explicit ideological perspective being expressed? Is the author
expressing an opinion that is “mainstream,” “radical,” or “conservative”? What are the
limitations of this piece in helping us to understand the debate of the time?
3) CONCLUSION: What do you think about this author’s opinions and ideas? Do you
find them helpful in understanding what people were thinking about FDR’s policy? Does
the author’s opinion resonate with you at all?
MAKE SURE TO STAPLE A PRINTED COPY OF YOUR OP-ED PIECE TO YOUR FINAL
PAPER.
CITING HOFSTADTER, THE TEXTBOOK, AND
OTHER COURSE READINGS
Here are some examples of the simple in-line citations you can use for any of the texts we
are using in the course:
“His mind, as exhibited in writings and speeches of the twenties, was generous and
sensible, but also superficial and complacent.” (Hofstadter. p. 421)
Roosevelt authorized the sale of beer with 3.2 percent alcohol content before Prohibition
was repealed. (Brinkley 6/e, p. 629)
OUTSIDE SOURCES
You are welcome to use outside sources for the second section of this essay, but they are
not required. If you elect to do so, be certain that you pay attention to proper academic
citation styles. I prefer the Chicago Manual of Style. You can find information on this
style here: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
GUIDELINES
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Papers must have a title that is original and is connected to your theme. DO NOT
simply call your paper “Frontier Essay.” Give it a lively title that will pique the
reader’s curiosity.
Papers are to be typewritten, in a twelve-point font, and have one-inch margins.
Please number your pages.
Full footnotes are required for sources outside of the course readings; see the
Chicago style online guide at the URL listed above.
Spelling and grammar counts. Use spell-check on your computer and always have
someone else proofread for you (fresh eyes always help!).
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