Professor John S. Reed
Office: CTIHB 317
Office Hours: Wednesday 1530-1630
john.reed@utah.edu
Fall 2015
OSH 132
Wednesday 1635-1935
HISTORY 4760 – U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1917-2001
This course examines the development of United States foreign relations during the “American
Century,” or between U.S. entry into World War I and the terrorist attacks of September 2001.
We will discuss the degree to which American interactions with other sovereign states have
been determined by the following causal factors (among others): ideology, (primarily American
democratic exceptionalism); culture (broader than ideology but harder to define with
precision); insecurity created by the existence of other advanced and assertive global and
regional powers; economic self-interest (of both elite and non-elite groups); domestic politics
(the Constitutional framework and the impact of the adversarial two-party system), and, after
1942, the diplomatic and military capacities and imperatives of the national security state.
COURSE OBJECTIVE: Successful students will demonstrate an understanding of the history of
U.S. foreign relations and an ability to discuss cause and effect via the completion of two singlequestion argumentative essay exams, which convert selected historical facts into evidence to
defend a specific thesis developed to answer each exam question (exams attached).
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Successful students will acquire an ability to:
1) Describe the influence of political ideologies, economic structures, social organizations, and
cultural perceptions on the conduct of international relations.
2) Discuss U.S. foreign relations in terms of the pursuit/defense of specific national interests
3) Explain how the U.S. interacted with both (a) industrialized regional hegemons (Germany,
Japan, and the Soviet Union), and (b) sovereign nations in the post-1945 “Third World”
4) Analyze cause-and-effect relationships and multiple causation for specific events and longterm historical processes.
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: U.S. foreign relations have historically been determined by an
interaction between ideology, or how Americans believe they should interact with other
sovereign nations and necessity, what Americans believe they must do to defend or expand
their security and prosperity.
Students will take two open book, open notes, bluebook exams:
40%
50%
10%
Midterm
Final Exam
3-hour bluebook essay
3-hour bluebook essay
Participation /attendance
In OSH 132 Wednesday, 7 Oct (week 7)
At Testing Center between 3-16 Dec
Assigned by instructor
History 4760
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Both exam questions are attached to this syllabus. I will return your midterm to you within two
weeks. If you fail to take either the midterm or the final you will fail the course. University
regulations make incompletes impossible in this course. The University’s definition of student
academic misconduct, to include cheating and plagiarism, can be found at:
http://www.regulations.utah.edu/academics/6-400.html. If I have clear evidence that you
committed academic misconduct during an exam I will fail you on that exam, regardless of
your reasons, and that will probably result in a failing course grade from insufficient points to
pass. The History Department passes on information on student academic misconduct to the
University of Utah’s academic misconduct tracking system.
This course is built around five “nested” types of text: one survey of 20th century U.S. foreign
relations, one thematic essay collection, one monograph, seventeen journal articles or short
essays, and several recent pieces of journalism. Students should engage all five categories, and
not make “opportunity cost” trade-offs between them. One grading criteria for the exams will
be the range of assigned readings citations the student is able to integrate into her/his
argument.
REQUIRED TEXTS (at the Bookstore)
Merrill and Paterson, Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Volume Two, 2010
Hogan, Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations, 2nd edition, 2004
Niebuhr, The Irony of American History, 2008
JOURNAL ARTICLES and ESSAYS on e-reserve through the Marriot Library
Week 2
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 6
Nuechterlein, “National Interests and Foreign Policy,” British Journal of
International Studies (October 1976), 246-266
Sheehan, “The Problem of Sovereignty in European History,” American Historical
Review (February 2006), 1-15
Ambrosius, “Woodrow Wilson, Alliances, and the League of Nations,” Journal of
the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (April 2006), 139-165
Braeman, “Power and Diplomacy: The 1920s Reappraised,” The Review of
Politics (July 1982), 342-369
Costigliola, “The United States and the Reconstruction of Germany in the
1920s,” Business History Review (Winter 1976), 477-502
Lasswell, “The Garrison State,” American Journal of Sociology (January 1941), 455-468
“X” (Kennan), “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” Foreign Affairs (July 1947)
Adler and Paterson, “Red Fascism: The Merger of Nazi Germany and Soviet
Russia in the American Image of Totalitarianism, 1930s-1950s,” The American
Historical Review (April 1970), 1046-1064
History 4760
Week 6
Week 6
Week 9
Week 9
Week 10
Week 10
Week 12
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Adler and Paterson, “Red Fascism: The Merger of Nazi Germany and Soviet
Russia in the American Image of Totalitarianism, 1930s-1950s,” The American
Historical Review (April 1970), 1046-1064
Grossman, “The Early Cold War and American Political Development,”
International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society (Spring 2000), 471-483
McMahon, “United States Cold War Strategy in South Asia: Making a Military
Commitment to Pakistan, 1947-1954,” Journal of American History (December
1988), 812-840
Cullather, “Damming Afghanistan: Modernization in a Buffer State,” Journal of
American History (September 2002), 512-537
Dudziak, “Josephine Baker, Racial Protest, and the Cold War,” Journal of
American History (September 1994), 543-570
Romano, “No Diplomatic Immunity: African Diplomats, the State Department,
and Civil Rights, 1961-1964,” Journal of American History (September 2000), 546-579
Cuordileone, “Politics in an Age of Anxiety: Cold War Political Culture and the
Crisis in American Masculinity, 1949-1960,” Journal of American History
(September 2000), 515-545
COURSE OUTLINE
WEEK 1
26 Aug
Course Introduction: Overarching Concepts in Foreign/International Relations
No readings – instructor will review attachments to the syllabus in detail
WEEK 2
2 Sep
Approaches to the Study of U.S. Foreign Relations
Readings: Chapter 1 in Merrill; essays 1 through 4 in Hogan; Most important:
articles by Nuechterlein and Sheehan (7 readings)
WEEK 3
9 Sep
Wilsonian Idealism and the First World War, 1917-1919
Readings: Chapter 2 in Merrill; essays 6 and 14 in Hogan; Ambrosius article;
Mishra review (handout) (5)
WEEK 4
16 Sep
U.S. Diplomacy during the 1920s
Readings: Chapter 3 in Merrill; essays 8 and 9 in Hogan; Braeman and Costigliola
articles; Otte review (handout) (6)
WEEK 5
23 Sep
The Second World War: Causes and Consequences for the U.S., 1931-1945
Readings: Chapters 4 and 5 in Merrill; Pelz essay (handout); essays 7 and 15 in
Hogan; Laswell article (6)
History 4760
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WEEK 6
30 Sep
The Early Cold War, 1945-1952
Readings: Chapters 6 and 7 in Merrill; articles by “X” (Kennan), Adler & Paterson,
and Grossman; Lears review (handout) (6)
WEEK 7
IN-CLASS BLUEBOOK ESSAY MIDTERM – 7 OCTOBER
FALL BREAK – 12-16 October
WEEK 8
21 Oct
The High Cold War, 1953-1963
Readings: Chapters 8 and 10 in Merrill; essay 5 in Hogan; Mailer (handout),
Lieven review (handout) (5)
WEEK 9
28 Oct
The U.S. and the “Third World” after 1945
Readings: Chapter 9 in Merrill; essays 10 and 13 in Hogan; articles by McMahon
and Cullather (5)
WEEK 10
4 Nov
Foreign Relations and Domestic Race Relations, 1942-1964
Readings: Essay 19 in Hogan; articles by Dudziak and Romano (3)
WEEK 11
11 Nov
Vietnam, its Aftermath, and the End of the Cold War, 1964-1989
Readings: Chapters 11 thru 13 in Merrill; Small essay (handout); Grandin review
(handout) (5)
WEEK 12
18 Nov
Non-Traditional Approaches to the Study of Foreign Relations
Readings, Essays 16, 17, 20 in Hogan; Cuordileone article (4)
WEEK 13
25 Nov
Consequences of American Democratic Exceptionalism
Readings: Niebuhr, The Irony of American History; Bromwich review (handout)
WEEK 14
2 Dec
Foreign Relations after “9/11”
Readings: Chapter 14 in Merrill; review chapter 9 (World Systems) in Hogan;
Holmes review (handout) (3)
WEEK 15
9 Dec
IN-CLASS STUDY SESSION / PREP FOR FINAL ESSAY
FINAL EXAM TAKEN AT THE UNIVERSITY TESTING CENTER ANYTIME
DURING THEIR BUSINESS HOURS 3 DEC - 16 DEC
History 4760
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SUPPORT FOR DISABLED STUDENTS
The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services, and activities for
people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in this class, give reasonable prior
notice to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Union Building, 581-5020 (V/TDD). CDS will
work with you and the instructor to arrange suitable accommodations.
If you believe you might have a disability that would entitle you to accommodations but are not
yet in-processed with CDS you should do so immediately, as that process could take several
weeks, and you should have your accommodation(s) determined before the first midterm. The
instructor is not able to grant medical or disability related accommodations for examinations,
etc. Only the Center for Disability Services can do so.