American Foreign Relations Since 1914
Hist. 450, Section 1
Offered by the Department of History, University of Arizona
Fall Semester, 2007

Tuesday and Thursday, 2-3:15pm
César Chávez 301

Instructor:
David N. Gibbs, Associate Professor of History and Political Science
Office: Social Sciences 227
Office hours: 11:30am-1:00pm, Wednesday and Friday
Tel: 621-5416

Graduate Teaching Assistant: 
Rachel Ayers
Office: Social Sciences 124a
Office hours: By appointment.
Tel: 621-3247
Email:  rjayers@email.arizona.edu 

Class Homepage: www.gened.arizona.edu./dgibbs/hist450g.htm

** Class Announcements **
Students should check the announcements page regularly.

    This class will analyze basic issues of international relations and foreign policy, with a special focus on U.S. intervention in underdeveloped countries. The main purpose of this class is to provide students with an ability to examine international issues critically and in a historical context. Several general areas will be emphasized: The historical background that led to the emergence of the USA as a major power, beginning at the end of the nineteenth century; the role of covert operations during the Cold War; the Vietnam War and its long-term effect; the end of the Cold War; and post-9/11 U.S. actions. 

    Throughout, students will be asked to evaluate the causes and motivations of specific events in international relations and to compare multiple interpretations of these incidents. For example in the section on the Vietnam War, students will be asked to consider why the United States acted as it did; to lay out several different potential explanations for U.S. actions in Vietnam; and to decide which of these possible explanations seems most plausible.    

Requirements

    The course requirements include two in-class exams and a research paper. The two exams will involve a combination of essay and short answers. The class grades will be calculated as follows:

First midterm, 30 percent;
Research paper, 30 percent;
Final, 40 percent.

    Students must take the exams on the scheduled dates. Please look at the syllabus and make sure that the exam dates are open for you. If you have an engagement scheduled for one of the required dates -- if you have a wedding or a sports event, for example -- then you should take another class. The following circumstances constitute legitimate reasons to miss an exam: illness, death in family, religious holiday, or mandatory military service. Students who present such reasons must be prepared to present documentation, such as a note from a doctor, clergy, or commanding officer. 

    Students are expected to attend class regularly, as the exams will be based in part on the lectures. However, I do not take attendance.  

Research Papers

    Research papers will be in the range of 10-15 pages. They are due November 20. After the midterm exam, we will discuss the requirements for the paper, as well as basic research techniques. Students are expected to use primary sources for their papers, and I have created a web site for locating declassified government documents, many of which are available online. 

    When turning in papers, students should attach copies of the first page of all research materials that were used in preparing the papers. Students should also keep a copy of the paper on their computers. The reason for these requirements is to dissuade plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. If I have any doubts about a student's paper, I may ask the student to produce computer disks and/or additional research materials. 

    Students must properly attribute any information or material borrowed from other sources. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden. For further information on this topic, see the UA Code of Academic Integrity, and the UA History Department’s Policy on Academic Dishonesty.

   The History Department has a part-time writing assistant, who can help you improve your writing style. You should check with Julia Hudson-Richards, and her email is jahr@email.arizona.edu. Ms. Hudson-Richard's mailbox is under her name, in Social Sciences 215. There is also the UA Writing Skills Improvement Program, which runs regular workshops for students. 

    Students may also consult the following classic: William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, fourth edition (New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2000). It is short, inexpensive, and available in the UA bookstore. For those on a tight budget, an earlier version of this book is available online (click here for full text). Also check out the online Economist Style Guide. This is the standard writing guide used by journalists at The Economist magazine of London. 

      For online assistance on how to construct citations, click here. 

Readings

    The following texts can all be purchased at the University Book Store:

Stephen Ambrose, Rise to Globalism, Eighth edition (New York: Penguin, 1997);

William Blum, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Third edition (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2003).

Several articles listed below are available through one of several electronic databases. Other materials, as indicated below, are available through Ereserve electronic reserve. The readings from the electronic reserve and from the databases can be obtained free of charge at any computer on campus. 

    I may make small changes in the reading list – with advance notice – during the course of the semester.

   Note:
This class contains offensive material. If this is a problem for you, then you should select a different class.

August 21
First Day of Class

General introduction, no readings. 

 

Week of August 28
Theoretical Issues in U.S. Foreign Policy

Ronald Cox, Power and Profits: U.S. Policy in Central America (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1994), pp. 1-19. Available through Ereserve.

Week of September 4
Early American Intervention

Thomas McCormick, China Market (Chicago: Quadrangle Press, 1967), pp. 21-76. Available through Ereserve.

 

Week of September 11
Isolationism and U.S. Foreign Policy

Jeffrey Frieden, “Sectoral Conflict and U.S. Foreign Economic Policy, 1914-1940,” International Organization 42, no. 1, 1988. Available through JSTOR.

Week of September 18
The Origins of the Cold War

Ambrose, Rise to Globalism, chaps. 4, 7.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Address,” January 17, 1961. For full text, click here. Note especially section IV of Eisenhower’s speech.

James R. Kurth, “Why We Buy the Weapons We Do,” Foreign Policy no. 11, 1973. Full text available through JSTOR.

Recommended:

Blum, Killing Hope, chaps. 2, 7, 15, 18.

Week of September 25
Covert Operations I

Blum, Killing Hope, chaps. 9, 10, 14, 26, 29, 30, 31.

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, “Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba,” March 13, 1962, recently declassified. For full text, click here.

Week of October 2
Covert Operations II

Blum, Killing Hope, chaps. 34, 37, 40, 42.

Week of October 9
The Vietnam War and its Aftermath

Ambrose, Rise to Globalism, chaps. 10, 11, 12.

Blum, Killing Hope, chap. 19.

Week of October 16
The Afghan Crisis

David N. Gibbs, “Does the USSR Have a ‘Grand Strategy’? Reinterpreting the Invasion of Afghanistan,” Journal of Peace Research 24, no. 4, 1987. Available through JSTOR.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Les Révélations d’un Ancien Conseilleur de Carter: ‘Oui, la CIA est Entrée en Afghanistan avant les Russes...’” Le Nouvel Observateur [Paris], January 15-21, 1998. For English translation, click here.

 

Week of October 23
The “Second Cold War”

Norman Podhoretz, “The Present Danger,” Commentary, March 1980. Available through Ereserve.

David N. Gibbs, “Pretexts and U.S. Foreign Policy: The War on Terrorism in Historical Perspective,” New Political Science 26, no. 3, 2004. For full text, click here.

Midterm Exam: October 25.

Week of October 30
U.S. Resurgence in the International Arena

Ambrose, Rise to Globalism, chaps. 14, 15.

Week of November 6
Intervention during the 1980s

Blum, Killing Hope, chaps. 41, 45, 48, 49, 53.

Week of November 13
American Strategy after the Cold War

Christopher Layne, “Rethinking American Grand Strategy,” World Policy Journal 15, no. 2, 1998. Available through Ereserve.

David Armstrong, “Dick Cheney’s Song of America: Drafting a Plan for Global Dominance,” Harper’s Magazine, October 2002. Available through Ereserve.

Week of November 20
Terrorism and the “Afghan Connection”

Julie Kosterlitz, “Troops and Consequences: America’s Track Record in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan Suggests that Today’s Solutions can Lead to Tomorrow’s Problems,” National Journal, Nov 3, 2001. Available through Ereserve.

Chalmers Johnson, “The Lessons of Blowback: Even Carefully Planned Actions Can Have Unintended Consequences,” Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2001. For full text, click here. 

Thomas Henriksen, “The ‘Blowback’ Myth: Bad History Makes Bad Policy,” Weekly Standard,  October 15, 2001. For full text, click here.

Ted Galen Carpenter, “Unsavory Bedfellows: Washington‘s International Partners in the War on Drugs,” Foreign Policy Briefing no. 71, Cato Institute, Washington, DC, 2002. For full text, click here.

Research Papers Due: November 20.

No class, November 22, Thanksgiving break.

Week of November 27
The U.S. and the Persian Gulf

Blum, Killing Hope, chaps. 50, 55.

Arnaud de Borchgrave, “Iraq and the Gulf of Tonkin,” Washington Times, February 10, 2004. For full text, click here.

Jim Vallette, Steve Kretzmann, and Daphne Wysham, Crude Vision: How Oil Interests Obscured U.S. Government Focus on Chemical Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, DC, 2004. For full text, click here.

Recommended:

Joseph Stark and Martha Wenger, “From Rapid Deployment to Massive Deployment,” Middle East Report, January/February 1991. Full text available through JSTOR.

December 4
General Review

No assigned readings.

Final exam: December 13, 2:00pm.

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