The United States in the Age of Global Crisis, 1914-1945 Return to U.S. as a Global Crisis course page

Michael Trotti History Department 412 Muller  (607)274-1591

Research Topics

Late in the term, you will turn in an original research project on a subject relevant to this course. It will be between 12 and 15 typed pages in length, and should be well argued, gracefully written, and well founded upon both primary and secondary sources. See syllabus for other style guidelines. I end this notice with a listing of dozens of potential topics - if you have another topic in mind, mention it to me: it may or may not be appropriate for this assignment.

Throughout the course, I will be talking about this project in a variety of ways, but this is a project you will be doing yourself. That means you will need to be the one to take charge and come to me when you have questions and concerns. This is your project - think of me as a resource/advisor who is very willing, even eager, to help when you ask. But you have to ask.

Sources:
This project should be based upon both primary and secondary sources - you do not need to have a ton of primary materials, but I want you to at least dip your toe into the resources of the age.

• Secondary Sources are studies of the topic, from textbooks to more focused analyses. They are helpful and necessary to your study, but they are not enough for this research paper. This sort of project requires you to get into the materials of the age, and that means -
• Primary Sources, those not already filtered by historians. This can include government documents, trial records, speeches, memoirs, letters, newspapers, radio shows, movies (of the time), and magazines. Our library has a host of such sources, some are available from archives over the web, and a trip to East Hill's many libraries - while not necessary or required for this project - would yield thousands more.
• Sources from the Web- ARE NOT ALLOWED FOR THIS PROJECT, unless they are from an academic source that I have approved! Databases via our library's collection - Proquest (especially their historical New York Times), America: History and Life, JSTOR, and Project Muse - are not only acceptable, they are encouraged (almost required!) Most information on the web, unlike print sources, has not been checked for accuracy - it's just garbage somebody or another put out there. DO NOT DEPEND UPON IT FOR THIS PROJECT (or any project). But these databases are simply web vehicles for sources that are very important to historians.
  

How to find sources - use all of the following tactics:
a) our library catalogue and/or perusing the shelves in the appropriate place in the cataloging system;
b) "America: History and Life", a database connected to our library system which connects to some full-text articles by historians (from the JSTOR database) as well as others; it is searchable by subject. Some articles will be available immediately to you in full text format; others you will need to order via Interlibrary loan;
c) from the notes and bibliographies of other sources you find, our class books, reference books etc.

Possible Topics:

This is a very incomplete list - if you have other interests, feel free to pitch them to me. But you need to do so NOW, not late in the term. I would prefer that each of you select a different topic, so think of some alternatives, although this issue is negotiable. Topics slightly before 1914 are acceptable, and some are listed here:

Panama Canal
Election of 1912
1915 conflict with Mexico
Meuse-Argonne Offensive, 1918
Black Soldiers in WWI
Paris Peace Talks
Great Migration of African Americans
Palmer Raids and the Red Scare after WWI
1919 Strike wave
1918-19 Influenza Pandemic
Senate Battle over the Treaty of Versailles
Woodrow Wilson's Illness/First Lady's Role
Prohibition
Women's Suffrage Movement and/or the suffrage amendment
Charlie Chaplin and Early Hollywood - or Mary Pickford, Mae West . . .
A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance: Langston Hughes, for instance.
Scopes "Monkey" Trial
Flappers and 1920s Style
Modernism - Art for the Machine Age
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover during WWI, as Secretary of Commerce, as President, as Public Figure after his Presidency
Teapot Dome Scandal or another
"Birth of a Nation" and its reception
National Origins Act and Anti-Immigration feeling
A focused study on any of the New Deal Legislation: Wagner Act, NLRB, TVA, AAA, NRA, CCC (which could have a local spin - who built the paths at all of these state parks around Ithaca?), WPA (which alone has dozens of possible foci: writers project, theater project, etc.), Social Security, FDIC, FERA, FSA, CWA, SEC, REA, and so on.
Father Coughlin and his reactionary/reform movement
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Huey Long, "the Kingfish" and his challenge to the New Deal
Upton Sinclair's run for Governor in California - another lefty challenge to the New Deal
Roosevelt's Supreme Court Packing Plan
The Good Neighbor Policy - Roosevelt's change in course for our foreign policy
Bonus March
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Amos'n'Andy - investigating the relevance of America's favorite radio show
Will Rogers, Frank Capra or other Depression-Era stars
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
Bank Holiday
Anti-Lynching Law - one reform FDR did not support, but Eleanor did
Herbert Hoover
Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Sit-down strike against GM, 1936-7 - testing the Wagner Act
General Textile Strike of 1934 - throughout the South, failed. Fascinating story.
CIO and a new breed of industrial unions
Eleanor Roosevelt and her role as First Lady.
Nye Committee investigates the U.S. entry into World War I
Scottsboro case - black youths convicted of rape but overturned by U.S. Supreme Court
American response to Nazi repression of the Jews and the Holocaust - Could center this on the refusal to accept refugees sailing on the St. Louis.
Our steps, 1939-41, toward involvement in World War II
Race, Sports, and the Coming of World War II - (1936 Olympics, Joe Louis in boxing)
Lend-Lease Act
Battle of Midway and/or Coral Sea in Pacific
Japanese Internment
Operation Torch: North Africa Campaign
Wartime Race Riots
Tehran Conference of the "Big Three"
Yalta Conference of the "Big Three"
Potsdam Conference of the "Big Three"
The impact of code breaking on the war effort
Rosie the Riveter - women's work during the war
Firebombing
Manhattan Project
Bombing of Hiroshima

This website is occasionally maintained by Michael Trotti. (Last update: 27 August 2009).