Allies during World War II, the U.S. and the Soviet Union disagreed over a number of issues after the war. These included control of Eastern Europe, division of Germany, atomic energy, international loans, and the Middle East. On February 9, 1946, Soviet premier Josef Stalin asserted that the continued existence of capitalism in the West would inevitably lead to war. Foreign Service senior diplomat George Kennan sent President Harry Truman, still forming a Soviet policy, a lengthy telegram advocating containment. Commerce Secretary Henry A. Wallace--Secretary of Agriculture (1933-1941) and Vice-President from (1941-1945)--was one of the few liberal idealists in Truman's cabinet. Wallace envisioned a "century of the common man" marked by global peace and prosperity. In the following excerpt from a letter dated July 23, 1946, Wallace urged Truman to build "mutual trust and confidence" in order to achieve "an enduring international order." Truman asked Wallace to resign. In March 1947, Truman asked Congress for money "to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Thus articulated, the "Truman Doctrine" of containment served as the rationale for future American Cold War foreign policy initiatives.

In November 1865 a group of 52 black delegates met in Charleston's Zion Church to formulate a position regarding their future in the still uncertain world of the post-emancipation South. Their address invoked the language of the Declaration of Independence to claim full rights of citizenship for themselves, rights that were endangered by widespread southern "Black Codes." The Black Codes were a series of laws introduced in the months after the war by the reconstituted state legislatures of the South. These laws were enacted to restrict the movements and employment possibilities of blacks regardless of whether they had been free or enslaved before the war?in essence to replace the constrictions of slavery.

Aggrery Mbere interview. Program focuses on the current political situation of Africa. Host Marita Rivero speaks separately with Aggrey Mbere (member of the South African National Congress and a current instructor at Roxbury Community College) and Mugelle Otieno about developing an organization by Africans for Africans to solve Africa's problems, revamping aid programs, Secretary of State Henry Kissenger's visit to Africa, MBere's participation in the United States Civil Rights struggle, whether there are true policy changes occurring in the United States, whether liberation will occur with or without outside forces, and how Communism will factor into the struggle. Program includes the 'Community Calendar.' Produced by Marita Muhammad Rivero.

This course will provide the student with a broad overview of African politics placed within the context of Africa's recent history, taking into account Africa's colonial relationships and then the post-colonial period. This course will analyze on the internal workings and challenges of African states, including their movements towards democratization, their economic statuses, the connections between their governmental and non-governmental institutions/organizations, and the various ways in which their societies and cultures impact their politics. This course also asks questions about the nature of Africa's conflicts, reviewing larger trends within Africa's political economy, and inquiring about the promise of continental and sub-continental political integration efforts. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: explain how colonialism and independence movements contributed to and shaped contemporary African statehood; identify the main causes of state and political failure in Africa; define underdevelopment and explain the causes of economic failure in Africa; discuss the causes of civil and interstate conflict in Africa; apply knowledge of Africa's history to explain current causes of crisis and the roles of different actors within the state and international community; compare and contrast economically and politically stable states with those that are unstable and identify the main features of stability; identify and explain some of the major social, cultural, and economic challenges (such as HIV/AIDS) that contemporary African states face, as well as the role international actors play in addressing these challenges. (Political Science 325)

The constitution of the United States was composed in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. Afterward, ratifying conventions were held in the states. In Massachusetts, site of the previous year's Shay's Rebellion against government enforcement of private debt collection, ratification did not go uncontested. Farmers from the western part of the state, such as the "yeomen" who signed this letter published in the Massachusetts Gazette in January, 1788, were suspicious of the power that the constitution seemed to centralize in elite hands. Rural smallholders were not the only ones who felt this way, however. Thomas Jefferson, then in Paris as the United States' minister to France, felt similarly. Massachusetts ratified the constitution on February 7, 1788.

With the annexation of Texas in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American War, Tejanos--Texans of Mexican descent--lost property rights and political power in a society dominated by Anglos. Through discriminatory practices and violent force, Tejanos were kept at the bottom of the new political and socio-cultural order. From 1900-1930, as an influx of immigrants from Mexico came north to meet a growing demand for cheap labor in the developing commercial agriculture industries, Tejanos experienced continued discrimination in employment, housing, public facilities, the judicial system, and educational institutions. Many school districts segregated Tejano and Anglo children into separate facilities with the Mexican schools grossly underfunded and often offering only a grade school education. In 1930, when 90% of the schools in South Texas were segregated, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a Tejano advocacy group organized the previous year, supported the first major court challenge in Texas to end school segregation. The Texas Court of Appeals, however, ruled that school districts could use such criteria as language and irregular attendance due to seasonal work to separate children in school. The struggle of Mexican Americans to end discriminatory practices accelerated following World War II. In 1948, LULAC and the newly formed American G.I. Forum, an advocacy group of Mexican American veterans, assisted in a lawsuit. The federal district court ruling in that case prohibited school segregation based on Mexican ancestry. Localities devised ways to evade the ruling, however, and de facto segregation continued. Student protests in the late 1960s achieved an end to some discriminatory practices. In subsequent years a new civil rights organization, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), continued the fight in the courts, eventually concentrating on the introduction of bilingual and bicultural programs into schools. In the following interview, Ed Idar, associated with both the Forum and MALDEF, related a successful grassroots effort in the early 1950s to desegregate a school without a court ruling.

American experience at home and abroad from Pearl Harbor to the end of the Cold War. Topics include: America's role as global superpower, foreign and domestic anticommunism, social movements of left and right, suburbanization, and popular culture.

Examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the "good life" through consumption, leisure, and material abundance. Explores how such things as department stores, advertising, mass-produced cars, and suburbs transformed the American economy, society, and politics.

This class examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the “good life” through consumption, leisure, and material abundance. We will explore how such things as department stores, nationally advertised brand-name goods, mass-produced cars, and suburbs transformed the American economy, society, and politics. The course is organized both thematically and chronologically. Each period deals with a new development in the history of consumer culture. Throughout we explore both celebrations and critiques of mass consumption and abundance.

President Lyndon Johnson formed an 11-member National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders in July 1967 to explain the riots that plagued cities each summer since 1964 and to provide recommendations for the future. The Commission's 1968 report, informally known as the Kerner Report, concluded that the nation was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal." Unless conditions were remedied, the Commission warned, the country faced a "system of 'apartheid'" in its major cities. The Kerner report delivered an indictment of "white society" for isolating and neglecting African Americans and urged legislation to promote racial integration and to enrich slums--primarily through the creation of jobs, job training programs, and decent housing. President Johnson, however, rejected the recommendations. In April 1968, one month after the release of the Kerner report, rioting broke out in more than 100 cities following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. In the following statements to a joint Congressional committee, two Commission members summarized their findings and recommended the creation of jobs. In 1998, 30 years after the Kerner Report, Harris co-authored a study that found the racial divide had grown in the ensuing years with inner-city unemployment at crisis levels. Opposing voices argued that the Commission's prediction of separate societies failed to materialize due to a marked increase in the number of African Americans living in suburbs.

American Government and Politics in the Information Age by Paletz, Owen, and Cook, is a comprehensive introduction to the vital subject of American government and politics.

It is a comprehensive introduction to American politics and government; it covers all the basics. The text: • introduces the intricacies of the Constitution, the complexities of federalism, the meanings of civil liberties, and the conflicts over civil rights; • explains how people are socialized to politics, acquire and express opinions, and participate in political life; • describes interest groups, political parties, and elections—the intermediaries that link people to government and politics; • details the branches of government and how they operate; • shows how policies are made and affect people’s lives.

However, American Government and Politics in the Information Age goes beyond the basics of American politics and government to explain how and why, in this information age, government and politics are most commonly depicted in the media.

Inspired by students’ familiarity with mass media and their fluent use of new communication technologies, such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, live streaming, and the Ipad, the authors have chosen an approach that connects our subject matter with these media and technologies.

Many students acquire political information from the dramatic and dynamic news cycle with its twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week coverage of events. More and more students obtain news online, including from the websites of mainstream news organizations such as the New York Times and CNN. But the web also provides them with information that repeats, amplifies, challenges, or even contradicts the news they get from the mainstream media.

Many students connect with government and politics through media entertainment. They watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and the late-night television talk shows of Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Conan O’Brien. They tune in to television and radio commentators such as Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Rachel Maddow, and Rush Limbaugh. They watch television competitions, reality shows, dramas, and comedies, most of which have political aspects. They may have seen one or more of Michael Moore’s polemical documentaries (e.g., Fahrenheit 9/11), or a movie about social issues, such as Crash. They may have listened to music with political messages, for example Lee Greenwood’s Proud to be an American and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA. They may read the satirical newspaper The Onion.

Paletz, Owen, and Cook have, therefore, organized the text to connect students’ media-saturated daily lives to the world of politics and government. They want students to learn how the media interact with and depict the American political system; to recognize the similarities and differences between these media depictions and the real world of government and politics; and to understand the consequences these interactions and depictions can have for the public, politics, government, and public policies. They also want students to learn how the media, including new media, can help them intervene productively in politics and get things done.

One of Paletz, Owen, and Cook’s goals in writing American Government and Politics in the Information Age is to encourage students to participate in civic life. In appropriate chapters, they add a “Civic Education” box showing how young people have become involved in politics, government, and the making of public policies, as well as how the media, old and new, can help and hinder civic work.

Request a desk copy or read the book online to see if this fresh approach to American Government is one that would fit with your course goals.

Explores the changing roles, ethical conflicts, and public perceptions of science and scientists in American society from World War II to the present. Studies specific historical episodes focusing on debates between scientists and the contextual factors influencing their opinions and decisions. Topics include the atomic bomb project, environmental controversies, the Challenger disaster, biomedical research, genetic engineering, (mis)use of human subjects, scientific misconduct and whistleblowing.

"Analyzing Literary and Cultural References: Identifying the Texts in the Souvenir of Egypt" examines the texts appearing in the imagery of a decorative silk called "Souvenir of Egypt," such as mottos and fragments of verse. The "Souvenir of Egypt" is a piece of ephemera included in the online Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA). In this module, part 2 of a six part course on the "Souvenir of Egypt," we will search for the meanings of each piece of text independent of and in relation to one another. In the process, we will demonstrate some of the methods used by historian to identify and analyze visual materials and their textual components.

"Analyzing Symbols in Artifacts," section 5 of the 6-part course on "The Souvenir of Egypt," examines the symbols appearing in the imagery of a decorative silk focused on Egypt. Here, we will discuss how to interpret the meaning of each symbol in the silk using a variety of print and online resources. We not only explore the possible meanings of the various symbols, but also explain how to conduct research into cultural history.

Apartheid protesters gather in front of the South African Consulate at 100 Charles River Plaza in Boston. Mel King (political activist), Charles Yancey (Boston City Council) and Willard Johnson (Head, TransAfrica) demand to see Richard Blankstein (honorary consul to South Africa). Police officers bar entry to the building. Johnson announces that the protestors will ask for Blankstein's resignation from his post. He adds that they will ask Blankstein's law firm to sever ties with South Africa. Johnson and the others are eventually allowed to enter the building. Tug Yourgrau does several takes of his reportage for a news story about the protest. Police, protesters and the media wait outside of the building.Themba Vilakazi (member, African National Congress) exits the building to announce the resignation of Blankstein. Johnson, King and Yancey exit the building. Johnson reads a statement of resignation from Blankstein. The statement reads that Blankstein is not a supporter of apartheid. Johnson announces a victory for the protesters. Johnson, King and Yancey walk over to a group of protesters on the street. Charles Stith (Union United Methodist Church) leads the protesters in a chant. Johnson announces the resignation of Blankstein. The crowd cheers.

A panel of students addresses an audience of faculty members, students and other at Tufts University. A student speaks about the university's policy on divestiture from South Africa. The student calls on the Board of Trustees to divest completely from South Africa. Another student talks about the protesters' efforts to contact and negotiate with the university administration and Board of Trustees. A group of students hold a small meeting at a shantytown set up on the Tufts University campus. A large banner reads, 'Divest now.' Protesters talks about their efforts to communicate with the university administration and Board of Trustees on the issue of divestment from South Africa. The protesters accuse Jean Mayer (President, Tufts University) of not cooperating with the students. One protester promises radical action on campus if the university does not divest. The protesters say that the Board of Trustees is ducking the issue. They accuse the Board of ignoring the voices of students and faculty. The tape features shots of the shantytown on the Tufts campus.

This course will introduce the student to the international relations of the Asia-Pacific region. Globalization, economic ties, national security issues, and politico-military alliances with the U.S. make an understanding of this region important to any political science student or participant in American government. This course will examine the differences between Western political thought and the general philosophical outlooks of the Asian population, which have been molded by societal forces for thousands of years. It will also address politics in Asia by examining pre-colonial systems of government, Western imperialism, national liberation movements, and proxy wars fought by the Superpowers in the Cold War. This course is important because the Asia-Pacific has given rise to several of the U.S.'s major security concerns: financial support of the U.S. economy by China and Japan through the purchase of U.S. government debt securities, conflict with China over Taiwan, North Korea's nuclear weapons program, separatist movements in several of the smaller Pacific Rim nations, and the growth and support of transnational terrorism within the region. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: explain how religion and culture impact government and political systems in Eastern Asia; discuss philosophies of government in Eastern Asia from ancient times to the present; identify the ways in which Western imperialism has impacted Eastern Asia; demonstrate an understanding of systems of governance currently in existence in Eastern Asia; analyze contemporary political and security issues in Eastern Asia that may impact U.S. national interests; assess the relationship that exists between economic development, systems of governance, and political stability of a Third World nation. (Political Science 322)

The struggle for women's suffrage, which culminated with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920, involved many different kinds of women and many different tactics. Laura Ellsworth Seiler, interviewed by historian Sherna Gluck in 1973, came from a prosperous New York state family and started a suffrage club while a student at Cornell. In this excerpt from Gluck's interview, Seiler recalled campaigning for suffrage after college on an automobile tour, with her mother in tow as chaperon. In contrast to some historical accounts that emphasized the narrowing of the campaign in the 20th century, Seiler remembered arguing for the vote along with other reforms, and emphasizing the importance of suffrage as a way to improve social conditions.

Economic and social power became concentrated in late seventeenth-century Virginia, leaving laborers and servants with restricted economic independence. Governor William Berkeley feared rebellion: "six parts of Seven at least are Poore, Indebted, Discontented and Armed." Planter Nathaniel Bacon focused inland colonists' anger at local Indians, who they felt were holding back settlement, and at a distant government unwilling to aid them. In the summer and fall of 1676, Bacon and his supporters rose up and plundered the elite's estates and slaughtered nearby Indians. Bacon's Declaration challenged the economic and political privileges of the governor's circle of favorites, while announcing the principle of the consent of the people. Bacon's death and the arrival of a British fleet quelled this rebellion, but Virginia's planters long remembered the spectacle of white and black acting together to challenge authority.