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Taking Sides American History : Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History, Reconstruction to the Present

by: Madaras, Larry; Sorelle, James M.

Taking Sides American History : Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History, Reconstruction to the Present

by: Madaras, Larry; Sorelle, James M.

ISBN 13:
9780072850277
ISBN 10:
0072850272
Edition: 10th
Format: Paperback
Copyright: 11/27/2002
Publisher: MCG
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Taking Sides American History : Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History, Reconstruction to the Present > ISBN13: 9780072850277

Summary

This reader, designed to introduce students to controversies in American history, covers topics such as Industrial Revolution, Pearl Harbor, and the influence of the civil rights movement on race relations. This title is supported by Dushkin Online (www.dushkin.com/online/), a student Web site that provides study support tools and links to related Web sites.

ISSUE 1. Was It Wrong to Impeach Andrew Johnson?

YES: Irving Brant, from Impeachment: Trials andErrors

NO: Harold M. Hyman, from A More Perfect Union: TheImpact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on theConstitution

Historian Irving Brant argues that President AndrewJohnson was the victim of partisan Republican politics and that thearticles of impeachment passed by the House of Representativesviolated the U.S. Constitution. Professor of history Harold M. Hymancontends that Congress's decision to impeach President Johnson waswholly justifiable on constitutional grounds in light of Johnson'srepeated defiance of national law.

ISSUE 2. Was John D. Rockefeller a "Robber Baron?''

YES: Matthew Josephson, from The Robber Barons: The GreatAmerican Capitalists, 1861-1901

NO: Ralph W. Hidy and Muriel E. Hidy, from History of StandardOil Company (New Jersey), vol. 1: Pioneering in Big Business,1882-1911

Historian Matthew Josephson depicts John D. Rockefeller asan unconscionable manipulator who employed deception, bribery, andoutright conspiracy to eliminate his competitors for control of theoil industry in the United States. Business historians Ralph W. Hidyand Muriel E. Hidy argue that Rockefeller and his associates wereinnovative representatives of corporate capitalism who broughtstability to the often chaotic petroleum industry.

ISSUE 3. Did the Industrial Revolution Disrupt the AmericanFamily?

YES: Elaine Tyler May, from "The Pressure to Provide: Class,Consumerism, and Divorce in Urban America, 1880-1920", Journal ofSocial History

NO: Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Robert Korstad, and James Leloudis, from"Cotton Mill People: Work, Community, and Protest in the TextileSouth, 1880-1940", The American Historical Review

Elaine Tyler May, a professor of American studies andhistory, argues that the Industrial Revolution in the United States,with its improved technology, increasing income, and emergingconsumerism, led to higher rates of divorce because family wageearners failed to meet rising expectations for material accumulation.History professors Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Robert Korstad, and JamesLeloudis contend that the cotton mill villages of the New South,rather than destroying family work patterns, fostered a labor systemthat permitted parents and children to work together as a traditionalfamily unit.

ISSUE 4. Was City Government in Late-Nineteenth-Century America a"Conspicuous Failure?''

YES: Ernest S. Griffith, from A History of American CityGovernment: The Conspicuous Failure, 1870-1900

NO: Jon C. Teaford, from The Unheralded Triumph: CityGovernment in America, 1860-1900

Professor of political science and political economyErnest S. Griffith (1896-1981) argues that the city governments thatwere controlled by the political bosses represented a betrayal of thepublic trust. Professor of history Jon C. Teaford argues thatmunicipal governments in the late nineteenth century achievedremarkable success in dealing with the challenges presented by rapidurbanization.

PART 2. The Response to Industrialism: Reform and War

ISSUE 5. Did Yellow Journalism Cause the Spanish-AmericanWar?

YES: W. A. Swanberg, from Citizen Hearst: A Biography ofWilliam Randolph Hearst

NO: David Nasaw, from The Chief: The Life of William RandolphHearst

Journalist W. A. Swanberg argues that newspaper mogulWilliam Randolph Hearst used the sensational and exploitative storiesin his widely circulated New York Journal to stir up publicopinion and to force President William McKinley to wage a war againstSpain to free Cuba. Historian David Nasaw maintains that even ifHearst had not gone into publishing, the United States would haveentered the war for political, economic, and securityreasons.

ISSUE 6. Did Racial Segregation Improve the Status of AfricanAmericans?

YES: Howard N. Rabinowitz, from "From Exclusion to Segregation:Southern Race Relations, 1865-1890", The Journal of AmericanHistory

NO: Leon F. Litwack, from Trouble in Mind: Black Southernersin the Age of Jim Crow

Professor of history Howard N. Rabinowitz suggests thatracial segregation represented an improvement in the lives of AfricanAmericans in that it provided access to a variety of public servicesand accommodations from which they otherwise would have been excludedin the late-nineteenth-century South. Professor of American historyLeon F. Litwack argues that "the age of Jim Crow", wherein efforts bywhites to deny African Americans equal protection of the laws or theprivileges and immunities guaranteed other citizens seemingly knew nobounds, created a highly repressive environment forblacks.

ISSUE 7. Was the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s an ExtremistMovement?

YES: David H. Bennett, from The Party of Fear: FromNativist Movements to the New Right in American History

NO: Stanley Coben, from Rebellion Against Victorianism:The Impetus for Cultural Change in 1920s America

Professor of history David H. Bennett argues that the KuKlux Klan of the 1920s was a traditional nativist organizationsupported mainly by fundamentalist Protestants who were opposed to thechanging social and moral values associated with the Catholic andJewish immigrants. Professor of history Stanley Coben asserts thatlocal Klansmen were not a fringe group of fundamentalists but solid,middle-class citizens who were concerned about the decline in moralstandards in their communities.

ISSUE 8. Did the Women's Movement Die in the 1920s?

YES: William L. O'Neill, from Everyone Was Brave: A History ofFeminism in America

NO: Anne Firor Scott, from The Southern Lady: From Pedestal toPolitics, 1830-1930

Professor of history William L. O'Neill contends that thewomen's movement died following the success of the suffrage campaignbecause women were not united in support of many of the other issuesthat affected them and because the increasingly militant feminism ofthe Woman's Party alienated many supporters of women's rights. AnneFiror Scott, a professor emeritus of history, maintains that thesuffrage victory produced a heightened interest in further social andpolitical reform, which inspired southern women to pursue their goalsthroughout the 1920s.

ISSUE 9. Was Information About the Attack on Pearl HarborDeliberately Withheld From the American Commanders?

YES: Robert A. Theobald, from The Final Secret of PearlHarbor: The Washington Contribution to the Japanese Attack

NO: Roberta Wohlstetter, from Pearl Harbor: Warning andDecision

Retired rear admiral Robert A. Theobald argues thatPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt deliberately withheld information fromthe commanders at Pearl Harbor in order to encourage the Japanese tomake a surprise attack on the weak U.S. Pacific Fleet. HistorianRoberta Wohlstetter contends that even though naval intelligence brokethe Japanese code, conflicting signals and the lack of a centralagency coordinating U.S. intelligence information made it impossibleto predict the Pearl Harbor attack.

PART 3. The Cold War and Beyond

ISSUE 10. Did Communism Threaten America's Internal SecurityAfter World War II?

YES: John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, from Venona:Decoding Soviet Espionage in America

NO: Richard M. Fried, from Nightmare in Red: The McCarthyEra in Perspective

History professors John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr arguethat army code-breakers during World War II's "Venona Project"uncovered a disturbing number of high-ranking U.S. governmentofficials who seriously damaged American interests by passingsensitive information to the Soviet Union. Professor of historyRichard M. Fried argues that the early 1950s were a "nightmare in red"during which American citizens had their First and Fifth Amendmentrights suspended when a host of national and state investigatingcommittees searched for Communists in government agencies, Hollywood,labor unions, foundations, universities, public schools, and evenpublic libraries.

ISSUE 11. Should President Truman Have Fired GeneralMacArthur?

YES: John S. Spanier, from "The Politics of the Korean War",in Phil Williams, Donald M. Goldstein, and Henry L. Andrews, Jr.,eds., Security in Korea: War, Stalemate, and Negotiation

NO: D. Clayton James with Anne Sharp Wells, fromRefighting the Last War: Command and Crisis in Korea,1950-1953

Professor of political science John S. Spanier argues thatGeneral Douglas MacArthur was fired because he publicly disagreed withthe Truman administration's "Europe first" policy and its limited warstrategy of containing communism in Korea. Biographer D. Clayton Jamesand assistant editor Anne Sharp Wells argue that General MacArthur wasrelieved of duty because there was a lack of communication between theJoint Chiefs of Staff and the headstrong general, which led to amisperception over the appropriate strategy in fighting the KoreanWar.

ISSUE 12. Was Dwight Eisenhower a Great President?

YES: Stephen E. Ambrose, from Eisenhower: The President,vol. 2

NO: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., from The Cycles ofAmerican History

Professor of history Stephen E. Ambrose (1936-2002)maintains that Dwight D. Eisenhower was a greater president than hispredecessors and successors because he balanced the budget, stoppedinflation, and kept the peace. Professor of the humanities Arthur M.Schlesinger, Jr., argues that Eisenhower failed as a president becausehe refused to tackle the moral and environmental issues at home andbecause he established a foreign policy that relied on covert CIAactivities and threats of nuclear arms.

ISSUE 13. Did President Kennedy Effectively Manage the CubanMissile Crisis?

YES: Theodore C. Sorensen, from The KennedyLegacy

NO: Mark J. White, from The Cuban MissileCrisis

Theodore C. Sorensen, President John F. Kennedy's specialassistant, argues that Kennedy effectively managed the Cuban MissileCrisis via a "carefully balanced and precisely measured combination ofdefense, diplomacy, and dialogue". Assistant professor of history MarkJ. White castigates Kennedy "for the excessive belligerence of hisCuban policies before the missile crisis while praising him for hisgenerally adroit management of the crisis".

ISSUE 14. Should America Remain a Nation of Immigrants?

YES: Reed Ueda, from "The Permanently Unfinished Country", TheWorld & I

NO: Richard D. Lamm, from "Truth, Like Roses, Often Comes WithThorns", Vital Speeches of the Day

Professor of history Reed Ueda maintains that the sheermagnitude and diversity of immigrants continually reshapes theAmerican character, making America a "permanently unfinished country".Former Colorado governor Richard D. Lamm argues that immigrationshould be severely curtailed. He contends that the most recentimmigrants are members of the underclass who are culturallyunassimilable and who take jobs away from the poorest citizens in analready overpopulated America.

ISSUE 15. Did President Reagan Win the Cold War?

YES: John Lewis Gaddis, from The United States and the End ofthe Cold War: Implications, Reconsiderations, Provocations

NO: Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry, from "Who Won the ColdWar?" Foreign Policy

Professor of history John Lewis Gaddis argues thatPresident Ronald Reagan combined a policy of militancy and operationalpragmatism to bring about the most significant improvement inSoviet-American relations since the end of World War II. Professors ofpolitical science Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry contend thatthe cold war ended only when Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachevaccepted Western liberal values and the need for globalcooperation.

ISSUE 16. Will History Consider William Jefferson Clinton aReasonably Good Chief Executive?

YES: Lars-Erik Nelson, from "Clinton and His Enemies", The NewYork Review of Books

NO: James MacGregor Burns and Georgia J. Sorenson et al., fromDead Center: Clinton-Gore Leadership and the Perils ofModeration

Journalist Lars-Erik Nelson (1941-2000) argues thatPresident Bill Clinton is a sadly flawed human being but was areasonably good president whose administration was a time of peace andplenty for Americans. Political scientists James MacGregor Burns andGeorgia J. Sorenson et al. argue that Clinton will not rank among thenear-great presidents because he was a transactional broker who lackedthe ideological commitment to tackle the big issues facing Americansociety.

ISSUE 17. Is America Entering the Twenty-First Century in aPeriod of Decline?

YES: Paul Kennedy, from "The Next American Century?"World Policy Journal

NO: Gregg Easterbrook, from "America the O.K.", The NewRepublic

Professor of history Paul Kennedy argues that Europe andChina have the potential to equal or exceed the United States ineconomic power in 25 years. Gregg Easterbrook, senior editor ofThe New Republic, maintains that in terms of health, wealth,and moral values, life in the United States has never been better forthe vast majority of Americans.

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