How did the goals and rhetoric of the Second World War serve as a rallying point for groups seeking a more active, equitable participation in American society? What events illustrate the limits of this rhetoric in the home front?
Describe the tensions among the "Big Three" Allied leaders. How did American diplomacy and military strategy during the Second World War engender distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union?
Was anticommunism exclusively liberal or conservative? Were the views of Harry Truman and Joe McCarthy on the Cold War more different or similar?
Was life in post-World War 2 America characterized more by its affluence or its anxieties? Explain both trends and give specific examples as you make your argument.
Compare and contrast the Sharon Statement and the excerpt of the Port Huron Statement in Voices of Freedom. How were conservative and radical students different? How were they similar?
Explain the shift in the Civil Rights Movement from the early-1960s to the late 1960s. What were the two phases of the movement? Give specific examples of each phase's leaders, goals, and methods.
How did the Vietnam War affect domestic politics and policies? How did it help weaken the dominant political philosophy of the 1960s?
How does the excerpt of Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address in Voices of Freedom illustrate the shift in American politics signaled by the election of 1980?