Cold War America

The modern university seminar as we now know it can be traced back to Woodrow Wilson, who during his tenure as President of Princeton Universty, introduced it as part of his reforms. Jacques Baraun, an eminent historian and a fine university administrator, has capably defined what should be the ideal seminar: "a small group of students, who under the supervision of a knowledgeable professor, attack a chosen problem with a given branch of study and present to the group their individual research on a phase of the problem. Discussion and criticism are the main features of the common enterprise.

The subject of this seminar is COLD WAR AMERICA, a multifaceted, complex, but very fascinating subject, which properly can be defined as dealing with aspects of the United States between 1945-1963. The Cold War wound down somewhat during President Eisenhower's last years in office, until the U-2 incident. During JFK's short time in office it once again heated up. Thereafter a real war in Vietnam resulted in very different responses.

This is a subject that allows for many different interpretations, then and now. As with the case of Alger Hiss, even though he is now dead, and there seems to be considerable evidence testifying to his guilt, his partisans loudly declaim his innocence.

Cold War America
History 1599A
Fall 1997
Daniel J. Leab