CRI History: American History   

For many years, historians dismissed Dwight Eisenhower as an average president, more interested in golfing than public policy. Today, they rate him as one of the great ones. This class will examine why his reputation has risen so dramatically. We will see how Eisenhower showed great leadership in guiding the nation through multiple foreign crises—the Korean War, the onset of the Cold War, and the Suez Crisis in the Middle East. On the domestic front, the class will look at how Eisenhower responded to the growing demands for racial justice from the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-communist crusade of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
 

We will cover the period from Washington’s election as President in 1789 through the end of Monroe’s Presidency in 1825 and the five administrations of the Founding Fathers: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. We will discuss Washington’s first cabinet, the first acts of the U.S. Congress, and the first key decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. We will examine the first endeavors in foreign policy and the tension between constitutional protections and national security issues, as well as major land acquisitions. We will see the effect of the Industrial Revolution on the growing urban population and the economic division between the North and South. We will discuss the changing relationship between Native Americans, European Americans, and African Americans. We will survey the political and military evolution of the United States from a fledgling state on the Atlantic Seaboard in the late 18th century to a recognized power in the Western Hemisphere by the end of the first quarter of the 19th century.