United States Leadership essay
Writing
First 2 paper should be 1 – 1.5 pages
The third paper should be about 1.5 – 2 pages. MLA
These are important paper, please check everything after you finish.
You must use the book ,reading and documentary from the reading list.
Show you have read and understand them
but also you should have your own ideas
Read prompt and requirements carefully
Here is the book you must read and use
Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer, Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 (New York: W.W. Norton, 2019)
And the reading list is attached
Try to use more reading and documentary
No outside sources single space
The most important thing is to make an argument that includes a thesis in your introduction and to support your argument with evidence.
Please be bold and creative! We want to hear your interpretations, and we want you to support your essays with specific and relevant evidence drawn from the readings (Fault Lines and the readings on the syllabus), clips/documentaries, and lectures.Be sure to incorporate the readings and documentaries, where relevant, too, as well as your own interpretations! The trick is to make an argument that includes a thesis in your introduction and to support your argument with evidence. Please be sure to address every issue raised by each “prompt”!
Feel free to inject your own politics into your answer, but be as fair as you can be, and support your opinions and interpretations with evidence from the course.For example, you may believe that Ronald Reagan should have been impeached for Iran/Contra and/or that Bill Clinton should not have been impeached for his affair with Monica Lewinsky.We want you to acknowledge opposing viewpoints, and indicate why you come out as you do.
Essay One
According to one historian: “Like him or hate him, the funeral coverage confirmed that Ronald Reagan was the greatest American President of the post-Watergate era—using the Time ‘man of the year standard of the person who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill.'” Compare and contrast the leadership and accomplishments of the four two-term Presidents since 1980— Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and rank them from best to worst.(Hint: Be sure to explain the criteria by which you rank them!)
Essay Two
In 1903, the great African American thinker and leader, W.E.B. Du Bois said “the problem of the Twentieth-Century is the problem of the color-line,” by which he meant the issues of race and racism. Discussing the United States between 1980 and Charlottesville, some have maintained that the most important issue in the United States “is the one no one really wants to talk about,” i.e. race and racism. Are they right? Why or why not?
Essay Three
1.A recent New York Times editorial observed, “Political scientists have found that our nation is more polarized than it has been at any time since the Civil War.One in six Americans has stopped talking to a family member or close friend because of the 2016 election.Millions of people organize their social lives and their news exposure along ideological lines to avoid people with opposing viewpoints.What’s our problem?” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/02/opinion/sunday/political-polarization.htm. And some historians see the period since 1974 as witnessing a “clash of cultures” in which Americans stopped speaking the same language and became polarized. They maintain that during this period “traditionalists,” who favored cultural conservatism (on issues such as abortion, gay rights, busing and affirmative action, for example.–just to raise a few issues that emerged before the midterm!) engaged in pitched battle with “non-traditionalists” who embraced the expansion of all Americans’ rights and sought to update lifestyles. How well does the “clash of cultures” theme describe the period from 1974 to the present?If the “clash of cultures” theme is apt, have Americans become increasingly polarized over time?Or has the degree of polarization waxed and waned and, if so, why? And is there any theme that would better describe the period than the “clash of cultures”?If so, why is it superior? (Hint: To indicate why you consider another theme better, you would have to explain why the “clash of cultures” theme does not help us to understand this period as well as the theme you have chosen does.)
