Reagan’s America

Undergraduate

This course examines U.S. politics in the 20th century through the life and times of Ronald Reagan. This is not a course about biography. Instead, the course uses the major political events of Reagan’s lifetime−from his years as a New Deal-era labor leader to his presidency in the 1980s−in order to explore the political history of the era. The course emphasizes intersections between domestic and foreign policy, as well as between high politics (the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court) and grassroots social movements. Topics include liberalism, conservatism, civil rights, communism and anticommunism, California politics, presidential power, AIDS activism, abortion politics, immigration, foreign policy, and the Cold War. WR , HU W 1:30pm-3:25pm