Course Focus:

This course examines the lives, character, political thought and political practice of two of America's leading thinkers and statesmen, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Close attention will be given to the relationship between ideas and actions in their political careers.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will understand the central ideas that informed the political thought of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.
2. Students will understand the major political events and practical challenges and choices that faced Roosevelt and Reagan over the course of their political careers.
3. Students will understand how Roosevelt's and Reagan's ideas shaped their practical political stances during the eras in which they lived.
4. For example, students will understand the four parts of President Reagan's economic policy, and his three-phase foreign policy. Students will also examine the meaning of the New Deal and how FDR and Reagan understood it in relation to constitutional government.

Requirements:

Class Preparation and Contribution
As you know, this course will proceed at a very quick pace. To the extent possible, you should do a fair amount of the reading in advance of the week at Ashland. The course will consist of both lectures and in-class discussions.

Students auditing the course as a part of a Teaching American History Grant program must complete all readings, attend all of the seminars, and fully participate during the week.

Examination
There will be an in-class exam during the last session of the course.

Required Texts:

• Smith, Jean Edward, FDR, ISBN 978-08129-7049-4
• Steven F. Hayward, The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980 (Paperback, ThreeRivers Press, 2009); ISBN 978-0-307-45369-3
• Robert M. Collins, Transforming America: Politics and Culture During the Reagan Years (Columbia University Press, 2007), ISBN 0-231-12400-7
• Course Packet (CP) of additional reading materials. These materials are also required texts for your course.
• Steven F. Hayward, The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980-1989 (forthcoming from CrownForum, 2009; excerpts from advance galleys in Supplemental Course Packet [SCP].)

Supplemental Texts:

• FDR, Forgotten Man, April 7, 1932
• FDR, First Inaugural, March 4, 1933
• FDR, Acceptance Speech, June 27, 1936
• FDR, Message to Congress on the Reorganization of the Judiciary, February 5, 1937
• FDR, Fireside Chat, December 29, 1940
• FDR, Declaration of War, December 8, 1941

Sunday, July 5

4:30 - 6:00 pm: Introduction & Session 1 (Professor Smith)

Topic: FDR in Historic Perspective

Readings::

• Smith, FDR xi - xviii

7:30 - 9:00 pm: Session 2: Institute Lecture

Monday, July 6

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 3 (Professor Smith)

Topic: The Education and Character of Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1882-1920

Focus: An attempt to establish a connection between his youth, education, family background, wealth, ambition.

Readings:

• Smith, FDR, Chs. 1-9

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 4 (Professor Smith)

Topic: Polio and Politics, 1920-1932

Focus: FDR's crisis, ambition and nomination

Readings:

• Smith, FDR, Ch. 10-13

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 5 (Professor Smith)

Topic: New Deal Years (1933-1936)

Readings:

• Smith, FDR, Ch. 14-15
• FDR, Forgotten Man, April 7, 1932 (CP pg 22)
• FDR, First Inaugural, March 4, 1933 (CP pg 24)
• FDR, Acceptance Speech, June 27, 1936 (CP pg 27)

Tuesday, July 7

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 6 (Professor Smith)

Topic: Hubris and Prudence, 1936-1940

Readings:

• Smith, FDR, Ch. 17-21
• FDR, Message to Congress on the reorganization of the judiciary, Feb 5, 1937 (CP pg 47)

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 7 (Professor Smith)

Topic: Arsenal of Democracy

Readings:

• Smith, FDR, Ch. 22
• FDR, Fireside Chat, Dec 29, 1940 (CP pg 55)

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 8 (Professor Smith)

Topic: War Years, 1941-1945

Readings:

• Smith, FDR, Ch. 23-26
• FDR, Declaration of War, December 8, 1941 (CP pg 63)

Wednesday, July 8

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 9 (Professor Smith)

Topic: Commander in Chief

Readings:

• Smith, FDR, Ch. 24-26

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 10 (Professor Hayward)

Topic: The Rise of Ronald Reagan

Focus: The backdrop of postwar liberalism is the key to understanding the rise of Reagan and the conservative movement in the 1960s.

Readings:

• The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980
  • Prologue (pp. ix-xxxv)
  • Chapter 3, "Razor: The Great Society and Its Discontents," pp. 67-104
  • Chapter 4, "Centrifuge: The Loss of Control" (Reagan section only), pp. 159 -170
• "A Time for Choosing," Reagan's speech for Barry Goldwater, October 28, 1964 (CP pg 3)
• "The Creative Society," First Inaugural Address as Governor of California (CP pg 10)

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 11 (Professor Hayward)

Topic: Reagan in the 1970s: The Dress Rehearsal for Conservative Rule

Focus: How did dtente come to divide the Republican Party and confuse the Democratic Party; What did Reagan's challenge to Gerald Ford in 1976 reveal about the changing character of the Republican Party and the American electorate at large?

Readings:

• The Age of Reagan:
  • Chapter 9, "Dtente and Its Discontents," pp. 395-446
  • Chapter 10, "The Dress Rehearsal: Reagan's Challenge," pp. 447-484
  • Chapter "Reagan's Moment," pp. 677-717

Thursday, July 9

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 12 (Professor Hayward)

Topic: Reagan's Domestic Policy Agenda

Focus: What were the four parts of Reagan's economic reform policy, and how did they play out?

Readings:

• The Age of Reagan, Vol. II, Chapter 2, "Dunkirk," (reading packet);
• Transforming America, Chapter 3, "Reaganomics"
• Reagan First Inaugural Address, 1981 (CP pg 17)

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 13 (Professor Hayward)

Topic: Reagan's Foreign Policy

Focus: What was Reagan's strategy for re-orienting America's approach to the Soviet Union? In what ways did it represent a counter-intuitive revision of the historic bi-partisan consensus of post-war "containment"?

Readings:

• The Age of Reagan, vol. II, Chapter 3, "Lie, Cheat, Steal…" (Supplemental Course Packet)
• Address to the British Parliament, June 1982 (CP pg 32)
• "Evil Empire" speech, March 1983 (CP pg 39)

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 14 (Professor Hayward)

Topic: Reagan's Mid-Course Corrections

Focus: How did Reagan respond to the severe recession of 1982-83, to rising budget deficits, to rising tensions with the Soviets in 1983, and adjust his course in the run-up to re-election in 1984 and into his second term?

Readings:

• The Age of Reagan, vol. II, Chapter 5, "Stay the Course"
• Chapter 7, "The Year of Living Dangerously" (reading packet)

Friday, July 10

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 15 (Professor Hayward)

Topic: Foreign Policy on the Periphery and the Iran-Contra Catastrophe

Focus: How did the "Reagan Doctrine" play out in the different theaters of Afghanistan and Central America; what were the constitutional issues raised in the Iran-Contra fiasco?

Readings:

• The Age of Reagan II, chapter 11, "Tempest Tost: The Iran-Contra Climax" (Supplemental Course Packet)
• Collins, Transforming America, Chapter 9, "Winning the Cold War"

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 16 (Professor Hayward)

Topic: The End of the Cold War

Focus: How did Reagan's strategy and viewpoint toward the Soviet Union change through is series of four summit meetings with Gorbachev? What was the role of liberalization inside the Soviet Union in the end of the Cold War?

Readings:

• Hayward, The Age of Reagan, vol. II, chapter 9, "The Fulcrum: Three Days in Geneva," chapter 10, "I Lift Up My Lamp: The Road to Reykjavik" (Supplemental Course Packet)

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm: Session 17 (Professor Hayward)

Final Examination.