Instructor: Dr. Elliot-Meisel
A survey course using lectures and debates, of the diplomatic history of the United States from just prior to the Spanish-American War through World War II. In this course we will examine the domestic and international forces that led to the growing involvement of the U.S. in international relations. Major topics include: intervention in Latin America during the administrations of McKinley, T. Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson; the origins and meaning of the Open Door Policy in East Asia; U.S. involvement in World War I; the repudiation of Wilsonian "internationalism," and the nature of American "isolationism" in the 1920's and early 1930's; from neutrality to belligerency in World War II; and American wartime diplomacy. The final topic will be the debate and controversy surrounding the use of the atomic bomb.