Dr

Written Paper:

The student will choose one of the topics listed below and write a 20-30 page paper.

YOU HAVE AMPLE TIME TO COMPLETE THE

ASSIGNMENT DURING THE SEMESTER SO

PLEASE START EARLY AND END ON TIME.

The essay will be typed, double spaced, but beyond the format the student should exhibit enterprising research (no encyclopedias...dictionaries...etc.), a thorough analysis of the topic, person or treaty chosen, in addition to revealing an understanding of the topic chosen.

If you begin researching your topic immediately at the beginning of the semester the time frame will not be a burden;

however, if you wait to research and write the paper until the week before the essay is due to be turned in, then, of course, you have created an unnecessary burden upon yourself which could have been avoided with proper time allotment.

More about the paper will be said in class.

The paper constitutes 40 percent of the class grade while the two examinations total 60 percent of your grade.

Topics:

Because of the number of students in the diplomatic class it would be impossible if not futile to list all the topics so the subjects noted below are just samples of what students may choose for their topics.

I do ask all students to check with

me and to let me mark their topics on

my syllabus.

1. The Era of Expansionism beginning in 1890 and terminating with the acquisition of Puerto Rico,

Guam and the Philippine Archipelago in the Treaty

of Paris, December 10, 1898.

This is a very broad topic and the student might consider researching and writing on any subject within that time frame.

***BE SURE TO SEE ME FIRST BEFORE EMBARKING ON ANY

OF THE VARIOUS TOPICS DURING THIS TIME PERIOD.

2. Theodore Roosevelt:

A. The concept he had of the balance of power in European affairs, his reaction to the new

imperialism motivating European nations to seek

new empires in Africa, the eastern end of the

Mediterranean, in Southeast, Northeast, and Eastern Asia, as well as what today we call the Pacific Rim.

B. Caribbean intervention including his Colombian-Panamanian policies, the Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and his ideas of receiverships.

C. Asian issues and negotiations following the American acquisition of an insular empire throughout the Pacific basin. You will need to define Roosevelt's concept of American diplomatic and military policies and strength combined with his growing suspicions and fears of Imperial Meiji Japan.

D. American acquisition of an empire and its consequences. Here the student will research and reflect upon the Supreme Court "Insular Cases" that allowed the United States to gain an insular empire and the Congressional legislation written and passed (sponsors of these proposals) that enabled the United States to govern these newly won possessions.

The student will also need to address the controversies surrounding the acquisitions as defined and argued by expansionists and anti-expansionists and know the exact difference between their philosophies.

BE CAREFUL: THEIR PHILOSOPHIES

NEED CAREFUL EVALUATION.

3. The presidency of William Howard Taft..choose one

of the three major issues of his administration:

A. The issues in Asia, especially the Taft-Knox Neutralization Scheme regarding railroads in Manchuria as well as other issues relating to

Eastern Asia in general and Japan specifically.

B. His policies revolving around Dollar Diplomacy in Central and South America.

C. Whichever topic relating to President Taft that you choose be sure to explain his later conflicts with Theodore Roosevelt which were so important in electing Thomas Woodrow Wilson to the White House in 1912.

4. Woodrow Wilson's Diplomacy:

A. Pre-World War I diplomacy and the futility of neutrality, 1914-1917. The student will need

to explain Wilson's decision to ask Congress for

a declaration of war in April, 1917.

B. Once the United States was in the First World War

what were Wilson's objectives, how did he hope to

implement them and then evaluate how well he achieved his goals by explaining the issues he faced during the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations negotiations.

Finally, discuss and explain the provisions of the treaty and League as well as the treaty's strengths and weaknesses as commented upon by historians.

C. Explain Wilson's relationship with the Senate before we entered the war, during the conflict and during the crucial advice and consent ratification debates.

***ANY STUDENT CHOOSING ONE OF THE WILSON TOPICS SHOULD BE VERY EXPERIENCED IN RESEARCH, HAVE A FIRM KNOWLEDGE OF THE LIBRARY AND BE WILLING TO READ MANY OF THE BOOKS AND ARTICLES RELATING TO THESE TOPICS AND KNOW ALSO HOW TO WRITE EVALUATIVE PAPERS.

5. Republican Foreign Policy: 1921-1933.

A. Washington Conference, 1921-1922...explain the four treaties and their impact on our government's diplomatic and military policies during the decade.

B. Reaction to the Chinese Revolution, 1925-1928.

C. The origins, diplomacy and consequences of the Kellogg-Briand Pact...The 'Outlawry of War' concept.

D. The Manchurian Crisis, 1931-1933...the Hoover-Stimson Non-Recognition Policy...the onset and continuation of the depression and the continuing issues in China.

6. The Diplomacy of Franklin Roosevelt:

The diplomacy of the four-term president is so vast that it cannot be conveyed in the handout. I would, however, divide the issues into four time frames:

A. The diplomacy of the early New Deal...the Italian-Ethiopian War of 1935, Hitler's invasion of the demilitarized Rhineland in 1936, the problems relating to neutrality legislation from 1934 to 1937, and the Spanish-Civil War, 1936-1939.

B. Reaction to the Second Sino-Japanese War beginning on July 7, 1937 at the Marco Polo Bridge (also known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident) and its consequences through June 1940.

Be sure to include in this topic the bombing and sinking of the U.S.S. Panay on December 12, 1937, the attempt to revise the Neutrality Legislation and how Roosevelt viewed Chiang Kai-shek and China in America's East Asian policy formulation.

C. American-Japanese relations, 1933-1937. Here the student should begin with relations following Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations, her withdrawal from the Washington Conference Naval Treaty obligations and the announcement of a future New Order in Asia that foreshadowed antagonisms in the next several years.

There are other issues but those mentioned here are required for understanding the growing hostility between Tokyo and Washington.

D. For the years 1937-1941, relations with Japan continued to deteriorate and the student will need to explain the final collapse of diplomatic cordiality between the two nations resulting in the Japanese strategic military blunder of attacking Pearl Harbor on that "date (NOT DAY) that will live in infamy".

****THERE ARE TOO MANY ASPECTS TO AMERICAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS BETWEEN 1937 AND THE ATTACK AT PEARL HARBOR TO LIST HERE. THUS, ANY STUDENT DESIRING TO WORK ON TOPIC NUMBER D SHOULD SEE ME DURING REGULAR OFFICE HOUR.

E. Any student who wishes to write about the historiography of the Pearl Harbor disaster and the charges of dereliction of duty that arose from the attack should see me for assistance with this massive topic.

The Bibliography that was passed out in class should be helpful. PLEASE USE IT; DO NOT IGNORE IT.

7. Some students might wish to pursue the Cold War topics centering on American relations with the Soviet Union. A wide reading is required for this topic so do not attempt it without making that commitment.

8. Other possible topics:

A. Overview of American-Chinese Relations...1911-1949

B. Overview of American-Soviet Relations....1933-1950

C. Overview of American-Japanese Relations..1900-1919

D. Overview of American-Japanese Relations..1920-1940.

E. Overview of relations with European-Asian-Latin American countries not mentioned above. Since Africa was not of primary interest to American policy makers until the last thirty years, policies formulated for Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa were officially presented through the various foreign offices of governments with colonial interests on that continent.

I encourage students to research and write papers relating to the newly forming republics in the post World War II era on any continent but diplomatic sources might be insufficient in English.

The student is also encouraged to study a Secretary of State within the many administrations since the turn of the twentieth century. Among the more notable heads of the State Department include:

For Benjamin Harrison....James G. Blaine............1889-1892

John W. Foster.............1891-1893

For Grover Cleveland.....Walter Q. Gresham..........1893-1895

Richard Olney..............1895-1897

For William McKinley.....John Sherman...............1897-1898

William R. Day.............1898

John Hay...................1898-1901

For Theodore Roosevelt...John Hay...................1901-1905

Elihu B. Root..............1905-1909

Robert Bacon...............1909

For William Howard Taft..Philander C. Knox..........1909-1913

For Woodrow Wilson.......William Jennings Bryan.....1913-1915

Robert Lansing.............1915-1920

Bainbridge Colby...........1920-1921

For Warren Harding.......Charles Evans Hughes.......1921-1923

For Calvin Coolidge......Charles Evans Hughes.......1923-1925

Frank B. Kellogg...........1925-1928

For Herbert Hoover.......Henry L. Stimson...........1929-1933

For Franklin Roosevelt...Cordell Hull...............1933-1944

Edward R. Stettinius, Jr...1944-1945

For Harry Truman.........Edward R. Stettinius, Jr...1945

James F. Byrnes............1945-1947

George C. Marshall.........1947-1949

Dean G. Acheson............1949-1953

For Dwight Eisenhower....John Foster Dulles.........1953-1959

Christian A. Herter........1959-1961

For John Kennedy.........Dean Rusk..................1961-1963