Instructions: Below are two questions about different aspects of the history of the era from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Answer both essay questions using essay form (with an introduction, thesis statement, and conclusion). Your word count will vary, but each essay will probably run from 1000 to 1500 words. Please double-space with a 1" margin and use 12-point Times Roman or equivalent. Use examples from the readings, where appropriate, but remember to cite all quotations or paraphrases. A bibliography is not necessary, unless you are citing sources not used in the course. Use this citation style: (Hays, 16). Your essays are due in class on Tuesday, April 6.
NOTE: Each question is followed by words and concepts which must appear somewhere in your essay. They are listed in no particular order, but include them among your own words, concepts, points, and examples. In other words, you are not limited to this list. You might consider checking them off as you write. Just frame the points of your essay so that you can include every one of them. The thesis and organization of your essay is up to you!
Essay #1: The early 1960s seem so different from the late 1950s. Write an essay explaining what the early 1960s were all about, particularly in contrast to the late 1950s. Include these points and examples:
| Sputnik |
| Richard Nixon |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| John Foster Dulles |
| Elvis Presley |
| Cuban Missile Crisis |
| Berlin Wall |
| Nuclear Test Ban Treaty |
| Abstract Expressionism |
| Pop Art and Op Art |
| John F. Kennedy's inaugural address |
| The Pill |
| Vatican II |
| Peace Corps |
| Michael Harrington's The Other America |
| Port Huron Statement |
| Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique |
| Lyndon B. Johnson's "Let Us Continue" speech |
| Johnson's "Great Society" speech |
| John Glenn |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. |
| The March on Washington |
| Freedom Riders |
| Sit-ins |
| James Meredith |
| Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
| Folk music |
| The Beatles |
Essay #2: Write an essay explaining the impact and significance of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. What was her argument? Why was her book such a blockbuster in the United States? Include these points and examples:
| DDT |
| Cancer |
| Insect resistance to insecticides |
| "Neanderthal age of biology" |
| Thalidomide |
| The cranberry scare |
| European reaction to Silent Spring |
| Radioactive Fallout |
| Strontium 90 |
| CBS prime-time special, "The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson" |
| The President's Science Advisory Committee report, "The Uses of Pesticides" (1963) |
| Murray Bookchin's Our Synthetic Environment |
| Cybernetics |
| Ecosystems |