Nixon vs. McGovern campaign ads

A couple of commercials from the 1972 Nixon vs. McGovern campaign.  Please take a look at both.  Which do you think is more effective? Why?

• McGovern Watergate ad
• Nixon ad on McGovern Military policy

Nixon vs. Humphrey vs. Wallace

Thanks to the miracle of the internet, young people today can watch the awful television commercials of the 50's, 60's, and 70's--including the campaign commercials. Lucky you! Please take a look at a one or two of the 1968 presidential campaign commercials I link here:

• Humphrey commercial
• George Wallace commercial
• Robert Kennedy commercial
• Nixon commercial

What was the main theme of the commercial/commercials you watched? What issues were the candidates using to try to sway voters? Did the commercial/commercials seem to you at all likely to be effective?

Watts Riots

The advent of television had a major affect on the way Americans viewed their nation and the political issues confronting America. Please watch this video clip of the 1965 Watts riots. What would your own reaction have been after seeing clips like this on the evening news? Remember that the riots broke out just days after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a supplement to the earlier Civil Rights Act of 1964. Do you think this is just a coincidence, or do you see a possible connection?

Atomic Cafe

The Atomic Cafe documentary is a great source for understanding certain aspects of the Cold War period.  Please view portions of the film and add your comments here.  What did you learn about the Cold War period from the footage here that would be less easy to learn from a lecture or a textbook?

Why We Fight

One of the best ways to get a "feel" for the different periods of recent U.S. history is to look at the films produced during these periods.  Frank Capra's Why We Fight series is a particularly good source for understanding both America's pre-war isolation and the transformation of the United States into the mightiest military machine in all history.

Please watch portions of the Capra series.  Comment here on your impressions: what did you get from watching the film that you might not have understood from just reading or listening to a lecture?

The Scopes Trial

While Inherit the Wind is a fine play, it does take many liberties in the way it depicts the events of the Scopes trial.  Reading through portions of the actual Scopes trial transcript give a bit better picture of what actually took place at the trial, particularly giving a more accurate picture of the role played by William Jennings Bryan.  Choose any portion of the transcript that looks interesting to you and comment on the proceedings.  Note how and why different people might interpret this trial very differently.  You might find the debate over prayer or Bryan's (undelivered) closing remarks particularly interesting.

Philippine-American War (1899-1902)

While the 1900 contest between Bryan vs. McKinley was taking place, America was bogged down attempting to end an insurrection in the Philippines. Glance through this Philippine-American War site and choose one incident from this war that seems to you worth addressing in a presidential campaign either on the pro-war or anti-war side.