S: The United States Military in the Cold War: Conflict, Culture, and Change (040090-WS 26/27)

This seminar will examine the history of the United States military during the Cold War era. Within this context, the armed forces are conceived as more than just an instrument of US foreign policy, but rather a social institution that reflected and contributed to broader transformations in American society since the end of the Second World War. Drawing on historical scholarship and a wide range of primary sources, topics covered include the experiences of servicemembers during postwar occupation in Europe and Asia, the Korean and Vietnam War, and how these not only impacted the military as an institution, but American society as a whole. In particular, students will explore racial integration in the armed forces, the experiences of African American GIs serving abroad and how military service impacted the civil rights movement in the United States, military culture and everyday life, and questions of class and gender. The widely perceived crisis of the armed forces during the Vietnam War, marked by growing indiscipline, racial strife and resistance within the ranks, will also be discussed, along with the military's transformation into an All Volunteer Force in 1973 and its implications for the social makeup of the armed forces and civil military relations.