Office: Room 1723 HW
Phone: 772-5507
e-mail: apolsky@hunter.cuny.edu
Office Hours: M, 1:15-3:00 and by appointment
http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~apolsky/

Course Description

    In 2003 President George W. Bush launched an invasion of Iraq, America's first "preventive" war. This marked the fifth major U.S. military involvement (the Persian Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq) since the end of the Cold War. The capacity of American presidents to wage war without a formal declaration and at times in the face of strong international opposition is a striking illustration of the power of the modern presidency. Although presidents have been committing American forces abroad at least since Thomas Jefferson sent the navy to fight the Barbary pirates ("to the shores of Tripoli") in 1801, the scale and frequency of modern presidential military intervention eclipses anything seen before the Second World War. At the same time, the failure to bring the Iraq war to a successful conclusion makes it clear that despite the resources at their disposal, presidents face difficult challenges in trying to achieve the political goals they identify at the outset of a conflict. The power to make war does not translate readily into the power to win wars.

    We will explore in depth the presidency at war. For each president who led the nation during a major conflict, we will consider how the president prepared the nation for war, defined and adjusted war goals, sustained political support for war and dealt with domestic opposition, mobilized social and economic resources to support the war effort, exercised power as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and dealt with postwar issues. This historical approach will allow us to examine how the war-making capacity of the presidency has changed over time, to consider whether there are effective domestic and international constraints on presidential military initiative, and to appreciate the various leadership challenges a president faces during wartime. Note that this course has a research focus: together we will seek answers to a set of important questions about presidents as leaders during a period of national crisis.

Course Objectives

    This course has both a substantive focus and developmental goals. The syllabus is designed to introduce students to analytical perspectives on the challenges of wartime leadership that can illuminate both past and present and then to apply these perspectives to every major American war. In substantive terms, by the end of the term you should know a good deal more about how presidents have fared as wartime leaders and how the actions of presidents have altered both the nation and the world. At the same time, this course aims to improve your critical thinking skills - your capacity to grasp abstract concepts, to appreciate how they can be translated into concrete empirical claims, and to better use evidence to evaluate the validity of empirical claims and assess broader concepts. You will be pressed to "interrogate" evidence - to ask questions about whether it is conclusive or indeterminate, to reconcile conflicting evidence that seems to support different historical claims, and to consider why particular authors select certain evidence and omit other material. (As you will see, the study of wartime presidential leadership invites waves of revisionist scholarship.) Finally, the written assignments and exams are designed to improve different writing skills, including your ability to summarize the main points of an argument succinctly, to explain historical cases clearly and to compare them systematically, and to make an extended argument in which you state a thesis and support it through the use of evidence you will compile through your own research..

Accessability

    In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Hunter College is committed to ensuring educational parity and accommodations for all students with documented disabilities and/or medical conditions. It is recommended that all students with documented disabilities (Emotional, Medical, Physical and/ or Learning) consult the Office of AccessABILITY located in Room E1124 to secure necessary academic accommodations. For further information and assistance please call (212- 772- 4857)/TTY (212- 650- 3230).

Statement on Academic Integrity

    Hunter College is strongly committed to the principle that students should do their own work, give proper credit for information gained from any source, and acknowledge any help received in completing assignments. I will pursue any suspected violations on written assignments (including non-graded ones) through the college's formal mechanism for adjudicating such cases and seek the most severe penalties permitted under college policy. Students may be asked to submit their papers to a plagiarism detection service.

Course Requirements

    1) Complete assigned reading before class meetings (see attached schedule) and prepare ten two-page reading summaries over the course of the semester. (Summaries more than three pages in length will be rejected.) For an explanation of what a summary should contain, please refer to my on-line instructions: http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~apolsky/SUMMARY.htm. The summaries must be submitted at the start of class; they may not be transmitted via e-mail or fax. If you miss a class, even for a valid reason, you may not submit a summary late. To make sure you do not fall behind, you should submit at least seven summaries before the spring recess. Failure to submit ten summaries will result in a reduction of your class participation grade (see below under grading). If I find a summary inadequate (usually because it is too vague or based only on the first few pages of the reading), I will reject it and you will need to do another one. Where more than one reading is assigned for a class, I will specify in advance which one(s) to summarize. I usually divide the class to assure that all the readings will be summarized. I may also distribute questions about a reading in advance that may be answered in lieu of a conventional summary. You may submit only one summary/answer per class.

    2) Attend class regularly and on time. No student shall be permitted to enter the classroom late; I will treat such lateness as an unexcused absence. Students who miss more than three classes without a valid, documented reason shall be penalized through the class participation grade. (See below under grading.)

    3) Participate in class discussion. Your participation grade will also reflect your active contribution to class meetings.

    4) Complete all written assignments. Written work for the course consists of one major research paper (about 20 pages), an in-class mid-term exam, and a final exam. The final may be either an in-class test or a take-home essay of 5-7 pages due at the scheduled time of the final exam.

    You will have a choice of topics for your research paper. You may select one president who led the United States during a major military conflict and make an argument about his leadership based upon a set of questions I will provide. Note that you will need to focus your research on a particular aspect of the president's performance in order to keep the paper within bounds. As an alternative, I will provide a set of research topics, some of which involve comparisons of two or more presidents.

    The research paper will be a staged assignment with each stage worth a certain number of points and completion required by intermediate deadlines that will I specify. This structure will insure that you begin the research early and sustain it over the course of the semester. Assuming you meet the intermediate deadlines, you will have an opportunity to rewrite the essay based upon my comments to improve the grade.

Grading

    In the calculation of your final course grade, class participation, the midterm, and the final exam will each count for 20%; the research paper will count for the other 40%.

    The class participation grade begins with the reading summaries. Students who complete the ten short summaries will have a base participation grade of B. This will decline by one-third of a letter grade if you submit fewer than ten summaries, by one full letter grade for fewer than seven, and by two letter grades for fewer than four. In addition, for four or more undocumented absences, your participation grade will be reduced by one-third of a letter grade, increasing to a full letter grade off for ten or more absences. You can improve your participation grade through regular, informed contributions to class discussions.

    I expect you to complete written assignments on time. If you miss the mid-term or final exam, you will be permitted to take a make-up test only when you have a valid excuse supported by written documentation. A late research paper, without a documented, valid excuse, will be penalized through grade deductions and loss of the right to revise the paper for a better grade. Incompletes will be granted only with a documented excuse and only for a limited time (usually no longer than the time you were incapacitated), the duration to be set at the time the incomplete is approved.

    Note on credit/no credit grading: College rules specify that to be eligible for credit/no credit, students must complete all course requirements. In this course, students who wish to be graded on the credit/no credit system must take the mid-term exam, submit at least four summaries, submit the paper assignment on time, and attempt the final exam. Failure to do all these things will void a credit/no credit request, and a conventional letter grade will be entered instead.

Books

    This course relies upon one book and a large number of articles that have been compiled in a hideously expensive course pack (likely divided into two volumes). The following title has been ordered for purchase at Shakespeare Books:

    Gary R. Hess, Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001).

    The course pack, which contains all other assigned readings, will also be available for purchase at Shakespeare or on-line at ccpaks.com. One copy of the course pack will be placed on reserve.
 

Schedule of Class Assignments

    The dates below are only approximate. As this schedule is subject to revision, students are responsible for keeping up with any announced changes, including changes in test dates. If you miss a class, e-mail me to confirm the next assignment and which reading to summarize. Required readings are marked with an asterisk (*). Other readings are supplemental (linked to the assigned reading by a common theme or historical period) and may be useful as a starting point for individual research projects
 

January 28th and 31st. Overview: Presidential Resources and the Task of the Commander in Chief.

*Andrew J. Polsky, "The Presidency at War," in Michael Nelson, ed., The Presidency and the Political System, 8th ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2006), pp. 557-75. [course pack]

*Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (New York: Anchor Books/Random House, 2002), Chap. 1 "The Soldier and the Statesman," pp. 1-13, 269-70. [course pack]

Bruce Cumings, "The American Way of Going to War: Mexico (1846) to Iraq (2003),"Orbis 41 (2) (Spring 2007): 195-215.

Norman A. Graebner, "The President as Commander in Chief: A Study in Power," Journal of Military History 57 (1) (January 1993): 111-32.

David Gray Adler, "Presidential Greatness as an Attribute of Warmaking," Presidential Studies Quarterly 33 (3) (September 2003): 466-83.
 

February 4th. Presidential War Powers: The Constitutional Question.

*Joseph R. Avella, "The President, Congress, and Decisions to Employ Military Force," in Phillip G. Henderson, ed., The Presidency Then and Now (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), pp. 48-68. [course pack]

*Louis Fisher, "Congressional Checks on Military Initiatives," Political Science Quarterly 109 (5) (1994-1995): 739-62. [course pack]

*Charles A. Lofgren, "War-Making under the Constitution: The Original Understanding,"Yale Law Journal 81 (4) (March 1972): 672-702. [course pack]

Richard M. Pious, "Inherent War and Executive Powers and Prerogative Politics,"Presidential Studies Quarterly 37 (1) (March 2007): 66-84.

Abraham D. Sofaer, "Presidential Power and National Security," Presidential Studies Quarterly 37 (1) (March 2007): 101-23.

Robert F. Turner, "The War on Terrorism and the Modern Relevance of the Congressional Power to 'Declare War,'" Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 25 (2) (Spring 2002): 519-37.

United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. (1936) in Michael Nelson, ed., The Evolving Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1999), pp. 118-23.

Mark T. Uyeda, "Presidential Prerogative under the Constitution to Deploy U.S. Military Forces in Low-Intensity Conflict," Duke Law Journal 44 (4) (February 1995): 777-828.

John C. Yoo, "The Continuation of Politics by Other Means: The Original Understanding of War Powers," California Law Review 84 (2) (March 1996): 167-305.
 

February 7th. Putting the Constitution into Practice: The Use of Force in the Early Republic.

*Abraham D. Sofaer, "The Presidency, War, and Foreign Affairs: Practice under the Framers," Law and Contemporary Problems 40 (2) (Spring 1976): 12-38. [course pack]

*David P. Currie, "Rumors of War: Presidential and Congressional War Powers, 1809-1829," University of Chicago Law Review 67 (1) (Winter 2000): 1-40. [course pack]

Alexander DeConde, The Quasi-War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France, 1797-1801 (New York: Scribner, 1966).

J. D. Waghelstein, "The United States Army's First War: War in the Northwest Territory, 1790-1795," Small Wars & Insurgencies 12 (2) (Summer 2001): 1-18.
 

February 11th and 14th. The Anomaly?: The Weak Wartime Presidency of James Madison.

*J. C. A. Stagg, Mr. Madison's War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783-1830 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), chap. 3 "Organizing the Republic for War, 1783-1812," pp. 120-77. [course pack]

*Abbot Smith, "Mr Madison's War: An Unsuccessful Experiment in the Conduct of National Policy," Political Science Quarterly 57 (2) (June 1942): 229-46. [course pack]

*Robert Allen Rutland, The Presidency of James Madison (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1990), chaps. 6 and 7, pp. 99-153. [course pack]

William B. Skelton, "High Army Leadership in the Era of the War of 1812: The Making and Remaking of the Officer Corps," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, 51 (2) (April 1994): 253-74.

J. C. A. Stagg, "James Madison and the 'Malcontents': The Political Origins of the War of 1812," The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series 33 (4) (October 1976): 557-85.
 

February 18th. President's Day - No Class.
 

February 21st and 25th. Manifest Destiny: James K. Polk's War of Conquest Against Mexico.

*James R. Arnold, Presidents Under Fire: Commanders in Chief in Victory and Defeat (New York: Orion Books, 1994), chap. 5 "War for Conquest," pp. 93-123. [course pack]

*Charles A. Lofgren, "Force and Diplomacy, 1846-1848: The View from Washington,"Military Affairs 31 (2) (Summer 1967): 57-64. [course pack]

*John H. Schroeder, Mr. Polk's War: American Opposition and Dissent, 1846-1848 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973), chaps. 1-3, pp. 3-50. [course pack]

*Norman A .Graebner, "Lessons of the Mexican War," Pacific Historical Review 47 (3) (August 1978): 325-342. [course pack]

Michael A. Morrison, "'New Territory versus No Territory': The Whig Party and the Politics of Western Expansion, 1846-1848," Western Historical Quarterly 23 (1) (February 1992): 25-51.

Richard R. Steinberg, "The Failure of Polk's Mexican War Intrigue of 1845," Pacific Historical Review 4 (1) (March 1935): 39-68.
 

February 28th and March 3rd. The Civil War: Strategic and Partisan Imperatives

*Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (New York: Anchor Books/Random House, 2002), chap. 2 "Lincoln Sends a Letter," pp. 15-51, 270-74. [course pack]

*James M. McPherson, Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), chap. 4 "Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender," pp. 65-91. [course pack]

*Andrew J. Polsky, "'Mr Lincoln's Army' Revisited: Partisanship, Institutional Position, and Union Army Command, 1861-1865," Studies in American Political Development 16 (2) (Fall 2002): 176-207. [course pack]

Mark E. Neely, Jr., "Was the Civil War a Total War?" Civil War History 50 (4) (2004): 434-58.

Geoffrey Perret, Lincoln's War: The Untold Story of America's Greatest President as Commander in Chief (New York: Random House, 2004).

Thomas E. Schneider, "Lincoln and Leadership," Perspectives on Political Science 36 (2) (Spring 2007): 69-72.
 

March 6th and 10th. Civil War and the Assertion of Executive Emergency Powers.

*James M. McPherson, This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), chap. 16 "'As Commander-in-Chief I Have a Right to Take Any Measure Which May Best Subdue the Enemy,'" pp. 209-21. [course pack] 

*Abraham Lincoln, "Message to Congress in Special Session," July 4, 1861, in Lincoln,Selected Speeches and Writings (New York: Vintage/Library of America, 1992), pp. 300-15. [course pack]

*Mark E. Neely, Jr., The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), chap. 3 "Low Tide for Liberty," pp. 51-74, 245-49. [course pack]

Herman Belz, "Abraham Lincoln and American Constitutionalism," The Review of Politics 50 (2) (Spring 1988): 169-97.

Ex Parte Milligan (1866) in Michael Nelson, ed., The Evolving Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1999), pp. 77-82.

Benjamin A. Kleinerman, "Lincoln's Example: Executive Power and the Survival of Constitutionalism," Perspectives on Politics 3 (2005): 801-16.

Abraham Lincoln to Erastus Corning and Others, June 12, 1863, in Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings (New York: Vintage Books/Library of America, 1992), pp. 373-82.

Abraham Lincoln, "Second Inaugural Address," in Lincoln, Selected Speeches and Writings (New York: Vintage/Library of America, 1992), pp. 449-50.

William Marvel, Mr. Lincoln Goes to War (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

James F. Simon, Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession, and the President's War Powers (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006).
 

March 13th. Toward World Power Status: A Splendid Little War

*John L. Offner, "McKinley and the Spanish-American War," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34 (1) (March 2004): 50-61. [course pack]

*Lewis L. Gould, The Spanish American War and President McKinley (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1980, 1982), chaps. 2 and 3, pp. 19-90, 140-45. [course pack]

*John M. Gates, "Philippine Guerillas, American Anti-Imperialists, and the Election of 1900," Pacific Historical Review 46 (1) (February 1977): 51-64. [course pack]

Grania Bolton, "Military Diplomacy and National Liberation: Insurgent-American Relations After the Fall of Manilla," Military Affairs 36 (3) (October 1972): 99-104.

Paolo E. Coletta, "McKinley, the Peace Negotiations, and the Acquisition of the Philippines," Pacific Historical Review 30 (4) (November 1961): 341-50.

Joseph Fry, "William McKinley and the Coming of the Spanish-American War: A Study of the Besmirching and Redemption of an Historical Image," Diplomatic History 3 (1979): 77-97.

Richard F. Hamilton, President McKinley, War and Empire: Volume 1: President McKinley and the Coming of War, 1898 (Transaction, 2006).

Richard F. Hamilton, President McKinley, War and Empire: Volume 2: President McKinley and America's "New Empire" (Transaction, 2006).

Julius W. Pratt, "The 'Large Policy' of 1898," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 19 (2) (September 1932): 219-42.

Ephraim K. Smith, "'A Question from Which We Could Not Escape': William McKinley and the Decision to Acquire the Philippine Islands," Diplomatic History 9 (4) (1985): 363-375.
 

March 17th and 26th (Wednesday). The War to End All Wars.

*Robert H. Ferrell, "Woodrow Wilson: A Misfit in Office?" in Joseph G. Dawson III, ed.Commanders in Chief: Presidential Leadership in Modern Wars (Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1993), pp. 65-86. [course pack]

*Arthur S. Link, The Higher Realism of Woodrow Wilson and Other Essays (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971), chap. 7 "Wilson and the Ordeal of Neutrality," pp. 88-98. [course pack]

*Kendrick A. Clements, The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1992), chaps. 8-10, pp. 143-203, 284-89. [course pack]

*John Milton Cooper, Jr., Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), chap. 10 "Breaking the Heart of the World," pp. 412-33. [course pack]

Kendrick A. Clements, "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34 (1) March 2004): 62-82.

Marc Allen Eisner, From Warfare State to Welfare State: World War I, Compensatory State Building, and the Limits of Modern Order (University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2000), chap. 3 "Mobilization, Demobilization, and the Legacy of the Great War," pp. 45-85.

Jim Powell, Wilson's War: How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Stalin & World War II (New York: Crown, 2005).

Christopher Ray, "Woodrow Wilson as Commander-in-Chief," History Today 43 (April 1993) 24-29.
 

March 20th Mid-Term Exam (in class).
 

March 24th. Hunter College Closed - No Class.
 

March 27th and 31st and April 3rd. Leadership in a Global Struggle: Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and the Second World War.

*Eric Larrabee, Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987), chap. 1 "Roosevelt," pp. 40-95. [course pack]

*William Emerson, "Franklin Roosevelt as Commander-in-Chief in World War II," Military Affairs 22 (4) (Winter 1958-1959): 181-207. [course pack]

*Mark M. Lowenthal, "Roosevelt and the Coming of the War: The Search for United States Policy, 1937-1942," Journal of Contemporary History 16 (3) (July 1981): 413-40. [course pack]

*Harold I. Gullan, "Expectations of Infamy: Roosevelt and Marshall Prepare for War, 1938-41," Presidential Studies Quarterly 28 (3) (Summer 1998): 510-22. [course pack]

*Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 2001), chap. 3 "FDR's Decision to Intern," pp. 73-124. [course pack]

*Barton J. Bernstein, "The Atomic Bombings Reconsidered," Foreign Affairs 74 (1) (1995): 135-52. [course pack]

Gar Alperovitz, "Hiroshima: Historians Reassess," Foreign Policy 99 (summer 1995): 15-34.

Stephen Ambrose, "Just Dumb Luck," in Americans at War (Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 1997), pp. 57-66.

Abraham Ben-Zvi, "American Preconceptions and Policies Toward Japan, 1940-1941: A Case Study in Misperception," International Studies Quarterly 19 (2) (June 1975): 228-48).

Steven Casey, Cautious Crusade: Franklin D. Roosevelt, American Public Opinion, and the War Against Nazi Germany (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

John L. Chase, "Unconditional Surrender Reconsidered," Political Science Quarterly 70 (2) (June 1955): 258-79.

Eliot A. Cohen, "Churchill and His Generals," in Robert Cowley, ed., No End Save Victory: Perspectives on World War II (New York: G. P. Putnam's Son's, 2001), pp. 278-91. 

Thomas Fleming, The New Dealers' War: FDR. and the War Within World War II (New York: Basic Books, 2001).

Mary E. Glantz, FDR and the Soviet Union: The President's Battles over Foreign Policy (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005).

Daniel F. Harrington, "A Careless Hope: American Air Power and Japan, 1941," Pacific Historical Review 48 (2) (1979): 217-38

Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), chap. 9 "The Political Economy of War, 1940-45," pp. 196-236, 313-18.

Warren F. Kimbal, The Juggler: Franklin Roosevelt as Wartime Statesman (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991).

Bruce M. Russet, No Clear and Present Danger: A Skeptical View of the Unites States Entry into World War II (1972; reprint ed., Westview Press, 1997).

Richard W. Steele, "Political Aspects of American Military Planning, 1941-42," Military Affairs 35 (2) (April 1971): 68-74.

Jonathan G. Utley, Going to War with Japan, 1937-1941 (1985; reprint ed, New York: Fordham University Press, 2005).

Brian L. Villa, "The U.S. Army, Unconditional Surrender, and the Potsdam Proclamation,"Journal of American History 63 (1) (June 1976): 66-92.
 

April 7th. Discussion of Research Papers.
 

April 10th and 14th. The National Security State and the Korean War.

*Michael J. Hogan, A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945-1954 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), chap. 2 "Magna Charta: The National Security Act and the Specter of the Garrison State," pp. 23-68. [course pack]

*Gary R. Hess, Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), chaps. 1-2.

*James I. Matray, "Truman's Plan for Victory: National Self-Determination and the Thirty-Eighth Parallel Decision in Korea," Journal of American History 66 (2) (September 1979): 314-33. [course pack]

*Steven Casey, "White House Publicity Operations During the Korean War. June 1950-June 1951," Presidential Studies Quarterly 35 (4) (December 2005): 691-717. [course pack]

Ronald James Caridi, "The G.O.P. and the Korean War," Pacific Historical Review 37 (4) (November 1968): 423-43.

John Edward Wiltz, "Truman and MacArthur: The Wake Island Meeting," Military Affairs 42 (4) (December 1978): 169-76.

Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) in Michael Nelson, ed., The Evolving Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1999), pp. 136-45.
 

April 17th and 28th. Vietnam: Presidential Leadership in a Military Quagmire.

*Hess, Presidential Decisions for War, chaps. 3-4.

*David Kaiser, American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000), chap. 10 "A Decision for War: November 1963-April 1964," pp. 284-311. [course pack]

*Vaughn Davis Bornet, The Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1983), chap. 11 "Waging a No-Win War of Attrition: Vietnam," pp. 253-82, 374-77. [course pack]

*Belma S. Steinberg, Shame and Humiliation: Presidential Decision Making on Vietnam (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996), chap. 5 "Nixon and Cambodia," pp. 169-206, 335-40. [course pack]

Larry Berman, Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989).

Andrew Z. Katz, "Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: The Nixon Administration and the Pursuit of Peace with Honor in Vietnam," Presidential Studies Quarterly 27 (1997).

Pierre Aselin, A Bitter Peace: Washington, Hanoi, and the Making of the Paris Agreement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002).

Orrin Schwab, A Clash of Cultures: Civil-Military Relations During the Vietnam War (Praeger Security International, 2006).
 

April 21st and 24th. Spring Break - No Classes.
 

May 1st and 5th. Reactions to Vietnam: Congressional Assertion and the Era of "Objective Control."

*"The War Powers Resolution" (1973) in Michael Nelson, ed., The Evolving Presidency (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1999), pp. 184-90. [course pack]

*Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (New York: Anchor Books/Random House, 2002), chap. 6 "Leadership Without Genius," pp. 173-207, 285-88. [course pack]

*Hess, Presidential Decisions for War, chaps. 6-7.

William C. Banks and Jeffrey D. Straussman, "A New Imperial Presidency? Insights from U.S. Involvement in Bosnia," Political Science Quarterly 114 (2) (1999): 195-217.

Michael J. Glennon, "The Gulf War and the Constitution," Foreign Affairs 70 (2) (Spring 1991): 84-101.

David Halberstam, War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals (New York: Simon and Schuster/Touchstone, 2002)

Steven Metz, "America's Defense Transformation: A Conceptual and Political History,Defence Studies 6 (1) (March 2006): 1-25.
 

May 8th and 12th. Preventive War and Strategic Failure.

*Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (New York: Penguin Books, 2006, 2007), chaps. 5 "The Run-up" and 6 "The Silence of the Lambs," pp. 58-111. [course pack]

*Dominic D. P. Johnson, Overconfidence and War: The Havoc and Glory of Positive Illusions (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004), chap. 8 "Iraq 2003," pp. 191-218, 264-67. [course pack]

*Andrew J. Polsky, "Staying the Course: Presidential Leadership, Military Stalemate, and Strategic Inertia," 2007 American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL. [course pack]

*David Gray Adler, "George Bush as Commander in Chief: Toward the Nether World of Constitutionalism," Presidential Studies Quarterly 36 (3) (2006): 525-40. [course pack]

Nora Bensahel, "Mission Not Accomplished: What Went Wrong with Iraqi Reconstruction," Journal of Strategic Studies 29 (3): 453-73.

Ivo Daalder and James M. Lindsay, America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (Washington, DC: Brookings, 2003).

Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (New York: Pantheon, 2006).

Alice Hills, "Fear and Loathing in Falluja," Armed Forces & Society 32 (2006): 623-39.

Chaim Kaufman, "Threat Inflation and the Failure of the Marketplace of Ideas: The Selling of the Iraq War," International Security 29 (1) (summer 2004): 5-48.

Jonathan Monten, "The Roots of the Bush Doctrine: Power, Nationalism, and Democracy Promotion in U.S. Strategy," International Security 29 (4) (Spring 2005): 112-56.

Barry R. Posen, "Stability and Change in U.S. Grand Strategy," Orbis 51 (4) (2007): 561-67.

Jeffrey Record, "The Bush Doctrine and War with Iraq," Parameters (Spring 2003): 4-21.
 

May 19th. 11:30 AM-1:30 PM. Final Exam (TBA, in-class or take-home due).