Politics 259 - The Crisis of the Left in the United States

At the end of WWII, a robust liberal-labor-left-civil rights coalition stood ready to pursue expansion of the New Deal toward realizing the ideals enunciated in FDR's Second Bill of Rights. This coalition came together around efforts to establish national economic policy on a primary commitment to maintain full employment, to create a national health care system, to expand unionization, to outlaw racial discrimination and ensure fair employment practices. Business interests and political conservatives, intent on stopping or even rolling back the successes of that New Deal left coalition, went on the political attack along a variety of dimensions. That crucial struggle was foundational in shaping the following three-quarter century of American politics. This course examines the decline and transformation of the left in American politics from the end of World War II to the second presidency of Donald J. Trump to help make sense of how we got from there to here.

Course limited to sophomores, juniors and seniors