OSHER 989 - A House Divided: A History of U.S. Politics Under Pressure

The 2016 presidential election highlighted profound divisions within our country. This course will examine other periods in U.S. history when our political leaders faced a deeply fractured electorate. What caused those earlier divisions? How did leaders respond to them (for both good and ill)? What can we learn from them? Particular attention will be given to the presidencies of George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and James Garfield as well as the presidents throughout the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s.