Ranking the Half-Century
The objective asks for a ranking
- Compare the relative significance of the major events of the first half of the 20th century in shaping American identity.
- Relative significance again — the task is to rank, exactly as in 5.12, and to state the criterion used.
- In shaping American identity narrows it: the measure is effect on how the nation understood itself.
'Relative significance' means the task is to...
Exactly as in 5.12.
The candidate events
- The Spanish-American War and the empire debate; World War I and the refusal that followed it.
- The Great Depression and New Deal, which redefined liberalism and realigned the parties.
- World War II, which ended the Depression, opened and then closed wartime opportunities, and made the country the most powerful on Earth.
Match each criterion to what it favours.
Name the criterion before ranking.
Two usable criteria
- Durability: which change lasted? The New Deal's regulatory agencies and political realignment are explicitly long-term in the CED.
- Reach: which change touched the most people's daily lives? Mass culture and the consumer economy of 7.7 touched nearly everyone.
- Name your criterion before you rank, and the ranking becomes an argument instead of a preference.
Durability, reach, or identity?
Sort each event by the criterion it scores highest on.
Because the objective says 'identity', the measure is...
7.1's first and third threads both describe arguments about that.
Name your criterion before you rank. Durability favours the New Deal's explicitly long-term regulatory agencies and political realignment; reach favours 7.7's mass culture and consumer economy — and the strongest objection to any ranking is usually the criterion you did not choose.
Select both strongest candidates by the identity measure.
Both changed what the country thought it was for.
Identity is the measure here
- 7.1's first thread describes a country arguing over reform; the third describes it arguing over its role abroad.
- So the events that most shaped identity are those that changed what Americans thought the country was for.
- By that measure, the New Deal's redefinition of liberalism and the war's arrival at world power are the two strongest candidates.
The best objection to a ranking is usually the ____ you did not choose.
What lasted longest is rarely what touched the most people first.
Writing the comparison
- Pick two events, state one criterion, rank them, and answer the strongest objection to your ranking.
- The best objection is usually the other criterion: what lasted longest is rarely what touched the most people first.
- That is the whole method, and it is the same one 5.12 required — worth having learned once.
One event changes what a government does for the next fifty years; another changes what a family listens to every evening. Which mattered more depends on whether you are measuring institutions or lives, and both are legitimate.
Compare the relative significance of the major events of the first half of the 20th century in shaping American identity — the task is to rank against a stated criterion. Durability favours the New Deal's long-term regulatory agencies and political realignment; reach favours mass culture and the consumer economy; and since the measure is identity, the strongest candidates are the New Deal's redefinition of modern American liberalism and the war's arrival at world power with its renewed debate over the nation's role.