Suggested Topics in US History for Research Papers

1. A common topic of US history- I’m tired of the same old US History projects!  There’s a world of information available.  Be original and creative, while sticking to the facts!
2. Biography:  No biography.  You may not focus on the presidencies of Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy, Nixon, or Barrack Obama!  One person’s life is not the purpose of this project.
3. All History:  I do not want to read the history of the US from 1850-2008 in 4 pages.
4. The New Deal or other frequently studied periods of economic history.  (No Rockefellers, Morgan’s, or Vanderbilt’s either)
5. “Popular” Conflicts: The Civil War and World War 2 are off limits.
6. Obama. Trump. Biden. 
7. Bias.  You are to present historical information in as unbiased way as possible.  You are not writing this as a member of particular political party or ideology.  You may be proving a point, but you may not slant your research to cover up the truth.  
8.  Feel good or Feel bad histories: The facts may illicit emotions when you give them, but we’re not here to cheerlead or to shred a group, a belief, or American society.  We’re proving something truthful about it.

Political History: Reconstruction era, The Gilded Age (ANY), The Progressive Era, the 1950s and anticommunism, radical politics of the 1960s (Black Panthers, Weather Underground etc.), understudied aspects of the Civil Rights Era (not another Martin Luther King Jr. story), Rise of the populist right-wing prior to 1980, the Culture Wars (abortion, gender roles, sexual orientation), Clintonian triangulation and Gingrich Republicans, or the politics of the “War on Terror.”

Wars: Spanish-American War, Latin American interventions, Indian Wars, the Korean War, Small Cold War interventions (Grenada, etc.), the Gulf War (Desert Storm), 90s interventions (Bosnia, Somalia, etc.), terrorism (predecessors to the War on Terror).

Foreign Policy: American “Imperialism” in the 19th and early 20th century (the Caribbean, the Philippines, Hawaii), Republican isolationism and demilitarization from 1919-1941, US Cold War policies to any country in South America, Africa, Asia (excluding all of Europe and Russia), Eisenhower’s foreign policy, LBJ’s non-Vietnam foreign policies (anything else), Carter Doctrine, GHW Bush’s foreign policies, Clinton’s foreign policy, or GW Bush’s foreign policy.

Social History: Understudied aspects of rights movements (women, black, Latino, LGBTQ+, Native Americans, Asian, etc.), labor history, consumer protection movement, etc.  

Economic History: Civil War economics of the North or South, Gov’t regulation or deregulation, the Great Society, 1970s stagnation, Wall Street “Era of Greed” (1980s), taxation policy (ex. GHW Bush) etc.

Local or State History:  Urban or Rural history of a specific locale other than NYC, regardless must have significant historical value worthy of passing on 
(So grandma’s hairnet store might not be important) 

Legal/Constitutional/Criminal Justice History: Federalism (Federal gov’t vs. State), Failure of the Equal Rights Amendment, changes in the Judicial system over a period of time, important Supreme Courts decisions (out of bounds are studies of only one decision like Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, or only Roe v. Wade.

Disciplinary History: Look into the history of your major in the US during time period.  This may be the most beneficial for you!  If you are a Math major, study American developments in Math during the period studied in this course.  Same for medical/nursing or engineering, or education, or business, etc.