Pomona College History 21: Dynamics of Power in the US

Fall 2015

Second Paper Assignment

DUE: 12/9, at 5:00pm via email in Word, PDF, or Odt format

Send to: vsilverman@pomona.edu with "h21 paper 2" in the subject line

KEEP A BACKUP PAPER COPY OF YOUR PAPER and EMAIL!!!!!

Write a 2400-3000 word (@8-10 pp) report on the results of a history of a current or recent power network that has had an effect on a historical event. For the paper you will choose a particular organization, describe its top leadership's class status and explain a recent event in which they have participated. The event can be of just about any sort, from lobbying for a law to releasing a report, from fighting a union to launching a war. You will sign up to meet with me by the end of Week 10, April 3. At the meeting we will discuss your research plans, so come prepared with an idea of which organization and event you will examine.

In the paper, as in paper 1, you will describe members of the board, describe their biographies, their economic, political, social or cultural connections that show them to be or not to be members of the upper class. In the paper you will also have to detail the method and sources you used to discover this information. You will also provide an analysis that explains how the makeup of this board and institution supports or contradicts the argument in Domhoff. Finally, you will

describe the event that involves this organization or people, place the event in historical context, and offer a conclusion about what it reveals about how power operates in the United States.