SOLD OUT One Day University - History Event with NY Historical Society
January 13,2013

THREE CLASSES:

 

1) The Presidency of Harry Truman:
What We Know Now That We Didn't Know Then
9:30am – 10:30am
Professor Richard M. Pious – Barnard /  Columbia

When Harry S. Truman became President, he asked the press corps to pray for him. Public and pundits alike saw him as a machine politician unlikely to possess the vision or political skills necessary for success in the Oval Office. Yet within five years Truman had made decisions that ended World War II, established policies of reconstruction in Western Europe, created new American interests in the Middle East, and relied on military power to contain the expansion of communist regimes.

 

Truman evolved from an incumbent who was highly dependent on his national security advisers, to a Commander-in-Chief who sometimes acted contrary to the advice of the highest-ranking officials in his administration. Truman not only was “present at the creation” of the postwar international order, but he also laid the groundwork for the subsequent rise of an “imperial presidency” utilizing unprecedented war powers.

 

2) The Untold History of German Resistance in WW2
10:45am – 11:45am

Professor Anne Nelson /Columbia

Conventional wisdom has long suggested that the entire German nation succumbed to Nazi ideology.With the fall of the Berlin Wall, stunning new evidence, locked in the Stasi archives, became available to support a deeper understanding.German resistance movements existed through most of the Nazi period, and one of them, the Rote Kapelle, succeeded in infiltrating the Nazi regime in order to attack it from within.The group included U.S.-educated German academics, an Air Force intelligence officer, and a broad array of artists, academics, physicians, and workers.The movement combined Conservatives and Communists; Catholics,Lutherans and Jews – and almost half of them were women. 

 

3) The WW2 Films Every Movie Lover Should See
Noon  – 1:00pm
Professor Marc Lapadula - Yale

Nearly seventy years after World War II (1939-1945) and its complicated aftermath, it continues to capture the attention and imaginations of filmmakers and audiences around the world. From classical directors like Alfred Hitchcock (Saboteur) to more modern, technically-stunning individuals like Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan), this devastating conflict between nations continues to inspire stories that find their way to the big screen and captivate mainstream audiences. Remaining a tantalizing subject for screenwriters and directors, the "how" and "why" of such an unfathomable event ever taking place still generates questions that have never been adequately answered. Clips from powerful films that reveal a stark, multi-faceted portrait of World War II, its affects on soldiers and civilians during and after the conflict will be screened, including The Best Years Of Our Lives, Julia, Patton, The Thin Red Line, The Great Escape, The Bridge On the River Kwai, and many others.

 

 

New York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
January 13,2013
9:30 AM - 1:00 PM