Summer Pro=
ject
Welcome to
In order to be a successful student of United States Government, you need to get in the habit of following current political events. You need to know who = the leaders are, what decisions they are making, and how it may affect your life. To get in this habit, complete the following assignment:
For each week of the summer (you can start after July = 4), choose one important political event, and give the following information:
= a. = Summarize what happened in a brief paragraph
= b. List the media source form which you got your information (date and page #/time)=
= c. = Name one key decision maker in this event – their office and where they are from
=
d. State
two or three political terms used in the story and give a brief definition<=
/p>
You should not repeat the decision makers or terms, an=
d you
should use at least five different media sources. The terms should be new or unfamiliar to you (i.e., not
“President”). Some
examples of words you may come across are: Bully Pulpit, sound bite, photo =
op,
Filibuster, Cloture, Apportionment, Gerrymandering, Conference Committee,
bipartisan, judicial activism, soft money, NAFTA, etc. We will focus on national politics, so your stories sh=
ould
as well. You may also include=
state
and local issues. Foreign pol=
icy
stories (especially where our government is involved) are great. Suggested media sources: A daily newspaper – look at headlines, national =
news,
editorials, oped page (opposite the editorials). An online newspaper – www.nytimes.com,
www.washingtonpost.com are
excellent &nbs=
p; -
both also have member centers which offer free daily emails of the headline=
s,
& politics pages: &nbs=
p; -
www.nytimes.co=
m/pages/politics/index.html,
www.washingtonpo=
st.com/wp-dyn/politics/
&nbs=
p; -
also check out www.boston.com/glob=
e/
and www.capecodonline.com=
/cctimes/
News magazines – Newsweek, Time, US News &Wo=
rld
Report – all offer excellent weekly summaries &nbs=
p; -
www.newsweek.com, www.time.com, www.usnews.com
– publish online Sunday/Monday Nightly local news (5-6:30 on most stations) and netwo=
rk
news – 6:30 on ABC, NBC, and CBS Weekly news shows – most are on Sunday mornings =
(e.g.
ABC’s This Week – 10:30 on Channel 5) &nbs=
p; -
PBS has a couple Friday night – McLaughlin Group (7:30), Washington W=
eek
in Review (9PM) Cable news networks – CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, NECN,=
etc.
– also offer websites – www.cnn=
.com
is excellent &nbs=
p; -CNN
also has a daily show- Inside Politics at 4 PM – check out www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/ Various other sources – e.g. if you have a yahoo=
.com
home page, you can set it up to give you the &nbs=
p; headlines
from the Associated Press (AP) every time you log on Online blogs – lots of them – www.polticalwire.com and www.fivethirtyeight.com are my
favorites! Please bring all your weekly stories in the first day =
of
class. You may email me your =
weekly
assignments if you would like comments on them, or if you have any
questions: dickson@harwich.edu Additional=
Suggested
Summer Reading These are good books on politics. You can receive extra credit for h=
anding
in a reflection on any of these. Man of the Hou=
se,
Tip O’Neill with William Novak All Politics i=
s Local,
Tip O’Neill Thirteen Days<=
/i>,
Robert Kennedy All the Presid=
ent’s
Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward Democracy in A=
merica,
Alexis de Tocqueville Hard Ball,=
by
Chris Matthews The Courage of=
their
Convictions, by Peter Irons The System, by David Broder and Haynes Johnson Dreams from my Fat=
her, Barack Obama
Presidential Power=
, by Richard Neustadt