Not really sure what was actually behind Galbraith giving up his “big course in the Social Sciences” for a cozy post-lunch seminar on Galbraith and the middle-two quarters of the twentieth century U.S. economic history. It seems that you could count the reasons on the middle finger of his right hand. But maybe it reveals nothing more nor less than a desire to simply reduce his teaching obligations to a delightful minimum. Still, not uninteresting to see how John Kenneth Galbraith chose to spend his Wednesday afternoons with a couple dozen Harvard undergraduates nearly a half century ago.
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March 16, 1973
Professor and Mrs. R. Paul Levine
Co-Masters, Currier House
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Dear Ursula and Paul:
I’ve given up my big course in the Social Sciences and I’m going to give a smaller seminar in contemporary economic history. Unfortunately there are some reasons why the Department wishes that this be an Economics course—it is something of a problem that, in recent years, my courses have been outside the Department. I wonder, however, if I might schedule it over in Currier House, and I wonder whether, as a further idea, it might be possible to schedule it, say, at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday, with the understanding that I would meet beforehand with any students who would like to join me for lunch. I propose to limit the attendance to 20 or 25—always assuming that many want to take it—so the congestion would not be too great. Perhaps you would let me have your thoughts.
Meanwhile my best to you both.
Yours faithfully,
John Kenneth Galbraith
JKG:mjh
cc: James S. Duesenberry
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COURSE DESCRIPTION
Economics 2365. Seminar: The United States Since the Great Depression
Professor John Kenneth Galbraith
The Crash and the Slump. The reputable view of cause and cure in the current economic orthodoxy. The collapse of banks, utilities, railroads. The agricultural crisis. Unemployment and the old labor movement. Roosevelt and the rationale of the recovery program. The process of recovery and the impact of Keynes. Radicalism and the rise of the CIO. The approach of World War II. The nature of the wartime economic mobilization. The transition to peace and the rise of economic evangelism. The Fifties and the economics of euphoria. The high tide of the New Economics. The new orthodoxy and the role of conditioned irrelevance.
Half course (fall term). Wednesday, 2-4 p.m.
For Graduates and Qualified Undergraduates. Enrollment limited as necessary.
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ECONOMICS 2365
AUTUMN TERM 1973-74
PROFESSOR JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH
MEETINGS: This course will meet on Wednesday afternoons. Each week at 1:00 there will be an informal lunch in the Currier House private dining room. Class will be from 2:00 to 4:00 in the Currier House Binghem Room. There will be no meeting on Wednesday, November 21st. The course will observe the reading period.
REQUIREMENTS: The major course requirement is a twenty-five page paper due on January 14, 1974. It should develop critically one or another of the subjects discussed in the course. It is expected that the paper will display an understanding of the material presented in class and in the readings; unfamiliarity with relevant lectures and readings, however concealed or explained, will be adversely scored. Each student is to submit the proposed title of his paper by November 21st. Office hours will be arranged in early November for that purpose.
PREREQUISITES: There are no formal prerequisites.
* * * * *
I. INTRODUCTION (Sept. 26)
II. THE GREAT CRASH AND ITS CAUSES (Oct. 3)
J. K. Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929
III. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: DOMESTIC ASPECTS (Oct. 10)
L. Chandler, America’s Great Depression 1929-1941, Chapters 1-7.
IV. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: WORLD ASPECTS (Oct. 17)
A. Lewis, Economic Survey 1919-1939
V. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: I (Oct. 24)
A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 1-10
VI. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: II (Oct. 31)
A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 16-25.
VII. THE IMPACT OF KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS (Nov. 7)
J. K. Galbraith, “How Keynes Came to America,” in Economics, Peace, and Laughter. ***
R. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, Chapter 9—“The Heresies of John Maynard Keynes.”
M. Stewart, Keynes and After, Chapters 4, 6, 11, 12.
VIII: THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION (Nov. 14)
J. K. Galbraith, A Theory of Price Control
W. K. Hancock, British War Economy, chapters 11, 12, 17 ***
IX. THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION: THE COMPARATIVE BRITISH AND GERMAN ORGANIZATION (Nov. 28)
B. Klein, Germany’s Economic Preparation for War, (Omit statistical appendix)
X. CRITIQUE OF THE NEW ECONOMICS (Dec. 5)
J. K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society, Chapters 9-25.
XI. THE ECONOMICS OF THE COLD WAR AND VIETNAM (Dec. 12)
P. B. Baran and P. M. Sweezy, Monopoly Capital, Chapter 7—“The Absorption of Surplus: Militarism and Imperialism.”
G. W. Domoff, “Who Made American Foreign Policy 1945-1963.” ***
J. D. Phillips, “Economic Effects of the Cold War.” ***
R. Eisner, “The War and the Economy.” ***
XII. INFLATION AND THE PRESENT CRISIS (Dec. 19)
J. K. Galbraith, “Inflation.”
B. Bosworth, “The Current Inflation: Malign Neglect” in Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1973. ***
M. Ulmer, The Welfare State, Chapter 4—“The Anatomy of Inflation and Unemployment.” ***
All of these readings are required. Unless otherwise indicated, the entire book should be read. Readings which are in xeroxed form as well as in book form are marked with a triple asterisk***. Copies of all readings are on reserve in Lamont, Hilles, and Littauer libraries.
Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. John Kenneth Galbraith Personal Papers. Series 5. Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 522, Folder “Economics 294: Spring term, 1968 (2 of 2) [sic]”.
Image Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Biographical Profile: John Kenneth Galbraith.