The cyclic stress response characteristics and cyclic fracture behavior of aluminum alloy 6061 discontinuously reinforced with particulates of Al2O3 are presented and discussed. The 6061/Al2O3 composite specimens and the unreinforced 6061 aluminum alloy were cyclically deformed using tension-compression loading under constant total strain amplitude control. Both the composite and the unreinforced alloy exhibited softening to failure from the onset of cyclic deformation. The degree of softening was observed to increase at the elevated test temperature for both the composite and the unreinforced counterpart. The intrisic micromechanisms controlling the stress response characteristics during fully-reversed cyclic straining are highlighted and rationale for the observed behavior is discussed. The cyclic fracture behavior of the composite is discussed in terms of the competing influences of intrinsic microstructural effects, deformation characteristics arising from a combination of mechanical and microstructural contributions, cyclic stress response, and test temperature.