The Cold War (America) Unit Index

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INTRODUCTION...4

  • Assumptions...5
  • Authors & Contributors...6
  • Standards...7
    • California History-Social Science Content Standards
    • Common Core Reading Standards
    • Standards Alignment by Lesson

LESSON 1: ROOTS OF THE COLD WAR...18

  • Procedures...19
  • Modifications/Support For Student Literacy...23
  • Standards...24
    • Common Core Reading Standards
    • California History-Social Science Content Standards
  • Cold War Pre-Test...27
  • Background Information...31
    • American Foreign Policy Prior to WWII
    • Soviet Foreign Policy Prior to WWII
  • Defining The Cold War...33
    • Activity: Definition Worksheet
  • Cold War Wall Chart...34
    •  Organizing the Cold War Wall Chart
    • Activity: Student Chart “The Cold War: Why did We Fight?”
  • Wartime Experience...36
  • Teacher Instructions
  • Activity: Sorting US & USSR Experiences
  • Yalta And Potsdam...37
    • Activity: Foreign Policy Goals
    • Yalta Reading
    • Potsdam Reading
  • Comparing Churchill And Stalin...40
    • Activity: Excerpt Analysis
    • Iron Curtain (“Sinews of Peace”) Speech: Except & Analysis Worksheet
    • Response to Churchill: Joseph Stalin, Interview in Pravda: Excerpt & Analysis Worksheet
  • Instructions For Sentence Deconstruction...46
    • Teaching Sentence Deconstruction
  • The Marshall Plan...48
    • Directions
    • Activity: Excerpt Review and Discussion Note Taking Chart
    • Activity: “It’s the same without mechanical problems” Cartoon Analysis & Discussion Questions
  • The Sources Of Soviet Conduct...52
    • Background & Excerpt from “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”
    • Discussion Questions
  • Truman vs. Zhdanov...54
    • Directions
    • Activity: Significant Terms Organization Chart
    • Excerpt from the Truman Doctrine
    • Excerpt from “Report on the International Situation to the Cominform”
  • The Berlin Blockade...59
    •  Background
    • Activity: Proposal to President Truman on How to Respond to the Soviet Blockade
  • The Berlin Airlift...60
  • When and How Did the Cold War Begin?...61
    • Activity: Short Essay

LESSON 2: CONTAINING COMMUNISM ABROAD...63

  • Procedures...64
  • The United Nations...67
    • Background on the United Nations Charter
    • Group Discussion Questions
    • Excerpt from the Charter of the United Nations: Preamble
    • Image: The United Nations Fight for Freedom (Poster)
  • NATO and Warsaw Pact...70
    • Map: Zones of Occupation
    • Excerpt from “The North Atlantic Treaty”
    • Excerpt from “The Warsaw Pact”
    • Activity: Analysis-Similar of Different?
  • The National Security Act of 1947...77
    • Excerpt from The National Security Act
    • Map: The Three World Order, 1947-1991
    • Activity: Group Discussion Questions & Worksheet
  • NSC-68...81
    • Background on & Excerpt from NSC 68
    • Activity: Deconstruction & Discussion Questions
    • Activity: How Does NSC-68 Support or Change the Goals of the Truman Doctrine?
  • The President’s Daily Bulletin...87
    • Background
    • Activity: Group Oral Presentation and Written Report Directions
  • Nuclear Arms Race (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...88
    • Timeline
    • Images: Nuclear Arms Race
    • “Scientists’ Petition to the President of the United States”
    • Press Release by the White House, August 6, 1945
    • Excerpt from “Evaluation of the Atomic Bomb as a Military Weapon”
    • “Reaction to the Soviet Satellite – A Preliminary Evaluation”
    • “Estimate of the Status of the Russian Atomic Energy Project”
  • Italy (The President’s Daily Bulletin) ...105
    • Timeline
    • Map of Italy
    • Excerpt from CIA’s Weekly Summary Report “Italian Communist Intentions”
  • Korea (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...109
    • Timeline
    • Correspondence between South Korean Leader Syngman Rhee and Harry S. Truman
    • Excerpt from CIA Report “Communist Capabilities in South Korea”
    • Map: Communist Activity in South Korea
    • Excerpt from National Security Council Report on Korea
    • Letter from Carolyn Aquino to President Truman
    • Hand-Written Note by President Truman
    • Excerpt from Stalin’s Interview on UN’s Involvement in Korea
    • Images: The Korean War
    • Directive for President Truman to Assign UN Commander in Korea
    • MacArthur’s Korea Statement
    • Department of State’s Office of Intelligence Research, Intelligence Report 5775
  • Iran (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...135
    • Timeline
    • Images: Soldiers, Political Leaders, & Demonstrations
    • Excerpt from CIA & SIS Plot to Overthrow Iranian Leader Mohammed Mossadeq (TPAJAX)
    • National Security Council Report on Iran
    • Map of Iran
  • Guatemala (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...154
    • Timeline
    • Excerpt from John C. Drier’s Statement on the Communist Threat in Guatemala
    • Map of Guatemala
    • Excerpt from CIA Report “Present Situation in Guatemala”
    • Excerpt from Interview with Luis Cardoza y Argon, Guatemala’s Defense Minister
    • Excerpt from George F. Kennan’s “Memorandum by the Counselor of the Department to the Secretary of State”
    • CIA Memo to the Department of Defense
  • Hungary (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...163
    • Timeline
    • Image: Soviet Tank Clearing a Road Barricade in Budapest
    • Excerpt from Clandestine Services History on Intelligence Collection Activities during the Hungarian Uprising of 1956
    • UN Resolution “Sixteen Political, Economic, and Ideological Points”
    • Excerpt from “Statement of the Soviet Government” October 30, 1956
    • Excerpt from Statement by Hungarian Leader Imre Nagy Made on Hungarian Radio
    • Excerpt from Soviet Statement Published in Dept. of State Bulletin, November 12, 1956
  • The Berlin Wall (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...173
    • Timeline
    • Map: Berlin Divided, Post-WWII
    • Images: Berlin Wall, East German Troops, & the Border between Soviet and American Sectors
    • Excerpt from Dulles Briefing
    • CIA Memo “10 Key Berlin Issues Coming Up for Decisions”
    • Cable RE: “Subject Defected to West Berlin Police Evening of August 12, 1961”
  • The Bay of Pigs (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...183
    • Timeline
    • Statement by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on Cuba and Neutrality Laws
    • White House Memo “Proposal for Command Operation in Cuba”
    • Excerpt from Kennedy’s Address on the Bay of Pigs
    • Excerpt from Canadian Analysis “Cuba-Final Impressions”
    • Map of Cuba
    • Images: Political Leaders
    • Excerpt from Fidel Castro’s Speech Denouncing US Aggression
  • The Cuban Missile Crisis (The President’s Daily Bulletin)...194
    • Timeline
    • Map: Cuban Missile Crisis Missile Sites
    • Images: President Kennedy & EXCOMM, Missile Range Map, IRBM Launch Sites
    • Message Sent from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to President Kennedy

LESSON 3: CONTAINMENT AT HOME...203

  • Procedures...204
  • Defining “Domestic Containment”...206
    • Activity: Excerpt from “Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era” & Cloze Exercise
  • Containing Communist at Home, a Museum Exhibit...207
    • Activity: Design a Museum Exhibit
    • Activity: Containment Exhibit Cover Sheet
  • Containing Subversives...211
    • Overview & HUAC
    • Image: Rosenberg Mug Shots
    • Image: Lens Mold Sketch
    • Image: Tubular Materials Sketch
    • Excerpt from Ethel Rosenberg’s Grand Jury Testimony
    • Excerpt from Judge Irving Kaufman’s Statement Sentencing the Rosenbergs
    • Excerpt from Attorney General’s List of Organizations that Pose a Threat to National Security
    • Excerpt from Joseph McCarthy’s Congressional Record
    • Excerpt from Walt Disney’s HUAC Testimony
    • Excerpt from John Howard Lawson’s HUAC Testimony
    • Excerpt from J. Edgar Hoover’s HUAC Testimony
    • Image: Lionel Stander’s HUAC Testimony
    • Excerpt from “The Alien Registration Act of 1940” (The Smith Act)
  • Containing Nuclear Power...235
    • Overview
    • Image: “Adventures Inside the Atom” Comic Book
    • Image: Civil Defense Fair
    • Image: Fallout Shelter
    • Image: Nuclear Reactor
    • Image: Civil Defense Poster
    • Image: Nuclear Nursing
    • Image: Congressional Testimony
    • Excerpt from Atomic Energy Commission “Report of research activities and research programs for development of nuclear energy during ‘peace time’”
    • Image: Levittown House
    • Image: Suburban Growth
  • Containing Women, Sexuality, and Families...247
    • Overview
    • J. Edgar Hoover on Women
    • The Kitchen Debate: Excerpt from Khrushchev’s and Nixon’s Debate & Image
    • “Red Nightmare,” a film made for the Department of Defense
    • Excerpt: President Eisenhower’s August 7, 1957 Press Conference
    • Excerpt from Adlai Stevenson’s Speech “A Purpose for Modern Woman”
  • Containing the Race Problem...255
    • Overview
    • Quote from Muhammad Ali Excerpted from Thomas Hauser’s “Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times”
    • Excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Riverside Church Speech
    • Excerpt from LIFE Magazine’s Article “From Washington to New York, Four Lanes to Trouble”
    • Image: Little Rock Protest
    • Excerpt from “To Secure These Rights, The Report to the President’s Committee on Civil Rights”
    • Executive Order to Desegregate the American Armed Forces
    • Image: President Truman with Members of the 82nd Airborne

LESSON 4: THE VIETNAM WAR (1945-1975)...263

  • Procedures...264
  • Common Core Reading Standards...269
  • Origins of the Vietnam War...271
    • Regional History: Reading & Time Marker Exercise
    • French Colonialism: Reading & Comprehension Questions
    • Rebellions and Revolution: Reading & Time Marker Chart
    • The Cold War: Reading & Time Marker Chart
    • First Indochina War: Reading & Time Marker Chart
    • The Vietnam War: Reading & Comprehension
  • Map of the Vietnam war...277
  • Why Fight the Vietnam War?...278
    • Activity: Primary Source Review Chart
    • Excerpt from the “Declaration of Independence of Vietnam”
    • Excerpt from John Foster Dulles’ Speech “Opposition to the Spread of Communism by Whatever Means”
    • Excerpt from President Eisenhower’s News Conference, April 7, 1954
    • Letter from President Ngo Chi Minh to President John F. Kennedy
    • Quiz
  • The Tonkin Gulf Resolution...284
    • Activity Directions: Investigative Editorial Report
    • Historical Context, Part 1: Reading & Discussion Questions
    • Phone Conversation, Clip 1: Transcript
    • Historical Context, Part 2
    • Phone Conversation, Clip 2: Transcript & Discussion Questions
    • Lyndon B. Johnson’s Report on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Transcript & Discussion Questions
    • Joint Resolution for the Maintenance of Peace and Security in Southeast Asia
  • Vietnam Troop Escalation...291
    •  Chart: Total Military Forces in Vietnam by Administration
  • Who Was Responsible?...292
    • Activity: Group Presentation
    • Activity: Reflection & Grading Chart
  • A War of Attrition...294
    • American Military Strategy
    • Vietnamese Communist Strategy
    • Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive
    • Prisoners of War/Missing in Action
    • The End of the War
  • Walter Cronkite Editorial...299
    • Background
    • Walter Cronkite’s Editorial
    • Discussion Questions
  • What Happened at My Lai?...301
    • Background
    • Activity: Group Writing “What Happened on March 16, 1968?”
    • Activity: Note Taking Form to Analyze Primary Sources
    • Excerpt from Lt. Calley’s Trial Transcript
    • Excerpt from Lewis Puller’s Autobiography.
    • Nguyen Hieu’s Testimony to the Peers Commission
    • Peers Commission Summary of Findings
  • Who Fought in Vietnam?...307
    • Lottery Draft Background & Discussion Questions
    • Chart of Lottery Numbers Assigned to Each Birthday
  • How to Stop the War?...309
    • Background on the Protests Movements
    • Activity: Directions & Discussion Questions
    • Activity: Source Analysis Chart
    • Image: Anti-War Protest Outside White House
    • Background & Excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Speech “Beyond Vietnam”
    • Image: March on the Pentagon
    • Image: Kansas War Protesters
    • Background & Excerpt from John Kerry’s Testimony before Congress
  • Vietnamization & the Silent Majority...316
    • Excerpt from Richard Nixon’s Speech “Silent Majority
    • Discussion Questions
  • The Legacy of the Vietnam War...319
    • Background
    • Activity: Source Review & Group Discussion
    • Veterans: American Wounded & Casualties of the Vietnam War
    • Excerpt from War Powers Act
    • Refugees: Excerpt from Refugee’s Memoir “Mr. Liem Escape from Ban Me Thout: 1975-1978”
  • What did the United States Lose in Vietnam?...324
    • Activity: Essay “What did the United States lose in Vietnam?
    • Activity: Selecting & Organizing Evidence
    • Developing a Thesis
    • Activity: Developing Your Thesis-Practice & ‘For Real’
    • Writing an Introduction
    • Activity: Organizing & Supporting Evidence-Practice & ‘For Real’
    • Activity: Body Paragraph Organizing Chart
    • Activity: Evaluate the Relevance of Your Evidence
    • Writing a Conclusion
    • Essay Grading Sheet

LESSON 5: THE END OF THE COLD WAR...334

  • Procedures...335
  • The Era of Détente...338
    • Background
    • Comprehension Questions
  • The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan...340
    • Background
    • Excerpt from Yuri Andropov’s “Memorandum to Brezhnev, Dec. 1979”
    • Activity: Sentence Deconstruction & Discussion Question
    • Map of Afghanistan
    • Excerpt from American National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski to President Carter
    • Activity: Diplomatic Adviser’s Recommendation to Respond to Increasing Tensions
  • Cold War Developments...346
    • Background for Developments in the United States in the 1980’s
    • Activity: Timeline for US & USSR Cold War Developments in the 1980’s
    • Activity: Developments in Cold War America in the 1980’s Chart
    • The Reagan Doctrine
      • Background
      • Excerpt from President Reagan’s 1984 Speech about American Goals in Central America
      • Response to the Reagan Doctrine: Excerpt from “Human Rights in Nicaragua: Rhetoric and Reality”
    • Military Build-Up
      • Activity: In-Text Exercises
      • Background
      • Excerpt from President Reagan’s “Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security”
      • Defense Spending Over Time
    • Iran-Contra
      • Activity: In-Text Exercises
      • Background
      • Government Report on Iran-Contra
      • Government Executive Summary on Iran Contra
    • Nuclear Fear
      • Activity: In-Text Exercises
      • Government Report on Three Mile Island Accident
      • Silent Spring
  • Cracks in the Soviet Union in the 1980’s...359
    • Background
    • Cracks within the Soviet Economy: Reading & Discussion Questions
    • Cracks in Soviet Political Freedom: Reading & Discussion Questions
    • Cracks in Soviet Foreign Policy: Reading & Discussion Questions
    • Cracks in the Soviet Environment: Reading & Discussion Questions
  • Diplomacy and Reform...367
    • Background
    • Reagan’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress after the Geneva Summit, November 21, 1985
    • Arms Race Adds Pressure: Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev
    • American and Soviet Remarks at the Signing of the INF Treaty
    • Activity: Chart on the Agreements that Changed the Terms of the Cold War
  • China’s Different Path...371
    • Background
    • Economic Transformations
    • Political Challenges
    • Deng Xiaoping’s Remarks to the Central Committee, February 24, 1984
    • U.S. State Department Summary, June 5, 1989
    • Discussion Questions
  • East German Family Activity...374
    • Directions & Steps
    • Family Member Profiles. 375
    • Background Information
      • Changes in the Soviet Union
      • The Opening of Satellite States
      • Responses to Openness
      • Dissolution of the Soviet Union
      • Excerpt from Vaclav Havel’s “Speech to the Nation”
      • Excerpt from Mikhail Gorbachev’s Nationally Televised Farewell Address
    • Activity: The Decision
    • Activity: Development & Family Decision Chart
    • Activity: The Presentation
  • Legacy of the Cold War...380
    • Effects of the End of the Cold War
    • Excerpt from President George H.W. Bush’s 1992 State of the Union Address
    • Activity: Causes and Effects of the End of the Cold War Chart