Introduction

Task

Process

Topic Choices

Resources

Learning Advice

Conclusion

Evaluation

---

 

INTRODUCTION

The Cold War, which started shortly after the end of World War II and lasted for almost   50 years, had a profound effect on all aspects of American society. The United States permanently cast aside the isolationist ideologies that had governed foreign policy of the 1920s and 1930s. Instead, the United States emerged  as a major power in the global arena. Casting aside any qualms about intervention  in other countries, the United States acknowledged its preeminent position in international affairs. Drawing upon its idealistic tendency to fight tyranny and to "keep the world safe for democracy "the country committed  itself to the fight against Communism at home and abroad. At the same time,  the United States embarked upon a quest for economic  gratification that is the foundation of American capitalism.

 

TASK

PROCESS Choose your topic. Review the rubric. Define/describe your topic. Research the World Wide Web for information that relates directly to your topic. Identify the main ideas pertaining to your subject. Identify the who, what, where, when, and why that determine the importance of your subject. Describe what happened when and where. Who did what? Why did it (an event) or they (person[s] or countries) do it? What were the consequences--immediate, short-term, and long-term? Who was affected and how were they affected? Why were the consequences important? Write a rough draft of your slide show--MAKE A STORYBOARD Edit for accuracy, importance of information, pertinence of information. Write the bibliography. Create and present final product

TOPIC CHOICES
Mahattan Project	Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism
The Origins of the Cold War	John F.Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs Fiasco
The Cuban Missile Crisis	The Roots of the Vietnam Conflict
Protesting Vietnam	Containing the USSR--including the Truman Plan, the Marshall Plan, and NATO
The Flight of Gary Powers	The Korean War Stalemate
The Chinese Revolution and its Consequences	Nuclear Proliferation
The Implications of Sputnik

RESOURCES

http://cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/

The companion site to the CNN series on the Cold War. Good information about awide variety of issues.

http://www.koreanwar.org

Korean War Project. Information about the Korean War and a guide to resources on the conflict.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/nato/

NATO at 50. CNN site with good timeline and images telling history of NATO.

http://webcorp.com/mccarthy

Senator Joe McCarthy--A Multimedia Celebration. This site includes audio and visual clips of McCarthy's speeches.

http://library.advanced.org/11046/

FourteenDays in October: The Cuban Missile Crisis. The site allows viewer to explore the Cuban missile crisis.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/vietnam/index.html

Vietnam Online. From PBS and the American Experience. The site has detailed, interactive timeline of the war, interpretative essays, and autobiographical information.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/vietnam.html

Investigating the Vietnam War. Site has narratives, personal accounts, and an excellent list of annotated links to the best Vietnam-related sites.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/mylai.htm

The My Lai Courts Martial (1970). Site has images, chronology, and court documents describing the massacre at My Lai.

http://www.library.kent.edu/exhibits/4may95/index.html

May 4, 1970. The site deals with the shootings at Kent State University; has a detailed chronology and other information.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/

Surface journal provides a record of the operations conducted by the astronauts who landed on the moon.

http://vietnam.vassar.edu/overview.html

The wars for Viet Nam 1945 to 1975.

http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/x2jfk.html

Khrushchev to John F. Kennedy.

http://pathfinder.com/photo/essay/mylai/mylai01.htm

The Massacre at MyLai.

http://www.nisd.net/marshww/Departments/Library/librarydb.html

John Marshall High School Library Databases.

http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/jfkennedy.html

Excellent sitefor information about JFK and other Presidents of the United States.

http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/decades.html

American Cultural History:  The Twentieth Century

---

LEARNING ADVICE

• Take notes as you research.
• Use photographs, pictures, and graphics that will illustrate and emphasize your topic.
• Use direct quotes to emphasize an important idea or point.
• Look for documents that are objective and present more than one side of an argument--avoid bias.
• Make your presentation colorful and interesting. Remember that you want to capture the audience's attention.
  
  

CONCLUSION

You should now have a broader, more complete understanding of the Cold War era. You should recognize that the Cold War stemmed from a competition between two world powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and efforts to dominate and to influence international economic and political institutions. The United States clung to its deep-rooted sense of mission and aggressively pursed its policy of containment. On the other hand, the Soviet Union pursued a course to spread their ideological values of class struggle and the triumph of the proletariat. They advocated the establishment of strong centralized government through revolutionary movements. Each country supported its own interests with equal force. The Cold War, with its far-reaching ramifications in America and abroad, was the result.

 

EVALUATION

 

Works Cited
www.flamingtext.com; www.iconbarzaar.com; www.google.com/graphics;
http://www.geocities.com/siafdu/powers.html; http://www.nauts.com/vehicles/50s/sputnik.html;
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/baypigs.htm;
http://www.nsa.gov/docs/cuba/synopsis.htm#cubaarms
http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/manhattan/bomb-design.html#FATMAN;
http://www.koreanwar.org/ ;
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/chin-rev.htm;
http://www.badboyce.com/soc/tiankentst.html;
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm;
http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/timeline/manhattan.html;
http://www.parascope.com/articles/1296/gamble.htm;
http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/index.php3;
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/space_missions/sputnik.html;
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/marshall/themen.jpg

All Rights Reserved. Northside Independent School District. November 2002.