Kennedy and the Cold War

Today we are going to look at President's Kennedy's Inaugural Address and consider it in light of the Cold War conflicts with the Soviet Union.  To do so we will start by getting a brief introduction to President Kennedy from The Century: Poisoned Dreams and then we'll  use this copy of the speech with the questions that follow to analyze his ideas. We'll return to Poisoned Dreams to expand on the events listed in your Foner reading for today and use this note taking sheet as we watch.

Freedom in the 1950's

Yesterday, with a substitute, we started our look at the next episode of The Century called Happy Daze, using this VIEWING GUIDE as we watched.  The episode is embedded below.
Then, today, in addition to finishing the film, we went back into our notes from the Foner readings of the last couple of nights to continue to try to determine how freedom was being defined at this time. We tried to answer that question in a reflective piece of writing in our notebooks while also determining how those definitions shaped the idea of what it meant to be an American. We tried to identify specific examples that showed the ways in which freedom was being defined.
We then turned our attention to two of the voices of freedom found on pages 718-719 of Foner and with partners discussed how each was defining freedom and then answering the questions on page 719.

The Cold War Heats Up

Yesterday in class we began by looking at this IMAGE and discussed what kinds of conclusions we could draw about the era from it.  We then watched the end of The Century: The Best Years and finished filling out the study guide. We took some time to fill in the left column and discussed what seemed to be emerging from the events shown.
After the film, we read the story about the freedom train from the beginning of the Foner chapter that you had read for homework for today and discussed what it suggested about the central issue of the time (defining freedom).
We then narrowed our focus to take a closer look at the Truman Doctrine by reading excerpts from the speech and then answering the first two questions on this WORKSHEET (Scroll through to the end).

Today in class we will take a closer look at the Marshall Plan and discuss how it relates to the Truman Doctrine first by reading the document and then answering the next two questions from the worksheet.
We will finish class today by gathering some details about the Korean War and reflecting on its legacy, what it says about the time period as well as why it's considered the "forgotten war".   We will use this web activity to do so.

America Redefined:1945-1988

All of the work for Unit 7: WW2 is listed in the posts below and on Mr. Clemons' assignment sheet.
The new assignment sheet for Unit 8: America Redefined, 1945-1988 is posted HERE and in the tab above.
Today in class we will be introducing the new unit and then watching The Century: Best Years to help set the context for the post WW2 era.  Here is the VIEWING GUIDE for the film which is embedded below.

FDR and The Holocaust

Today in class we will discuss the assertions that Michael Beschloss makes about FDR and the Holocaust in The Conqueror's.
We will then examine documents that reflect multiple sides of the issues raised in Beschloss's book.
Here is a link to the first set of documents-  FDR and the Holocaust Docs.
Here is a link to the chart you should use as you analyze the documents-America and the Holocaust Doc. Analysis Chart.

America and the Holocaust Assignment Sheet

Scroll down to the end of the WWII Assignment Sheet.

Mr. Clemons' WWII Assignment Sheet Part II

The second part to Mr. Clemons' WWII Unit is posted in the assignment sheet below:
WWII Assignment Sheet