UNIT 8

Unit 8: 1945-1989 – The American Pageant, chapters 36-40; Don’t Know Much About History pages 418-463

Content: After World War II, the United States grappled with prosperity and unfamiliar international responsibilities, while struggling to live up to its ideals.  Includes: Atomic age and the Cold War; the Korean War; suburban development and the affluent society; the other America; Vietnam; the Beat Generation; the social movements of the long 1960s; Great Society programs; economic and political decline in the 1970s; the rise of conservatism.

Key Concepts:

8.1: The United States responded to an uncertain and unstable postwar world by asserting and attempting to defend a position of global leadership, with far-reaching domestic and international consequences.

8.2: Liberalism, based on anticommunism abroad and a firm belief in the efficacy of governmental and especially, federal power to achieve social goals at home, reached it apex in the mid-1960s and generated a variety of political and cultural responses.

8.3: Postwar economic, demographic and technological changes had far-reaching impacts on American society, politics, and the environment.

Activities:

History Log – notes and short responses on assigned readings.

Primary Source Analysis: The Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, Massive Retaliation, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Nuclear Testing Films from the 50s, Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, The Other America, Letter from Birmingham Jail, chart illustrating the statistics of the draft during the Vietnam War and the casualty rate of the same, Tonkin Gulf Resolutions, Tim Driscoll “There Really Is A War” Letter from Vietnam, Jimmy Carter Inaugural Address, Reagan’s Tear Down This Wall speech. 

Viewpoints: Truman from Truman Doctrine vs. Reagan from Tear Down This Wall Speech.

Coffee House – after reading and discussing Beat poetry (Ginsberg, Corso, Synder), students will write their own “beat” poetry on an issue of the 50s.

Origins of the Cold War debate: Some scholars argue that the Cold War started with the Russian Revolution.  Examine primary and secondary sources and make a case for the Cold War starting in 1945 or 1917.

Shootings at Kent State: Students will close read “The Shooting at Kent State” by Tom Grace and listen to the pod cast “What Really Happened at Kent State” (http://missedinhistory.com/podcasts/what-really-happened-at-kent-state/ ).  The student will write two editorials: the 1st editorial will address why the government had the right to allow the National Guard to fire on the students; the second will address why the firing was wrong.

Students will also listen to various songs from the sixties and discuss the role of popular music in affecting attitudes toward the Vietnam War.

Six Degrees of Separation: From Containment to “Tear Down This Wall”.

Unit Test – Multiple Choice Questions, Short Answer Reponses, DBQ, Long Essay.

During this unit students will discuss possible answers to the following essential questions:

Identity: How did the African-American Civil Rights movement affect the development of other movements based on asserting the rights of different groups in American society?  How did American involvement in the Cold War affect debates over American national identity?

Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did the rise of American manufacturing and global economic dominance in the years after World War II affect standards of living among and opportunities for different social groups?

Peopling: How did the growth of migration to and within the United States influence demographic change and social attitudes in the nation?

Politics and Power: How did the changing fortunes of liberalism and conservatism in these years affect broader aspects of social and political power?

America in the World: Why did Americans endorse a new engagement in international affairs during the Cold War?  How did this belief change over time in response to particular events?

Environment and Geography: Why did public concern about the state of the natural environment grow during this period, and what major changes in public policy did this create?

Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures: How did changes in popular cultural reflect or cause changes in social attitudes?  How did the reaction to these changes affect political and public debates? 

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