Thomas Sangermano

Danvers High School

Title Page

The Cold War Begins

1945 -1952

The American Pageant

Danvers High School

Danvers Public Schools

January 25, 2009

11th Grade U.S. History

The Cold War: The United States on the World Stage

Primary Source

Abstract:

As part of the Cold War unit from the 11th grade textbook, The American Pageant that we use at Danvers High School, and in conjunction with Brown University’s The Origins of the Cold War: U.S. Choices After World War II, and The Cuban Missile Crisis: Considering its Place in Cold War History (www.choices.edu ) this unit will supplement our district’s curriculum on the Cold War. The focus and design is to have students look at one Cold War Era propaganda cartoon/video that stresses the evils of Communism (Make Mine Freedom, a John Sutherland Production http://www.archive.org/details/MakeMine1948) and two Cold War cartoons by Leslie Gilbert Illingworth (http://www.llgc.org.uk/illingworth/illingworth_s012.htm) that stress the political and social aspects of the Cold War from the European perspective. This lesson will take two days to complete. The assignment before class will include the Readings from The American Pageant and Origins of the Cold War. Both resources provide enough background information to complete the two day lesson.

This preliminary assignment will give students sufficient information to interpret the primary sources over the two-day lesson. On day one students will view the ten-minute propaganda cartoon Make Mine Freedom. Working in small groups, students will be asked to answer two to three questions about the film and how it reflects the attitude of Americans and their fear of the Communists. They will then present their views to the class for discussion and reflection.

On the second day, students working in different groups or the same group (whatever your preference might be) will interpret two cartoons by British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth. The two cartoons focus on two topics that reinforce themes from the previous lesson Make Mine Freedom. The two images are under the heading Living Standards and Cuba. This link will bring you to the images: Scroll down until you find the Headings Living Standards and Cuba http://www.llgc.org.uk/illingworth/illingworth_s012.htm

These cartoons are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced. They can be projected on the LCD projector in the classroom or they can be viewed in the computer lab.

Key Questions:

For Video (Make Mine Freedom) http://www.archive.org/details/MakeMine1948

  1. As you watched the cartoon, what social, economic, and political aspects did the film present as consequences of what would happen to you as a result of a Communist regime? Do you agree or disagree with the cartoons assumptions?
  1. To what extent does the cartoon portray American ideals and how they are fundamentally different from communist ideals? Do you agree with the film’s perspective and view of American society?
  1. Can you use the themes of good vs. evil or us vs. them interchangeably and can you use the same themes to represent different periods of time. Please provide several examples and why you used them?

Key Questions

For the Illingworth Cartoons: http://www.llgc.org.uk/illingworth/illingworth_s012.htm

Cartoon # 1 Living Standards

  1. How does this cartoon contradict the assumptions made in the movie Make Mine Freedom?
  2. How does the cartoon represent the ideological struggle of both nations during the Cold War?
  3. What are the social, political, and economic aspects of this cartoon and how do they describe the Cold War.

Cartoon # 2 Cuba

  1. What is happening in this cartoon?
  2. Does this cartoon describe the Cold War, if so why, if not then why not?
  3. Who are the people in the cartoon and what do they represent?
  4. What are the social, political, and economic aspects of the cartoon?
  5. Do these cartoons reflect an European perspective of the Cold War, if so how and why?

Learning Objectives:

  1. Students will be able to recognize that propaganda can be used for many purposes, and that during the Cold War propaganda was as widespread here in the United States as it was in other nations.
  1. Students will be able to view comic / cartoon images and see how simple but yet how powerful these images can be in describing periods of history.
  1. Students will be able to interpret the Social, Political, and Economic meanings of various media.
  1. Students will be able to articulate and describe important events of the Cold War by using the images in this lesson.
  1. Students will have a better understanding of the Cold War and why it was called the “cold war” for nearly fifty years.

Learning Activities:

The Learning activities for this lesson are very much student based and student driven. Prior to the lesson students will be assigned readings from the American Pageant textbook for background information and the Brown University’s Choices program on the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis, these classroom resources will provide enough background information so that students will be able to interpret the primary sources in this lesson. This lesson will work very well if students are placed in small groups so that discussion in the groups will lead to a variety of interpretations of the resources. Also because these resources are copyrighted they should be viewed online only, and preferably in the classroom with a LCD projector.

Prior to the activity assign students the following readings from the American Pageant and the Choices program.

Readings from American Pageant:

Chapter 39, The Cold War Begins 1945 – 1952, and Chapter 41, The Stormy Sixties.

Readings From Choices: (These are optional and at the discretion of the teacher, you may choose the introductory summaries that provide rich detail to the students)

U.S.-Soviet Relations during World War II

The Cuban Missile Crisis: Considering its Place in Cold War History

Readings from Primary Source workshop:

1.  John F. Kennedy: “The Lesson of Cuba” www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1961-kennedy-cuba1.html

  1. Khrushchev writes Kennedy http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/Crisis/Cltr-1.htm

Activity #1 viewing the cartoon film Make Mine Freedom http://www.archive.org/details/MakeMine1948

During the activity have students fill out Film Analysis Worksheet
(see page 7) Students should watch the film, but not in groups, recording what they are viewing and documenting it on the worksheet. Once the video is done, then they should work in groups answering the following questions.

1. As you watched the cartoon, what social, economic, and political aspects did the film present as consequences of what would happen to you as a result of a Communist regime? Do you agree or disagree with the cartoons assumptions?

2. To what extent does the cartoon portray American ideals and how they are fundamentally different from communist ideals? Do you agree with the film’s perspective and view of American society?

3. Can you use the themes of good vs. evil or us vs. them interchangeably and can you use the same themes to represent different periods of time. Please provide several examples and why you used them?

Once they have completed the questions each group should write a question about something they found important or relevant in the film. This question can then be given to the adjacent group to answer. The purpose of this is to spark discussion, one all questions are done then each group will report to the class their answers. The hope is that this will generate a lively discussion of the film through the discussion questions.

Activity #2 Viewing the political cartoons by Leslie Gilbert Illingworth (http://www.llgc.org.uk/illingworth/illingworth_s012.htm)

During this activity, students should be working in groups viewing the two political cartoons and answering the following questions.

Cartoon # 1 Living Standards

1. How does this cartoon contradict the assumptions made in the movie Make Mine Freedom?

2. How does the cartoon represent the ideological struggle of both nations during the Cold War?

3. What are the social, political, and economic aspects of this cartoon and how do they describe the Cold War.

Cartoon # 2 Cuba

1. What is happening in this cartoon?

2. Does this cartoon describe the Cold War, if so why, if not then why not?

3. Who are the people in the cartoon and what do they represent?

4. What are the social, political, and economic aspects of the cartoon?

Once the students have answered all the questions, each group should report to the class one or two answers from the set of questions answered. Once this is done, ask students to reread the article John F. Kennedy: “The Lesson of Cuba” www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1961-kennedy-cuba1.html and if the cartoon and the letter have any similarities or differences. Again this activity is designed to create open discussion of the resources.

Culminating Activity:

Once both activities are done, or the two-day lesson is finished you can extend the lesson by having the groups create their own poster, comic, or handbill, about one aspect of the Cold War. The only requirement would be that the finished product would have to demonstrate the social, economic, and political aspects of the Cold War. Students can either build upon the themes explored in this lesson, or some other Cold War event. I want to leave it as open-ended as possible so that students can be as creative as possible. The groups would then present their propaganda to the class and field questions from other students. A grading rubric can be design based on the needs of the class or individual teacher.

Bibliography

Bailey, Thomas A., Kennedy, David M., and Cohen, Lizabeth. The American Pageant A History of the Republic. 11th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998

The Choices for the 21st Century Education Program. The Origins of the Cold War: U.S. Choices After World War II. Brown University: Watson Institute for International Studies.

The Choices for the 21st Century Education Program. The Cuban Missile Crisis: Considering its Place in Cold War History. Brown University: Watson Institute for

International Studies.

Make Mine Freedom 1948. Accessed 15 January 2009. Available http://www.archive.org/details/MakeMine1948

Illingworth, Leslie Gilbert. “Political Cartoons.” Accessed 15 January 2009. Available http://www.llgc.org.uk/illingworth/illingworth_s012.htm

Kennedy, John F. “The Lesson of Cuba.” Accessed 1 March 2009. Available

www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1961-kennedy-cuba1.html

Khrushchev, Nikita. “Khrushchev writes Kennedy” Accessed 1 March 2009. Available

http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/Crisis/Cltr-1.htm


FILM ANALYSIS WORKSHEET

Hollywood Film of the 1950s and 1960s: Cold War Themes

Name of Film:

Genre (type of film):

Year of Release:

List some things you observe/notice in the film clip: / Connect those observations to the Cold War: