Description

Overview:

In this lesson, students analyze primary source documents in an effort to answer the central historical question: Who was primarily responsible for the Cold War: the United States or the Soviet Union? The teacher begins with a timeline and brief PowerPoint to set up early Cold War chronology. Students then receive 2 documents‰ŰÓChurchill‰ŰŞs “Iron Curtain” speech and the “Truman Doctrine” speech‰ŰÓanswer guiding questions and formulating an initial (probably pro-American) hypothesis. They then corroborate this with another 2 documents‰ŰÓa telegram by Soviet ambassador Novikov and a critical speech by Henry Wallace‰ŰÓand formulate another (perhaps more sympathetic to the Soviet position) hypothesis. Students share answers and discuss as a class: which hypothesis is more believable? What further evidence would you like to see?

Subject:

U.S. History

Level:

Middle School, High School

Material Type:

Lesson

Provider:

Stanford History Education Group

Provider Set:

Reading Like a Historian

Date Added:

10/31/2012