Download Teacher`s Guide

TEACHER’S GUIDE
• Ask students to research the issues and political platforms of Democrat
Harry Truman and Republican Thomas Dewey in the 1948 presidential
election. Students may hold mock political conventions to promote their
candidates. Have students review newspaper accounts of the election
and speculate about the effect the media had on the election’s outcome.
A number of excellent primary sources associated with the 1948 presidential election may be found at this Web site:
www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/1948campaign/
large/docs/1948campaign_base.htm
• Read with students NSC 68, a paper that outlined the future containment policy of the United States, along with George Kennan’s “The
Sources of Soviet Conduct” which is often called the most influential
statement of the early years of the Cold War and which appeared in the
journal Foreign Affairs in 1947.Ask students to write essays describing
how these papers affected foreign policy at the time and to list ways
they shaped America’s long-range policies and institutions. Kennan’s
“The Sources of Soviet Conduct” may be found at this Web site:
www.historyguide.org/europe/kennan.html
• Distribute excerpts from Michael Harrington’s book The Other America
(Collier Books, 1994).Ask students to describe the social and political
factors that contribute to poverty in America and to write proposals suggesting ways to address the problem of poverty in the United States today.
• In the 1950s, women were working more than ever before, yet they
were often paid less than men who did the same type of work and faced
significant barriers to their advancement.Ask students to research the
problem of the “glass ceiling” and to form small group committees that
attempt to address this important issue affecting women and other
minority groups. Students may learn more about the “glass ceiling” at this
Web site:
www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/e_archive/gov_reports/glassceiling/
default.html?page=home&CFID=1623966&CFTOKEN=86439364
• Ask students to read President Eisenhower’s farewell address.What does
Eisenhower mean by the “military-industrial complex”? Why does he
warn against it? Students should also write policy statements summarizing Eisenhower’s goals for the nation. The full text of Eisenhower’s
speech may be found at this Web site: coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/
documents/indust.html
TEACHER’S GUIDE
• memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/postwar/
artenter/tvfinds.html
The Library of Congress presents a comprehensive photographic collection related to arts and entertainment in the post-World War II era.
• www.now.org/
The home page for the National Organization for Women provides students with valuable information and links related to this group.
Suggested Print Resources
• Cohen, Lizabeth. A Consumer’s Republic:The Politics of Mass Consumption
in Postwar America. Knopf, New York, NY; 2003.
• Clark, Eugene Franklin and Thomas Fleming. Secrets of Inchon: The Untold
Story of the Most Daring Covert Mission of the Korean War. Putnam’s,
New York, NY; 2002.
• Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Norton, New York, NY; 2001.
5
TM
POST WAR U.S.A.
Grades 5–12
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Jeffrey W. Litzke, M.Ed.
Curriculum Specialist, Schlessinger Media
Rudolph Lea
Historian
COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES
• Three Worlds Meet (Origins–1620)
• The Era of Colonization (1585–1763)
• Slavery & Freedom
• The American Revolution
• A New Nation (1776–1815)
• Expansionism
• Democracy & Reform
• Causes of the Civil War
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction & Segregation (1865–1910)
• Industrialization & Urbanization
(1870–1910)
• Immigration & Cultural Change
• A Nation in Turmoil
Teacher’s Guides Included
and Available Online at:
• The Progressive Movement
• U.S. & The World (1865–1917)
• The Great War
• The Roaring Twenties
• The Great Depression
& The New Deal
• World War II
• Post-War U.S.A.
• The Cold War
• Civil Rights
• The Vietnam War
• The Middle East
• U.S. Politics (1960–1980)
• U.S. Politics (1980–2000)
800-843-3620
Suggested Internet Resources
Periodically, Internet Resources are updated on our Web site at
www.LibraryVideo.com
• www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/ellison-main.html
The University of Pennsylvania offers a chapter summary and literary
criticism on Ralph Ellison’s book Invisible Man.
(Continued)
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Teacher’s Guide Copyright 2003 by Schlessinger Media,
a division of Library Video Company
D6780
P.O. Box 580,Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620
V7020
Program Copyright 1996, 2003 by Schlessinger Media
Executive Producer:Andrew Schlessinger
Original production produced and directed by Invision Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved.
T
his guide is a supplement designed for teachers
to use when presenting programs in the United
States History series.
Before Viewing: Give students an introduction
to the topic by relaying aspects of the program
summary to them. Select pre-viewing discussion
questions and vocabulary to provide a focus for
students when they view the program.
After Viewing: Review the program and vocabulary, and use the follow-up activities to inspire
continued discussion. Encourage students to
research the topic further with the Internet and
print resources provided.
This program correlates to the following
Prentice Hall textbooks:
The American Nation: Chapters 27, 28 and 29
America: Pathways to the Present: Chapters 16 and 17
Program Summary
After World War II, the United States began a period of economic boom and
expansion that made the American dream a reality for many people.The G.I.
Bill of Rights helped World War II veterans make the transition from war to
peace, and President Truman’s Fair Deal not only helped expand America’s
middle class, but also renewed the emphasis on civil rights initiatives. Daily
life changed as millions migrated short distances to the suburbs and to the
Crabgrass Frontier where they lived in new development houses, bought
new cars and televisions and gave birth to the largest baby boom generation
in the nation’s history. However, not everyone participated in the prosperity
of the postwar era. Many American women, who had worked during the war,
reluctantly returned to domestic life to make room for returning soldiers, and
African Americans and other minorities found that racial discrimination let
them climb only so far up the economic ladder.
Abroad, a Cold War began taking shape as the United States led the West in
opposition to the expanding power of its wartime ally, the Soviet Union. In
Europe, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan provided military and
economic aid to prevent the spread of communism, and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) forged a defensive western alliance.The growing
tensions between East and West led to open conflict in Korea, and to the
beginnings of a dangerous nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the
Soviets.At home, the Cold War atmosphere of fear and suspicion led to the
anti-communist excesses of McCarthyism.
In the 1950s, civil rights challenges resulted in Supreme Court decisions that
struck down segregation of schools and facilities in the South, helping to
launch the Civil Rights Movement. Under the leadership of Martin Luther
King, Jr., and with the perseverance and courage of countless ordinary citizens, racial injustice was attacked on many fronts.
As the distance from World War II and the immediate postwar period
increased, conformity to existing customs and lifestyles came under attack.
Artists, writers and the young rebelled against old standards and sought out
new forms of expression, new ways of entertainment, and new lifestyles.
In every aspect of American life, change seemed to emerge as the norm.
Time Line
1947 — Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in Major League Baseball.
1947 — The Truman Administration issues the Truman Doctrine and the
Marshall Plan.
1948 — President Truman ends segregation in the armed forces.
1948 — President Truman is reelected president.
1949 — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed.
1950 — The Korean War begins.
1950 — Ralph Bunche is the first African American to win the Nobel Peace
Prize.
1952 — Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president.
1954 — Senator Joseph McCarthy is censured by Congress. (Continued)
2
1954 — The Supreme Court decides the Brown vs.the Board of Education case.
1955 — The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins.
1957 — President Eisenhower sends troops to enforce school integration in
Arkansas.
1963 — Martin Luther King, Jr. leads the March on Washington for civil rights.
Vocabulary
The Fair Deal — President Truman’s name for his postwar legislative
program to extend the policies of the New Deal.
Great Depression — The time period from around 1929 to 1939 in which
many people suffered from extreme poverty as a result of high unemployment.
The GI Bill of Rights — Passed by Congress in 1944, the G.I. Bill provided
returning World War II veterans with unemployment benefits, free education,
and low-interest loans for the purchase of houses, farms, and small businesses.
Dixiecrats — A political party made up of southern Democrats who
opposed the civil rights program of the Democratic Party, and who nominated Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president in 1948.
Crabgrass Frontier — An expression for the suburban living that became
the popular goal of many veterans and young couples during the boom after
the war.
Model T — A reliable, affordable car that was designed, manufactured and
sold by Henry Ford. It became one of the most popular American-made cars
in history.
Baby boomers — The large generation of children born during the postwar marriage boom.
The Cold War — A general term to describe the rivalry and hostility short
of actual war between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1946
and 1989.
Iron Curtain — The figurative term first used by Winston Churchill in 1946
to describe the barriers the Soviet Union builit across Europe after the war to
divide its conquered eastern European communist lands from the capitalist
democracies of the West.
Truman Doctrine — A policy announced by President Truman in 1947 to
stop the spread of communism, specifically by sending financial and military
aid to Greece and Turkey.This policy is also known as containment.
38th Parallel — The latitude line that divides North and South Korea, in
existence both before and after the Korean War.
massive retaliation — A foreign policy of President Eisenhower, promulgated by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, to threaten nuclear retaliation
in the event of an attack by the Soviet Union and China against the U.S. or
any of its allies.
Second Red Scare — A time after World War II when politicians, especially
Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, exploited Americans’ fears of communism
and nuclear war by investigating communist influence in the United States.
(Continued)
3
McCarthyism — The practice of investigating communist influence in
the 1950s.Today, the term suggests unproven accusations against innocent
individuals.
blacklisting — A method used by the entertainment industry during the
McCarthy era to deny work to any persons who had been accused of
being communist.
Brown vs. the Board of Education — An important case in which the
Supreme Court ruled that the practice of separate but equal schools was
unconstitutional.
beatniks — A term used for rebellious youth who criticized Americans’
conformity and acquisitive behavior in the postwar era.
Pre-viewing Discussion
• Ask students to consider how American culture was affected by the
invention of television.
• Rosa Parks did a simple thing by refusing to give up her seat on a bus,
yet she caused a revolution. Describe different ways you could have a
positive effect on the world.
• Labels are often invented to distinguish one historical era from another.
Ask students what they know about the Baby Boomers, and to name and
evaluate generational labels for people from other historical eras.
Follow-up Discussion
• What was the House Un-American Activities Committee? Ask students to
assess the goals and strategies of this McCarthy-era organization, and to
describe the effects of limiting public speech and opinion.
• What problems among teenagers and young adults did the popularity of
men like James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley reflect? Ask students
to compare the causes of youth rebellion in the 1960s to those of today.
• Explain the Truman Administration’s motivations for the following: the
Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the founding of NATO, and the use
of American troops in Korea.
Follow-up Activities
• Farmers prospered in the post-World War II era as new machines, chemical fertilizers and pesticides revolutionized American agriculture.While
it increased crop yields, the use of pesticides had some unintended consequences. Ask students to read excerpts from Rachel Carson’s book
Silent Spring (first published in 1962) and to research the dangers associated with pesticide use. Students may also debate the impact of the
Green Revolution that Carson helped set in motion. Is the Green
Revolution an idealistic movement that values species over jobs and
human livelihood, or a heroic movement that has fought to improve the
quality of life for everyone?
(Continued)
4