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Running Head: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 Lesson Plan
Nicholas R. Baker
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
VA SOL: VUS 13b
Grade Level(s): High School Junior and Senior
Class: U.S. History primarily but could also be used in Political Science and World History also.
Lesson Plan for Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962
List of Contents:
Materials Used within the Lesson on the Cuban Missile Crisis:
Attachment A: Thirteen Days film questionnaire/ work sheet
Attachment B: Group Activity Guiding Questions
Attachment C: Concluding Discussion Questions
Attachment D: Parent permission slip to watch historical films and alternate assignment if not
signed by student or parent
Attachment E: Previous night’s homework on the main causes for the Cuban Missile Crisis in
1963
Attachment F: Description of scenes used in the film Thirteen Days
Attachment G: Grading Rubric
Attachment H: Works Cited
Instructional Activities:
-Class Discussion on the causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis
-Group Activity: Cuban Missile Crisis Mock Simulation
-Film Work Sheet
-Final Class Discussion on making connections between the actual event and the events depicted
in the film and within the group activity.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
The Cuban Missile Crisis Lesson Plan
Objective: The primary focus for this lesson is to determine the main causes and effects that the
Cuban Missile Crisis had on the United States of America, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. The
primary objective is for students to be able to discuss how the situation in Cuba escalated so
dramatically and examine how each side of the conflict handled the situation.
Key Knowledge and Skills: The students will determine the causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The students will also evaluate how and why the United States and the Soviet Union successfully
achieved an amicable peaceful solution to the crisis. The students will also evaluate and analyze
primary and secondary historical documents that analyze the Cuban Missile Crisis. The students
will also evaluate and analyze the historical film Thirteen Days based on President Kennedy’s
personal account.
Key Questions: The questions that I will bring up relate to: Why did the Soviet Union place
nuclear launch sites in Cuba? What factors led to Cuba allowing the Soviet Union to place
nuclear weapons in their territory? How did President Kennedy and the White House staff deal
with the situation? Is President Kennedy’s term quarantine the same meaning as a blockade or an
act of war? How did the Soviet Union and the United States come to an amicable solution to
avoid an all-out nuclear war with one another? Did Cold War rhetoric and policy interfere with
solving the conflict in Cuba?
Focus Warm Up Activity: Go over homework from the previous night regarding material on
causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The first activity that I will give students is to come up with a
list of causes that relate to Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the United States that they gathered from
the assigned reading the night before that pertained to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I will then ask
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
the students to reflect on in groups of two to three on how the Bay of Pigs failed assassination
plot by the CIA and the placement of Jupiter Missiles in Turkey had a profound impact on both
Cuba and the Soviet Union respectfully. See Attachment E for copies of homework that was
assigned.
Activity Hook: Within the class I will show segments of the film Thirteen Days in order to
show a realistic dramatic mock version of the Cuban Missile Crisis through the eyes of President
Kennedy and his staff. The film will be interspersed throughout the lesson after the students
separate into three groups that represent the United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union’s interests
during the crisis. The film’s scenes will only be played after each group presents their views on
the questions asked. See: Attachment A. While the film is playing I will have a work sheet that
has questions that will guide each student through the film and the necessary information that
they will need to retain for the end of class discussion.
Primary Activity: The primary activity for the class is to separate into three groups where they
will represent the parties involved within the conflict. Each group will be given the same
questions and then they will as a group come up with possible answers and present their answers
to the class. See Attachment A.
Guided Practice: During this activity students will be engaging the material that they have read
on the previous night and the material that they will learn from the film Thirteen Days presented
in class. The students will work on work sheets that deal with questions related to the film that
are important in understanding the conflict. See Attachments B, E, and F.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Independent Practice: Reading the primary and secondary documents from the previous
night’s homework will be key to the student’s individual understanding of the main causes for
the Cuban Missile Crisis. See Attachment E.
Manipulatives Needed: The primary manipulatives will be the final class discussion, the mock
simulation, and the analysis of the film Thirteen Days.
Use of Technology: For homework the previous night, students had to access an online
academic article that pertained to the primary causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Students
during class will also be familiar with the use of film to illustrate the historical zeitgeist.
Wrap Up/ Conclusion Questions: The conclusion will wrap up the overall group activity by
having an open discussion about their reactions to the activity and how the movie and the actual
event compared and contrasted to the connections that they made during their group activity. The
primary questions that I will ask at the end of class will be attached to this lesson plan. See:
Attachment C.
My rationale for my lesson plan: My rational for creating a mock simulation is to generate an
interesting activity that can help students elaborate upon and illustrate a complex historical
situation in an easy and fun way. I want students to be able to input their own thoughts and
opinions and think through the situation much like President Kennedy and his staff did at the
time. This to me is one of the most important parts about history because we often think that
historical figures make these grandiose decisions and not think about why or what they were
thinking about at the time a historical event occurs. I also wanted to try to connect history to the
students and have the students make connections between their personal connections, the film
Thirteen Days, and to the historical event itself. I believe the major goal for furthering historical
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literacy is to illustrate a person, place, or event in many different ways in order for the student to
feel connected to history and this was what I was trying to do with the group simulation, the film
Thirteen Days, and the documents that I assigned for homework on the previous night.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Attachment A: Thirteen Days Film Work Sheet
Thirteen Days Response Questionnaire
Directions: Answer the following questions to the best of your ability using short answers.
1. What was the Soviet Union doing in Cuba that made the United States feel so uneasy?
Answer: The Soviet Union was setting up nuclear launch sites in range of major eastern
coastal cities such as Miami, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Norfolk, and various other cities
along the east coast.
2. What were the three options that President Kennedy comes up with to solve the situation
in Cuba? List all three to the best of your ability.
Answer: 1. Surgical Airstrike 2. Larger Airstrike 3. Invasion
3. What was the best option according to President Kennedy?
Answer: Surgical Airstrike
4. Do you think that the world would have looked at the United States as a weak power for
initiating a blockade? Why? Explain your reasoning.
Answer: No right or wrong answer
5. Why did President Kennedy and his staff rename the blockade a quarantine?
Answer: Because it could have been conceived as an act of war.
6. What was Adlai Stevenson’s suggestion to solve the crisis in Cuba as U.S. Ambassador
to the United Nations?
Answer: He wanted to strike a deal to pull out of Guantanamo and not initiate an invasion
of Cuba.
7. If the United States had carried out an airstrike what percentage of the nuclear launch
sites did the General state that his forces could destroy?
Answer: 90%
8. How would you have responded if Soviet ships out ran the quarantine?
Answer: No right or wrong answer.
9. Do you think that the leaders of the military were setting up World War III? Explain.
Answer: No right or wrong answer.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
10. If you were Turkey an ally of the United States how would you have felt having the
Jupiter Missiles removed even when they were obsolete?
Answer: No right or wrong answer.
11. What does it mean when Kenny O’Donnell states in Thirteen Days, “This is a language
that the world has never seen, this is President Kennedy speaking directly to
Khrushchev”? (Thirteen Days, 2000) Explain to the best of your abilities. Try to connect
this to Kennedy’s press conference and the incident with the Soviet ships turning around.
Answer: No right or wrong answer.
12. Do you think that communications between the Soviet Union and the United States was a
major issue during the crisis? Explain why or why not.
Answer: No right or wrong answer.
13. Where were the two U-2 planes that were shot down and destroyed?
Answer: Cuba and Siberia
14. Would you have considered the two planes being shot down as an act of war or an
accident? Explain to the best of your ability.
Answer: No right or wrong answer.
15. What was the solution that Bobby Kennedy gave the Soviet Union’s ambassador in order
for the Soviet Union to remove its missile from Cuba?
Answer: The removal of the Jupiter Missiles from Turkey and for U.N. ambassadors to
oversee the dismantling of the nuclear launch sites.
16. Did Khrushchev ultimately agree to the deal regarding the removal of the Jupiter Missiles
and the U.N. inspectors inspecting the removal of the Soviet missiles in Cuba?
Answer: Yes
17. What does Kenny O’Donnell mean when he makes this statement at the end of the film
when he states, “Everyday that the sun comes up it says something about us”? (Thirteen
Days, 2000)
Answer: No right or wrong answer.
 For the no right or wrong answer responses I want to still see the student illustrate some
sort of thoughtful response to the question.
Attachment B: Group Activity Cuban Missile Crisis Mock Simulation
Cuban Missile Crisis Mock Simulation
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Directions: Get into three groups. Each group will represent one country involved in the Cuban
Missile Crisis. (Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the U.S.) In each group discuss and answer the
following questions to the best of your ability. As a class we will discuss your responses and
then watch a short clip from the film Thirteen Days that shows a recreation of how President
Kennedy and his staff responded to the same questions that you are about to reflect on.
5 minutes per question to discuss and answer
Question 1: What were the main causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Reflect on your homework
readings. Think about the causes of the respective group or country that you are discussing.
Question 2: What are some possible solutions to counter the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Play Scene 1 from film Thirteen Days.
Question 3: If you were the leader of a nation would you rather initiate a blockade or a
quarantine to counter the situation in Cuba? Do you think from your perspective country that a
blockade would have been considered an act of war? Explain your reasoning. How would you
carry out a quarantine procedure? Explain.
Play Scene 2
Question4: If you are Cuba how would you respond to the quarantine? If you are the Soviet
Union how would you respond to the quarantine? If you are the United States how would you
maintain the quarantine?
Play Scene 3, 4, and 5
Question 5: If your respective countries had two spy planes destroyed by the enemy over two
geographically distant areas how would you retaliate? Consider it an act of war? Consider it to be
an accident? Explain.
Play Scene 6
Question 7: What do you think your respective countries would agree to in order to solve the
escalating situation? How do you think the U.S. and the Soviet Union were able to come to
terms with one another? Explain.
Play Scene 7
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Attachment C: Wrap Up Questions That I Will Ask the Students
1. What did you guys think about the statement made by Kenny O’Donnell in the film
Thirteen Days (2000) when he states, “Everyday the sun comes up it says something
about us”? (Thirteen Days, 2000)
2. Did you guys revise any of your responses drastically after watching the film clips? If so
how?
3. What do you think was the primary trigger for the incident? Do you think it escalated due
to bad communications between the Soviet Union and the United States?
4. How does this incident relate to our previous unit on Cold War policies of containment,
appeasement, and brinkmanship?
5. Do you think after this incident that the Cold War should still be considered a “war of
words”? Why or why not?
6. What did you guys think about the overall activity? Do you think you learned why the
event occurred and its impact on foreign policy during the Cold War?
7. Do you have any questions for me?
Note: About Grading and Evaluating Students Work

For all of my assignments/ discussions I will grade my students on primarily if they
participate either verbally or non-verbally in an activity and if they had thoughtful
responses to the Thirteen Days questionnaire.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Attachment D: Parent Permission slip to watch historical films
Hello my name is Nicholas Baker and I am your child’s United States history teacher. As
a history teacher I will use material at my disposal that reflects historical people, places, and
events in order for the student to enter into the historical zeitgeist of the time period that we are
studying. This material includes watching R-Rated films such Platoon, We Were Soldiers,
Saving Private Ryan, The Alamo, and many other films that deal with historical issues. I believe
as a history teacher that the best way to relate the material to the student is an alternate medium
other then written texts. Non-written texts include films, internet research, discussions, and many
other non-textual mediums. Many of these films such as the ones listed above helps connect the
student to the event and the material learned in class through an historical lens that reflects the
historical time period. If you do not agree to sign this permission form I will have an alternate
assignment available for the student that pertains to the events being shown in the films. If you
have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Parents Signature:__________________________________ Date:___________
Students Signature:_________________________________ Date:____________
If you are over eighteen you can sign the form for yourself.
Thanks,
Nicholas Baker
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Attachment E contains previous homework that contains both primary and secondary historical
documents that analyze the main causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Attachment F: Description of scenes used from Thirteen Days
Scene 1 (13min-28min): This scene takes place in the White House between October 16thOctober 17th and it shows President Kennedy and his staff receiving information that the Soviet
Union has placed nuclear launch sites in Cuba. President Kennedy and his staff discuss the
overall situation in Cuba and possible responses that the United States can take to counter the
Soviet Union’s actions. President Kennedy talks about how he sees three responses that are on
the table for discussion. President Kennedy talks about how they could carry out a surgical strike
on just the nuclear launch sites, carry out a large airstrike that takes out both their defenses and
the nuclear launch sites, and the final option would be to carry out an invasion of Cuba. President
Kennedy and his staff start discussing which scenario is the best solution to solve the crisis. They
later begin to discuss a possible blockade of Cuba.
Scene 2 (39 min-42 min): This scene takes place in the White House on October 20th where
President Kennedy and his staff discuss that the blockade idea should be referred to as a
“quarantine” due to the possibility that Cuba and the Soviet Union would see it as an act of war.
President Kennedy revises his three possible solutions from the first scene and discusses that the
only two options are to initiate quarantine and to carry out an airstrike. Adlai Stevenson the U.S.
Ambassador to the United Nations suggests that they strike a deal with the Soviet Union and
Cuba to pull out of Guantanamo and not invade Cuba. A top level General from the military
suggests that they can destroy about ninety percent of the missiles by carrying out the strategic
airstrike. President Kennedy decides to hold a press conference to tell the world about the crisis
brewing in Cuba and that he has authorized a quarantine of Cuba and that any ship heading to
Cuba will be subject to search and seizure and will be asked to turn away.
Scene 3 (50 min-1hr): The Soviets during this scene respond to President Kennedy’s press
conference on October 23rd. The Soviets decide to send ships to Cuba in an attempt to outrun the
blockade or quarantine. President Kennedy asks about how the quarantine was being carried out
and how successful it will be. President Kennedy decides to authorize low level reconnaissance
flights above the nuclear sites in Cuba.
Scene 4 (1hr. 13 min- 1hr. 23 min) This scene takes place on October 24th and talks about how
two Russian ships have decided to outrun the quarantine along with a Soviet sub that was
protecting the two ships. Twenty ships decided to turn around but six ships were not turning
around because they were too far out from the blockade. This scene intercuts between the crisis
along the Cuban coast and then within the White House where President Kennedy and Kenny
O’Donnell his assistant discuss the possible removal of the obsolete Jupiter Missiles in Turkey.
Scene 5 (1hr 44 min- 1hr 49min) This scene takes place on October 27th when President
Kennedy decides to tell Khrushchev that America will not invade Cuba. It turns out that
Khrushchev’s earlier deal was just a ploy to stall for time in order for the nukes in Cuba to be
operational.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Scene 6 (1hr. 53min- 1hr. 57min) This scene depicts a spy plane being shot down over both
Cuba and over Siberia. President Kennedy, Kenny O’Donnell, and Bobby Kennedy decide
whether or not to retaliate by engaging the Soviet Union’s Surface to Air Missile sites or SAM
sites in Cuba. All three agree that this could lead to further escalation or increase tension and that
the attacks could have been an accident.
Scene 7 (2hr 8min- 2hr 13 min) This scene depicts President Kennedy and his staff discussing
the removal of the Jupiter Missiles in Turkey in exchange for the Soviet Union removing the
missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy and his staff decide to do this but only if they can do it
slowly and quietly so people do not think that the United States was a weak power. Bobby
Kennedy along with Kenny O’Donnell goes to the Soviet Union’s ambassador and decides to
relay the message to Khrushchev. Khrushchev agrees to take up their offer to remove the Jupiter
Missiles from Turkey in exchange for the removal of the nuclear sites in Cuba following a U.N.
inspection of Cuba.
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Attachment G: Grading Criteria/Rubric
Grading Rubric/ Assessment for Students Responses
A
-Completed every assignment and gave well thought out responses in the questionnaire, group activity,
and the final class discussion.
B
-Completed the questionnaire and responded minimally in the group activity but did not participate in
the final discussion.
C
-Completed questionnaire but did not participate at all in class or in the final discussion.
D
-Some response but did not fully complete questionnaire and did not participate at all in the class group
activity or final discussion.
F
-No responses whatsoever on the film questionnaire and no participation in the in class group activity
and final discussion.
As a teacher I would want to grade the student on if they completed the entire assignment for the class
period and at least tried to respond to the questions being asked. I would probably not give credit to
students on the questionnaire who did not respond accurately on some of the questions. For example,
the Cuban Missile Crisis was an incident in Cuba where the United States was fighting Cuba and the
Soviet Union over Cuban cigars. I will try to be as lenient as possible with some answers but answers
that are flat out wrong I will not give any credit towards on the film questionnaire. The group discussions
I will be more lenient on in the notion that at least a student tried to grasp the material and if students
stumble I can have other students help answer or I can help answer it myself.
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THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS LESSON PLAN
Attachment H:
Works Cited
Almond, P. O., & Bernstein, A., & Costner, K. (Producers), Donaldson, R. (Director). 2000.
Thirteen Days (Motion Picture). United States: New Line.
Kennedy, J. F. (1962) The Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy’s Address to the Nation. In
Chafe, W.H, & Sitkoff, H., & Baily, B. (Ed.), A History of Our Time Readings on
Postwar America (7th Ed). (pp. 23-30). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Swift, J. (2007). The Cuban Missile Crisis. History Review. Retrieved from
http://www.historytoday.com/john-swift/cuban-missile-crisis
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