Politics, Cold War, and Korea
This section has 42 slides and covers the election of General Dwight Eisenhower to two terms as president of the United States, the beginning of the Cold War, and the war in Korea. After discussing the election statistics for both elections: popular vote and Electoral College vote, students are asked to give their written opinion in response to the following questions: Why would the Democratic party nominate Adlai Stevenson again in 1956 when Stevenson lost to Eisenhower in 1952? What do both sets of election results suggest about the majority of voters feelings about the decade?
Then the beginnings of the Cold War are discussed. Students are introduced to key vocabulary terms, important policies, and the people that created them such as Harry Truman and George Kennan, the policy of Containment, the Truman Doctrine, and massive retaliation with nuclear missiles. From foreign policy, the discussion shifts to the Homefront. Students learn how people like themselves dealt with the threat of massive retaliation and nuclear war. Students are shown family bomb shelters and civil defense plans were part of everyday life. Students are given the opportunity to view a civil defense film shown in schools. They are introduced to Bert the turtle who demonstrates for them how to Duck and Cover. After viewing the short film, students are given questions to answer about it. Finally through a discussion of the Korean War, students learn as a result of the war military assistance would be given to allies and threatened nations, military force became a permanent piece of Containment, and United States would continue its involvement in Asia.
