Sunday, November 22, 2009

For Your Consideration - Narrative

PRIMARY SOURCE #1 - http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=12011
Loyalty tests
The heated atmosphere of anti-Communism during the Cold War allowed the US government to embark on an unprecedented campaign of suppression against the left at home.
On 22 March 1947, US president Harry Truman ordered that every federal employee was to be investigated for signs of disloyalty. By December 1952, some 6.6 million people had been investigated and hundreds dismissed from their jobs. Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed that dozens – sometimes he claimed hundreds – of communists were active in the government. Through the House Un-American Activities Committee, he was able to bully and slander hundreds of US citizens. Government loyalty boards tested people for communist sympathies.

1.) Describe this account?

2.) What were loyalty test?

3.) What were people trying to accomplish with these loyalty tests?

4.) What feelings did these tests evoke in the people who were taking them? Why?

5.) Do you think people the loyalty test were fair? Why or why not?

6.) In your opinion, do you think anit-communist loyalty tests are still being conducted or not? Why?


PRIMARY SOURCE #2 - http://www.designer-daily.com/10-amazing-cold-war-propaganda-posters-2901
Propaganda Posters
The Cold War lasted from the end of World War II right up to the early 1990s, although the Soviet Union and the USA never actually engaged in direct battle. Instead, the Cold War was expressed through weapons development (the nuclear arms race), technological development (the space race), espionage and propaganda.

1.) What is propaganda?

2.) Who made propaganda posters (east/west/both)?

3.) Who was the audience for these posters?

4.) What feelings did these posters evoke in the people who read them? Why?

5.) Did these posters give accurate, factual information?

6.) In your opinion, were propaganda posters a good source of information? Why or why not?


PRIMARY SOURCE #3 – http://www.gonomad.com/features/0710/berlin.html
Berlin after World War II
While Berliners may have felt a collective sigh of relief at the end of the Second World War, their suffering and angst was far from over. In the years following the end of the war the tensions between the East and West grew, culminating in 1961 with the construction of the Berlin Wall.

1.) Why were Berliners relieved at the end of WWII?

2.) What does the author mean that there suffering and angst was far from over?

3.) What tensions existed between the East and the West after WWII?

4.) What significant event took place in 1961?

5.) Do you think people living in Berlin were happy about the Berlin Wall?

6.) Give an account of the life of a Berliner and how it changed as a result of the construction of the Berlin Wall?


PRIMARY SOURCE #4 – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33784429/ns/world_news-fall_of_the_berlin_wall_20_years_later/
Fall of the Berlin Wall
BERLIN - Thousands of cheering Germans re-enacted the electrifying moment the Berlin Wall came crashing down — toppling 1,000 graffiti-adorned 8-foot-tall dominoes that tumbled along the route of the now vanished Cold War icon, celebrating 20 years of freedom from separation and fear.

The spectacle — billed by organizers as a metaphor for the way the real wall came down 20 years ago Monday and the resulting fall of communist countries in eastern Europe — was one of several events to mark the anniversary and celebrate the profound change it had not only Germany, but Europe and the world.

Chancellor Angela Merkel — the first east German to hold the job — called the fall of the wall an "epic" moment in history.

1.) What event is this account talking about?

2.) When was this account written?

3.) What is the author talking about in the statement ‘freedom from separation and fear’?

4.) What changes took place in Germany when communism fell?

5.) Do you think people living in Berlin were happy about the Berlin Wall coming down?

6.) Give an account of how the life of a Berliner and how it changed as a result of the fall of Berlin Wall?


PRIMARY SOURCE #5 – http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/cold_war/topics/274/
Fear of Nuclear War
The air raid sirens hum loudly, shelters are erected, and the general public is busy learning the art of "duck and cover."

1.) Why did the sirens hum? Was there a REAL disaster?

2.) When was this account most likely written? Why do you think so?

3.) Why were shelter erected? What were these shelters like?

4.) What is the art of ‘duck and cover’?

5.) Why did people learn ‘duck and cover’ and was it effective?

6.) Give an account of how a person living during the cold war might have felt when practicing how to respond during a nuclear attack.


PRIMARY SOURCE #6 – http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/SF141/forum141.html
Nuclear Weapons
In the Cold War, the fear of nuclear war was used by the United States to encourage caution and stability. Had it not been for that fear, the 20th century might have had three world wars instead of two. The nuclear standoff between arsenals large enough to assure mutual destruction caused each of the superpowers to avoid the likelihood of nuclear war.

1.) What did the US encourage regarding nuclear war?

2.) What does the author credit with avoiding a third World War??

3.) What does the author believe would have happened had nuclear weapons been used?

4.) What countries do you think had nuclear arsenals during the Cold War? Were they used?

5.) Do you think people are still afraid of nuclear war?

6.) Give an account of how a person living during the cold war might have felt when about nuclear weapons? How might this person feelings be different today?

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