16: 1950s Early Cold War

16: 1950s Early Cold War

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Did JFK really win because he looked better on television? - Slate Magazine
Did JFK really win because he looked better on television? - Slate Magazine
How many history teachers are still telling students with certitude that Nixon won those debates on radio? Many articles demonstrate the sketchy evidence upon which the conclusion that Nixon "won" the 1960 debate among radio listeners; this references the main points.  There was only one survey with less than 300 respondents.
Did JFK really win because he looked better on television? - Slate Magazine
Listen to the Boston Symphony Orchestra Stop a Performance to Announce JFK's Assassination - Rebecca J. Rosen - The Atlantic
Listen to the Boston Symphony Orchestra Stop a Performance to Announce JFK's Assassination - Rebecca J. Rosen - The Atlantic
Students may not fully appreciate the shock heard throughout the crowd during this performance of the Boston Symphony, when it was stopped and the conductor announced that they received a report that the president of the United States had been assassinated. Yet perhaps it is worth a try, see if they can hear with detail the reaction of the crowd and their almost certain disbelief that the program had changed all of the sudden, and the orchestra began to play a funeral dirge.
Listen to the Boston Symphony Orchestra Stop a Performance to Announce JFK's Assassination - Rebecca J. Rosen - The Atlantic
John F. Kennedy's inaugural address: Who wrote JFK's speech?
John F. Kennedy's inaugural address: Who wrote JFK's speech?
Too often students have discussions that are essentially invalid because they are based upon a false premise - like any lesson concerning Kennedy's inaugural. Instead of having a lesson or discussion about what Kennedy meant - why not acknowledge that several people contributed to the speech? Better yet, why not pull back the veil and have students read about the crafting of the speech itself>
John F. Kennedy's inaugural address: Who wrote JFK's speech?
Debunking Nixon’s radio victory in the 1960 election: Re-analyzing the historical record and considering currently unexamined polling data - ScienceDirect
Debunking Nixon’s radio victory in the 1960 election: Re-analyzing the historical record and considering currently unexamined polling data - ScienceDirect
Some teachers who insist on students using "valid, reliable" sources should look to their own. How many teachers are telling students the story of Nixon "winning the 1960 presidential debate among those who listened on the radio. This study provides "valid, reliable" evidence that suggests otherwise.
Debunking Nixon’s radio victory in the 1960 election: Re-analyzing the historical record and considering currently unexamined polling data - ScienceDirect
Remarks of President John F. Kennedy at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, June 26, 1963 | JFK Library
Remarks of President John F. Kennedy at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, June 26, 1963 | JFK Library
"There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin."
Remarks of President John F. Kennedy at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, June 26, 1963 | JFK Library
The Meaning of Thanksgiving, as Told Through Cold War Propaganda - Atlantic Mobile
The Meaning of Thanksgiving, as Told Through Cold War Propaganda - Atlantic Mobile
"This 12 minute movie, "A Day of Thanksgiving", was produced by the Centron Corporation, a studio that churned out educational films aimed at molding the character of America's youth. It shows a despondent family whose children are disappointed that they cannot afford a full table of Thanksgiving treats for dinner. The film shows how mom and dad explain to the children how much they have to be thankful for - which results in this early Cold War sermon about the blessings of democracy, liberty and freedom. Instead of opting for the World War II poster propaganda lesson, use this film to have student catalog all of the elements or persuasion they see at work. At the very least, you will have a discussion about how little these 1950s children needed to be happy
The Meaning of Thanksgiving, as Told Through Cold War Propaganda - Atlantic Mobile
LIFE -Magazine May, 1961 Google Books
LIFE -Magazine May, 1961 Google Books
Instead of having student cobble together their own "magazine" as a project, set them loose on some historical research of their own. This edition of Life Magazine touches upon important themes of the Cold War, particularly the US in southeast Asia, and the Civil Rights movement.
LIFE -Magazine May, 1961 Google Books
Amicus Curiae brief of United States - Brown v. Board
Amicus Curiae brief of United States - Brown v. Board
The Attorney General of the United States, James P. McGranery, filed a brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of the United States in the Brown v Board case arguing that segregation and racial injustice was used by foreign governments against the United States in the Cold War. This excerpt shows its strongest arguments.
Amicus Curiae brief of United States - Brown v. Board
1964 - Voluntary Racial Relocation Commission
1964 - Voluntary Racial Relocation Commission
This is the text of a bill and a speech of Democratic Senator Richard Russell supporting the creation of a commission that would oversee federal payments of $1,500 to black people to move out of the south to the states of the north. His speech shows resistance to Civil Rights in the south and the southern conviction that northern civil rights leaders were just as racist as them
1964 - Voluntary Racial Relocation Commission
1948: To Secure These Rights | Harry S. Truman
1948: To Secure These Rights | Harry S. Truman
Full text of the Commissions report to Truman on the state of Civil Rights in the US in 1948. Skimming this reveals the awareness of Civil Rights violations - this can be connected with the Kerner Commission. Teachers and students have never encountered this document as it was never included in the taught narrative canon
1948: To Secure These Rights | Harry S. Truman
Mapping Prejudice - Minnesota
Mapping Prejudice - Minnesota
Digitization project provides mapping and statistical data regarding segregation in Minnesota, which the project claims is some of the most segregated in the country.
Mapping Prejudice - Minnesota
Memo, "Analysis of the Southern Democratic Revolt" | Harry S. Truman
Memo, "Analysis of the Southern Democratic Revolt" | Harry S. Truman
Long before Kevin Philips came up with Nixon's "southern strategy" the Democrats knew the political landscape of the south was changing. This state-by-state analysis shows the cleavage in the "solid south" that had been Democratic since the Civil War
Memo, "Analysis of the Southern Democratic Revolt" | Harry S. Truman
Isaiah Nixon – The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project
Isaiah Nixon – The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project
This is one of those stories that never made it into the taught narrative canon. A young black man was shot dead on the porch of his house in front of his wife and children for voting in the Democratic presidential primary of September 1948. This site shows how a group of Emory college students helped Isaiah Nixon's daughter find his grave in 2015. The video her giving thanks to them deserves to be shown to high school students
Isaiah Nixon – The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project
Soviet Era Bus-stops
Soviet Era Bus-stops
Photo essay of odd bus stops built in the USSR. Perhaps these pictures will give students an appreciation for the differences between the United States and the Soviet Union. Does the difference in something as seemingly mundane as bus stops mean more?
Soviet Era Bus-stops
Soviet Propaganda Against USA (posters)
Soviet Propaganda Against USA (posters)
Collection of Soviet propaganda posters that focus on the United States, this can be used for students to make comparisons to US propaganda. How do the Soviets want their people to view the United States?
Soviet Propaganda Against USA (posters)
Homosexuals in government, 1950 - Excerpts from Congressional Record
Homosexuals in government, 1950 - Excerpts from Congressional Record
Excerpts from the Congressional Record, great example of 1950s intolerance and Cold War paranoia. This is the sort of language one can find here - " I would like to strip the fetid, stinking flesh off of this skeleton of homosexuality and tell my colleagues of the House some of the facts of nature."
Homosexuals in government, 1950 - Excerpts from Congressional Record
PopMatters Music Feature | Sincerity Fixation
PopMatters Music Feature | Sincerity Fixation
2005 article links The Lonely Crowd by David Reisman to the popular music market. This can be wrapped into a conformity or consumerism lesson that links Reisman's 1950s sociology study with students' consumerism themselves.
PopMatters Music Feature | Sincerity Fixation
"One Should Not Look to Research as a Kind of a Panacea" - Article
"One Should Not Look to Research as a Kind of a Panacea" - Article
Social Scientists in the 1950s Discuss Studies of Television Viewing by Children. This primary source allows students to compare how society views new technology and media (like television) in the 1950s and technology (cell phones and the internet) today. What is the same? What is different? How does us help un understand the 1950s and today?
"One Should Not Look to Research as a Kind of a Panacea" - Article
"A Youngster Needs a Knowledge of the Present" - Article
"A Youngster Needs a Knowledge of the Present" - Article

The following editorial from 1950, in the popular magazine Collier's, offered one perspective on the potential harm of such youthful indiscretions as radio programs, phonograph records, Western movies, and comic books and advocated tolerance for youth-oriented popular culture. Source: “Boy Studying,” Collier’s, 28 January 1950

"A Youngster Needs a Knowledge of the Present" - Article
The Cold War Museum
The Cold War Museum
A museum site with an archive of information organized chronologically. Teachers and students can quickly click through the timeline to get a sense fo the trajectory fo the Cold War while drawing upon resources to understand each decade better.
The Cold War Museum
Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to Truman
Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to Truman
Primary document lesson plan from National Archives. Even if the lesson is not used, the scan of Truman's response to McCarthy, even if it might not have been sent, can be used by students seeking to understand the difference in political discourse in the 1950s and today
Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to Truman
"You Are the Un-Americans, and You Ought to be Ashamed of Yourselves"
"You Are the Un-Americans, and You Ought to be Ashamed of Yourselves"
Text of Paul Robeson's appearance before House Un-American Activities Committee. Paul Robeson was a singer and actor who graduated from Rutgers University and appeared in famous Broadway shows of the 1950s. His advocacy of anti-imperialism, affiliation with communism, and criticism of the United States government caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
"You Are the Un-Americans, and You Ought to be Ashamed of Yourselves"