History is a powerful subject that continues to shape our lives and our understanding of the past. The Postwar years following WWII in the United States saw major societal changes that continue to impact our lives today. It was an era that ushered in a “new world order” by propelling the west and east, particularly the United States and the Soviet Union, as the new dominant global powers. The ensuing “Cold War” that took place would indefinitely shape the world for decades to come. Indeed, much of the world, particularly the United States, in terms of politics, foreign and domestic policy, and societal issues, remain shadowed and influenced by the post-WWII.
The big ideas in this unit include how foreign and domestic policy was shaped by the Cold War hysteria, anxiety, fear, and nuclear annihilation. The critical events we cover in this unit are the Bracero program and how it impacted legal and illegal immigration to the United States, the Kennedy administration and its containment of Communism during the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Rosenberg Trial which demonstrated the severity and seriousness of domestic Communism. We will look at numerous primary sources, but the most significant sources will be Kennedy’s message to the American public about the Cuban Missile Crisis, Nikita Khrushchev’s message to Kennedy during the crisis, and a speech by Castro. These sources will provide historical inquiry and analysis of how the U.S. and the Soviet Union came so close to all-out nuclear war. In addition, these sources will provide us multiple view points and perspectives on one of the most controversial, influential, and impactful events in not only U.S. history, but world history as well.
The Bracero program will allow us to reflect and examine how immigration by Mexicans and Latinos were treated during the postwar years as well as how this program continues to influence immigration by Latin Americans today. We will explore the essential question: How did Mexican immigrants impact immigration in the United States during post-WWII? The reading lesson on the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile crisis will allow us to analyze these significant events, how they began, and how the resolution was met. Through this lesson, we will address the question: how did the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis impact the Cold War relations between the Soviet Union and U.S.? In order to go deeper into these events, we will also look at primary source documents in order to address the following questions: How did the foreign policies and political ideologies of Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy, and Nikita Khrushchev impact the Cuban Missile Crisis? How did these beliefs affect the eventual resolution? Was the crisis a justified defense or provocative response on the part of the Soviet Union and Cuba? Finally, we will explore how the Cold War hysteria and anxiety affected domestic policy by examining McCarthyism and role-playing the Rosenberg trial. The essential questions that will be addressed in this lesson will be: How did the Cold War and fear of domestic Communism impact or affect criminal court proceedings and trials? Were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg guilty of espionage? Why? Why not? These historical questions, big ideas, perspectives, events, and primary sources will provide us a way to navigate this momentous, powerful, and life-altering decades that followed the conclusion of World War II. This unit will provide students the opportunity to think, read, and speak critically about these issues and events. The higher order thinking skills will help students become successful in any career path they choose. More importantly, students will become critical thinking, informed, active, and transformational citizens in a democratic society.