Lesson 13: The United States and the Cold War Primary Source Lesson
Duration of Days: 1
Lesson Objective
Students will analyze and interpret primary source documents with regard to McCarthyism and freedom of speech.
What kind of social resentments are evident in McCarthy's speech?
What does Smith believe is the essence of freedom of speech?
What do these documents suggest about how the Cold War affected discussions of freedom in the early 1950s?
McCarthyism
Americanism
HS.SS.2C - 2C. Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and reasoning.
Students will evaluate and analyze two documents concerning McCarthyism and the freedom of speech.
Joseph McCarthy's "Speech at Wheeling (1950)"
Margaret Chase Smith's "Speech in the Senate (1950)"
DOK 3
Teacher will guide discussion on the documents.
Class discussion
Two readings in Foner