The Truman Doctrine & Churchills Iron Curtain Speech

Context: After spending a couple of days discussing propaganda and looking at examples of propaganda images, this lesson turns to the analyzing of two famous speeches for understanding and possible propaganda.

! Plan Number: 5 out of 15 !

Objectives and Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources. Cognitive: SWBAT analyze text for understanding. SWBAT compare and contrast two different speeches about a similar topic. Affective:! SWBAT work cooperatively in pairs. Performative: SWBAT complete a Venn diagram.

Materials/Technology Resources Required Smart Board Smart Starter #155 (taken from Document-Based Assessment for Global History by Theresa C. Noonan) 10 copies of the worksheet containing an excerpt from the Truman Doctrine (taken from http:// avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/trudoc.asp) on one side and an excerpt from Churchills Iron Curtain speech (taken from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.asp) on the other. Pens/pencils

! Time: 47 minutes !

Instructional Procedures/Steps: 1. Have Smart Starter #155 displayed on the Smart Board when students enter the room (see attached Smart Starter). Students have 5 minutes to complete the Smart Starter. 2. Review with students what we discussed a couple of days prior about the Yalta Conference and the origins of the Cold War. Remind students that the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain were all on the same side of World War II, but after the war the Soviet Union had very different opinions about how to unite a broken Europe. 3. When that is finished, put the students in groups of four, but explain that they will first be working in pairs. Each pair of students should receive one copy of the worksheet. One pair will work on the Truman side of the worksheet, and the other pair will work on the Churchill side of the worksheet.

4. Each pair should read their excerpt silently. When they are finished, each pair should work together to answer the questions that follow. 5. When that is all complete, each pair should share the information they gathered and their answers to the questions with the other pair in their group. 6. Next hand out a copy of the Venn diagram worksheet to each student. Have them label the left circle The Truman Doctrine and the right circle Churchills Iron Curtain Speech. Then, as groups of four, have them compare and contrast the two speeches. Points that are unique to the Truman Doctrine will be written in the left circle, points that are unique to Churchills Iron Curtain speech will be written in the right circle, and points that the two speeches have in common will be written in the middle where the two circles overlap. Guiding questions might be: a. Who were the intended audiences? b. What were the purposes of the speeches? c. Where were the speeches given? d. When were the speeches given? e. Is there propaganda in the speeches?

Evaluation: While students are working in pairs and small groups, walk around the room and informally assess that students are on task and understanding the assignment. At the end of class, each pair of students will hand in one worksheet with both partners names on it and both sides completed. Students will also hand in their completed Venn diagram with their names on it.

Accommodations: If a student needs, it they can have a partner read the excerpts out loud to them and/or write their answers down for them.

! Appendix of Materials Needed: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Smart Starter #155:

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation (domination) by armed minorities or by outside presssuresShould we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far-reaching to the WestWe just take immediate and resolute action. I therefore ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400 millionThe seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died.

U.S. President Harry S. Truman March 12, 1947

What policy did President Truman suggest in this speech?

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Names:_________________________________________________________

Excerpt from Harry S. Trumans The Truman Doctrine:

! Period:__________ !

At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes. 1. What is Truman asking for?____________________________________________________

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2. What are the first and second ways of life that Truman refers to?_____________________

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3. Give a modern day example of a country that lives by the first way of life._____________

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4. Give a modern day example of a country that lives by the second way of life.___________

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5. Is there propaganda in this excerpt? Explain_______________________________________

! ! Excerpt from Winston Churchills Iron Curtain speech: !

Names:_____________________________________________________________ Period:__________

It is my duty, however, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow. The safety of the world, ladies and gentlemen, requires a unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast. It is from the quarrels of the strong parent races in Europe that the world wars we have witnessed, or which occurred in former times, have sprung. Twice the United States has had to send several millions of its young men across the Atlantic to fight the wars. But now we all can find any nation, wherever it may dwell, between dusk and dawn. Surely we should work with conscious purpose for a grand pacification of Europe within the structure of the United Nations and in accordance with our Charter. In a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization.

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1. What is Churchill referring to when he mentions this iron curtain?____________________

2. What does Churchill think the world needs to be saved from?_________________________

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3. What does Churchill want to have happen?________________________________________

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4. Do you think the division between the U.S. and the Soviet Union widened or lessened due to Churchills speech? Why or why not?____________________________________________

5. Is there propaganda in this excerpt? Explain_______________________________________

The Truman Doctrine Worksheet Answer Key:

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1. What is Truman asking for? He is asking the United States to financially assist other countries that are being oppressed. 2. What are the first and second ways of life that Truman refers to? They are the different ways that countries are governed. 3. Give a modern day example of a country that lives by the first way of life. Examples could be the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France 4. Give a modern day example of a country that lives by the second way of life. Examples could be Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya

! 5. Is there propaganda in this excerpt? Explain. Examples will vary. ! ! The Iron Curtain Worksheet Answer Key ! ! ! !

1. What is Churchill referring to when he mentions this iron curtain? He is referring to the divide that is happening in Europe between the Soviet Union and the western part of the continent. 2. What does Churchill think the world needs to be saved from? It needs to be saved from the oppression and expansion of Soviet influence. 3. What does Churchill want to have happen? He wants all of Europe to stand together and fight the Soviet regime. 4. Do you think the division between the U.S. and the Soviet Union widened or lessened due to Churchills speech? Why or why not? Answers will vary.

! 5. Is there propaganda in this excerpt? Explain. Answers will vary. ! Grading Rubric: !

2 points: Question answered completely and accurately 1 point: Question not answered completely or only partially accurate 0 points: Question not answered or answered incorrectly