TAH Grant-Spring Semester 2012

TAH Spring Semester 2012

Lesson Plan TAH Grant-Spring Semester 2012

Lesson Plan Title: Involvement vs. Isolationism Class periods projected to spend on plan: 1 full period, possibly the first 10-15 minutes of a 2nd period. Plan focus: Check on of the following: Primary sources technology X Reading like a Historian model

Technology to be used: Power Point slides to look at political cartoons as a class.

Plan objective: Students will be able to evaluate political cartoons and speeches of Americans before entry into WWII. Students will then be asked to decide for themselves, should we have gotten involved in WWII or followed the policy of isolationism.

CLE(s): SS7 1.8, 2.1 Distinguish between fact and opinion and analyze sources to recognize bias and points of view; SS7 1.1, 1.4 Interpret maps, statistics, charts, diagrams, graphs, timelines, pictures, political cartoons, audiovisual materials, continua, written resources, art and artifacts )

OUTLINE OF LESSON

Lesson Plan:

1- Students will be put into groups of 3-4 and given a political cartoon to analyze. In these groups the students will look over the political cartoon they are given and fill out the “What do you see/How does it make you feel/How does it relate to WWII” graph.

2- After the small groups are done, as a class we will look at each cartoon and discuss what the group learned from the picture while also getting additional input from other students in the class.

3- In the same small groups, each person will get a speech and quotes from either a pro- war supporter of WWII or an anti-war opponent of the war. (FDR/Lindbergh) Students will be asked to read their speech and annotate while they are reading. After they are finished reading and annotating, they will discuss in their groups the points that the author made and fill out their pro-war/anti-war graphs as they discuss.

4- Finally, as a class we will conclude the lesson discussing the points each artist made. Each student will then be asked to complete an exit slip where they answer a closing question individually with their opinion. The question will be posted on the board:

“Should America follow a policy of isolationism or get involved in foreign affairs? Include your answer for WWII (from what you got from the readings) and then today?”

DOCUMENTS TO BE USED:

*See attachment with political cartoons* Anti-War

Charles Lindbergh (famous pilot)

My friends, it is this satanically clever propaganda that appeals to Christianity, the idealism, the humanity and the loyalty of the American people that takes us into war. It is this that we must resist. It is this that we must cast aside if we truly love our country and democracy. We must remain at peace and dedicate ourselves to effecting peace for a war-torn world.…

I do not believe that the great majority of our people are eager to be embraced by war and I call upon them not to be afraid to say so. I, for one, believe the policy advocated by the interventionists is insane and it will lead to total war, and war is insanity… Americans! Do not let yourselves be swayed by mass hysteria. Do not travel again the road that took you in 1917. You hanged Bob LaFollette in effigy because he opposed war—and lived to repent your action and put him in the hall of fame.… Are the facts of yesterday no longer facts? Has this war a sweeter odor than the last? Don’t let yourselves be misled by the so-called notables. Numerically they are few—even though they command the newspaper headlines. But they do not speak for the mass of Americans. They do not represent labor, the farmer, the youth, the mothers or fathers of America. The great mass of our people are inarticulate, but it is time you were heard. You must not be driven like sheep to the slaughtering pens.… America’s war ought to be against industrial unemployment and low farm prices.… Let your representatives in Washington know that you have not surrendered the independence of America to war- mongers and interventionists, and God will bless America.

“ Our safety does not lie in fighting European wars. It lies in our own internal strength, in the character of the American people & its institutions. Lindbergh believed that democracy would not be saved “by the forceful imposition of our ideals abroad, but by the example of their successful operation at home. “

Representative James F. O’Connor:

“Dare we set America up & commit her as the financial and military blood bank of the rest of the world? The U.S. cannot “right every wrong or police the world.”

America First Committee Original Four Principles:

1. The United States must build an impregnable defense for America

2. No foreign power, nor group of powers, can successfully attack a prepared America

3. American democracy can be preserved only by keeping out of the European war.

4. "Aid short of war" weakens national defense at home and threatens to involve America in war abroad.

President Roosevelt:

“When peace has been broken anywhere, peace of all countries everywhere is in danger. Every word that comes through the air, every ship that sails the sea, every battle that is fought does affect the American future.”

“It is time for all Americans….to stop being deluded by the romantic notion that the Americas can go on living happily and peacefully in a Nazi-dominated world. Let us not ask ourselves whether the Americas should begin to defend themselves after the first attack…after the twentieth attack. The time for active defense is now.”

Assessment for Lesson- Graphs completed during lesson and exit card.

Additional Resources: http://www.charleslindbergh.com/americanfirst/index.asp http://depts.washington.edu/antiwar/pnwhistory_wwii.shtml