The President’s Desk A Resource Guide for Teachers: Grades 4-12 Department of Education and Public Programs With generous support from: Edward J. Hoff and Kathleen O’Connell, Shari E. Redstone John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Table of Contents Overview of The President’s Desk Interactive Exhibit.... 2 Lesson Plans and Activities................................................................ 40 History of the HMS Resolute Desk............................................... 4 List of Lessons and Activities available on the Library’s Website... 41 The Road to the White House...................................................................... 44 .......................... 8 The President’s Desk Website Organization The President at Work.................................................................................... 53 The President’s Desk The President’s Desk Primary Sources.................................... 10 Sail the Victura Activity Sheet....................................................................... 58 A Resource Guide for Teachers: Grades 4-12 Telephone.................................................................................................... 11 Integrating Ole Miss....................................................................................... 60 White House Diary.................................................................................. 12 The 1960 Campaign: John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Scrimshaw................................................................................................... 12 “Blue Bomb”..................................................................................................... 64 Coconut....................................................................................................... 13 The Cuban Missile Crisis: How to Respond?........................................... 72 Secret Recording Button........................................................................ 13 Documentary Materials......................................................................... 74 Campaign Button..................................................................................... 14 Documents................................. 75 Picture Frame............................................................................................ 15 Letter #1 from John F. Kennedy to his family Primary Sources Listed by Topic................................................ 16 and transcription (Coconut Module)................................................ 75 1960 Election............................................................................................. 17 Letter #2 from John F. Kennedy to his family Civil Rights................................................................................................ 17 and transcription (Coconut Module)................................................ 79 Cuba............................................................................................................. 17 Letter from Walter T. Apley to Senator John F. Kennedy Diplomacy/International Travel.......................................................... 17 (Campaign Button)................................................................................. 82 John F. Kennedy’s Life............................................................................. 18 Letter from Senator John F. Kennedy to Walter T. Apley Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty........................................................ 18 (Campaign Button)................................................................................. 84 Peace Corps................................................................................................ 18 Certificate from Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Space............................................................................................................ 18 Training Center, Melville, RI..................................................................... 85 Vietnam....................................................................................................... 18 Memo from Clark M. Clifford to Senator John F. Kennedy............ 86 Suggested Activities and Lesson Plans..................................... 20 Secret Taping Button Transcripts............................................................. 89 Activities and Lesson Plans Listed by Object................................. 20 Vietnam............................................................................................................. 89 The President’s Desk............................................................................... 22 Cuban Missile Crisis...................................................................................... 90 The President’s Phone Calls (Telephone)........................................ 23 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.............................................................. 92 The White House Diary........................................................................ 24 Space.................................................................................................................. 93 John F. Kennedy’s Love of the Sea (Scrimshaw)........................... 25 Civil Rights...................................................................................................... 93 John F. Kennedy and PT-109 (Coconut).......................................... 26 Telephone Transcripts.................................................................................. 95 The President’s Secret Tapes (Secret Recording Button) .......... 27 Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy...................................................... 95 The 1960 Campaign (Campaign Button)....................................... 28 Senator Edward M. Kennedy...................................................................... 97 Photograph Albums (Picture Frame)................................................. 29 Director of the Peace Corps, R. Sargent Shriver.................................. 97 Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara................................................ 99 Suggested Activities and Lesson Plans Listed by Topic.. 30 NASA astronaut, Major Gordon Cooper.............................................. 100 Civil Rights................................................................................................ 31 President Harry S. Truman......................................................................... 101 Department of Education and Public Programs Cuba............................................................................................................. 32 Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatric................................... 101 Inaugural Address.................................................................................... 32 President Dwight D. Eisenhower .............................................................. 103 JFK in the White House........................................................................ 33 Special Assistant to the President, Arthur M. Schlesinger............. 104 The Life of John F. Kennedy................................................................ 34 Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett......................................................... .. 105 Limited Nuclear Test Ban...................................................................... 36 Presidential Campaigns and Elections.............................................. 37 Acknowledgements................................................................................. 109 Presidential Decision-making............................................................... 38 John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum , Columbia Point, Boston, MA 02125 Presidential Roles and Responsibilities.............................................. 39 www.jfklibrary.org Space............................................................................................................ 39 01 The President’s Desk OVERVIEW Did you ever wonder what it was like to sit in the Oval Office at the President’s desk? As part of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s web site, you and your students have a unique opportunity Overview to explore President Kennedy’s desk by examining treasured mementos and important presidential records. President Kennedy’s desk has been painstakingly of The recreated in a digital format based on historical photographs of the Oval Office. Newly digitized resources, ranging from recordings of meetings in the Oval Office President’s Desk to family photographs, populate the site and provide an engaging and fascinating A Resource Guide for Teachers: Grades 4-12 look into John F. Kennedy’s life and presidency. This interactive experience is presented in conjunction with the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Kennedy Presidency. The President’s Desk interactive exhibit can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. In this guide, you will find a detailed description of the site’s layout and featured artifacts, as well as suggestions for how to use these materials with students in grades 4-12. 02 03 The President’s Desk The desk that President Kennedy used in the Oval Office was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879. It was made from the timbers of the British Arctic exploration ship HMS Resolute. As the inscription on the front of the desk suggests, the HMS Resolute served as an important symbol of the relationship between the United States