Simulation – Cold War Crisis
STUDENT MATERIALSSTUDENT MATERIALSS-1COLD WAR CRISISWORLD HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 7.4 ACTIVITYPurposeBy now, you should be well versed in how to identify and categorize causes and consequences. In this activity, you’ll use your causation, contextualization, and claim testing skills to solve a historical problem. By combining these skills, you’ll begin to understand how historians, or in this case government officials, must think about causes and consequences in order to understand historical events or to solve real-world problems, some of which can be life threatening. ProcessImagine it is 1962. You are United States government officials working with classified information. Your task is to determine what crisis is threatening the safety of the American people. Once you break open the seal on your Top Secret envelope, examine each document carefully for clues. Work with your group to piece together this Cold War emergency situation. You may be asked to explain the crisis to the Commander in Chief, so get your facts straight!Once everyone has finished determining the imminent threat to America’s safety, your group will act (and think) like a member of President Kennedy’s national security team, known as ExComm (Executive Committee of the National Security Council).Your job as members of ExComm is to outline a series of consequences (both good and bad) for a number of proposed options on how to respond to this threat. This top-secret mission is of the gravest concern. The security of the entire nation (all 186.5 million Americans) is resting in your hands.Using the Cold War Crisis Worksheet, read the proposed options on how to respond. Next, brainstorm with your ExComm team members about all of the consequences, both positive and negative, that could result from each option. You’ll list these consequences on the worksheet. Finally, as a group, come to a consensus (agreement) on which option to choose, and then write a brief for the president’s consideration.Your brief must include the following information:• Which option did you choose and what are the consequences of taking this action (both positive and negative consequences)?• Two strong supporting reasons for the option you are proposing (why do the benefits, or positive consequences, outweigh the costs, or negative consequences?).• Acknowledgment that other groups might choose another option or course of action, and for each of the options not chosen, you must provide refutation of that course of action. That is, you must provide counterclaims with evidence to back up your position and explain why the other option is not advisable.Be prepared to share your brief along with your supporting evidence with the class. Your teacher may arrange a debate between groups or ask you to explain the consequences of this crisis.
Name:Date:Name:Date:STUDENT MATERIALSS-2COLD WAR CRISISWORLD HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 7.4 ACTIVITYMEMORANDUMOCTOBER 16, 1962Mr. President, John F. KennedyCommander in ChiefThe White House ATTENDEES:Vice President, Lyndon B. JohnsonSecretary of State, Dean Rusk Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamaraSecretary of the Treasury, C. Douglas DillonAttorney General, Robert F. KennedyDirector of Central Intelligence Agency, John McConeUnder Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, George W. BallDeputy Secretary of Defense, Roswell GilpatricAssistant Secretary of Defense, Paul NitzeChairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Maxwell D. TaylorFormer Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Llewellyn ThompsonSpecial Counsel, Theodore SorensenSpecial Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, McGeorge BundyFormer Secretary of State, Dean AchesonPURPOSE:This meeting calls together the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, hereafter referred to as ExComm, with the purpose of advising Commander in Chief, President John F. Kennedy, in the wisest course of action in the current Cuban-Soviet crisis with regard to the placement of missiles within range of the United States.Options in brief:The following recommendations are on the table for deliberation by this committee. The Commander in Chief’s immediate expectation is a full-scale evaluation of the costs and benefits of each option. President Kennedy is due to address the nation in six days’ time; therefore, time is of the essence. Option 1: Launch an immediate airstrike to destroy the missile sites, followed by a full-scale land invasion of Cuba.Option 2: Issue a blockade of Cuba to prevent any further imports from the USSR.Option 3: Bring the issue to the United Nations for peaceful discussion.Option 4: Make a deal with the USSR requiring the Soviets to remove their missiles from Cuba in exchange for US removal of its missiles from Turkey.Option 5: Call for the use of nuclear weapons on Cuba and the Soviet Union.
Name:Date:Name:Date:STUDENT MATERIALSS-3COLD WAR CRISISWORLD HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 7.4 ACTIVITYOptionPositive Consequences (Benefits/Advantages)Negative Consequences (Costs/Risks)1. Attack Cuba2. Blockade Cuba3. United Nations talks