Cold War Policies, 1945-1991

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Photo, Truman, Churchill, and Stalin at the Potsdam Conference
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Arranged into eight chronological sections--from "Negotiation, 1945" to "Revolution, 1989-1991"--this site presents several dozen primary and secondary materials relating principally to the military and foreign policy dimensions of the Cold War. The majority of the primary materials consist of images--photographs, maps, political cartoons, ads, and charts--though transcriptions of important diplomatic documents are also provided. Secondary resources include short background essays of 200-350 words in length; "outline notes" that sketch major benchmarks in the Cold War and include links--many now dead--to documents in related sites; links to 36 related sites; a bibliography of 95 titles; and listings for nine relevant films.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence: History & Social Studies

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Portrait, George Washington
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This megasite brings together resources for teaching U.S. and world history from the far corners of the web. Most of these websites boast large collections of primary sources from the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the National Archives and Records Administration, and prominent universities. There are more than 600 websites listed for U.S. history alone, divided by time period and topic: Business & Work, Ethnic Groups, Famous People, Government, Movements, States & Regions, Wars, and Other Social Studies. While most of these websites are either primary source archives (for example, History of the American West, 1860-1920) or virtual exhibits, many offer lesson plans and ready-made student activities, such as EDSITEment, created by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A good place to begin is the (Subject Map), which lists resources by sub-topic, including African Americans (67 resources), Women's History (37 resources), and Natural Disasters (16 resources). Each resource is accompanied by a brief annotation that facilitates quick browsing.

A Summons To Comradeship: World War I and II Posters

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Poster, Howard Scott, 1943, A Summons to Comradeship
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Poster art shaped and reflected the nature of total war in the first half of the twentieth century, and remains a rich primary source for examining the political, military, social, and cultural history of World War I and World War II. This website provides a database of close to 6,000 of these posters. Posters from the U.S. constitute the bulk of the collection, followed by posters from Great Britain, and then France, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, Italy, and Germany.

Descriptions are keyword searchable, and there are also categories for browsing. Fifteen posters under "Civilian participation" represent one of the key components of "total war": full participation of citizens both at the front and at home. Posters can be used to examine the ways in which citizens on the "home front" were drawn into the war effort, as well as messages about gender and class. Other subjects include organizations, war-related social groups, and individual political leaders.

Exploring Amistad: Race and the Boundaries of Freedom in Maritime Antebellum America

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Barber, John W. "Hist of the Amistad" New Haven, Ct.: E.L. & J.W. B., 1840.LoC
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Presents more than 500 primary documents relating to the 1839–1842 revolt of enslaved Africans aboard the schooner Amistad, their legal struggles in the United States, and the multifaceted cultural and social dimensions of the case. The site features a searchable library that contains 32 items from personal papers, 33 legal decisions and arguments, and 18 selections from the popular media, including pamphlets, journal articles, reports, a playbill, and a poem.

In addition, 100 government publications, 28 images, 11 maps and nautical charts, and 310 newspaper articles and editorials are available. The website provides suggestions for using these materials in the classroom, a timeline, links to other resources, and a "living the history" component that encourages user feedback and participation. This visually attractive, well-conceived site provides a wealth of materials for students of slavery, race, politics, and print culture in antebellum America.

Reagan Biography Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/23/2008 - 15:01
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NBC's Tom Brokaw looks back at President Ronald Reagan's life, from his career before politics to life after presidency.

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RFK: The Last Campaign

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This NBC Nightly New Report looks at the 1968 Presidential race, in which three Democratic candidates vied for the nomination. When Robert F. Kennedy won the California Primary, he emerged as the party's front-runner; but his victory was suddenly cut short by tragedy.

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Presidential Historian Michael Beschloss Talks About Kennedy's Solution to the Cuban Missile Crisis Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/22/2008 - 17:38
Description

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba are pointed at the United States, and JFK is faced with the prospect of nuclear war.

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