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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Cuban Missile Crisis-Three Perspectives

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils examine the viewpoints of the major players in the Cuban Missile Crisis. In groups, they research the topic and organize the information into a presentation. They evaluate the decisions made at the time. They also discover the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating the Cuban Perspective

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine different perspectives on the events during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Using the internet, they research the Cuban perspective on the issue and discover the need for empathy in a situation like this. They use primary...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

If We Knew Then What We Know Now -- Cuban Missile Crisis (Background)

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine the background of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Using the foreign policy decision-making process, they simulate and elaborate the processe involved. They identify the causes of the misconceptions that plagued the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Colin Powell, a New Adlai Stevenson?: The Cuban Missile Crisis

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners compare and contrast a speech given to the United Nations by Colin Powell and a speech given to the UN by Adlai Stevenson. Clearifying the objective of each, they evaluate their proposals to the United Nations. In groups, they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

At What Price the Truth?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read President Kennedy's speech to the nation on October 22, 1962. Using the text, they identify the deception by the Soviets. In groups, they create a comip strip showing what they believe might have happened had there been no...
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Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Cuba and the Bay of Pigs Invasion

For Students 9th - 10th
In 1959, rebel leader Fidel Castro toppled Cuban dictator Fugencio Batista. In Washington, Castro told U.S. officials that "The [Cuban] movement is not a Communist movement. We have no intention of expropriating U.S. property, and any...
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Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Cuban Missile Crisis

For Students 9th - 10th
In October 1962, the Soviet Union and the United States went eyeball-to-eyeball and were on the brink of nuclear war. Surveillance photographs taken by a U-2 spy plane over Cuba revealed that the Soviet Union was installing...
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Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: John F. Kennedy

For Students 9th - 10th
From the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, this biographical account of JFK includes his military service during WWII, the significant events of his political career and presidency including Cabinet and Supreme Court appointments, and...
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Handout
Flow of History

Flow of History: The Height of the Cold War (1957 72)

For Students 9th - 10th
The events surrounding the Cold War at its very height are the focus. Text plus a colored graphic flowchart make the topic visually appealing and of interest to both students and educators.
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PPT
Virginia History Series

Virgina History Series: Virginia State History Post Wwii to Present Day [Pdf]

For Students 6th - 8th
Visualize the major events in the last half of the 20th century such as major wars and civil rights issues through the lens of the state of Virginia. In addition, learn about the pop culture of this time specifically in Virginia. Enjoy...
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Website
Other

Cloud Over Cuba: The Cuban Missile Crisis and What Might Have Been

For Students 9th - 10th
Interactive documentary on JFK's role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Resource will not work in Firefox internet browser.
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Website
Yale University

1961 1963 Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath

For Students 9th - 10th
This site has information from the Yale Law School on international relations resulting from the Cuban Missile Crisis. Links to further information and related topics can be found within the text.
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief Library of Congress site has info on the Russian's role in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Website
PBS

Pbs Online News Hour: Cuba and the United States

For Students 9th - 10th
Site is an Online NewsHour report on the relations between Cuba and the U.S. Trade, trade embargo, life in Cuba, Cuban Missile Crisis, and many more topics are discussed.
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Activity
National Geographic

National Geographic: 13 Days: President Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson focuses on the Cuban Missile Crisis from President Kennedy's perspective. Students role-play Kennedy's advisors over the critical 13-day period of the crisis, researching, discussing, and presenting the different policy...
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Website
US Department of State

Office of the Historian: The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962

For Students 9th - 10th
This site gives a clear, succinct look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, its causes, and the results. See how direct and indirect communication between President Kennedy and Soviet leader, Nikita Khruschev, resolved this potentially horrific...
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eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s: The Kennedy Promise

For Students 11th - 12th
Discusses Kennedy's rise to power and the challenges he faced from within the government, his focus on foreign policy, the conflict with Cuba, American involvement in Vietnam, support for racial equality and civil rights, and Kennedy's...
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Website
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: The Cuban Missile Crisis

For Students 9th - 10th
In October 1962, Americans "peered into the abyss of nuclear destruction". Investigate how America got this close to nuclear war by reading the following summary, answering critical thinking questions, using the bibliography for further...
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Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Stanford History Education Group: Cold War

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] A comprehensive social studies unit honing in on the Cold War. Students will rely on various resources covering topics like the Cuban Missile Crisis, Truman and MacArthur, and the Korean War, to analyze...
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Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Cuban Missile Crisis

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] After reviewing documents related to United States and Soviet Union national leadership, students will discuss the reasons Russia extracted their missiles from Cuba.
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Primary
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: Cuban Foreign Relations

For Students 9th - 10th
Documents on Cuban's international relations, focusing on its relationship with the Soviet Union, China, and the United States.
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Primary
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: Cuban Missile Crisis

For Students 9th - 10th
Documents concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962-a major confrontation that brought the Soviet Union and the United States close to war over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
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Primary
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: United Nations and Ussr

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Fordham University contains actual letters between the United Nations and the USSR. These letters are attempts to reach a resolution in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: The Presidency and the Cold War: John F. Kennedy

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Portait Gallery explores the actions of presidents during the Cold War. Here find President Kennedy's decisions during the Berlin Crisis, the building of the Berlin War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Watch a video of...