United States History Unit 8

Big Idea:

Analyze major characteristics of the Cold War.

Student Expectations:

Priority TEKS

USH.2(A) [Supporting] identify the major characteristics that define an historical era;

USH.2(B) [Readiness] identify the major eras in U.S. history from 1877 to the present and describe their defining characteristics;

USH.2(C) [Supporting] apply absolute and relative chronology through the sequencing of significant individuals, events, and time periods; and

USH.2(D) [Supporting] explain the significance of the following years as turning points: 1898 (Spanish-American War), 1914-1918 (World War I), 1929 (the Great Depression begins), 1939-1945 (World War II), 1957 (Sputnik launch ignites U.S.-Soviet space race), 1968-1969 (Martin Luther King Jr. assassination and U.S. lands on the moon), 1991 (Cold War ends), 2001 (terrorist attacks on World Trade Center and the Pentagon), and 2008 (election of first black president, Barack Obama).

USH.8(A) [Readiness] describe U.S. responses to Soviet aggression after World War II, including the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Berlin airlift, and John F. Kennedy’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis;

USH.8(B) [Supporting] describe how Cold War tensions were intensified by the arms race, the space race, McCarthyism, and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the findings of which were confirmed by the Venona Papers;

USH.8(C) [Readiness] explain reasons and outcomes for U.S. involvement in the Korean War and its relationship to the containment policy;

USH.17(B) [Readiness] identify the causes of prosperity in the 1950s, including the Baby Boom and the impact of the GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944), and the effects of prosperity in the 1950s such as increased consumption and the growth of agriculture and business;

Focus TEKS

USH.17(C) [Supporting] describe the economic impact of defense spending on the business cycle and education priorities from 1945 to the 1990s;

USH.27(B) [Supporting] explain how specific needs result in scientific discoveries and technological innovations in agriculture, the military, and medicine, including vaccines;

Ongoing TEKS

USH.29(A) use a variety of both primary and secondary valid sources to acquire information and to analyze and answer historical questions

USH.29(B) analyze information by sequencing, categorizing, identifying cause-and- effect relationships, comparing and contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making generalizations, making predictions, drawing inferences, and drawing conclusions

USH.29(C) understand how historians interpret the past (historiography) and how their interpretations of history may change over time

USH.29(D) use the process of historical inquiry to research, interpret, and use multiple types of sources of evidence

USH.29(E) evaluate the validity of a source based on language, corroboration with other sources, and information about the author, including points of view, frames of reference, and historical context;

USH.29(F) identify bias in written, oral, and visual material

USH.29(G) identify and support with historical evidence a point of view on a social studies issue or event

USH.29(H) use appropriate skills to analyze and interpret social studies information such as maps, graphs, presentations, speeches, lectures, and political cartoons

USH.30(A) create written, oral, and visual presentations of social studies information

USH.30(B) use correct social studies terminology to explain historical concepts

USH.30(C) use different forms of media to convey information, including written to visual and statistical to written or visual, using available computer software as appropriate

USH.31(A) create thematic maps, graphs, and charts representing various aspects of the United States

USH.31(B) pose and answer questions about geographic distributions and patterns shown on maps, graphs, charts, and available databases

USH.32(A) use a problem-solving process to identify a problem, gather information, list and consider options, consider advantages and disadvantages, choose and implement a solution, and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution

USH.32(B) use a decision-making process to identify a situation that requires a decision, gather information, identify options, predict consequences, and take action to implement a decision

Student Learning Targets:

• I will evaluate the extent to which the ways the U.S. helped some countries during the Cold War but not others.
• I will evaluate the effectiveness of the success of the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, Berlin Airlift, and NATO in response to Soviet efforts.
• I will describe how Cold War tensions were intensified
• I will write about U.S. involvement and the outcome in the Korean War

Essential Questions:

• Why did the United States and Soviet Union enter into the Cold War?
• Why did the Cold War last so long?
• How did the U.S. become involved in the Korean War?
• What was the purpose of the containment policy?

Extra Information:

Adopted Textbook: The Americans: US History since 1877 Texas Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Holt McDougal

District Grading Policy

Texas Gateway Online Resource Center