Overview: "To what extent did the United States’ policy of containment shape global and domestic outcomes during the early Cold War period?"

This unit examines the emergence of the United States as a global superpower during the early Cold War period, focusing on the ideological, political, and military tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as well as the Korean War. Students will explore the origins of the Cold War, including the division of Europe, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the formation of NATO, while analyzing primary sources like speeches, policy documents, and propaganda to evaluate the competing ideologies of democracy and communism. The Korean War is studied as a key Cold War conflict, highlighting its causes, major events, and impact on U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Students will work on critical thinking and historical inquiry skills, such as comparing perspectives, assessing the role of containment policy, and analyzing the consequences of Cold War strategies on global relations and American society. By interpreting a range of sources and constructing evidence-based arguments, students will deepen their understanding of the complexities of post-war diplomacy, military engagement, and the broader social and cultural shifts of the era.

The highlighted evidence outcomes are the priority for all students, serving as the essential concepts and skills. It is recommended that the remaining evidence outcomes listed be addressed as time allows, representing the full breadth of the curriculum.

Students Can (Evidence Outcomes):

• Formulate compelling and supporting questions after evaluating primary sources for point of view and historical context. (1.1.a)

• Gather and analyze historical information to address questions from a range of primary and secondary sources containing a variety of perspectives. For example: Perspectives of historically underrepresented groups. (1.1.b)

• Gather and analyze historical information from a range of qualitative and quantitative sources. For example: Demographic, economic, social, and political data. (1.1.c)

• Analyze continuity and change over the course of United States history. Including but not limited to: The expansion and limitations of rights, the balance between liberty and security, shifts in internationalist and isolationist policies, debates over the role of government, and the impacts of expansionist policies. (1.2.a)

• Investigate causes and effects of significant events throughout United States history. For example: World and national conflicts (e.g., Spanish American War, the continued conflict over Indigenous lands, and the Tulsa Massacre), urbanization and suburbanization (e.g., Great Migration and Levittown), economic cycles (e.g., The Great Depression and the 2008 Great Recession), and both popular and counterculture movements. (1.2.b)

• Analyze and evaluate ideas critical to the understanding of American history. Including but not limited to: populism, progressivism, isolationism, imperialism, capitalism, racism, extremism, nationalism, patriotism, anti-communism, environmentalism, liberalism, fundamentalism, and conservatism. (1.2.h)

• Examine and evaluate how the United States was involved in and responded to international events over the course of history. Including but not limited to: the World Wars, the Holocaust, the Nuremberg trials, Cold War policies, Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the genocides in Bosnia and Darfur (addressed in 9th grade). (1.2.j)

• Evaluate continuity and change over the course of world history. For example: Social and political movements related to nationality, ethnicity, and gender; revolutions; the World Wars; the Cold War; independence movements/decolonization and 19th, 20th and 21st century genocides such as the Armenian Genocide (addressed in 9th grade); the Holocaust perpetrated by the fascist German Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party) and its collaborators. (1.3.a)