Introduction

• The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest that the world has ever come to a nuclear war.  In this activity, you will become a true historian, examining and analyzing the facts from during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Your task will be to write a journal from the fourteen days of the crisis using the provided web sites.  From your journal observations along with the research you do, you will write an argumentative paper discussing whether President Kennedy made the correct decisions throughout the crisis.

Task

• Your task is to research the Cuban Missile Crisis by using the web-based resources below.  You are to complete a day by day journal of the events of the Cuban Missile crisis.  After your journal is complete, you are to write an argumentative essay discussing whether President Kennedy made the correct decisions throughout the crisis.

Process

STEP 1: Use the following site to research the specific events from each of the fourteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Find a day by day account from which to create your journal in the Crisis Center.

                    http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/

STEP 2: Use the provided web sites below (see Resources) to supplement your journal entries.

STEP 3: Write a 1-page argumentative essay discussing whether President Kennedy made the right decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

-       Some things to think about:

1.     Should President Kennedy have kept the crisis hidden from the American public for so long?

2.     Should President Kennedy have listened to his advisors and started an air attack?  What would the result of this have been?

3.     Were President Kennedy's demands of Kruschev reasonable?

Resources

• Click here to read declassified documents from the crisis.
• Click here to listen to audio recordings from the crisis.
• Click here to view photographs taken during the crisis.
• Click here to view a time line of events from the crisis.

Evaluation

Journal Entries: You should have a journal entry for each of the fourteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Your entries should incorporate information gathered from research as well as your own personal insight.

Argumentative Paper: Your paper should be one page in length.  It should show evidence of research on the Cuban Missile Crisis (by including specific dates, events, and people).  Your paper should address each of the thought questions outlined above (see Process).

Conclusion

You should now be familiar with the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Hopefully you gathered the great significance of the crisis, the unbelievable closeness that the world came to nuclear war.

Be prepared to share your thoughts on the events and decisions made during the crisis in a class discussion.