The World on the Brink

Robert Kennedy at an Executive Committee meeting during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Photo: The National Security Archive.

Visit the JFK Library's online exhibit of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Listen to meetings with President Kennedy and his advisors, read official documents and private correspondence. Considering the early Cold War documents discussed in class (the Truman Doctrine, the Kennan "Long Telegram" and NSC-68), as well as the Berlin Airlift, the Marshall Plan and the Korean War, to what degree do the events of the thirteen day crisis reflect the ideology of the early Cold War?

World War II At Home

African-American soldiers on patrol in Europe, NAACP Collection, Library of Congress

Consider the experience of African-American soldiers during World War II, and read Justice Jackson's dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States. In what ways does the treatment of Japanese-Americans and African-American soldiers conflict with President Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech?