Alabama Social Studies SS24.US2.13d
The Standard
- SS24.US2.13
- Explain the evolution of America’s Cold War policy to defend democracy and contain communism around the world and how this led to an escalation in armed conflict during the 1960s.
Evaluate the relationship between domestic social movements, including the New Left and counterculture movements, and America’s war in Vietnam and explain how the movements and the war each influenced public perception of the other.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why the Vietnam War drew people into protest, including New Left activists and people in the counterculture. They also explain how protests changed some Americans’ views of the war and how others viewed the protesters.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can link events such as the draft or the Tet Offensive to growing protest. They can use a source to explain why one person saw an antiwar march as justified dissent while another saw it as disorder.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat the New Left and counterculture as the same group, or assume everyone in either group opposed the war. They may also assume protests made all Americans turn against the war, rather than prompting both support and backlash.
How to Assess It
- Show a 1969 antiwar march photo and a 1970 hard-hat rally photo. Ask: How did the war help produce protests, and how might these protests have shaped different views of the war?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Pairs place a Tet headline, SDS leaflet, counterculture photo, and hard-hat rally photo on a two-way war-and-protest arrow.
Using a draft notice and protest photo, discuss why students protested and why viewers might see either dissent or disorder.
Teams match six war and protest event cards to public reaction cards, then defend each cause-and-effect link.
Compare a current protest headline with a 1970 antiwar headline; underline words that shape readers’ views of protesters and their cause.
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Related Standards
- SS24.US2.9d
Analyze the domestic responses to the Cold War, including the impact of McCarthyism.
- SS24.US2.13c
Describe how significant events in the Vietnam War resulted in a decline of public support for American involvement in the conflict.
- SS24.US2.16a
Analyze how America’s foreign policy decisions in the Vietnam War shaped Cold War actions in the 1970s, including détente and increased concern for human rights...
- SS24.US2.8
Analyze the domestic, economic, and civil rights impact of World War II on United States society.
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