Unit+8

Unit 8 A Clash of the Titans Hides Turmoil Within Overview: Cold War history focuses on America's accomplishments abroad and its role as a "global police power" that it has assumed ever since WWII ended in 1945. It does little to show how the American people reacted to the conditions being forced upon them by the Cold War. By the 1960s, the Cold War had been simmering for 15 years and the US and the USSR had been eying each other like two boxers in their respective corners. Yes, this boxing match had already seen tremendous blows thrown. In the first round, the Korean War had already proven for the time being that the US and the USSR were evenly-matched title contenders in the stalemate that this conflict resulted in. The Bay of Pigs incident, the second round, which took place in Cuba, was a conflict that proved the mettle of the USSR's communist ideology. The United States bowed out of this round conceding to the Soviet Union through compromise by removing her own weapons' systems from Turkey in exchange for Soviet disarmament of Cuba. Both President Kennedy and Premier Krushchev agreed that a global conflict on the scale of World War II would not benefit anyone. And with the added threat of nuclear weapons to the equation, one could only surmise the outcome of a Third World War for humanity as a whole. Communism would strike its first bitter victory with the outcome of the Vietnam War, in which the North Vietnamese Army, which worked in tandem with the Viet Cong, a communist guerrilla movement, against all odds, forced the American military forces out of the peninsula once and for all. Like a well-conditioned boxer, the United States, in spite of essentially losing three rounds of its boxing match against the Soviet Union, endured, and by 1989 broke the economic stability that held the Soviet Union together proving that once and for all democracy would best support an economy, not communism.

So from 1945-1989, what were the American people doing? How did they cope with the impending threat of nuclear war between the US and the USSR? For one thing, the Lend-Lease Act initiated by FDR during the Great Depression Era as part of his New Deal reforms, brought in foreign investment into the American economy. So in the wake of the Second World War, America's economy expanded rapidly because it needed to produce industrial equipment to support Great Britain, France, and its other allies who were devastated. So there were more jobs available. Veterans benefited from the GI Bill which allowed them to either return to school on the government's tab, or start a business of their own. One way that people coped was to spend money. Purchasing an automobile, buying a house in the countryside, or how about some of the latest fashion trends or in home technologies, were some of the ways Americans spent their leisure time. Did we forget something? Yes.

Americans have always been passionate about sports. In times of leisure, sports have traditionally become our focal point, even our escape, from the daily grind of life. But I would say that in no other decade has sports impacted the American way of life than the 1960s. Major League Baseball was desegregated in the 1950s, however, impacts of this were not felt until the 1960s, where the popular Jackie Robinson knocked hapless pitches out of ball parks and wowed fans with his athleticism. The NFL was just becoming a household name thanks in part to Jim Brown busting through defensive lines like a freight train. The infant basketball league recognized as the NBA today was also establishing itself by demonstrating the athletic prowess of its African-American athletes like Bill Russel, who went on to win 11 Championships and became the NBA's first African American head coach. But the 1960s had a different sport that was prominent, one we do not recognize or acknowledge in the same way today. That sport was boxing. Muhammad Ali, formerly Cassius Marcelus Clay, was the most prominent African-American athlete of his time! This is not an argument, this is fact! What made Ali unique was how he could use words to promote himself, his boxing prowess, but more importantly, how he used his position, his "star power" to expose the plight of his people...

Unit Prompt: What role did sports play during the Civil Rights Era? Thesis: Were athletes passive or active? Use three pieces of evidence to back up your thesis. Formative Assessment (Due 4/18) : Annotated Bibliography of 3 Primary Sources and 2 Secondary Sources (not Wikipedia)Research Based Outline. Diagnostic Assessment (Due 4/20) : Sports, Race, and Civil Rights Summative Assessment (Due 4/23) : 3-5 Page Persuasive Essay Based on the Prompt (Extra Credit)