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Ways to use Truman's State of the Union addresses in teaching

Primary source discovery and analysis

Students, working in teams, will analyze the rapid rise in automobiles and the growing need for a stable road system in the United States/Missouri

Students analyze a biographical comic book summarizing President Harry S. Truman's life prepared by the Democratic Party.

Students will conduct and script an interview of a veteran of the Korean War and submit a finished product (video and script of questions and answers) for evaluation.

Students will be analyzing two political cartoons featuring the United Nations (one from the Korean War-Truman administration and one from the War in the Persian Gulf-circa Bush 41 administration). After independent analysis, students will pair up or join small groups and share analysis and then discuss two questions about U.S. foreign policy decisions concerning the two events and the Presidential choices made about when and how to involve the U.S. in war. 

The students will read primary source documents related to the Iranian Hostage Crisis and, as advisors to President Carter, make recommendations about how he should respond.

After studying articles and timelines on the Iran Hostage Crisis in groups, students will participate in a class discussion of the circumstances and causes of the crisis. Groups will study primary documents with the goal of providing a recommendation.

Help students see the Vietnam War in the larger context of the Cold War.

Technological project: Photostory or Movie Maker. The student is to create a visual presentation that tells the historical facts of the Vietnam War. They are also to include in their presentation music that reflects the era of the war.