President Truman recalls many of the successes and problems of the Potsdam Conference and the postwar world in his diary entries and letters to his wife, Bess Wallace Truman. Students are given the opportunity to examine these unique documents and argue about their validity as primary sources while learning about the Potsdam Conference.
Ending the War in Japan: Evaluating the options available to Truman
Using the primary sources provided, students will work in groups to evaluate four options available to President Truman to end the war in Japan and to end the Second World War.
Student will investigate and compare the personal experiences included in Rod Hersey; book Hiroshima with the first-hand account of American Nikolay Palchikoff’ visit to Hiroshima three weeks after the bomb.
Students will review primary source documents, secondary resources and related news articles and current events relating to the events and impact of the test of the atomic bomb at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on July 16, 1945.
Allow students an opportunity to go back to America's WWII Home Front to examine various morale boosters in general ( radio, movies, etc. ), but particularly Major League Baseball.