designed by Lesson Plan for Episode 10

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1 The Official Teacher s Companion Guide for Oliver Stone s Untold History of the United States designed by The Untold History Education Project Eric S. Singer M.Ed., Ph.D. Lesson Plan for Episode 10

2 This lesson plan is designed to address, in part or in full, the following California History-Social Studies Content Standard(s): 11.8 Students analyze the economic boom and social transformation of post-world War II America. 5. Describe the increased powers of the presidency in response to the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War Students analyze U.S. foreign policy since World War II. 3. Trace the origins and geopolitical consequences (foreign and domestic) of the Cold War and containment policy, including the following: -The era of McCarthyism, instances of domestic Communism (e.g., Alger Hiss) and blacklisting -The Truman Doctrine -The Berlin Blockade -The Korean War -The Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis -Atomic testing in the American West, the mutual assured destruction doctrine, and disarmament policies. -The Vietnam War -Latin American policy 4. List the effects of foreign policy and domestic politics and vice versa (e.g. protests during the war in Vietnam, the nuclear freeze movement.) 6. Describe U.S. Middle East policy and its strategic, political and economic interests, including those related to the Gulf War. Class Time: 90 minutes, or 2 traditional class periods (This lesson is designed to Immediately follow the screening of episode 10 of Oliver Stone s Untold History of the United States. The episode is 58 minutes in length. Assuming 45 minute class periods, teachers should, for example, plan to screen the episode on Monday, complete it during the first twenty minutes of Tuesday s class, begin this lesson on Tuesday after the screening and complete it on Thursday. Objectives: Students will be able to critically analyze the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and George W. Bush s 2003 State of the Union address.

3 Students will be able to assess the consequence of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and George W. Bush s declaration that Iraq was procuring nuclear materials from Africa. Students will be able to identify politicians who expressed opposition to the Vietnam and 2 nd Iraq Wars. Materials: Supplement 10- A: Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of United States Constitution: Supplement 10- B: Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964): Supplement 10- C: Short video clip of Senator Wayne Morse s rationale for voting against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution wayne- morse/wayne- morse- and- the- vietnam- war/ Supplement 10- D: Text of President George W. Bush s 2003 State of the Union Address html Supplement 10- E: New York Times article, What I Didn t Find in Africa, Joseph C. Wilson, July 6, i- didn- t- find- in- africa.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

4 Supplement 10- F: Text of speech delivered by Senator Russ Feingold on October 11, 2002, Why I Oppose Bush s Iraq War Resolution Accessed 9/20/2003 at: The Action: Teacher matter-of-factly explains to students that they will have to relocate to another room because he/she had been told by the principal that the classroom s power was to be shut off. Teacher leads students to another part of the school. When class gets to the other part of the school, teacher explains that he/she lied that the power was not going to be shut off after all. Teacher asks students why they listened and why they obeyed. Discussion ensues. Target discussion will include some sort of analysis of the power wielded by the teacher and by the principal. It should also include some discussion of the reasons why students obeyed without protest. Teacher takes students back to room. (30 minutes total) Students return to room, or come back on day two if the prior demonstration lasts the remainder of the period. Teacher projects Supplement 9-A, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of United States Constitution on the screen or writes it on the whiteboard. Teacher explains that the Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to declare war. Teacher explains that there have been five wars in American history for which Congress formally issued declarations, War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Spanish- American War, World War I and World War II. Teacher explains that even though the United States has instigated three major wars, staged myriad military strikes, engineered military coup d etat and established permanent military bases across the world, there has not been a formal congressional declaration of war since World War II. Teacher explains that, a few historical anomalies aside, Congress broke precedent when it gave President Johnson almost unlimited authority to conduct war as he saw fit. They gave him that authority in a document that became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Teacher explains that President Johnson asked Congress to give him those powers because North Vietnamese patrol boats had attacked the U.S.S. Maddox, an American destroyer in the waters off North Vietnam on August 4, 1964.

5 Years after Congress gave Johnson the power he requested, documents were released that concluded that there was an exchange of fire on August 2, but that no attack had occurred on August 4. For more background on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, please visit the National Security Archive: Regardless, Congress voted after very little debate to authorize the President to go to war without a formal declaration of war as the Constitution stipulates, a war that ultimately killed 58,000 Americans and between 3 and 4 million Vietnamese. Teacher explains that the House of Representatives voted unanimously for the resolution, while only two Senators of 90 voted against it. One of those senators, Wayne Morse (D-Oregon), explained in opposition, I believe that history will record that we have made a great mistake in subverting and circumventing the Constitution of the United States I believe this resolution to be a historic mistake. Teacher shows video clip of Morse, Supplement 9-C. Teacher explains that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution set a precedent for future presidents to take the nation to war without a declaration of war, and that George W. Bush did the same when he invaded Iraq in Teacher explains that Congress, persuaded by President Bush that Iraq was capable and willing to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations, and that Iraq was harboring members of Al-Qaeda, passed H.J. Resolution 114 on October 10, 2002 by a vote of The bill ultimately passed the Senate One of the Senators who voted against the resolution, Russ Feingold, outlined his sentiments in a speech on October 11, Teacher projects the text of that speech (Supplement 9-F) on the screen, scrolls through and reads sections aloud to the class. Teacher explains that Feingold did not buy the connection that the President continued to make between Al- Qaeda and Iraq, and that he had not been presented with enough proof that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Teacher explains that President Bush attempted to quell such doubt and criticism in his 2003 State of the Union speech (9/28/2003) by asserting that Saddam Hussein had been seeking quantities of uranium from in Africa. However, the person who supposedly provided that evidence, Joseph C. Wilson, later forcefully denied that Saddam Hussein had ever sought uranium from Niger, the country that the State Department cited as supplying it. He made his case in an New York Times article published on July 6, 2003 titled What I Didn t Find in Africa. The first line of the article was, Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein s weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq? If teacher desires, he/she can enhance the discussion with the story of how Wilson s wife, Valerie Plame was a covert CIA agent, and how the Vice President s office outed her soon after Wilson s article appeared. A more detailed accounts of that scandal appears here:

6 Teacher asks students to read Supplement 9-E, What I Didn t Find in Africa, for homework and complete the following culminating task. Culminating Task Teacher asks students to think of a time when they obeyed an order without fully questioning it. Students respond to the following questions: Who gave you the order? Why did you obey the order? What questions could you have asked about the order before you obeyed it? What steps might you have taken before you obeyed the order? What were the consequences of obeying the order? If this is a homework assignment, teacher asks students to share their examples with the class the following day. Teacher then compares students experiences during both the power failure and the order assignment with the ways congress reacted to both the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the Iraq War Resolution. Discussion ensues.