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COMBAT SOLDIERS IN CONTEXT Designed by Kristi Anne McKenzie
This DBQ project will explore documents that contribute to the popular image of the soldier in the minds of the American people. As you examine the following documents, remember to keep in mind both the source of the document and the point of view that is being expressed. Who created the document? What was the goal in creating this document? How does the document reflect the period in time? How do the documents support or contradict one another?
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World War Two Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech to Congress December 8, 1941
! What role does America need to play in this war? What is the justification for going to war?
What does the speaker want the audience to believe about the war?
What are the key elements of the images?
How are soldiers being represented?
Flag Raising at Iwo Jima February 23, 1945
The Kiss V-J Day, August 14, 1945
What are the key elements of the scene?
MOVIE 1.1 Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (1954)
How are soldiers
being represented?
WWII ended in 1945. This film was released in 1954. How might the passing of time relate to the portrayal of the soldiers?
Does the film portrayal of the soldier contradict the representation from the photographs, or support it?
Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army!
What image of the American soldier is established by these documents from World War Two? How does this image relate to the speech about America’s role in World War Two and the justification for fighting in it?
The Vietnam ! What role does America need to play
in this war?
What is the justification for ! going to war?
What does the speaker want the audience to believe about the war?
There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor, both black and white, through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything on a society gone mad on war. And I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. Perhaps a more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech “Beyond Vietnam” Riverside Church, NY April 4, 1967
What are the key elements of the image?
! !
How are soldiers ! being represented?
National Guard troops fire on protestors at Kent State University 1970
Men tending to the wounds of John Cleary, injured by shrapnel. Their efforts saved his life. 6
MOVIE 1.2 Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987)
! What are the key ! elements of the scene?
How are soldiers ! being represented?
The Vietnam War ended in 1975. This film was released in 1987. How might the passing of time relate to the portrayal of the soldiers?
Animal Mother’s Charge
What image of the American soldier is established by these documents from the Vietnam War? How does this image relate to the speech about America’s role in the Vietnam War and the justification for fighting in it? How does the image of the Vietnam War soldier compare to that of the World War Two soldier?
Does the film portrayal of the soldier contradict the representation from the photographs, or support it?
The War on Terror On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars but for the past 136 years, they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war - but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning. Americans have known surprise attacks but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single day - and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack… And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the
Taliban: Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country. Close immediately and
President George W. Bush’s address to the nation September 20, 2001
! ! !
What role does ! America need to ! play in this war?
What is the justification for
going to war?
! ! !
What does the speaker ! want the audience to ! believe about the war?
What are the key elements
of the article?
How are soldiers being represented?
For uncommon skills and service, for the choices each one of them has made and the ones still ahead, for the challenge of defending not only our freedoms but those barely stirring half a world away, the American soldier is TIME's Person of the Year… It is worth remembering that our pilots and sailors and soldiers are, for starters, all volunteers, in contrast to most nations, which conscript those who serve in their armed forces. Ours are serving in 146 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The 1.4 million men and women on active duty make up the most diverse military in our history, and yet it is not exactly a mirror of the country it defends. It is better educated than the general population and overweighted with working-class kids and minorities. About 40% of the troops are Southern, 60% are white, 22% are black, and a disproportionate number come from empty states like Montana and Wyoming. When they arrive at the recruiter's door, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told TIME, "they have purple hair and an earring, and they've never walked with another person in step in their life. And suddenly they get this training, in a matter of weeks, and they become part of a unit, a team. They're all sizes and shapes, and they're different ages, and they're different races, and you cannot help when you work with them but come away feeling that that is really a special thing that this country has." … One Marine, training in Kuwait's northern desert and waiting for war to begin, wondered whether protesters would spit on him when he came home. But for all the dissension, no one was blaming the soldiers: antiwar demonstrators argued they were fighting to defend our troops against an ill-conceived mission based on distorted intelligence. Even Howard Dean, whose
TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year 2003: The American Soldier written by Nancy Gibbs
MOVIE 1.3 Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker (2009)
What are the key elements of the scene?
How are soldiers being represented?
How does the passing of time (however brief) relate to the portrayal of the soldiers? The Suicide Bomber
What image of the American soldier is established by these documents? How does this image relate to the speech about America’s role in the War on Terror and the justification for fighting in it?
Does the film portrayal of the soldier contradict the representation from the article, or support it?
Is the image of the War on Terror soldier more like the image of the World War Two soldier or the Vietnam War soldier? Cite specific evidence from the sources provided.
How does the representation of soldiers in popular media relate to the justification for participating in the war?
Marching Home The following reflection was written right before completing this project:
Advice to Future Self on Undertaking a DBQ Project 1. Start with the document(s) first. Learn about it (or them), and place that document in a time period and look at everything that surrounds it. Follow the rabbit trail from MLK’s “Beyond Vietnam” to Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again” and see where it takes you. The themes will show themselves sooner or later. Humans are programmed to seek out patterns and find the stories. But starting with a theme and hoping to find documents to undergird that theme is risky. It could work, but it could also lead you on a search for something that doesn’t exist. 2. Be careful about trusting your crazy brain. Sometimes it does magic tricks when you least expect it. Sometimes it lets you think it can do the impossible. This is when you need to reach out to, and listen to, the friends who will be bluntly honest with you and tell you when you’re headed out onto unfruitful waters. 3. Don’t try to answer philosophical questions with a DBQ project. Yes, there is an inherent discrepancy between perception and reality. Great. But a DBQ is probably not the correct avenue to explore such an idea. However, don’t be afraid to present the unanswerable questions. Part of life is learning that not all questions have answers. 4. If you know how your brain works best, go with it. I tried to learn how to design a DBQ while simultaneously trying to figure out how to use Learnist and Evernote with my brain balking at me all the way. When I finally relented to how I learn best (paper and Pilot G-2 pen), my brain finally began to kick into gear. If I had accepted the truth of how my brain works sooner, I could have just gotten the work done and copied and pasted my work into these new programs afterwards. Trying to learn a design process while attempting to learn a new computer program was too taxing and, ultimately, unproductive. 5. Don’t let your heart get broken, don’t lose anyone you love, and don’t get ill. These will all interfere with your work. 6. Don’t be afraid to suck at something the first time you try it. Kristi Anne McKenzie / AboutMe University of Portland Fall 2014
Sources: Associated Press. (2001). President Bush displays the badge of New York police Officer George Howard, who died while trying to save others in the World Trade Center [Photograph]. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from: http:// www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Justicewill-be-done-1066463.php Bush, G.W. (2001, September). Address to the nation. Speech presented at the Capitol Building. Washington, D.C. Eisenstaedt, A. (Photographer). (1945). V-J day in Times Square [Photograph]. Retrieved November 3, 2014, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VJ_Day_in_Times_Square#mediaviewer/ File:Legendary_kiss_V %E2%80%93J_day_in_Times_Square_ Alfred_Eisenstaedt.jpg Filo, J. (Photographer). (1970). The Ohio National Guard fire tear gas to disperse the crowd of students gathered on the commons on May 4, 1970 [Photograph]. Retrieved November 2,
FROM - EXPLORING HISTORY: VOL II
Complete iBook available free at iTunes
EXPLORING HISTORY: VOL II This eBook is a collaborative project of Peter Pappas
and his Fall 2014 Social Studies Methods Class
School of Education ~ University of Portland, Portland Ore.
Chapters in chronological order
1. The American Revolution by Scott Deal
Graduate and undergraduate level pre-service teachers were assigned the task of developing an engaging research question, researching supportive documents and curating them into a DBQ suitable for middle or high school students. For more on this class, visit the course blog EdMethods
For more on the assignment and work flow tap here.
2. The Pig War by Andy Saxton 3. Cesspool of Savagery by Michelle Murphy 4. Chemical War by Erik Nelson 5. Americans’ Perceptions of Immigration
in the 1920s by Ceci Brunning and Jenna Bunnell 6. The New Deal and the Art of Public Persuasion
by Kari VanKommer 7. Combat Soldiers in Context by Kristi Anne McKenzie
8. The Marshall Plan: Altruism or Pragmatism?
by Sam Kimerling
Engaging questions and historic documents empower students to be the historian in the classroom.
9. Little Rock Nine: Evaluating Historical Sources
by Christy Thomas 10. First Ladies as a Political Tool by Emily Strocher
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Peter Pappas, editor
School of Education ~ University of Portland His popular blog, Copy/Paste features downloads of his instructional resources, projects and publications. Follow him at Twitter @edteck. His other multi-touch eBooks are available at here. For an example of one of his eBook design training workshops tap here.
CC BY-NC 3.0 Peter Pappas and Kristi Anne McKenzie, 2015 The authors take copyright infringement seriously. If any copyright holder has been inadvertently or unintentionally overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to remove the said material from this book at the very first opportunity.
Cover image: Replica of old French globe
Date:1 January 1, 2013
Petar Milošević Source
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