Merry Christmas!

The Wise Men Follow the Star - His Light - Over Bethlehem. 

No Homework This Weekend

Unless of course you didn't take the Cuban Missile Crisis exam Friday. Please be prepared to take it Monday.

Don't Forget Homework By Monday at 8:20 a.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Epilogue: On the Brink

Castro isn't going to be happy for long :(

Please complete the 11 questions at the bottom of your Cold War Notes by Monday, Dec. 15 at 8:20 a.

They are under this heading:

Cuban Missile Crisis (con’t)

Epilogue: On the Brink

DIRECTIONS: Read “CMC - Epilogue” (Pages 25 - 33). Answer questions 1 - 11. The reading is in your shared reading folder.

October 20, 1962: The Decision    

Quiz Thursday on CMC Key Players

Short Answer Quiz Thursday

Make sure you know the key players on the new slide show I shared with you today named, "Cuban Missile Crisis - At the Brink." We also went over them during class.

The quiz will be very short answers. No analysis. No problem.

Complete CMC Questions by Monday!

Cuban Missile Crisis

Epilogue: On the Brink

Castro isn't going to be happy for long :(

Please complete the 11 questions at the bottom of your Cold War Notes by Monday, Dec. 15 at 8:20 a.

They are under this heading:

Cuban Missile Crisis (con’t)

Epilogue: On the Brink

DIRECTIONS: Read “CMC - Epilogue” (Pages 25 - 33). Answer questions 1 - 11. The reading is in your shared reading folder.

October 20, 1962: The Decision    

Progress Report Grades Posted | Quiz Guide

Preparing for ExComm Simulation: 

October 16, 1962

Oct. 16, '62 | Dear Diary: Khrushchev is being really weird. 

ExCOMM PRESENTATIONS: On Monday you'll be assigned to groups and begin planning for your presentations on what option you would recommend to President Kennedy with regards to Khrushchev's actions in Cuba by October 16, 1962. Your group's presentation will be given on Tuesday.

PROGRESS REPORT GRADES HAVE BEEN POSTED: Please note that I have decided to include your "scaled" grades on your I.B. exam you took at the end of September. I arrived at this conclusion while considering the amount of growth you've demonstrated as a group in the past two months. Your scaled grades reflect what I believe you are more than capable of when you take your Paper 2 exam on the Cuban Missile Crisis on Friday, Dec. 19. Check the gradebook here.

MONDAY QUIZ STUDY GUIDE: On Monday you will have a brief quiz on the homework that was due this past Wednesday. The questions will come straight from the homework assignments. It will mostly be very short answers, but there will be at least one rapid response question. There will also be a geography question. Here is a study guide:

• Make sure you can identify Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua on a map.
• Know at least five events that the U.S. was involved in an effort to contain Communism up to 1961. (i.e. Berlin Airlift, Marshall Plan)
• Know the two specific agreements the helped the U.S. influence Caribbean and Central American policy.
• Know two major countries other than Cuba where the U.S. had a major involvement.
• Know two factors that led to Batista's downfall in Cuba.
• Why did Castro turn against the U.S. before the Bay of Pigs?
• Knowing Cuba was allied with the Soviet Union, why was the discovery of nuclear missiles a shock to the United States?
• By October 1962 why was Berlin (once again) a cause for concern for Kennedy?

Cuban Missile Crisis: Homework & Quiz Information

The Real Cuban Missile Crisis

The Executive Committee of the National Security Council (ExComm) meeting in the Cabinet Room on October 29, 1962. From left: JFK, Dean Rusk, Robert McNamara, Pierre Salinger. 

Please read the document - Real Cuban Missile Crisis - that I have included in your shared reading folder.

There will be a quiz on Monday (C Block: Tuesday)  that is based on the homework that was due Dec. 3 and the reading above. The study guide is the homework questions on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the general argument in the reading.

About the National Security Council Executive Committee (ExComm)

In establishing the ExComm by a memorandum on October 22, Kennedy designated himself as chairman and listed the group’s core members. They were:

• President Kennedy
• Vice President Lyndon Johnson
• Dean Rusk (Secretary of State)
• Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense)
• Douglas Dillon (Secretary of the Treasury)
• Robert Kennedy (Attorney General)
• John McCone (Director of Central Intelligence)
• General Maxwell Taylor (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)
• Llewellyn Thompson (Ambassador-at-Large)
• Theodore Sorensen (Special Counsel)
• McGeorge Bundy (Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs)