THE TUSKEEGEE AIRMEN
history.com/videos/tuskegee-airman-luther-smith#tuskegee-airman-luther-smith
1) What was the so-called “Tuskeegee Experiment”?
Experiment to try black American as military aviation pilot because there was no
confidence in them
2) Were the armed forces in WWII intergrated?
There was no integration
3) What was the job of the “Redtail Mustangs”?
Protect the targets of the enemy aircraft bombers
4) Did the Tuskeegee airmen ever lose a bomber in WWII?
No
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT 2
VIDEO 4: JAPANESE INTERNMENT (A government film from the time, a bit skewed to the
positive, as you will notice, to an almost goofy extent. It does not show the barbed wire, soldiers,
or difficulties.)
havefunwithhistory.com/movies/japanese.html
1) What area became a potential combat zone after Pearl Harbor?
West coast
2) How many people of Japanese ancestry lived on the west coast?
More than 100,000 people.
3) Japanese-American were living near what kinds of places that made the military nervous at
the time?
Places near coastal areas that were highly inhabited by the Japanese-Americans
4) Where did evacuee live temporarily before more permanent living quarters?
Hotels and designated military areas
5) What were a couple of states were the internees were transferred?
California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona
6) What sort of things happened or did people do in the interment areas?
Japanese American people were excluded from the entire west coast
Some community leaders were arrested after Pearl Harbor
There was voluntary relocation exclusion zone confidential information about Japanese-
Americans was provided by United States census Bureau
VIDEO 5: FIREBOMBING JAPAN (from documentary The Fog of War with former Defense
Secretary Robert “Bob” McNamara)
www.youtube.com/watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmJDj-oLYyM
1) How many people were burned to death in Tokyo, Japan?
100,000 people.
2) When asked where the idea for incendiary bombs came from, McNamara said the thought
another issue/question was the one that should be asked. What was it?
Whether they would have attached Tokyo, left their soldiers to be attacked by hundreds of
Japanese soldiers in Tokyo, or whether they could have attacked the civilians
3) Tokyo was about the size of what US city?
50 square mile
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT 3
4) If the US had lost the war, General Lamay and McNamara said the US would have been tried
as what?
Perpetrators of war
Don’t forget the Manhattan Project was the secret plan to develop nuclear technology and bombs
in multiple secret labs.
VIDEO 6: MAGIC IN THE AIR: THE BEGINNINGS OF TELEVISION (TV will change the
1950s and unite the Baby Boomer children who watch the same few programs)
havefunwithhistory.com/movies/television2.html
1) What kind of “show” or filmed show is hyped at the beginning to promote the coolness of
TV? That is, what could you watch at home that you might miss? =). Foot ball games
2) A girl is shown doing what, in order to demonstrate how TV works?
Cat walking, changing clothes, and swinging
3) What studio/station is shown on the cameras and such at the end? (Hint: It still exists.)
TV station
VIDEO 7: 1944 BRETTON WOODS CONFERENCE
www.youtube.com/watch
1)
This was the first international monetary conference since what year?
1933
2) What has to be stabilized?
The currency
VIDEO 8: EUROPE IN RUINS AND THE MARSHALL PLAN
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/post-war-europe-the-berlin-airlift-the-marshall-
plan.html#lesson
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT 4
How many countries were helped by the Marshall Plan?
16 countries
What was the actual name of the “Marshall Plan”?
European Recovery Program
Why was it called “the Marshall Plan”?
Involved US Secretary of State George C. Marshall
What kind of assistance was sent to Europe?
Fuel, food shipmen, machinery and other staples
Why did the US care so much about seeing the successful reconstruction of West Germany?
It was democratic and capitalist
What was the capital of both German nations?
Berlin
Where would you find this city?
Half part of Soviet
[YOU DON’T HAVE TO WATCH FURTHER] =)
(The Soviets resented US help in Europe, thinking of it as bribary to stay capitalistic. At one
point, the Soviets cut off all road and rail access to western Berlin sectors in order to force their
own control over the entire city and become sole supplier of food and fuel. The Western allies
simply fly in food and fuel, the so-called “Berlin Airlift”, which was so successful that the
Soviets give up. Thereafter, two formal German states are created. The two ideological sides
harden, “satellite” states surrounding Russia are taken over to create the USSR, an “iron curtain”
falls between the capitalist/democratic west and the communist east and the Cold War is on. The
Soviets strip East Germany of factories and building supplies in order to benefit the mother
country, so East Germany/Berlin would NOT prosper as in the west.)
Optional A SHORT HISTORY IN NUCLEAR ARMS
www.youtube.com/watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ZnUmUxvWo
1) Where (what environment) are nukes dropped/tested after Japan, according to what you see?
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT 5
In the desert
2) Then nuclear bombs are shot out of what?
Big balloons/nukes
3) The “mushroom clouds” get bigger over time, yes? Lastly, nukes are attached to what?
Nuclear bombs
VIDEO 9: “DUCK AND COVER” (What all children in the 50s learned, a uniting experience of
the Baby Boomers. When the Soviets create nuclear bombs, nuclear war and attack becomes a
real prospect, and so Americans are prepared during the Cold War. Most Boomers will find these
videos vaguely frightening, but also ridiculous. I mean, cover yourself with a newspaper so you
don’t get burned??? LOL. Watch and “dig it, man”! More on this issue in the segment on the
1960s.)
www.youtube.com/watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0K_LZDXp0I
1) What animal, named Bert, is featured as instructional aide in this video?
Turtle
2) What’s the first thing that happens when a nuclear bombs goes off?
It blows things. Children should lie down and cover the back of their heads
3) Where are you supposed to “duck”?
Under a chair
VIDEO 10: RETURN TO LEVITTOWN: A SUBURBAN DREAM TURNS 60 (Remember the
GI Bill that provided for college educations, business loans, and home loans? Well, new post-
WWII prosperity and such programs cause a surge in building that will create modern suburbs
and they will house the massive new-born Baby Boomer generation, born at the end of and after
WWII. Check out Levittown.)
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT 6
1) In what state is Levittown?
Pennsylvania
2) From where did people leave to live in Levittowns and suburbs?
Cities
3) Who or what was “Levit”
The mind behind cheap housing
4) What was in the houses and/or towns to make life “easier”?
Steel
5) Who was essentially not allowed to buy houses here?
African Americans
6) Can the American dream happen for young people again like it did then?
No
