Making Connections

1. Both Lillian Hellman (p. 1471) and Arthur Miller (p. 1479) testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and both refused to “name names” and were scornful of those, such as director Elia Kazan, who did. What is your view of those who, fearful of prison and blacklisting, did name the names of their film-business coworkers who had been members of the Communist Party? Imagine how Ronald Radosh (p. 1484) might present a counterargument to Hellman and Miller.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - Both Lillian Hellman (p. 1471) and Arthur Miller (p. 1479) testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and both refused to “name names” and were scornful of those, such as director Elia Kazan, who did. What is your view of those who, fearful of prison and blacklisting, did name the names of their film-business coworkers who had been members of the Communist Party? Imagine how Ronald Radosh (p. 1484) might present a counterargument to Hellman and Miller.
2. Accounts of the days leading up to the Cuban missile crisis describe President John F. Kennedy standing up to his military advisors, who favored a full-scale attack on the missiles and an invasion of Cuba. What evidence of Kennedy’s efforts do we see in his speech of October 22 (p. 1472)? Do you think he gambled on how Khrushchev would respond? Explain your answer.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - Accounts of the days leading up to the Cuban missile crisis describe President John F. Kennedy standing up to his military advisors, who favored a full-scale attack on the missiles and an invasion of Cuba. What evidence of Kennedy’s efforts do we see in his speech of October 22 (p. 1472)? Do you think he gambled on how Khrushchev would respond? Explain your answer.
3. Trace the path from the visual icons of the atomic age (pp. 1469 and 1470) to Michael Scheibach’s (p. 1481) view that the youth culture that began to blossom in the second half of the 1950s was the result of Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman’s “What, me worry?” attitude toward the possibility of nuclear annihilation. What connections do you see?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - Trace the path from the visual icons of the atomic age (pp. 1469 and 1470) to Michael Scheibach’s (p. 1481) view that the youth culture that began to blossom in the second half of the 1950s was the result of Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman’s “What, me worry?” attitude toward the possibility of nuclear annihilation. What connections do you see?
4. The excerpt from Spencer R. Weart’s The Rise of Nuclear Fear (p. 1486) begins and ends with examples of how nuclear fear is imagined in pop culture. Compare the way Julia Alvarez’s story “Snow” (p. 1478) reflects the anxieties of the atomic age to the way Weart presents them. Which do you think is more effective? More believable? Explain your answer.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - The excerpt from Spencer R. Weart’s The Rise of Nuclear Fear (p. 1486) begins and ends with examples of how nuclear fear is imagined in pop culture. Compare the way Julia Alvarez’s story “Snow” (p. 1478) reflects the anxieties of the atomic age to the way Weart presents them. Which do you think is more effective? More believable? Explain your answer.