Ronald Reagan

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Ronald Reagan
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SALT II
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Strategic Defense Initiative
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Mikhail Gorbachev
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Evil Empire
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One Topic, Multiple Perspectives, No Answers
Ending the Cold War

• Did Ronald Reagan Win the Cold War?

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Agenda

• Background information about the end of the Cold
  War
• Two inquiry-based approaches to teaching this
  material
• Study of bias and political agendas attached to
  this topic
• Take-away materials and lessons

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Ronald Reagan's presidency may well be regarded
as one of the twentieth century's most important,
both for undermining the liberal tradition that
had dominated U.S. politics since Franklin D.
Roosevelt and for paving the way for the end of
the Cold War.
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A Soviet RT-23 Molodet missile in the Saint
Petersburg railway museum. The RT-23 was created
by the Soviet Union to compete with the U.S.-made
LGM-118A Peacekeeper, both of which were
nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic
missiles (ICBMs).
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With his policies of glasnost and perestroika,
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to
democratize his country's political system in the
1980s. Although he was ultimately forced to
resign from office, his programs led to the
downfall of communism and the breakup of the
Soviet Union in 1991.
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Soviet soldiers ride aboard an airborne combat
vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan in March 1986.
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A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber (top) and a T-38
Talon fighter (bottom) on display at the Joint
Services Open House at Andrews Air Force Base in
Maryland. The B-2 bomber was developed at the
height of the Cold War and is among the most
expensive aircraft ever produced .
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(No Transcript)
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Launch of Pershing II Intermediate Range
Ballistic Missile.
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(No Transcript)
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President Ronald Reagan (center right) and Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev (left) meet at Hofdi
House during the Reykjavik summit on October 11,
1986. The two leaders came close to agreeing on
an arms reduction deal, but the talks finally
stalled over President Reagan's refusal to
abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative, also
known as "Star Wars."
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Reagans rejection SALT II and the eminent
placement of Pershing II missiles provoked
extensive protests in Germany
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Did Ronald Reagan end the Cold War?
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What is a dilemma?

• A dilemma is
• A historical event, the meaning of which
  historians do not have clear agreement on
• Nuanced questions, often phrased as to what
  extent
• An issue that requires investigating multiple
  scholarly perspectives and primary sources

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What is not a dilemma?

• An unsolved historical question
• Did John Wilkes Booth act alone?
• A historical question that can be answered
  definitively
• Did John Adams increase the size of the navy?
• A current issue
• How can we end poverty?

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Historical Inquiry
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Contact Materials

• Jeremy
• jdgypton.edublogs.org
• Lee
• leysturl_at_imsa.edu
• www.abc-clio.com/ncssmaterials