Cuban Missile Crisis Debate

Another great idea from Rebecca Simmons!

On our day where we discussed JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis, we began class with some background on the 1960 election, the Space Race and the Bay of Pigs.  I gave this direct instruction as if it was the 1960's and we were feeling the Cold War pressures.

Then we watched a short clip of 13 days to introduce our "current crisis" with missiles being discovered in Cuba in 1962.  We watched from 10:38 to a little after 17 minutes (I cut it off right were Bobby Kennedy says that they should lock a bunch of smart guys in a room to try and figure out what to do).  I told the class that they are the "bunch of smart guys" and need to help advise Kennedy on which of the three options to take in the CMC.  The following are the 3 options:

1. Air Strike/Attack
2. Naval Blockade to prevent Soviets from bringing in more missiles
3. Diplomacy with the Soviets

One student was selected to be JFK and the rest of the students were given different roles.  They each selected a paper from a manila envelope titled with the words Top Secret written on the cover.  Their paper explained who they were.  About ten of the students became the real advisors to Kennedy (Bobby Kennedy, McNamara, etc.) and the students read about that person's stance during the CMC.  The rest of the students got a piece of paper explaining if that they could be a hawk (pro-war) or a dove (pro-peace).

Students then had 10 minutes to read their paper and write down their notes on what they would say to advise Kennedy (tell them this has to be turned in for points).

Then Kennedy stood and presented his current feelings about the CMC and then opened the floor for others thoughts.

I had Kennedy sit in a comfortable chair facing the podium.  Students were told that they each needed to stand at the podium and present their argument in order to receive points for the day (if they spoke once they got 10 pts, every time they spoke afterwards they got 1 extra credit point).  Kennedy could ask questions of anyone.

I was amazed at how well this worked!  Almost every student stood up of their own free will and presented their argument.

At the end, Kennedy made the decision.  Then we discussed what would happen if that was his real decision (what if we had really done the air strike).

We then debriefed and discussed why he choice the blockade and the real results.

THIS WAS THE CLOSEST WE EVER CAME TO NUCLEAR WAR!!!

Overall, this requires at least 45 minutes.  I wish we had had more time to allow students to respond to each other and participate more than once.

I used this in both an honors and a regular U.S. History class and it worked great for both!

Here is the website where the original ideas came from.  The website has the documents explaining each person's role as well as a PPT about each possible outcome.

I would totally use this again and would try and incorporate the same "advice" kind of debate for other topics as well.