The Cold War Document Based Questions (DBQ) Activity
Name:___________________________ Date:__________
As a group, read/view each of the documents below and answer each question. Use highlighters to highlight
possible supporting quotes that could be used in your essay.
Document 1: This is an excerpt from Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, March 5,1946.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.
Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. . . . All these
famous cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and all are subject in one form or
another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow.
a. How is the “iron curtain” a dividing line?
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Document 2: This is an excerpt from President Truman's speech to Congress, March 12, 1947.
I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation [domination] by armed minorities or by outside pressure. Should we fail to aid Greece and
Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far-reaching to the West. The seeds of totalitarian regimes
are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach
their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. Therefore, I propose giving Greece
and Turkey $400 million in aid.
b. Explain the policy presented by Truman in the above speech.
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Document 3: From 1951 Grandview Heights High School Yearbook; courtesy of Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff
Historical Society http://www.ghmchs.org/info.html
c. According to the yearbook page above, what will communists “usually deny”?
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d. According to the yearbook page above, what should you tell a communist once you have identified
him/her?
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Document 4: John Foster Dulles Speech, ''By Any Means,'' 1954. Department of State, Press Release No. 165, p. 1–10.
Those fighting under the banner of Ho Chi Minh have largely been trained and equipped in Communist
China. They are supplied with artillery and ammunition through the Soviet-Chinese Communist bloc.
Captured material shows that much of it was fabricated by the Skoda Munition Works in Czechoslovakia
and transporter across Russia and Siberia and then sent through China into Vietnam….But if they [Viet
Minh] achieved military or political success, it is certain that they would subject the people to a cruel
Communist dictatorship taking its orders from Peiping and Moscow. The tragedy would not stop there. If
the Communist forces won uncontested control over Indochina or any substantial part thereof, they
would surely resume the same pattern of aggression against other free peoples in the area…
e. According to John Foster Dulles and the State Department press release above, if the Viet Minh
control Vietnam, what is “certain” to happen?
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f.
What “policy” did the above document set the foundations for?
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Document 5: Good Housekeeping magazine article, Spring 1961 issue
g. What does this article in the magazine Good Housekeeping tell us about the impact of the Cold War on
the American public?
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Document 6: The threat of nuclear war was obvious in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. This excerpt, from
President John F. Kennedy’s speech to the American people, explains the U.S. position.
We have unmistakable evidence that a series of offensive missile sites is now being built on that island. . .
Cuba has been made into an important strategic base by the presence of these long range offensive
weapons of sudden mass destruction. This is an open threat to the peace and security of all the
Americas. Our objective must be to prevent the use of these missiles against this or any other country.
We must secure their withdrawal from the Western Hemisphere. . . I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to
halt and eliminate this secret and reckless threat to world peace.
h. What was the basis for President Kennedy’s demand that the missiles be removed from Cuba?
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Document 7: This British cartoon of 29 October 1962 shows Kennedy and Khrushchev arm-wrestling for power, sitting
on nuclear weapons. The caption read: 'OK Mr. President, let's talk'
i.
What event is this cartoon in reference to?
j.
Does either side look to be winning?
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k. Discuss how this cartoon relates to the Cold War policy of M.A.D.
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Document 8: On November 3, 1969, President Nixon outlined his Vietnamization policy on national television. At the
conclusion, he reached out to “the silent majority” of Americans who he felt supported his continued bombing and
military engagement of the North Vietnamese. The following paragraph is the conclusion to his speech.
And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support. I
pledged in my campaign for the Presidency to end the war in a way that we could win the peace. I
have initiated a plan of action which will enable me to keep that pledge. The more support I can
have from the American people, the sooner that pledge can be redeemed; for the more divided we
are at home, the less likely the enemy is to negotiate in Paris.
Let us be united for peace. Let us also be united against defeat. Because let us understand: North
Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that. Fifty years ago,
in this room and at this very desk, President Woodrow Wilson spoke words which caught the
imagination of a war-weary world. He said: “This is the war to end war.” His dream for peace after
World War I was shattered on the hard realities of great power politics and Woodrow Wilson died
a broken man.
Tonight I do not tell you that the war in Vietnam is the war to end war. But I do say this: I have
initiated a plan which will end this war in a way that will bring us closer to that great goal to which
Woodrow Wilson and every American President in our history has been dedicated—the goal of a
just and lasting peace.
As President I hold the responsibility for choosing the best path to that goal and then leading the
Nation along it. I pledge to you tonight that I shall meet this responsibility with all of the strength
and wisdom I can command in accordance with your hopes, mindful of your concerns, sustained by
your prayers.
Thank you and goodnight.
l.
What impact does Nixon believe continued protest and divisions would have on the peace
negotiations?
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m. What does Nixon mean when he calls people the “silent majority”?
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Document 9: After US naval vessels were fired upon, President Johnson delivered a television address on 8-5-1964
reiterating the reasons as to why we were fighting a war in Southeast Asia. One of his reasons was the famous domino
theory. After this naval encounter, Congress passed the below document which is known as the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution. (8-7-1964)
Joint Resolution of Congress
H.J. RES 1145
August 7, 1964
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as
Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces
of the United States and to prevent further aggression.
Section 2. The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the
maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. Consonant with the
Constitution of the United States and the Charter of the United Nations and in accordance with its
obligations under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, the United States is, therefore,
prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed
force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty
requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.
Section 3. This resolution shall expire when the President shall determine that the peace and
security of the area is reasonably assured by international conditions created by action of the
United Nations or otherwise, except that it may be terminated earlier by concurrent resolution of
the Congress.
n. Does Congress agree with President Johnson’s assessment of the situation in Southeast Asia?
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o. What does Congress give President Johnson the ability to do in the above document?
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Document 10: President John Kennedy, Letter to Chairman Nikita Khrushchev of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet
Union, October 16, 1961.
The importance of this additional attempt to explore each other's view is well-stated in your letter;
and I believe it is identical to the motivation for our meeting in Vienna. Whether we wish it or not,
and for better or worse, we are the leaders of the world's two greatest rival powers, each with the
ability to inflict great destruction on the other and to do great damage to the rest of the world in
the process. We therefore have a special responsibility--greater than that held by any of our
predecessors in the pre-nuclear age--to exercise our power with the fullest possible understanding
of the other's vital interests and commitments. As you say in your letter, the solutions to the
world's most dangerous problems are not easily found--but you and I are unable to shift to anyone
else the burden of finding them. You and I are not personally responsible for the events at the
conclusion in World War II which led to the present situation in Berlin. But we will be held
responsible if we cannot deal peacefully with problems related to this situation.
p. According to Kennedy are he and Khrushchev responsible for the Cold War?
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q. What are they responsible for?
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