12th Annual Truman Library Teachers Conference
"1945: V.P. & President. War End", July 13-17, 2015
Monday, July 13
8:00am – 8:30am Registration and Breakfast
8:30am – 9:00am Introductions and lesson plan instruction
Mark Adams, Truman Library
9:00am – 10:15am “A date which will live in infamy”
Jeff Urbin, FDR Library
In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941 America was dragged into World War II when Japan unleashed a
devastating surprise attack on American and British military outposts in the Pacific. President Roosevelt was having
lunch at the White House when he got the news. Throughout the afternoon he met with aides and monitored the crisis.
Shortly before 5 p.m., he began preparing a war message for Congress. Though drafted in haste, FDR’s words galvanized
the nation. This session will explore American and Japanese misconceptions that led up to the attack and have spawned
an ongoing debate that the United States should have anticipated, and taken steps to prevent, this devastating attack.
10:15am – 10:30am Break
10:30am – 11:45am Truman's ascent to the presidency
Jon Taylor, University of Central Missouri
When Harry Truman became President on April 12, 1945; he had huge shoes to fill. Many Americans did not know who
he was and many others were not sure he was up to the task of serving as President of the United States. This session
will focus on the life experiences that Truman had prior to becoming President of the United States in order to shed light
on the skill sets that he brought to the presidency after serving in World War I, as a County Judge in Jackson County, as a
U.S. Senator, and as Vice President of the United States. The session will also mention the challenges that he faced
when he became President. Some of the challenges included ending World War II, defining the role the United States
would play in the post-World War II world, and trying to craft strategies to deal with lingering domestic issues.
11:45am – 12:30pm Lunch
12:30pm – 1:45pm
Eisenhower and Liberation of the Concentration Camps: “The things I saw beggar description”
Pam Sanfilippo and Kevin Bailey, Eisenhower Library and Museum
Following the D-Day Invasion on June 6, 1944, Allied troops pressed the enemy from air, land, and sea. General
Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, directed these unified efforts and visited the
front as often as necessary. While the Soviets had liberated the first concentration camps in July 1944, Gen. Eisenhower
did not see the atrocities until he arrived in Gotha, Germany in early April 1945. In this session, participants will learn
about the liberation of the concentration camps and Eisenhower’s role in ensuring that the inhumane treatment at the
camps would never be forgotten or written off as “propaganda.” Educators will receive copies of a Finding Aid for
Sources Relating to the Holocaust at the Eisenhower Library & Museum, as well as lists of on-line documents and
images. Suggestions for using several of these items in the classroom will be presented.
1:45pm – 2:00pm Break
2:00pm – 4:00pm Liberation Primary Sources activity
Jessica Rockhold, Midwest Center for Holocaust Education
4:00pm – 4:45pm Teacher research time
4:45 – 5:00pm Wrap up
Tuesday, July 14
8:30am – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 10:15am
FDR and Yalta
Jeff Urbin, FDR Library
In the winter of 1945, President Roosevelt met with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin for the last time in the
Ukrainian town of Yalta. The Big Three gathered to chart a course for final victory in World War II. But during the Yalta
Conference, they also struggled to create the basis for post-war cooperation. After the war, the Yalta Conference
became the subject of sharp controversy and debate. This session explores the decisions made at the conference and
the claim of critics who argue that FDR “gave away” Eastern Europe at the conference.
10:15am – 10:30am Break
10:30am – 11:45am
Transitioning from the Second World War to the Cold War: Charting a new course for US involvement in the World
Jon Taylor, University of Central Missouri
Harry Truman stepped onto the world stage for the first time at the Potsdam Conference. While ending the war was the
foremost objective in his mind, after the war came to an end Truman and his administration had to quickly transition to
a new kind of war--the Cold War. The containment policy that his administration crafted to respond to this new war
reflected Truman's moralistic view of the world where democracy and freedom were on one side and the "menace of
communism" and "communist tyranny" were on the other. The containment policy laid the foundation for how the
United States engaged with the world during the Cold War and included working with the United Nations, formulating a
foreign policy that provided economic aid to other countries, developing polices for the control of nuclear weapons,
fostering international collective security alliances, and crafting a national security state.
11:45am – 12:30pm Lunch
12:30pm – 1:45pm
World War II as a Watershed in Race Relations: Missouri and the Nation
Gary Kremer, Executive Director, The State Historical Society of Missouri
This session will focus on the many ways in which World War II was a transformational event for African Americans and
for race relations, both in the country generally, and in Missouri specifically. In particular, this session will take up the
so-called “Double V” campaign, which called upon African Americans to support wholeheartedly the war effort, while
simultaneously demanding full citizenship rights. This led, among other things, to President Truman issuing the famous
1948 Executive Order, desegregating the United States Armed Forces. Additionally, this session will discuss the war
economy’s impact on African Americans by adding impetus to the Great Migration, which witnessed a mass movement
of blacks from the South to take war industry jobs in cities such as Kansas City and St. Louis.
1:45pm – 2:00pm Break
2:00pm – 4:30pm
Harry Truman, 1945, and Independence ( . . .Avenue, that is)
Lee Ann Potter, Library of Congress
From photographs to maps, from letters to drawings, from oral histories to sound recordings, newspapers, and more,
the primary sources in the vast collections of the Library of Congress (whose Madison Building is located on
Independence Avenue in Washington, DC) reveal fascinating details of 1945. In this session, the Library’s director of
educational outreach will share collection highlights, research strategies, and teaching activities. Participants will
engage in analysis activities that feature primary resources in a variety of media, and in inquiry activities that build
student literacy skills, content knowledge, and critical thinking abilities.
4:30pm – 4:45pm Wrap up
5:00 – 6:00pm Teacher Reception & Refreshments, East Atrium
6:00pm Public Reception, Museum Lobby
6:30pm – 8:00pm Richard Frank, “Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire”
Truman Library and Museum Auditorium
In a riveting narrative that includes information from declassified documents, acclaimed historian Richard B. Frank gives
a scrupulously detailed explanation of the critical months leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb. Frank explains
how American leaders learned in the summer of 1945 that their alternate strategy to end the war by invasion had been
shattered by the massive Japanese buildup on Kyushu, and that intercepted diplomatic documents also revealed the
dismal prospects of negotiation.
Wednesday, July 15
8:30am – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 12:00pm
White House Decision Center: Ending the War in Japan
The White House Decision Center is a unique venue for experiential and collaborative learning. Set in a recreated West
Wing, The White House Decision Center challenges students to step into the roles of President Truman and his advisors
to tackle some of the greatest challenges ever faced by a world leader. For this session, teachers will take on the roles
and examine options of how to end the war in Japan in August, 1945.
12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm – 2:15pm
The Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II
Richard Frank
From the spring of 1942 through 1946, the United States government relocated more than 100,000 people of Japanese
ancestry from Pacific coast states to War Relocation Centers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the deportation
and incarceration with Executive Order 9066, issued February 19, 1942, which allowed regional military commanders to
designate "military areas" from which "any or all persons may be excluded." This power was used to declare that all
people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire West Coast, including all of California and much of Oregon,
Washington and Arizona, except for those in government camps.
2:15pm – 2:30pm Break
2:30pm – 3:30pm
Teaching about the Atomic Bomb
Jeff Gall, Truman State University
Students are never too young to explore big ideas, and the use of atomic weapons to bring an end to World War II in the
Pacific is a topic many teachers use to engage students in historiographical thinking. It does offer an excellent
opportunity to help students see that history is not “the past,” but rather our own interpretation of and dialogue with
the past. And beyond introducing divergent historical points of view, teaching about the use of atomic weapons also
offers us a chance to explore philosophical and moral issues with students, including concepts such as just war theory.
In this session, teachers will openly exchange strategies they have used to teach this pivotal moment in American and
world history.
3:30pm – 4:30pm Teacher research time
4:30pm – 4:45pm Wrap up
Thursday, July 16
8:30am – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 10:15am
Baseball and American Culture in 1945
Jeff Gall, Truman State University
Many have debated the legitimacy of historian Jacques Barzun’s quote that “Whoever wants to know the heart and
mind of America had better learn baseball.” His sentiment might just be true in the year 1945. Baseball in that year did
indeed reflect broader themes in American culture. This session will look at how major league baseball fared during the
war years, beginning with FDR’s “Green Light Letter” to Commissioner Landis in 1942. And the year 1945 was also
pivotal for the Negro Leagues. A shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers that year,
marking a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement and ironically beginning the decline of one of the most successful
African American business ventures in the United States.
10:15am – 10:30am Break
10:30am – 11:45am
Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations
Jeff Urbin, FDR Library
“The story is over.” Eleanor Roosevelt told reporters several days after FDR’s death. She seemed to believe, at least for
a moment, that her role on the national stage had ended. But Eleanor Roosevelt’s story was far from over. In December
1945, seeking to signal America’s commitment to the new United Nations organization President Truman appointed her
to America’s first delegation to the General Assembly. This session explores her work as chair of the U.N. Human Rights
Commission leading to the draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as her transition into an able and
determined negotiator clashing with Soviet delegates over the definition of human liberties, and pushing the State
Department to recognize that human rights are not only civil and political rights, but social and economic rights too.
11:45am – 12:30pm Lunch
12:30pm – 1:45pm
Holocaust Survivors in Postwar Germany, 1945-1957
Margarete Myers Feinstein, UCLA Center for the Study of Women
In June 1945 President Truman ordered an investigation into the condition of Displaced Persons (DPs) in Europe,
“particularly the Jews.” The resultant Harrison Report accused the Allies of treating Holocaust survivors almost as badly
as the Nazis had treated them. In response General Eisenhower reorganized the DP assembly centers and recognized the
special needs of Jewish survivors, while Truman urged the British to open the gates of Palestine to Jewish immigration.
These decisions had far reaching humanitarian and political consequences.
1:45 – 2:00pm Break
2:00pm – 4:00pm
Displaced Persons camps activity
Jessica Rockhold, MCHE
4:00pm – 4:45pm
Research time
4:45 – 5:00 pm
Wrap up
Thursday Evening Program
7pm at Jewish Community Campus, Overland Park, KS
Margarete Myers Feinstein, UCLA Center for the Study of Women
From Victims of Nazism to Survivors of the Holocaust: Jewish Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany, 1945-1957.
After the Second World War, nearly 300,000 Holocaust survivors made their way through Displaced Persons (DP)
camps in Germany. There, amid their former persecutors, they began to rebuild their lives while awaiting emigration.
Brought together by their shared persecution, Jewish DPs forged a vibrant community, redefining Jewish identity after
Auschwitz. Asserting their dignity as Jews, these survivors reclaimed control over their lives. They did this by creating
Jewish families, by confronting Germans, by reimagining themselves as wartime partisans, and by demanding a Jewish
homeland.
Friday, July 17
8:30am – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 10:15am
Winston Churchill and the Iron Curtain speech
Kurt Jefferson, National Churchill Museum
With the 70th anniversary fast approaching, this presentation will consider the relationship of President Truman to the
event, his reaction to it, and the historical legacy of the speech in world history. The presenter will also discuss how this
speech is traditionally considered the public start of the Cold War and whether that is a useful in transitioning out of
1945 into the postwar world.
10:15am – 10:30 am Break
10:30 – 11:00am
First Place National History Day Performance
Victory at All Costs: The Leadership and Legacy of Winston Churchill
Jay Mehta, 8th grade student, Kansas City, Mo.
11:00am – 11:45am
Teacher feedback sessions
11:45am – 12:00pm
Teacher Evaluations
Wrap up
Noon
Lunch (boxed to go if needed)