This post is the second in a series highlighting different items from the Library’s Cold War primary source set.
The newest primary source set, about the Cold War, includes an array of sources that reflect different perspectives. Factors that can shape perspective include the distance of time from which an event is experienced, the purposes for creating a source, and the tone and style the creator of a source uses to communicate to their audience. This post engages students in comparing the perspectives that can be found in two newspaper articles about the Potsdam Conference: one, selected from the primary source set, published in the Detroit Evening Times shortly after the Conference concluded in August 1945, and a second, published fifteen years later in the Washington, D.C., Evening Star. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s fair to draw lines between the agreements reached at Potsdam to the conditions that gave rise to what today we know as the Cold War. However, at the time of the conference, outcomes weren’t certain.
Analysis Activity
Assign students to read and analyze both articles or read one of the pieces aloud and then model the analysis strategy.
Instruct students to read each article with attention to:
- when the piece was created
- the tone and style the author uses to communicate to their audience
- the purpose of the piece, as students understand it to be.
Encourage students to name other details from the article that they found compelling or curious. Question prompts might include: What did you notice first? What other information on the page offers clues about the time and place that the article was published? How does the format of the piece affect the message the author is trying to convey?
Next direct students to read both articles again, but this time with attention to comparing the two pieces. In what ways are the articles similar and in what ways are they different? How do the tone and style of the articles compare and how does that affect the reader? What additional information do you want to know after reading each article?
Finally, ask students to consider the idea of perspective or point of view. What elements (date, tone, style, purpose) do they think most influences the perspective each article brings and why? What points of view are missing and how does that impact what they understand from each article?
Extension Idea
The Cold War primary source set offers several different types of sources that can help students think about perspective. Items featured in the set include short films, an audio interview, excerpts from the Congressional Record, and photographs. Students could apply this same strategy with other sources, substituting their selected format for one or both of the newspaper articles.
If you tried this activity – or a version of it – with your students, let us know how it went by sharing your experiences in the comments.
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