>>>USING CROSS-REFERENCES TO DO COLLECTIVE BIOGRAPHY
Using Cross-references to Do Collective Biography:
The Cuban Missile Crisis
This lesson on the Cuban Missile Crisis is designed to teach students the value of
cross-references in historical research, using the ANB Online as a starting point.
One of the principal objectives of this lesson is for students to realize that many
individuals, including men outside Kennedy’s administration, were involved at different levels and in different ways with this historical event. Through a lesson using
collective biography, they will discover who some of these men were, what roles
they played, and what they contributed to the decision-making process. As they
answer these questions, they should also consider the more general question: What
approach to decision-making did President Kennedy employ to resolve the Cuban
Missile Crisis?
The lesson guides students through an online search and
helps them to gather and organize information about the
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Before beginning this lesson, remind the students that the
ANB Online includes only articles about individuals who
have died. Therefore, as they come across names that do not
appear in the initial search or the cross-references, they
should write them down and look elsewhere (including, but
not limited to the web) to learn about key players who are
alive. The bibliographic references might, for example, be
useful in finding sources that include those players who are
still alive.
This lesson can be assigned to students to work on
individually or in groups. Before they begin the online
research, distribute the following questions to guide them:
• Why were the United States’ relations with Cuba
problematic even before the missile crisis?
• What was the relationship between Cuba and the
Soviet Union?
• Why did the Soviet Union move missiles and other
military materials onto Cuba?
• When did the U.S. administration learn about the
missiles?
• Why was the administration concerned about these
missiles?
• Who was involved in deciding how the U.S. should
respond?
• What choices did these men consider?
• Who were the most important decision-makers?
• How was the crisis resolved?
• Why was this event called a “crisis”?
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AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY ONLINE TEACHER’S GUIDE
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Step 1
Step 2
Ask the students to click on Custom Search. To search
for relevant articles, students will do a Full Search text
search for “Cuban Missile Crisis.” In order to limit the
search to articles containing the phrase “Cuban Missile
Crisis,” it will be necessary to use quotation marks around
the three words.
Instruct students to begin their research by selecting the
article about John F. Kennedy. They should then locate the
feature “Read more from the Oxford Companion to United
States History,” which appears in the left hand column. As
they browse the contents of this section, they will see an
article on the “Cuban Missile Crisis.” Ask them to click on
this link and read the article from the Oxford Companion.
It will give them historical background to the Cuban
Missile Crisis as well as a brief description of how the crisis
was resolved. This article also contains cross-references to
several other items of interest in the Oxford Companion,
which can be assigned if the students need or are interested
in getting more background on relevant aspects of U.S.
foreign policy.
>>>USING CROSS-REFERENCES TO DO COLLECTIVE BIOGRAPHY
Step 3
Ask the students to return to the
John F. Kennedy article using the
link at the upper right of the
screen. From there, return to the
“Search Results List” and have the
students begin going through the
articles. You might point out that
arrows at the top of each article
allow the reader to move easily
backwards and forwards from one
article on the list to the next. You
can choose to have the students
read the articles online or print
them out.
Step 4
Before they begin reading the
biographical articles, construct and
distribute a chart that will help
them to organize the information
contained in these essays. Along
Step 3
the top of the chart, list the names
of each of the men they will be
reading about. Down the side of
the chart, list the following categories:
• Family background
• Education
• Military experience
Step 5
Once the students have compiled the information, help
them to look for patterns that place the individuals in
groups. For example, you might distinguish “insiders” from
“outsiders,” “hawks” from “doves,” or “military men” from
“career politicians.” As the class organizes and analyzes the
information they have gathered, raise the following
questions:
• Career
• Who were the key players?
• Ideas about national security/defense
• What factors influenced their thinking?
• Ideas about communism
• Of what importance was the fact that they represented
a variety of backgrounds/careers?
• Position(s) in government before 1962
• Position at time of missile crisis
You may, of course, add other categories that seem
relevant.
Explain to the students that they do not need to read each
of the articles in its entirety; however, they should look for
information that enables them to complete the chart.
Remind them to pay close attention to the section of the
article that deals specifically with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
As they read the relevant sections of these essays, they
should also look for answers to the questions you handed
out when they began their research.
• Did they agree on the appropriate response? Why or
why not?
• What were their major contributions to resolving the
crisis?
• What lessons did they learn as a result of their
involvement?
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AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY ONLINE TEACHER’S GUIDE
Step 7
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Step 6
Step 7
Return to the central question: What was the nature of the
decision-making process that resulted in a peaceful resolution
of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Choose one of the following
options:
1) If students are working on this lesson individually, ask
them to write short papers and then share their responses—
backed up with specific evidence—in a class discussion.
2) If the students are working in groups or the class is
working through this lesson together, begin by asking
students to take about 5 minutes to draft individual responses
to the question. The responses should take the form of a
complete sentence. Once they have had time to think about
their answers and write their responses, ask if anyone is
willing to volunteer to have his/her statement put on the
board for the rest of the students to review and revise. Have
the class work through the editing process together. The
thesis should be concise, complete, and correct; it should use
language that is accurate. Once they have agreed on a thesis,
have the class construct an outline of a paper, including
evidence, to support that thesis.
3) Set up a debate. Divide the class into three groups: Two
opposing teams and a panel of judges. If you decide on this
option, ask each of the opposing teams to present and support
its own resolution. The judges will decide which team is more
persuasive and give the reasons for their judgment.
Conclude the lesson by returning to the John F. Kennedy
article. Locate the Online Resources section of the article,
and select the link to the JFK Library, which is part of the
National Archives.
This website provides “Student Resources.” Click on that
item and scroll down the page to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Several of the options are well worth exploring. In order to
learn more about the decision-making process and the roles
played by the members of the Executive Committee, have
the class listen to the “Excerpt from the EXCOMM
Meeting of October 18, 1962.” Another more extensive
source of information about the EXCOMM meetings is
“World on the Brink,” which includes longer recordings as
well as transcripts of the meetings that your students can
read. As the students listen to the recordings and read the
documents, ask them to keep in mind what they have already
learned about the participants. Students will find that
knowing who the players were, what they thought, and why
they acted as they did will help them to recognize what is
most important in these primary sources. In short, they will
understand the importance of using secondary sources, such
as those provided by ANB Online and the Oxford Companion,
when doing primary source research.