Cold War and its Impact on Guatemala
Lowell Public Schools
Lisa M. Menasian
April 10, 2009
th
11 Grade A.P. U.S. History
Primary Source Course: Cold War: The United States on the World Stage
Although for this school year, we are pressed for time, I can look at how to allow
time in our schedule to incorporate this lesson plan, or a similar one, into next
year’s curriculum as I am well aware that we have many first and second
generations immigrant students from around the globe who have a global
perspective and are interested in learning about history from a global perspective.
In fact, oftentimes, they can contribute something unexpected and valuable to class
discussions. To have students learn about the Cold War (as well as many other
topics) from a global perspective is what they desire and need. To that end, I think
this was a valuable course for me as a teacher.
This two day lesson plan for 11th grade advanced placement students would
incorporate Guatemala into our study of the Cold War within the context of U.S.
actions in and around the world in the 1950s. Students would be asked to read the
Ch. 24, ‘America at Midcentury’ from our Out of Many textbook and would have
lecture notes as a foundation.
Students would have a basic background in three areas of U.S. involvement (or
lack thereof) during the 1950s – the Suez Crisis, Guatemala and the U.S. Fruit Co.,
and the involvement in Vietnam and the establishment of SEATO. For this
assignment, I have chosen to focus on Guatemala, in part b/c of the materials on
Latin America presented in this course with Primary Source. It became more real
to me that Latin American nations were yet another major region of the world that
had suffered the effects of our ideological struggle to continually prevent
communism from spreading to other regions of the world. To the students, I stress
that America feared the spreading of communism (they would understand the
concept of the domino theory) because it would threaten our world status,
relationship with these nations, and our economy (ability to trade with them)
among other reasons.
The students have a working knowledge of the Truman Administration’s policy of
containment, the Truman Doctrine and its application in Greece and Turkey, as
well as Eisenhower’s military-industrial complex, John Foster Dulles’ ‘rollback’
policy, the Eisenhower Doctrine, and Eisenhower’s Farewell Address in which he
warns of the dangers of the military-industrial complex that he initially promoted.
Learning Objectives:
• Students will examine the rationale for U.S. involvement, or lack thereof, in
three areas in the world in the 1950’s. These areas are Egypt in the Suez
crisis, Guatemala, and Vietnam.
• Students will explore the long-term ramifications of U.S. involvement in the
world, specifically in the Guatemalan coup?
Essential Questions:
1.) Looking at the big picture, to what degree do you think it was important for
the United States to stop the spread of communism to Latin America?
2.) Under what circumstances, if any, should the United States be involved in
the coup of a legitimate government in another country?
Day One:
After a brief review of the main points from the previous day’s lecture on the Cold
War, I will focus students in on three areas where we dealt with the communism
around the globe, the Suez Crisis, Guatemala, and Vietnam and the establishment
of SEATO. For this lesson, I have chosen to focus on Guatemala. To begin, in the
computer lab, students would be asked to read one of these secondary sources
online:
http://www.paperlessarchives.com/guat.html
The Guatemala Coup and CIA Files
For students who finish early, they may also read
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/
CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents
After about 5 minutes, I will ask students to discuss the main points first among
themselves and then as a class so they will understand the background while
writing a point or two in their notebooks. (5-10 min.)
Now, students will examine three primary source documents:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar/guatemala9.htm
Memoradum from [Name not declassified] of the CIA to the Chief of the Western
Hemisphere Central Intelligence Agency (King), Washington, D.C., October 8,
1952.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar/guatemala2.htm
National Intelligence Estimate-62, Present Political Situation in Guatemala and
Possible Developments During 1952.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar/guatemala4.htm
Telegram from CIA Station in [place not declassified] to the CIA on plans for a
coup in Guatemala, June 25, 1952.
Students are asked to discuss the following in pairs:
Note the year these documents were written, 1952, two years before the actual
coup in Guatemala.
• What specific information do these documents contain?
• How do these documents reflect the fears many Americans had regarding the
spread of communism?
• What arguments are used for stopping the spread of communism in
Guatemala?
• What opinion does the government have of Guatemalan President Arbenz?
• What role does the United Fruit Co. have there?
• Overall, what arguments do these documents make in favor of possible
intervention there?
Students will then present their findings with the class. After this, we will spend
the remainder of the time looking at some of the Essential Questions above, taking
notes where necessary.
Day Two:
Today, I will ask students to watch a 7 min. video online regarding the impact the
media and public perception had on our involvement in Guatemala.
http://digg.com/educational/Engineering_of_Consent_guatemala_coup_1954_2
Engineering of Consent: Guatemala Coup 1954 after they read the paragraph
introduction to this video.
Students will get into groups of four and discuss the following:
• What role did America have in Guatemala prior to the 1954 coup?
• What kind of change in leadership occurred in Guatemala in 1954? What
role did the United States play in that? Were those reasons justified?
Explain.
• In what way(s) were the actions taken justified by fear? What role did the
media play in creating and feeding that fear?
• How can you connect that fear in America to another topic we recently
studied? (McCarthyism)
• How do you think you would have felt had you been a Guatemalan citizen
before and after the coup? How might your work/life situation have
changed? Would your work situation be better or worse? Would you have
more or less freedoms?
For the remainder of the class we will share some of the points from each group
with the whole class. The ensuing discussion is certain to take us to the end of
class.
Evaluation:
Students will write a paragraph on their thoughts on U.S. intervention in Latin
America for the purposes of preventing the spread of communism there. I will
prompt them to think about the degree to which this was necessary and
appropriate. Students will also see questions based on the three topics (Suez
Canal, Guatemala, Vietnam) presented at the beginning of this lesson plan on the
1950’s unit exam.
Annotated Bibliography
Farragher, et als., Out of Many, Upper Saddle, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 2002
Walter LaFeber’s Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America
http://www.paperlessarchives.com/guat.html
The Guatemala Coup and CIA Files
For students who finish early, they may also read
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/
CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar/guatemala9.htm
Memoradum from [Name not declassified] of the CIA to the Chief of the Western
Hemisphere Central Intelligence Agency (King), Washington, D.C., October 8,
1952.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar/guatemala2.htm
National Intelligence Estimate-62, Present Political Situation in Guatemala and
Possible Developments During 1952.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar/guatemala4.htm
Telegram from CIA Station in [place not declassified] to the CIA on plans for a
coup in Guatemala, June 25, 1952.
http://digg.com/educational/Engineering_of_Consent_guatemala_coup_1954_2
Engineering of Consent: Guatemala Coup 1954 after they read the paragraph
introduction to this video.
