Reason and argument feldman pdf free
Reitler’s concerns and detailing the president’s views on the importance of space exploration. Although President Kennedy did not personally respond to her letter, Myer Feldman, the Deputy Special Counsel to the President, wrote back, addressing Ms. In 1962, eighth grader Mary Lou Reitler wrote a letter to President Kennedy articulating her opposition to the space program. This lesson examines the public debate over the space program through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl. The wonders of exploring the unknown and promise of potentially life-altering technological advances were tempered by thoughts that life would be most improved by focusing on immediate concerns on earth such as the struggle for civil rights, domestic anti-poverty programs, and, as time went on, increasing US involvement in Vietnam. It took eight years of work and sacrifice, including the loss of three astronauts in a fire aboard Apollo 1, but President Kennedy’s goal was finally achieved on Jwhen Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.įrom the very moment President Kennedy made his intentions clear, people began to debate the necessity of space exploration. To achieve this end, Congress appropriated the funding for NASA’s Apollo lunar landing program. In order to do that, the United States needed to reach the Moon before the Soviet Union.
Reason and argument feldman pdf free free#
Space was the latest theater for battling the Cold War and provided an opportunity for the United States to promote leadership and demonstrate the technological advances of a free and democratic society. The Soviet success suggested that the United States was falling behind in the arms race and fueled new tensions between the two nations entwined in a bitter Cold War. President Kennedy made this request one month after the Soviet Union had sent the first man into space. The United States, he declared, needed “to take a clearly leading role in space achievement” and “commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the earth.” The mission was clear: the United States must go to the Moon. Kennedy made a special address to Congress on Urgent National Needs and asked Congress to dedicate $7-9 billion dollars to the space program. Students should have general background knowledge of Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. evaluate two competing positions, construct a generalization, and use evidence from primary source documents to support their statement in an essay.identify the main idea of two primary source letters.consider the costs related to space exploration in the 1960s and the decision to send a man to the Moon.Students will consider arguments in support of and opposition to using federal funds for space exploration both in the context of 1961 and the current debate on funding for NASA.Įssential Question: How much money should the federal government devote to space exploration? Goals/Rationale: Students will examine President Kennedy’s 1961 decision to send a man to the Moon by reading a letter written to the president by 13-year-old Mary Lou Reitler. Subject Areas: Civics and US Government, Economics, English Language Arts, US History Topics: Civic Education and Engagement the Cold War Persuasive Writing and Speaking Space
Reason and argument feldman pdf free pdf#
Kennedy Presidential Library and Museumĭownload this lesson plan, including handouts, in pdf format.