Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check for updated links to U.S. history sites.

Allow eight 45-minute class periods on a traditional bell schedule or four sessions on a 90-minute block schedule.

When taking the multiple-choice portion of the AP* exam, students need to make efficient use of time. If students get stuck on a question, they should scratch out any answer choices they know to be incorrect, circle or star the question in the question booklet—not on the answer sheet—and move on, returning to the question later. Students need to be aware of the number of the question they skip so they can skip the coinciding answer row on the answer sheet.

As students should remember from their study of Chapter 25, "World War II," the United States and the Soviet Union had very different views of the world order after the war. This chapter describes how the Cold War developed and its effects on U.S. domestic policy.

Truman changed the nature of U.S. foreign policy toward the Soviet Union. Whereas Roosevelt used diplomacy, Truman adopted the policy of containment. According to this theory, the Soviet Union and its newly acquired satellite nations would implode over time from the weight of economic and political problems. In hindsight, Truman proved correct. In the meantime, Cold War hostilities with the Soviet Union and China colored U.S. foreign policy for almost 50 years—until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

U.S. involvement in Vietnam is a case study in how Cold War policies drew the United States into interventionist activities. U.S. involvement in Vietnam evolved from the Truman administration through the administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.

Have students make a postwar time line. Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a year from 1944 to 1960. Ask them to list all the major items—political, economic, and social—that occurred in that year. They should refer to as many chapters from the text as necessary, including Chapter 28, to be sure they have included all major events. Either have students work on sheets of paper to hang around the room or on sheets of notepaper to be collected and copied for each student. This time line then becomes a teaching and review tool for the AP* exam.

You might also find these additional readings useful in developing students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities: