Education Resources at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library
The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning
Center (APLC) at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
is committed to engaging the future leaders of America in the
study of our nation’s democratic processes with the aim of
developing proactive informed, educated, and conscientious
President Reagan saluting as he boards the helicopter at the U.S.
Capitol, Washington , DC on his last day as President, January 20, 1989.
(Photo courtesy of http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/
photographs/large/c51664-20A.jpg. C51664-20A)
President Kennedy once said in a speech: “A man may die,
nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have
endurance without death.” Today it’s clear that the ideas
President Reagan communicated resonated with Americans
when he was elected in 1980, and they still resonate strongly
today. Perhaps Reagan himself communicated it best, when he
reflected that “once you begin a great movement, there’s no
telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and
instead, we changed a world.”
Today President Ronald Reagan’s legacy revolves around his
leadership at the close of the Cold War. It is built upon his
refusal to accept détente between two superpowers armed
citizens and leaders.
The American Presidency and the Cold
War Document Based Question
The theme book website includes an original Document
Based Question (DBQ) developed by the Walter and Leonore
Annenberg Presidential Learning Center (APLC) that borrows
resources from the Presidential Libraries, National Security
Archives and other reputable foundations. The teacher
resources are modeled after rubrics provided at the Advanced
Placement (AP) reading.
To access the DBQ or a complete bibliography, go to www.nhd.
org/themebook.htm.
with weapons capable of creating a nuclear winter. It is built
upon his rejection of the view that America’s standing in
the world was in decline. It is built upon faith in the human
commonality that yearns for freedom and liberty, fundamental
cornerstones of the American people.
Scan for Additional Resources
President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev photo op. at First Meeting in
Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, May 29, 1988. (Photo courtesy of http://
www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/C47249-22.jpg)
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2015
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