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The Development Of A Handbook For Use In The Selection Of Materials On Communism For Secondary Social Studies Classes, Richard Raymond Olmsted

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Following World War Two, the United States and the Soviet Union became the chief rivals for world leadership. Because of this, communism replaced fascism as the totalitarian ideology of most concern to Americans. This new situation brought with it a series of problems for the public schools: Should secondary schools teach about communism? How should this topic be approached? What materials should be provided for use by high school students?

For a time, public hysteria prevented the logical resolution of these problems. George B. Bruntz describes this period in the following way:

There was a time when the mere mention …