DUCK AND COVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(just kidding)

I have begun the interviewing process I have divided my interviews up into two parts the first part is completed I have interview my Mother and Father on their experiences of the heat of the early Cold War around the time of the Bay of pigs and later. My father had the most vivid memory of the time. He told me the soviets where not discussed really in school or his parents didn’t talk to him about the Soviet Union. He did remember though on the television were propaganda commercials. One commercial really stuck out in his mind. He said that it was a commercial telling that behind the iron curtain was the Soviet Union and the Communist and that they Did not believe in God. This was a really prime example of negative propaganda. However during my research I came across files from PBS on Soviet propaganda and in the photos is a picture of a kid with a banner that read “Pioneers sound the alarm if your parents Believe in God!” it was taken in Moscow in 1929. Here is the link it is the last picture on the bottom on the lefthttp://www.pbs.org/redfiles/prop/inv/prop_inv_photos.htm. This Organization could be the seed of the propaganda seen on TV. This is Ironic Only because during the rise of Russia throughout the Middle ages Russia saw themselves as the Heir to the Greek orthodox throne after the fall of Constantinople 1453. My Dad also remembers vividly being extremely frightened of Nuclear War during the time of the Bay of Pigs he was fairly young at the time. My mother did not really remember too much of the Cold war but she remembers doing the Duck and Cover drills at school. This weekend we are traveling to see my Grandparents (my dad’s parents) and my uncles my grandfather is a WWII veteran and Uncles are Vietnam Veterans my second part of the interviews will take place then. For now though I believe this is a very good information.

Questions I would Ask People

For my interview, I would need to interview some people who lived during the cold war. I will interview people like my grandfather who served in World War II and my uncles who served in Vietnam as well as my Mom and Dad who remember the nuclear bomb drills they did in school during the Cold War. Some questions I would ask.

1) In school what was taught about the Soviet Union and communism?
2) Does any Propaganda stick out in your mind from that time?
3) Were you as a person afraid of the Soviet Union?
4) As a reader, could you decipher what was propaganda and what was not?
5) Did you know the government was putting out propaganda?
6) What was some of your thoughts about Joseph McCarthy and his Team used to root out “traitors”?
7) Did your parents ever talked about the Soviet Union to you?
8) As growing up did you ever remember seeing Propaganda in any form? Did you believe this?
9) Over seas, was there propaganda about the Soviets or United States Present?
10) What was the atmosphere like during the Cuban Missile Crisis? What were your views? Did this affect your life?

These are only a few questions I could ask. I like being able to ask my grand parents about more political issues and then talk to my parents or uncles about things they saw when they were little and how they affected them and what were they taught. i am looking in responses that may even be laced with popaganda or to find out a source to where the government was feeding propaganda to the masses