America Goes to War

Have you ever wondered why we refer to the Americans who lived through World War II as the “Greatest Generation”? This is due in part to the great sacrifices made by the American military and civilians at home. Many presidential speeches made during this time inspired and rallied Americans to victory.

In this activity, you will read speeches made by two American presidents during World War II, identifying the speeches’ central ideas and citing textual evidence from the primary sources that support their central ideas. First, you will learn how to identify the main idea and cite textual evidence that supports it. Then, you will complete practice, review and assessment activities to demonstrate your mastery of the reading skills.

Module Objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Accurately determine the central idea and provide a summary of how key ideas develop over the text.
• Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of a primary source text.