American Experience

Ethics

1. Victims of a WMD attack.

As a class, prepare an exhibit of accounts by people who experienced or witnessed attacks by weapons of mass destruction, such as soldiers who survived poison-gas attacks during World War I, Japanese survivors of the atomic bombings during World War II, or Kurds who were victims of Saddam Hussein’s chemical-weapons attacks in the 1980s. Find brief quotations that describe what these attacks were like and the death and destruction they caused. Illustrate your exhibit with maps of the affected areas, a timeline of WMD attacks, and/or photographs.

When you are done, view the exhibit as a class and discuss whether this activity has affected your personal views regarding whether the use of weapons of mass destruction could ever be justified. In your view, are some weapons so terrible they should never be used under any circumstances, or are there situations (such as self-defense) under which any weapon could be considered acceptable? Use examples from your exhibit to support your views.

2. Testing in secret.

Not until 1977 did Americans learn that the U.S. government had conducted secret tests in various locations across the country during prior decades to determine the country’s vulnerability to biological attack. How might Americans have reacted if information about the tests had leaked out when they were being conducted?

Have each student choose one of the following years in which tests were conducted: 1949, 1950, 1953, 1957, 1965, or 1966. Each student should find out about key events that occurred in the United States or abroad during his or her chosen year and that might have influenced Americans’ attitudes toward the testing. Then have each student write two letters to the editor — one expressing support for the testing, one expressing opposition to it — in the context of those “recent” events.

Have volunteers read their letters aloud to the class. Did the arguments for and against the testing vary much from year to year? Do students think that the American public would have demanded a halt to the testing if the tests had become public during one of these years?