In class this week, we finished presentations and did a 3-2-1 Round Robin. I really enjoyed the Round Robin because it was a quick way to learn about many letters, most of which were historic and all of which were interesting and entertaining.
One of the most interesting letters to me was the one from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt. Einstein is advocating for uranium bomb research, even though it is known that he was against usage of nuclear weapons. Aliki mentioned that the way Einstein was talking about Germany indicated that Germany was becoming more of a threat and he thought that having more knowledge of uranium bombs than Germany would give the United States the upper hand. However, after seeing the catastrophic damage of the bomb, Einstein changed his mind.
Another one that caught my eye was Eleanor Roosevelt’s resignation letter to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Previous to this class, the only knowledge I had about the DAR was from Gilmore Girls, and I am quite unsure what it is that they actually do. From this letter, I learned that the DAR was a very racist organization, and this letter was also a prime example of Eleanor Roosevelt’s leadership and her loyalty to her values. I imagine this organization was made up of very respected women, probably with powerful husbands, so it meant a lot that she openly opposed the DAR’s behavior and made her stance known.
Possibly the most entertaining letter to me was the one from James Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton. This is just because I am a die-hard Hamilton fan and I always get excited when anything that is present in the musical shows up in any of my classes. After class, I went a step further and read through the Reynolds pamphlet, which I have never done before. It always tickles me to learn about historical figures’ personal lives because it takes away the lens of them as solely political figures. They were real people and they had things going on in their personal relationships, and they were often quite messy. It’s very entertaining to learn about their drama.