CECsst.199 TITLE: Choosing the Best Candidate AUTHOR: Dianne Gibson, L. D. Bell High School; Hurst, Texas GRADE LEVEL: Appropriate for grades 7-12 OVERVIEW: Because of the influence of the media on students and students decision making, this activity will force them to look at the how and why people choose candidates for public office. OBJECTIVE(s): Students will be able to: 1. Identify their own biases. 2. Describe the values that are important to individuals necessary for selecting an elected official. MATERIALS: The candidate list and a chalkboard is all that is needed. ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES: 1. Place students in groups of five. Each group will select a captain. (The oldest one is a good choice.) 2. Pass out "Characteristics of Candidate" list. 3. The group leader leads the discussion on who would be the best presidential candidate in each of the two groups. This should take about 30 minutes. 4. The teacher will write on the board a chart like the one below and fill it in so that the top candidate becomes obvious. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Candidates _______________________________ 5 l____l____l____l____l____l____l 4 l____l____l____l____l____l____l 3 l____l____l____l____l____l____l 2 l____l____l____l____l____l____l 1 l____l____l____l____l____l____l Group 5. After the number one selection has been made, the teacher reads out the actual names as well as a little information on each candidate. Depending on the age group is how much information is needed. TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: After the information of who is the candidate, there should be a discussion on how important it is to listen to the issues and not select a candidate only on whose "image" has been created. PRESIDENTIAL RECRUITMENT EXERCISE DIRECTIONS: Place students in groups of five and each group will choose a captain. Hand out Characteristics of Candidates list (see the following two pages). Each student reads the basic characteristics of the candidates which is followed by an oral discussion about who would be the best presidential candidate on each of the two candidate lists. The students should pick the five best candidates from among those given. Then as a group, they should decide on their top, number 1 candidates in each group. This will take about 30 minutes. Teacher will write on the board: Sections I through V in columns. Each group should tell their number 1 choice. Once the columns have been filled in, it makes it easier to see who received the number 1 choice in both groups. After the number one selections have been made, the teacher reads out the actual names of the candidates as well as a little information on each candidate. Depending on the ages of the class is how much information is needed. CHOOSING the BEST CANDIDATE #1 Candidate #1 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 43 Marital status: married Education: military academy Religion: Catholic Career: Tailor Professional soldier Chief of military forces Head of state Candidate #2 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 35 Marital status: married Education: attended college, no degree Religion: Catholic Career: Businessman Polished speaker Entertainment 4 Olympic Gold medals Community service Candidate #3 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 57 Marital status: married Education: Finished public school Religion: none Career: Surveyor Farmer Commander of armed forces Captain U.S. Army Candidate #4 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 57 Marital status: married Education: Finished public school Religion: none Career: Member of U.S. House Lawyer State legislator Captain U.S. Army Candidate #5 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 65 Marital status: married Education: Public school Religion: Protestant Career: Teacher Journalist Delegate to U.N. Public speaker Endorsed for Nobel Prize Candidate #6 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 67 Marital status: married Education: 2 yrs. grade school Religion: Deist - one who believes that there is a god Career: Journalist Publisher Scientist Postmaster General V: 1 ACTUAL IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATES NOMINATED BY GROUP 1 CANDIDATE #1 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (1769-1821) Napoleon Bonaparte received a military education and advanced to the head of the French Army. He became emperor of France and conquered most of Europe. As a leader, he had the French Constitution rewritten, stabilized the economy, established a national bank, and improved the educational system. Eventually his army was defeated by the English and their allies. He was captured and exiled to St. Helena off the African coast. CANDIDATE #2 JESSE OWENS (1918-1980) Jesse Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama. His given family name was James Cleveland Owens. His nickname, Jesse, came from his initials, J. C. Owens was the son of a sharecropper. At the age of 7, he moved with his family to Cleveland. Owens excelled in track and field while attending Ohio State University from 1933 to 1936. At a college meet in Ann Arbor Michigan, in 1935, he broke three world records and tied a fourth within 45 minutes. Owens set several world records during his career.Owens eventually went into the public relations business. He worked in community service, especially youth work. Owens traveled widely, giving many speeches that supported clean living, fair play, and patriotism. Owens believed that athletic competition could help solve racial and political problems. CANDIDATE #3 GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799) First president of U.S. Born February 22, 1732 in Wakefield, Va. He was the son of a wealthy Virginia planter. Commander of the American Army during the American Revolution for he believed in the rights of the Colonial assembly. CANDIDATE #4 ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865) After many personal as well as political defeats, he was elected the sixteenth president of the U.S. His term of office was during a very difficult period of American history, the Civil War. His sudden, dramatic death in Ford's Theater made him an American folk hero. His words and his example are used, and still are, to justify the most diverse positions and courses of action. CANDIDATE #5 ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (1884-1962) Wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd president of the U.S. She influenced not only domestic legislation but also the activities of other nations as a U.S. delegate to U.N. as well as a good will ambassador abroad.She was orphaned at age 10 and raised by her grandmother in New York. She grew to be almost six feet tall. She married Franklin and became 1st lady. She did not fade into the background. She started a furniture factory to help the unemployed. After her husband died, she accepted an appointment from President Truman to serve as a member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. CANDIDATE #6 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790) Although he received very little public schooling, Benjamin Franklin was well read in all fields of study. He began as an apprentice to a printer and then moved up to become a newspaper publisher. He is also known for his scientific experiments and inventions. Probably most important, he was a great civic leader in Philadelphia and became very involved in the political climate of the times. He was at one time Minister to France. Franklin is the only person to have signed all of the important documents in the development of the thirteen colonies into one nation: The Treaty of Paris, The Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution. CHOOSING the BEST CANDIDATE #2 Candidate #1 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 30 Marital status: married Education: elementary Religion: Catholic Career: Body guard Businessman Politician Candidate #2 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 37 Marital status: married Education: Morehouse College Boston University, Phd Harvard University, LLD Religion: Protestant Career: Minister Philosophy teacher - Harvard Univ. 1/10 outstanding men Time Magazine Nobel Peace Prize Candidate #3 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 39 Marital status: married Education: traditional school Religion: superstition Career: Priest Writer Army General Public speaker Politician Candidate #4 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 41 Marital status: single Education: elementary Religion: Catholic Career: Artist Architect Politician Chancellor Military leader Candidate #5 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 39 Marital status: single Education: U.T. graduate; Dr. of Laws Religion: Baptist Career: State senator Member of U.S. House House Judiciary Committee Candidate #6 ------------------------------------------------------- Age: 69 Marital status: Divorced; Remarried Education: College B.A. Religion: Christian Career: Union official Public official Radio announcer Entertainment Enterprises V: 1 ACTUAL IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATES NOMINATED BY GROUP 2 CANDIDATE #1 AL CAPONE (1899-1947) Born in 1899 of poor immigrant Italian parents, Al Capone was arrested many times of unlawful acts in early years but was never convicted. He became a notorious gangland leader during the prohibition era. He ordered the St. Valentine Day Massacre of a rival gang, but was never convicted for his part. Eventually he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison for income tax evasion. He died in 1947. CANDIDATE #2 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (1929-1968) An eloquent black Baptist minister who, from the middle 1950's until his assassination in April 1968 led the first mass civil rights movement in U.S. history. He achieved world wide recognition when he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for Peace for his application of the principle of nonviolent resistance--patterned after India's Mahatma Gandhi--in the struggle for racial equality in America. CANDIDATE #3 JULIUS CAESAR (100-44 B.C.) Caesar was one of the most remarkable men in antiquity. He was a highly successful general. As a strategist and tactician he fell short of greatness, but he made up for that with speed and boldness as well as courage. All signs indicate he was extremely sensitive to social and economic problems and was bold enough to attempt new solutions. Caesar was elected to his third consulship, and selected as dictator for 10 years. His name was given to a month of the year (our July). His statue appeared throughout Rome and a temple was built for him. Such a show of power led to his assassination. CANDIDATE #4 ADOLF HITLER (1889-1945) Born in 1889 in Austria, Adolf Hitler was an illegitimate child of a minor Austrian border official. He tried unsuccessfully to become a painter and an artist. He was a decorated hero in World War I. He led an unsuccessful revolt in Austria in early 1920 and served time in prison as a result. He became the head of the NAZI Party of Germany and was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Hitler led that country into World War II and was defeated. He committed suicide in Berlin in 1945. CANDIDATE #5 BARBARA JORDAN (1936- ) In 1972, Democrat Barbara Jordan became the first Black woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. She began her career as a civil lawyer in Houston, with political interests. After being defeated twice for a place in the Texas House of Representatives, she was elected to the Texas Senate. She then served two terms in the United States House of Representatives, and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee. CANDIDATE #6 RONALD REAGAN After graduating from Eureka College, in Illinois, Ronald Reagan began working as a sports announcer for WOO and later for WHO. During a trip to California to cover baseball spring training, an agent from Warner Brothers signed him for his film debut. He moved from a film career to become a spokesman for the General Electric Company to preach his newly developing conservative ideology. He won the governorship of California in 1966 then the U.S. presidency in 1980.