"When the children had studied morse code until dots and dashes swamin their heads even with their eyes closed..." Is this a hyperbole or an idiom? I'm pretty sure that this is an idiom.

Your preferation is correct.

Explanation:

It is an idiom because a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words is called an idiom.

Hope this helps

Have a nice day

This an example of hyperbole.

Explanation:

Hyperbole is characterized by exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally,

ex.:  I've told you to clean your room a million times!

ex.:  I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

ex.:  I have a million things to do today.

...while an idiom is a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words

ex.:  It costs an arm and a leg.

ex.:  Would you cut me some slack?

ex.:  She rubbed me the wrong way.

Can you see the difference??

the speech this question is referring to is president kennedy's special message to the congress on urgent national needs, may 25, 1961

kennedy responds in a very direct and concrete way to those thinking that communism is a positive system:

"yet their aggression is more often concealed than open. they have fired no missiles; and their troops are seldom seen. they send arms, agitators, aid, technicians and propaganda to every troubled area. but where fighting is required, it is usually done by others--by guerrillas striking at night, by assassins striking alone--assassins who have taken the lives of four thousand civil officers in the last twelve months in vietnam alone--by subversives and saboteurs and insurrectionists, who in some cases control whole areas inside of independent nations." (kennedy)

president kennedy presents communism as cowardly, as a hidden and treacherous weapon that strikes from the shadows like thieves, he represents the system as not even being capable of showing and open and overt attack or confrontation. to finish up the response, he expresses that the system attacks even a country's idependence and freedom.

showing or suffering from nervousness, fear, or a lack of confidence