Revised 8/05
Document Based Question on Vietnam
Portfolio Essay Assignment
Honors and Academic Recent American History
Instructions: The following documents chronicle the controversy over America’s long
involvement in the Vietnam War. Carefully read all the documents and then use the
information contained in them to write a persuasive essay that answers this question:
To what extent was U.S. involvement in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973 justified?
These documents should serve as the primary source of information for your essay, and
you must cite information from the documents to support your arguments. You are also
expected to use information from the text and other outside sources. When you write the
essay in class, you will be permitted to use this packet of documents, as well as any
notes that you have written on them. You will NOT be permitted to use any pre-written
essays, outlines, or other printed materials.
Document 1: Speech by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 (Excerpt)
Document 2: Speech by President Lyndon Johnson at John Hopkins University in
1965 (Excerpt)
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Document 3: Speech by Ho Chi Minh to the North Vietnamese National Assembly
in early April, 1965 (Excerpt)
3
Document 4: Statement by senior State Department official George Ball in 1965
(Excerpt)
Document 5: Graph showing U.S. casualties in Vietnam 1961-1974
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Document 6: Excerpt from Le Ly Hayslip’s memoir When Heaven and Earth
Changed Places. Le Ly was twelve years old in 1961 when Viet Cong guerilla
fighters visited her small village, Ky La, in South Vietnam. This is her account
of what happened.
5
Document 7: Speech by Senator Robert F. Kennedy on February 8, 1968 (Excerpt)
Document 8: Photos from My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968.
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Document 9: Gallop Poll Results to the question, “In view of the developments
since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you think the U.S. made a mistake
sending troops to fight in Vietnam?”
Percentage of People Who Answered “No”, by Age
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Document 10: President Richard Nixon’s “Silent Majority” Speech on November 3,
1969 (Excerpt)
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Document 11: Historian George C. Herring, America’s Longest War: The United
States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 (Excerpt)
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