The College at Brockport: State University of New York
Digital Commons @Brockport
Education and Human Development Master's
Theses
Education and Human Development
8-21-2008
The Vietnam War Era's Impact on American
Society
Anthony Scott
The College at Brockport
Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/ehd_theses
Part of the Secondary Education and Teaching Commons
To learn more about our programs visit: http://www.brockport.edu/ehd/
Recommended Citation
Scott, Anthony, "The Vietnam War Era's Impact on American Society" (2008). Education and Human Development Master's Theses.
Paper 412.
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Education and Human Development at Digital Commons @Brockport. It has been
accepted for inclusion in Education and Human Development Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @Brockport. For
more information, please contact [email protected].
The Vietnam War Era's Imp a ct on American Society
By
Anthony S cott
A th e s i s submitted to
the
Department of Education and Human
Development of the State Univers ity of New Y o r k College at
Brockport in pa rtia l f ulfil lment of the requirement s for
the degre e of M a s t er of Science in Education
Augu s t
21,
2008
2
The Vietnam War Era ' s Imp a ct on American S o c i ety
By Anthony S cott
Approved by :
fJ.:(f·t
v
Date
Graduate Committee
Date
3
Abs tract
Thi s the s i s l ooks at the Vietnam War and the impa ct i t
h ad on Ame r i c an s o c i e t y.
The pap e r f i r s t t a ke s a b r i e f
l o o k at what other h i s t o r i an s have written about Vi e tnam
and the s ch o l a rship that current l y exi s t s on the t op i c .
My
o r i ginal s ch o l arship f ocu s e s on the TET o f f ens ive and the
imp act t he media had on the P r e s idency o f Lyndon John s on .
Even though t he United Stat e s w a s victorious dur i ng the TET
o ffens ive, it proved t o the Amer i can pub l i c that the Viet
Cong would no t concede defeat and at that crit i c a l point
pub l i c opinion changed and s upport f o r the War waned
dramat i cal l y .
Fina l l y, thi s t he s i s l o o ks at t e a chi ng the
Vietnam War to h i gh s chool s tudent s .
I created a
P ro f e s s i on a l P ort f oli o o f r e s ources, ut i l i z ing Howard
Gardne r ' s theory of mul t ip l e int e l l i gences, u s able i n the
c l a s sr oom t o enhance s tudent l e a rning .
4
Table of Contents
Chapt er One : H i s t o r i o graphy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chap t e r Two : The TET O f f e n s i ve
31
Chap t e r Three : I nt roduct ion to the Port fol i o .
54
Pro fe s s i onal Port fo l i o . . .
58
Proj ect Summary .
Bibli ography
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
80
.
84
5
Chapter One:
Historiography
" T o h i s t o ry h a s been given the t a s k o f j udging the
p a s t , o f i n s t ructing men for the benefit of future years.
The pre s ent att empt do e s not inspire to such a l o ft y
unde rtaking.
It me r e l y w i s h e s to show how things happened
i n t h e i r own right . "1
T h i s quo t a t i on from Leopo l d Von
Ran ke , about the h i s t ory of the Latin and �eut o n i c peopl e ,
a l s o rings t rue t o the Viet nam War i n Ameri can h i s t o ry.
Many have pa s s ed j udgment on the quagmire into wh ich
Vietnam turned, but as h i s t or i ans s a y , h inds i ght i s a lways
twenty-twent y .
I t i s s ome t ime s e a s y to l o o k pa st event s
and que s t ion the intent i ons o f t h o s e in o f f i ce that made
the de c i s i on to s end troops to Vietnam .
Nea r l y t h i rt y - f ive
yea r s have pa s s ed s ince the l a s t t roops came home in 1 9 7 4
a n d h i s t o r i ans are b e g i nning t o t a c kl e t h e d i f fi cu l t ta s k
o f ana l y z i ng the Vietnam War and i t s impact on Ame r i can
culture .
There have been a number o f diffe rent h i s t o r i c a l
i nt e rpretat ions o f Vietnam and t h i s paper w i l l a ttempt t o
place t h e Vietnam W a r i n a h i s to r i c a l cont e xt b y fo cu s ing
on what h i s t o rians have wri tten about Vietnam .
1 David Kaiser, American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War (Cambridge,
Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000), 1.
6
I n o rde r to look at what h i s t or i an s have wr i t ten
Vietnam,
it is imperat ive t o inve st igate s ome o f the cau s e s
of t h e w a r.
T he Vietnam Wa r was a rguably t he mo s t divis ive
war in Ame r i ca n h i s t o ry.
Many rema ined supp o rt ive o f the
mi l i t a ri e s a t t empt to s ave South Vietnam from the communi st
N orth Vi e t nam,
led by Ho C hi Minh ; howeve r , there were
other individu a l s who bel ieved the Uni ted S t a t e s had no
busine s s b e i ng in Vietnam.
The Ame r i can gove rnment
b e l i eved Southeast A s i a was the key to cont a i ning communi sm
and d e f e a t i ng the Soviet Uni on.
Ame r i can involvement in
Vietnam can be traced b a c k to the 195 0 s when Vi e t nam w a s
s t i l l under French cont rol.
The Un ited Stat e s re a l i z e d
even t h e n h o w s i gni f i cant Southe a s t As i a wa s i n h op e s o f
conta i n i ng communi sm a n d winning t h e C o l d Wa r�
China had
'
recent l y f a l l e n t o communism and the U.S. wanted t o ensure
that the re s t of As ia rema i ned democrat i c and p r o -We s t .
Becaus e o f everything that had o ccurred in
y i etnam the
United S t a t e s de cided to s end t roops t o Vietnam i n 1962.2
The Vietnam War can be vi ewed a s an ext en s i on o f the
pol i c i e s emp l o yed in Southea s t As i a from the end of WW I I to
the 197 0 s when Ame ri can troops were fi n al l y b rought home.
P r e s i dent Lyndon B. John s on moved away from t h e p o l i cies o f
h i s predece s s o r , John F . Kennedy , a n d decided t o u s e
2
Ibid. ' 3.
7
mi l i t a ry force whe re Kennedy and the admi n i s t r a t i o n before
him b e l i eved mi l i tary act ion was not wa rrant ed.3
Kennedy
knew he did not have t he s upport from Ame r i can a l lies in
Europe and that d i s s uaded from t a king a c t i o n , John son felt
h e needed t o u s e mi l it ary force , bel ieving Vietnam wa s the
key to containing communi sm.
Johns on b e l i eved he had t o
a c t because he f e a red i f he app e a s ed North Vietnam, the
problem faced by the B r i t i sh and the French during WWI I
would be probl ems faced by Ame r i c a t h i s t ime around.4
The Vietnam War was controve r s i a l , but even
individual s opp o s e d to the War b e l i eved the Uni t e d S t a t e s
would be vict o r i ous.
North Vietnam was a sma l l country
that would be unab l e t o c ompete with the s up e r i o r mi l i tary
force of the Uni t e d S t a t e s .
T h e U.S. mi s c a l cu l a t e d a
number o f things howeve r , and the Viet Cong proved to be a
much tougher opponent than init i a l l y expect ed.
They were
able to recruit new memb e r s much e a s i e r and qui c k e r than
the U.S. ant i cipa t e d , whi ch meant even as body count s for
the Viet Cong incre a s ed t h e dead were qui c kly repla ced by
new recru i t s .
I n addi t i on , the Un ited S t a t e s wa s unab l e to
s t r i ke a ma j or blow to t h e Viet Cong ' s mi l i t a r y s t rength
becaus e the Viet Cong l aunched the i r bigge st o f f e n s ive
3 Ibid. '485.
4
Ibid. '486.
8
three ye a r s into the Wa r , the TET o f fens ive o f 1 968 .
Pub l i c support suffered at home because i t wa s be c oming
incre a s ingly c lear t hat the war was going to be d rawn out
l onge r than anyone had ant i c ipat ed.
Los ing pub l i c support
at home was a ma j or down f a l l of the Vietnam War b e c a u s e
t r o o p s going ove r s e a s were n o w f a c i n g a dis grunt l ed
Ame r i can pub l i c that l o o ked at them a s baby ki l l e r s . 5
Many people have argued the U . S . was s imply fighting
t o i l lu s t r a t e i t s dominance t o the rest o f the w o r l d ,
e spe c i a l l y a f t e r t h e s t a lemat e in the Korean W a r i n the
1 95 0 s .
After years o f f i ghting i n Southe a s t As i a howeve r ,
the U . S . w a s unable t o c l a im victory, and i t w a s appa rent
on the home front that the country was ready for p e a c e .
The Ame r i can people we r e s imp l y t i red o f t h e i r brothers
being s ent t o their death f or a l o s ing war ; which wa s made
qui t e c l e a r to newl y e l e ct e d Pre s ident Richard Ni xon ; the
Ame r i can people were ready for pe ace.
It would t a ke unt i l
197 4 b e fore American troops we re_f i n a l l y brought h ome .
Nixon p le dged to de-e s c a l a t e the war when he t o o k o ff i ce ,
but i n s te ad sent troops into C ambodi a , s omething h e
p romi s e d n o t to do , b�t t h e d ark days o f t h e Vietnam War
were f i na l l y over.6
5 Ibid.
6
Ibid.
,
,
490-491.
492.
Thi s pape r wi l l now t a ke an i n-depth
9
look a t what h i s t o rians have had to s a y about the Vie tnam
War and i t s imp l i cat ions Ame rican culture .
The f i r s t area t o be di s cus s e d i s t he impact t he
Vietnam War had on foreign p o l i c y befo r e , during , and a fter
· the W a r .
Viet nam had a profound impact on Ame r i c a n fore ign
p o l i c y for ye a r s before actual invo lvement i n South e a s t
As i a , and i t s impact on foreign pol icy i s s t i l l b e ing f e l t
· today .
One could ma ke the argument that no other war in
Ameri can h i s to ry has had as s i gn i f i cant an impact on how
the Uni t e d S t a t e s perce ived i t s p l a ce as a g l obal power .
Vietnam h a s made Amer ican Pres ident s rethink s ending troops
into combat without the s upport of the Ame rican.p e op l e , and
without s upport from the United Nat ions .
A key p l aye r in Ame r i can foreign p o l i cy . duri ng the
Vietnam War w a s Senator Wi l l i am Fu lbright , who wa s the
Cha i rman of the S enate Foreign Re l at i ons Commi t t e e .
H i s t o r i a n Wi l l i am Berman t o o k an in-depth l o o k at the
pol i c i e s o f Fulbri ght .
The a im o f h i s boo k wa s t o
i l l u s t r a t e t he impact the Viet nam War had on Fulbr i ght , and
to bring into the l a rger cont ext of how the War a f fected
h i s deci s i ons regarding Ame ri can fore i gn p o l i c y .
Fulbright
had never been in favor of Johns on' s deci s i on to s end
t roops t o Vi e tnam during the e a r l y 196 0 s , however , h i s
thinking underwent a met amo rpho s i s and he became o n e o f the
10
mo s t influent i a l individua l s in the ant iwa r movement.7
B e rman ' s focus i s on what caused thi s s h i ft i n Fulbright ' s
thin king.
In 1966 Fulbright became apprehens ive about
Ame r i c a ' s role as a g l ob al powe r ; he b e l i eved there were
more pre s s ing i s s ues f a cing the count ry, s uch a s s t r i ki ng
s ome s ort o f bal ance between the economy and the Ame r i can
p o l i t i ca l s ys t em, hoping that big bus ine s s and gove rnment
could co-ex i s t.
Berman i l lus trated how Fu lbright bel i eved
that Vietnam was d i c t a t i ng too much o f Ame r i c an fore ign
p o l i cy.
According t o Berman :
"Hence , he ( Fulbri ght ) urged pol i cy ma kers t o come t o
t e rms with that rea l it y b y avoiding fruit l e s s mi l it a ry
intervent ions that d id l i t t l e other than s quander and
to waste valuable human and economi c r e s ources at home and
abroad."8
Berman showed how Fulbright , a s a p o l i t i c a l rea l i s t , had
h i s views changed b y what w a s occurring i n Vi etnam .
Hi s t o r i an Randa l l Bennett Woods a l s o cent ered h i s view
of Cold War fore i gn p o l i cy on the ide a s of Wi l l i am
Fulbright.
He i l l u s t ra t e s Fulbright ' s i n s i s t ence that U.S.
fore i gn pol i cy was b e c oming far too mi l i t a r i s t i c.
The
Uni ted S t a t e s was at a c ro s s roads as a global sup e r powe r ,
and Fulbright b e l i eved V ietnam i l lust rated that Ame r i can
7
William Berman, William Fulbright and the Vietnam War: The Dissent o fa Political Realist (Kent, OH:
The Kent State University Press, 1988), 2.
8 Ibid.' 197.
11
fore i gn p o l i cy wa s beginning a downward spi r al.
Woods
s hows how Fulbri ght s poke out again st the Vietnam War in
1966 , hop i ng to educate the Ame r i can pub l i c.
He furt h er
dep i c t s how Fulbright b e l i eved t h e U.S. wou l d be b e t t e r o f f
a l lowing nations to fol low n a t i ona l i s t i c goa l s i n s t e a d o f
pushing democracy on a peop l e t h a t wa s n o t int e r e s t e d in
l iving i n a democra cy.
America would benefit grea t ly f rom
accep t i ng China and Vi etnam a s communi st nat i ons and by
u s ing diplomacy to arrange a compromi s e.9
Fulbri ght
b e l i eved that l i ke many great nat ion s that ove r e xt ended
thems e l v e s in their f oreign p o l i c i e s ; the United S t a t e s w a s
o n a decl ine ma king the s ame mi s t a ke s nations l i ke Britain
and France had made i n the pa s t , whi ch wou ld lead to the
de c l i n e o f the United States as a ma j or superpower.
When l o o king at fore ign p o l i c y i t i s a l s o imperat ive
to e xp l ore aome o f the works written short ly a f t e r the
Vi etnam War t o capture how Ame ri cans were thinking at the
end of the War.
H i s t o r i a n S imon S e r faty o f fer s i n s i ght
int o C o l d Wa r fore i gn p o l i c y and how i t wa s app l i e d to
Vietnam.
He ar gues that Ame r i cans were l o o king t o l imit
involvement abroad in the 196 0 s be l i eving that Ame r i ca was
intervening in out s ide a f f a i r s to frequent ly.
Ame r i cans
9 Randall Bennett Woods, J. William Fulbright, Vietnam, and the Search for a Cold War Foreign Policy
(Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 124-126.
12
were a l s o be coming s kepti cal o f the government during the
1960 s , no l onger did individua l s t a ke what the gove rnment
s a i d as t he t rut h ; people were beginning to que st ion their
l eade r s open l y .
S e rfaty i l lu s t r a t e s how individua l s
displayed more act ivi sm against p o l i c i e s they bel i eved were
hurting the count ry . 10
I n r e cent years· Ame r i can foreign p o l i cy· h as been
a f fected by what h appened in Vietnam during the 196 0 s and
early 197 0 s .
Richard Me l an s on l o o k s at how Amer i c a h as
s e a rched f o r a new f oreign p o l i c y s ince the en d o f th e War .
The negat ive pub l i ci t y that surrounded the Vietnam cau sed
future Pres ident s to hav e to convince Congre s s an d the
pub l i c to t ru s t t h e i r new fore ign p o l i c i e s .
Trust i s not
e a s i l y earned and becau s e o f Vietnam, many i n the pub l i c
s phere have been apprehens ive o f n e w gove rnment p o l i c i e s .
During the Reagan admini s t rat ion many o f the p o l i c i e s
revolved a r o und the i d e a o f creating t ru s t w i t h Amer i c a .
Reagan w a s i n o f f i ce during the waning ye a r s o f the Cold
War s o he could s t i l l u s e ant i - communi s t rhetori c , but he
had tread l i ght l y , he knew that he had t o stay away from
any fore i gn p o l i c i e s that woul d remind the Ame r i can pub l i c
o f Vietnam.
10
Acco rding to Me l ans on " B y r i d i cu l ing riva l
Simon Serfaty, The Elusive Enemy: American Foreign Policy since World War II ( Boston, MA: Little,
Brown and Company, 1972), 16-18.
13
g ove rnment s and lavishing p r a i s e on the Ame r i ca n peop le ,
Reagan w a s able to p u r sue an e s s en t i a l l y cautious fore ign
p o l i c y that largely r e p l a ced deeds with words." 1 1
Reagan
wa s unable to use de c i s ive force because Ame r i c a n s were
t i red o f wa r.
Me la nson i l lu s t r a t e d how d i f f i cu l t it w a s f o r
P r e s ident B i l l C l i nt o n , who inhe r i t ed a number o f foreign
r e l a t i on p roblems ,
i n c luding problems with N o rth Kore a ,
S oma l i a , and Rus s ia.
The p roblems in Soma l i a p roved to be
the tough e s t because they reminded many Ame r i c a n s of
Vi etnam.
There were di f ference s , the U.S. w a s no longer
l o o king to conta i n c ommu n i sm as it had during the 1 960 s ,
but the mi l i tary w a s deployed to fi ght a b a t t l e in which
many b e l i eved Ame r i c a had no bus i ne s s bei ng invo l ved.
Even
with Vietnam well in t h e pa s t , P r e s i dent s have faced
p r e s sure ba s ed on f or e i gn p o l i cy dec i s ions because they do
n o t want to ma ke a mi s t a ke and get the U.S� mi l i tary
involved in the next Vietnam.1 2
The a ffect Vi e t n am had on fore i gn p o l i c y h as been an
important avenue of r e s ea r ch but h i s torians h ave a l s o
l o o ked a t how the V i e tn am W a r imp a ct e d l i fe i n Ameri ca.
Vietnam a l t e red the way Ame r i cans vi ewed the r o l e of the
11
Richard A. Melanson, American Foreign Policy Since the Vietnam War: The Search for Consensus from
Nixon to Clinton (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996), 296.
12
Ibid. 298.
,
14
mi l i t a r y and how it s h oul d be u s ed in fore ign con f l i ct s.
The antiwar movement b rought many i s su es to the people and
united a l a rge number o f col lege s t uden ts behind one c au s e ,
ending t h e Wa r and b r i nging Amer i c an s o ldiers home.
The
War a l s o had a dramat i c impact on the l ive s of the s oldiers
s ent t o fight i n a War they were not neces s a r i l y
s upport i ng.
Pe op l e b egan to rethi n k the idea o f the draft
a nd how i t a f fected thous ands o f l ive s .
T h e antiwar movement dur ing the Vietnam W a r wa s the
l arge s t and l onge s t ant iwa r campa ign , spanning roughl y from
196 5 - 1972 .
H i s t o r i an Melvin Sma l l b e l i eve s that Ame r i cans
f e l t they were performing their patriot i c duty by
prot e s t ing the Wa r.
Ame r i cans had a civic re spon s i b i l i t y
t o spe a k o u t aga i n s t the inj u s t i c e s o f the Vietnam War.
According t o Sma l l , "although never abl e to create enough
p re s s u r e on deci s i on ma kers to end the U.S involvement in
the Wa r ,
it s e rved a s a ma j or cons tr a int on the i r abi l i t i e s
t o e s ca l at e.n1 3
One o f t h e ma j or a ims o f t h e antiwar
movement was to keep p r e s sure on Congre s s i n hope s of
de e s ca l at i ng the War.
Sma l l a l s o focu s e d on how the antiwar movement became
a ma s s movement.
I ndividu a l s in every wa l k o f l i fe were
13 Melvin Small, Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War and the Battle for America's Hearts and Minds (
Wilmington, Delaware: A scholarly Resource Inc. Imprint, 2002), 1.
15
opp osed t o the War.
I t s e emed antiwar s ent iment s
encomp a s s e d every a s p e ct o f da i ly l i fe f o r many Ame r i cans.
Sma l l shows how women , African Ameri cans , and even forme r
s o ldiers were becomin g part o f the fi ght to end the Wa r.
This put pre s sure on the Johns on admini s t ra t i on to
dis credit the antiw ar movement in hop e s o f regai ning s ome
pub l i c support. John s on u s e d the CIA in an a t t empt to l i nk
the antiwar movement to commun i s t s l iving in the Soviet
Union.
He b e l ieved t h e antiwar was being financed by
communi s t s l iving out s i de o f the count r y; they were not ,
and unab l e t o provide thi s l i n k Johnson could not ful l y
dis credit the movement.
T he antiwar movement a c tua l l y
ga ined s t rength during t h e t ime they were being
inve s t igated b y the C I A.1 4
Sma l l did a ma s t e r fu l j ob o f
i l lu s t rating h o w the antiwar movement p u t a g r e a t d e a l o f
p r e s sure on the Johns on admini s t ra t i on.
It i s a l s o import ant to l o o k at the impact the Vi etnam
War had on the l iv e s o f the s oldiers who were s ent int o
batt l e.
H i s t o r i a n John Helmer has t a ken an i n-depth l o o k
at Vietnam a n d the s o l d i e r s that were s ent t o S outhea s t
A s i a.
Vi etnam , more s o than any other War , l e ft a l a s t ing
impre s s i on on tho s e who were a p a rt of the combat. Many
veterans f e l l vict im to s ub s tance abu s e p robl ems when they
14
Ibid. 60-64.
,
-16
came home; many o f t h e s e individu a l s were looking fo r ways
to cope with the horrible t h ings they s aw during c ombat .
Helme r a l ludes t o t he fact that t h e mi l i t a ry t o l e r a t e d
ma rijuana u s e a s l ong a s i t did not a f fect a s o l d i e r ' s
performance . However, dur ing t he Vi etnam War h e r o i ne u s e
became rather he avy among s o l d i e r s .
He point s out that
close t o 10 percent o f tho s e in drug t reatment a f t e r the
Wa r were vet e r ans . 1 5
Wh i l e t h i s is not an a s t ronom i c a l
figure, i t demons t r a t e s h o w drug u s e in Vietnam l e d t o
problems f o r s oldiers when they returned home .
Helme r a l s o di s cu s s ed the r o l e o f Vietnam ve t e rans in
the ant iwar movement when they r e t u rned from combat .
ma in a im of the Vietnam V et e rans Again s t the Wa r
The
(VVAW ) was
to gain enough media pub l i c i t y to a t t ract new memb e r s .
In
gaining media att ent i on t h e y were a b l e t o a t t r a ct other
s o ldiers t o speak out a g a i n s t t he War .
Helme r a l s o
i l lu s t rated how vet erans were not only loo king f o r an
immediate end t o the War, but a l s o for change s in the
po l i t i ca l s y s t em that would keep another Vietnam f rom ever
o ccurring in the futu r e . 1 6
H i s w o r k helped show how many
veterans r e a l l y f elt about t he Vi e tnam War .
15 John Helmer, Bringing the War Home: The American Soldier in Vietnam and After (New York, NY: The
Free Press: A Division of Macmillan Publishing Co. , Inc., 1974), 84.
16
Ibid., 94.
17
H i s t o r i a n s have a l s o l o o ked at the African Ame r i can
expe rience in the Vi etnam Wa r.
Many people b e l i eved the
Vi etnam Wa r o f fered African Ame r i can s the opportunity t o
join the mi l i t ary and f ight s i de by s i de w i t h white
s o ldi e r s .
African Ame ri cans would then have t h e chance t o
b r e a k many o f t h e ste reotype s that had pl agued t hem,
including the idea that the l a c ke d di s cipl ine and
inte l l i gence .
Fighting in the s ame uni t s a s wh i t e s o ldiers
would g ive African Ame r i cans t he chance t o p rove the i r
e qua l i t y .
H i s to r i an Jame s W e s t he i de r b e l i eve s t h i s was not
the ca s e and has chroni cled a number of r a c i a l incident s
that p l a gued t he mi l i t a r y f rom 1968 - 197 3 . 17
We s the ide r i l lu s t rat ed the viol ence that wa s t a king
p l a c e by di s cu s s i ng a ra c i a l l y charged r i ot that occurred
on Camp Lejeune, North Carol ina .
The riot, i n i t i ated by
African Ame r i can and Hi spanic s o ldiers, wa s s ympt omat i c o f
the ra c i a l probl ems that . we re p l a guing many mi l i t a ry
ins t a l l a t i on s at home and abroad .
On mi l i t ar y b a s e s a l l
over t h e count ry there w a s r a c i a l t ens i0n w a i t i ng t o
expl ode .
W e s t h e i der b el ieves t h i s s t emmed f rom the bl ack
power movement and many Afri can Ame r i cans fe e l in g out o f
p l a c e and threat ened b y whi t e s o l d i e r s, s o they i n turn
17 James E. Westheider, Fighting on two Fronts: African Americans and the Vietnam War (New York, NY:
NewYorkUniversityPress, 1997), 3 .
18
created group s b a s e d on race pride and s o l i dar i t y . 1 8
There
were a numbe r o f di f ferent fact o r s that cont ributed t o th i s
racial viol ence.
The bigge s t be ing the de at h o f Ma rtin
Luther King, Jr . and the behavior exhib i t e d by many wh i t e s
after thi s t rag ic event.
African Ame ricans were incensed
with rage by the behavior o f white s o l d i e r s upon h e a r ing of
King ' s a s s a s s inat i on .
Thi s was not the only f a c t o r but it
p l a yed a s ign i f i cant role in the racial t e n s i o n p r e s ent on
many mi l i t a r y b a s e s .
Me a s uring t h e e f fect o f combat o n
s o ldie r s in Vie tnam c a n be a d i f f i cult t a s k.
C l e a r l y,
Vietnam h a s had s ome imp a ct on the l ive s o f the s e s o ldiers,
whi ch can be mea s ured b y the number o f vet e rans that have
been treated for drug prob l ems.
t o put these s o ldi e r s '
H i s t o r i ans have a t t empted
s t o r i e s into a coherent d i s course of
the Vietnam Wa r, and on a who l e they have s ucce eded.
Vi etnam has had a p r o.found impact . o n Ame r i can culture .
The Vietnam Wa r wa s engrained into the minds o f mo s t
Ameri cans because o f t h e extens ive media coverage o f the
War.
Vietnam wa s cove red more than any other War and
Ame r i cans we re s e e ing f oot age from the War for the f i r s t
t ime in Amer i can h i s t ory.
H i s t o rian Che s t e r Pach, Jr.
t a c kle d the di ffi cu l t i s s ue o f t h e medi a ' s r o l e in the
Vietnam Wa r.
18 Ibid. , 94-95.
He b e l i ev e s the media did a b e t t e r job of
19
repre s enting t he War f or what i t truly wa s "a confus ed,
fragmented, and que s t i onab l e endeavo r . "19 Pach b e l i ev e s many
inte l le c tua ls were be i ng ove rly c r i t i cal of the med i a
becau s e thi s was t h e f i r s t w a r the media h a d t r i e d t o
t ac k l e, and in h i s opinion t h e y d i d an acceptab l e job.
The
me di a a l l owed individu a l s to draw the i r own conne ct i on s
b a s e d on the footage t h e y were s e e ing .
Pach admi t s t h i s
informa t ion w a s b i a s e d a n d t h e pub l i c wa s n o t b e i ng t o l d
eve ryth i ng but t h e med i a s t i l l gave a pi cture o f the War
the pub l i c had neve r seen b e f ore . 2 0
P a ch did a ma s t e r fu l job o f i l l u strat ing how the medi a
a f fected individua l s ' percept i ons o f th e Wa r wheth er th ey
knew it did or not .
I t wou l d be d i f f i cult t o get an
accurate number of people who wou ld admit how t e l ev i s ion
cove rage a f fected t h e i r b el i e f s on the W9r, but there seems
to be a correlation w i t h the increa s e of Wa r prot e s t o r s and
the increa s ed news cove rage a ft e r the TET o f fens ive .
Whether people were w i l l in g t o admi t i t or not t e l evi s i on
coverage o f the Vietnam Wa r a f fected their pe rcept ions o f
t he Wa r . 2 1
Ame r i can culture h a s b een s carred by the event s o f the
Vietnam War.
The Vietnam·wa r had a drama t i c e f fect on the
1 9 Chester Pach, Jr. David Farber, The Sixties: From Memory t o History (Chapel Hill, NC: The University
ofNorth Carolina Press, 1994), 91.
20
Ibid ., 91.
21
Ibis., 111-112.
20
way Ame r i cans vi ewed t h e i r .p l a c e in the world .
Aft e r WW I I
mo s t Ame r i ca n s b e l i eved the United S t a t e s had a divine
.
obl i ga t i o n to spread democracy t hroughout the worl d .
Hi s t o r i an Fred Turner i l lu s t r a t e s how t h i s s e n s e o f purp o s e
wa s s h a t t e red by t h e Vie tnam War .
Vietnam l e ft many
American's que s t i oning whether or not the count ry should be
involved in so many fore ign con f l i ct s . Young Ame ricans,
mo s t l y c o l l e ge s tuden t s , · were infuriated because they
be l i eved the r i ch waged the WAR and the poor fought i t .
Thi s d i s cont ent l ed to the l a r ge s t antiwar movement i n
Ameri can h i s t o ry and c a u s e d a g r e a t cultural divide . 2 2
Turn e r f e l t the Uni t ed S t a t e s w a s c l o s e t o c o l l ap s e in
1968 b e c a u s e o f the TET o f fens ive, the a s s a s s i nat i on of
Dr.
King and Rob e r t Kennedy ; the Amer i can way o f l i fe was
facing a direct a t t a ck . 23
Turner shows how Ame ri cans became
apprehe n s ive o f the i r l e ade r s during the 196 0 s , f e e l ing
they we re being mi s l ed .
T h i s had a direct a f fect on how
America ns pe rce ived thems e l v e s , no l onger was Ame r i c a an
unt oucha b l e supe rpowe r, and for many Ameri cans t h i s wa s
difficult t o comprehend .
Turner de s cribes Ameri can
sentiment during t he 196 0 s a s being caut iou s l y opt imi s t i c,
22 Fred Turner, Echoes ofCombat: The Vietnam War in American Memory (New York, NY: Anchor
Books: Doubleday, 1994), 31.
23 Ibid.
21
but at the same t ime damaged from the event s o f t h e Vietnam
War . 24
I n t e l l ectua l s have a l s o had a great deal t o s a y about
the Vi e tnam War .
Pre s i dent Kennedy made sure he had th e
best minds o f h i s t ime at his disposal, and many o f t h e s e
individua l s changed t h e i r v i ews becau s e o f t he Vi etnam Wa r .
H i s t o ri a n Robert R . T ome s be l i eve s Vietnam trans fo rmed the
way int e l l e ct u a l s vi ewed the world .
Tome s fee l s that
Vietnam split the way people think into two, there w a s no
l onger a consensus as t h e re had been in p revious wars .
Acc o rding t o Tome s
" T o the nat i on ' s mo s t a c t ive minds, Vi e tnam was not only a
speci fic po�i cy ma t t e r but much more .
I t was a s ymbol i c
and h i s t o r i c event whi ch, t aken a s a who l e, reve a l e d the
e s s ence o f Ame r ican ide a l s and the cap a c i t y o f Ame ri can
ide a s . "25
The Cold War w a s a c rus a de ag ainst communi sm and f o r many
int e l lectua l s t h i s was the good fi ght, however, as Vi etnam
became more drawn out than any one ant i c ipated th e i r
thinking a l s o began t o change .
Tome s bel i eve s t h i s change in thinking brought about
the end of the l ib e ra l i sm of the 195 0 s and 1960 s and
introduced Ame rica to the neo-con s e rvat i sm s t i l l p r e s ent
toda y .
In the 196 0 s l ib e ra l s were vi ewed a s ide a l i s t i c
24 Ibid., 34.
25 Robert R. Tomes, Apocalypse Then: American Intellectual and the Vietnam War, 1954-19 75 (New York,
NY: New York University Press, 1998), 2-3.
22
ant iwar act ivi s t s, be l i eving that the Uni ted S t a t e s was
ove r s t epping i t s bounds .
Thinking l i ke t h i s s t a rt ed
int e l l e c t u a l s on a crus ade t o p rove that the War was wrong
and spent much of t h e i r energy on the antiwar movement .
Aft e r the War was ove r the idea l i sm o f the 196 0 s was
c l e a r l y gone and replaced w i t h a neo- conservat ive view o f
Ame r i c a .
I n t h i s Ameri ca, t h e re would be no mo re cru s ade s
l i ke V i e tnam; there fore, l ib e ra l i sm was dead in the
int e l l ectua l realm . 2 6
T ome s o f f e r s an int er e s t i ng t a ke on
how Vie tnam changed int e l l e ct u a l thinking during t h e yea r s
fol l owing t h e Vietnam Wa r .
The neo-conservat i sm Tome s
spo ke o f i s s t i l l being f e l t t oday .
Many writers cho s e t o focus s o l e ly on the Amer i can
exp e r i ence in Vietnam f a i l ing t o con s i der how the War
a f f e ct e d the l ives o f those l iving i n Vietnam .
Many
individu a l s have a l s o f a i l e d to l o o k at why the Vi e t Cong
was v i c t o r i ous; ins t e ad, t h e y focused on Ame r i can
inept i t ude .
H i s t orian W i l l i am J . Dui ker exp l ored the o t h er
s i de of the coin,
focu s ing on the imp a ct o f the War' h ad o n
th e Vietname se, and how they a r e s t i l l coping w i th th e
r es u l ts o f the Wa r,
s imi l a r t o h o w many Ameri cans ar e s t i l l
l e a rning t o cope with t h e event o f Vietnam . 2 7
26
Ibid., 233-234.
H e focus ed a
27 William Duiker, Ed. Kenton Clymer, The Vietnam War: Its History, Literature and Music (El Paso, TX:
Texas Western Press, 1998), 42.
23
great de a l o f a t t ention t o the ide a that the North
Vietname s e did not learn the ri ght l e s s on s from the War in
Vietnam .
They became arrogant,
f e e l ing invincible, a ft e r
t h e Wa r .
The North Vietname s e only needed t o l o o k at what
happened t o the U nit ed S t a t e s a ft e r WWI I, f o r a l e s s on i n
what not t o do .
The U . S . b e l i eved they had t o spread
democracy t hroughout the wo rld, wh i ch later led t o de feat
in Viet nam .
Dui ker contends that North Vietnam should have
t a ken a l e s s on from the U . S . and focused mo r e a t t en t i on t o
nation buil ding i n s t e a d o f loo king t o f o rm mi l it a ry
a l l iances . 28
Dui ke r brings up a number o f inte r e s t ing
points but a t t ime ma ke s a s s e r t i o n s that are not fu l l y
support ed .
Compa ring North Vietnam a f t e r the Vi etnam War
t o the Uni t e d S t a t e s a f t er. WWI I is qui t e di f ficult
e speci a l l y when l o o king at the s i z e o f both countri e s .
The
U . S . a l s o fought WW I I on fore i gn s o i l where as North
Vietnam wa s bombed heavi l y f or over a de cade .
N a t i on
building may have helped t o s t abi l i z e N o rth Viet nam but
they did not have the infra s t ructure i n pl ac e t o turn t he i r
country i nto a n economic super power, i n many ways they
were l i ke a third world count ry after th e wa r .
H i s torians s uch a s Howard Z inn have t a ken up the t a s k
o f t rying t o ma ke s en s e o f t h e Viet nam W a r and have began
28
Ibid.
'
44.
24
t o o f f e r a different p e rspect ive on the War .
Z i nn i s
a rguably t he mos t r e s p e ct ed w riter i n th i s s ch o o l o f
t hought, attempt ing t o e xp l a i n why Vietnam wa s an
impo s s ible victory f or t he Uni t ed S t a t e s .
He b e l i eves t he
Un i t ed S t a tes l o s t t h e War not o�ly in the Me kong Va l l ey,
but in the Mis s i s s ippi Va l l ey a s we l l .
Wh i l e Z i nn did not
b r e a k any new ground w i t h t h i s idea he does, however, o ffer
th e reader a new ide a; that the government admi t t e d fo r the
f i r s t t ime tha t pub l i c opinion had a p rofound a ffect on
P r e s ident s Johnson and Nixon, and caused them to s crap
p l ans t o e scal a t e the War . 29
Z i nn i l l u s t rated how th e voi ce
o f minor i t i e s went a l on g wa y t oward ending th e W a r,
b e l i eving that it wa s imp o rtant for them t o garner s ome
c redit in shaping pub l i c opini on and p o l i cy .
Ame r i c a n f i lmma k e r s have a l s o done a number o f ma j o r
movi e s on t h e Vietnam Wa r.
The s e f i lms have had di fferent
th eme s but all were l oo king to b ring meaning to t h e War and
a t t empt ing t o ma ke s e n s e o f a Wa r that wa s d i f fi cu l t t o
unde r s t and.
Many f i lmma ke rs borrowed from wha t they had
vi ewed on n i ght ly new s ca s t s t o help con s t ruct their opinion
of wha t was happening i n t he War.
They l a t e r drew on t h e s e
images t o a i d t hem i n c r e a t ing a bac kdrop for t h e i r f i lms,
29 Howard Zinn, A People's History o fthe United States: 14920-Present (New York, NY: Harper
Perennial, 1995), 491-492.
25
and u l t imat e l y helped shape a n a t i on a l cons ciousne s s o f the
Vietnam Wa r .
I t i s a l s o c r i t i c a l t o l o o k at what f i l m
cri t i c s and cinema profe s s ors h a v e h a d t o say about th e
Vi etnam W a r in Ameri can f i lm .
The f i lm,
The Ni gh t
of the
L i vi n g Dead ,
produced in
1968 by Ge o rge Rome ro, was a film t h a t repre sented th e
horrors o f the Vi e tnam War .
Sumi ko Hi gash i, forme r ci nema
P ro fe s s o r at SUNY Brockport; ha s a t t empted to t a c kl e t h i s
di f f i c u l t c ompa ri s on .
She contends th at the movie h a s
h i dden meaning, a n d one c a n a s c e r t a i n from t h e movie what
wa s happeni ng in t he late 196 0 s .
The movie wa s made r i gh t
a f t e r the TET o f fens ive and the U . S . m i l i t a ry was on t h e
prove rb i a l rop e s, and winning t h e Wa r seemed impo s s ib l e .
The Ni ght
of the
L i ving Dead
s ig n i f i e d the s t ruggle o f
Ame r i ca t o w i n t h e War in Vietnam a n d t he cha o t i c
experience t h a t wa s occurring a t home .
Wh i l e there w a s no
Vi etname s e in the movie it is s t i l l c l e a r the f i lmma ker i s
ma king re fe rence to the event s i n Vi e tnam, ma inly t he
helpl e s sne s s many s oldiers f elt when they were depl o yed
into comba t . 30
One o f the f i r s t f i lms t o t a ckl e the di ffi cu l t t heme
of t h e Vietnam War wa s
30
The Deer Hun t er,
directed by Michael
Linda Dittmar and Gene Michaud, Ed., From Hanoi t o Hollywood: The Vietnam War i n American Film
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1990), 183.
26
Cimino in 197 8 .
P ro fesso r o f Ci nema Studi es, Leonard
Qua rt, b e l i eves this movie introduced Ame r i c ans to the i dea
that there were supe rmen f ighting i n Vietnam .
By
i l lust rating the ma in cha racter, M i ch ael Vronsky's w i l l and
hero ism the director is ab l e to show the Ame ri can soldi er
as a gui ltfess v i c t im of the War h e is f i ghting ; at t he
same t ime ma king t h e Viet Cong int o the savage enemy that
must be conquered . 31
Quart shows how the movi e dep icts
Vietnam as a slaughte rhouse, but a t the end of the War, the
Amer i cans were not responsib l e for anything that occurred .
The Ame rican sol d i e r is p l aced on a pedest a l in this movie
and is capab le o f doing no wrong .
One of the most inf luent i a l movi es on the Vietnam War
was
Apo calypse No w,
1979 .
directed by Francis Ford Coppo l a in
Fra n k T omasul o,
Professor o f cinema at Ithaca
Co l l e ge, l o o ke d a t this mov i e as be ing both a pro-war and
ant iwar f i lm .
Tomasul o bel ieves that Coppo l a had both
messages present in this movie because i t shows that there
was both a n a t i ona l ambivalence towards the War and a
covering up o f t h i s amb iva lence . 32
He a lso r efers to a
brawl in the mov i e at a USO show, t o i l l ust rate that there
was no clea r p o l i t i ca l direct i on in Washington .
31 Ibid.
32
'
163.
Ibid. ' 147.
27
According to Tomasulo
"By subordinat ing content t o styl e and foregrounding
aest h e t i c ambiguity and r i chness, the direct or seconda r i z ed
the ide o lo gica l implications o f a deeply po litica l
quest ion- t h e Vietnam War . " 33
T omasulo shows how Coppola was e f fect ive in conveying his
message o f the War t hrough his movi e .
Apo calypse No w
o ff e rs the viewer a t r ip inside the Vi etnam Wa r many neve r
heard about, while at the same time raising some impo rtant
quest i ons p e rt a ining to the p o l i t i cs of the Wa r .
The movie
Pl a t o on ,
di rected by Ol iver Stone in 1986,
o ffers another inte rest ing perspect ive of the Vi etnam War .
Cinema P r o fesso r at Tufts University, Clyde Taylor, has
focused his attention on the coloni a l subtext to the movi e .
Taylor chose t o loo k a t the r e l a t i onsh ip between b l a c k and
white soldi e rs in the movie, and b e l i eves that b l a c k
soldi e rs we re forced t o behave in p a rt i cul ar ways . They
were to be g ood soldie rs, who never quest ioned t h e i r
c ommanding .o f f i cers .
Loo king a t the movi e, howeve r, one
can se e the charact ers o f King and Junior, both b l a c k,
l o o ke d mo re acceptab l e based on t h e i r recognit ion o f
west e rn va lues . 34
Jun i o r i s accepted because he i s in the
l ine with the thinking of
B a rnes, who is the commanding
o f f i c e r, whe reas, King i s not as highly regarded because he
3 3 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
'
'
154.
174.
28
is mo re in l i ne with the t h i n king of E l i as, whose cha r act er
is i n d i r ect confl ict with Ba rnes.
Taylor asse rts that i f
a b l a c k man were cast a s Cha r l i e Sheen ' s cha ract er, he
woul d have been demon i z ed a t the end o f the movi e for
k i l l i ng Barnes. However, it was j ust i f iable by viewers
because he was whi t e.35
The ave rage movie watch er wi l l not
l o o k this deeply at the movie, but it does ra ise some
imp o rtant questi ons about race r e l at ions during the Vietnam
War.
The f i n a l f i lm t o be l o o ked at i s one o f the most
popu l a r movies made about Vietnam,
II,
p roduce d in 1985 .
Rambo:
First Bl ood Part
Pro fessor o f Popu l a r Culture at the
Unive rsi t y of Kentucky, Gregory Wa l l e r a t t empted t o ma ke
sense o f the movi e as it pertained to the Vietnam Wa r.
Rambo o f fers Ame rica another a t t empt to fi ght in Vietnam,
this t ime the United S t ates gets t o win .
Losing has never
been an accepted part o f the Ame rican psyche and Rambo ·
o ffered Ame r ica the chance to regain some o f its l ost
pride .
Rambo ' s charact e r, the l one h e ro, sent beh ind
enemy l ines, a lso proves that one supe rb Ame rican so l di er
c a n t a ke down the enemy, whi l e a t the same t ime,
accomp l ishing his missi on, rescui ng Ame rican P0Ws.36
35 Ibid.
36lbid., 115.
Wa l l e r
29
i l lust ra tes how Rambo's mission provides Amer icans with the
revenge many have wanted since the end o f the Vietnam War .
Amer icans may have want ed the War to be . ove r but t hey a lso
want e d to be vict o rious and t his provided the nation an
opport uni ty to feel l i ke the War was won .
H o l l ywo�d has p layed a v i t a l role in inte rpret ing the
meaning of t h e Vi etnam War t o the American pub l ic .
This
only l o o ked at a few of the movies that have dea l t with the
Vietnam Wa r, and p rovi des gene r a l unde rst anding of what
fi lmma kers were trying to convey the Ame rican publ ic .
Whi l e movies cove red di f ferent themes they were a l l
attempt ing t o ma ke to bring unde rst anding t o t h e Ame rican
peopl�, and for some f i lmma kers the i r movies re f l ected
their pe rsonal b e l i efs and how they perceived the Vietnam
Wa r .
The Vietnam Wa r was a di l emma in Ame r ican history .
Ma king sense o f what happened in Vietnam could t a ke
thousands o f pages, and one could spend t h e i r l i fe t rying .
Loo king a t what a numb e r o f hist ori ans have sa i d wi l l a l l ow
one to ma ke conclusi ons based on their research .
The
Vietnam War is r e l a t ive l y fresh in the Amer ican mind and it
may t a ke many more yea rs for new studies t o be comp l eted .
I bel ieve there wi l l be a great deal more written on the
Vietnam Wa r simply because as t ime has passe d the war has
30
rema ined a d i f f i cult top i c t o discuss .
There needs t o be
more studies done.on l ong-t e rm impact of the w ar on
veterans .
The Vietnam Wa r l e ft mo re vete rans i n
rehabi l i t at ion than a n y o t h e r w ar, a n d now a s these people
ar e getting older the st ory behind their drug use in
Vi etnam may start to be studi e d.
facet of Ame rican l i fe .
Vietnam impacted every
One can ma ke this assump t i o n by
l oo king at t he variety of resea r ch written about Vietnam.
31
Chapter Two:
The. TET Offensive
Many Ame ri cans have j udged the Vi etnam War, but it is
o ft en uncompl icated to c r i t i que only when ful l y awar e o f
the mista kes made .
I t is easy fo r people to quest ion those
in o f f i c e who sent t roops to Vietnam in the fi rst pl ac e .
Presi dent Lyndon B. Johnson has been a rguab l y the most
scrut ini z e d pub l i c servant over his r o l e in the Vi etnam
Wa r .
Many individua ls, termed "the Doves", were upset when
Johnson esca lated Ameri can combat a ims, bel i eving the
Repub l i c of South Vietnam should be t a king a l a rger role in
the f i ght ing .
On the other h and, " the Hawks" b e l i eved
Johnson was too so ft with his Vi e tnam p o l i cies .
They
want ed a concentrated War, b e l i eving the Uni ted States
could eqs i l y defeat North V ietnam.
Whi l e the debate
between the Hawks and the Doves raged,
Johnson attempted to
satisfy both camps and f or most o f his t e rm in o f fi ce, h e
succeeded .
A ma j or i t y o f people supported the War e f fort
and Johnson had the support of C ongress .
One year, 1968,
would change that and foreve r a l t er the Ame r i can
consciousness in resp e ct to the Vi etnam War .
A se r i es o f coordina t e d a t t a c ks on January 31, 1968
began a divisi on that pervaded through almost every facet
o f Ameri can society.
The TET o f f ensi ve, pl anned around the
32
Vi etname s e ho l iday , wa s by mo s t account s a vi c to ry fo r the
United S t a t es and the South Vietname s e , but North Viet nam
s cored a cruci a l triumph . For the f i r s t t ime memb e r s o f
Congre s s openly que s t i oned P res ident Johnson a n d h i s
Vi etnam p o l i c i e s .
At the s ame t ime , t h e evening news
horr i f i e d Ameri cans with imag e s they s aw on the n ight l y
news c a s t .
The Viet Cong , even whi l e l o s i ng mo st o f the
batt l e s , was abl e t o use the TET o f fens ive as a ma j or
p s ycho l og i c a l turning point i n the War .
Pre s ident Johnson
began to l o s e pub l i c approval s oon a ft e r the a t t a c k s on
January 3 15t.
TET s o l id i f i e d the North Vietname s e a s a
worthy adve rsa ry and convinced many Ame r i cans that the War
could not be won .
I t i s c r i t i c a l to l o o k at the mi l i tary
re spon s e t o the TET o f fens ive to unde rs t a nd i f it could
have been handled d i f f e rent l y .
T h i s paper · wi l l fo cus on
the TET o f fens ive and i t s impact on the P r es idency of
Lyndon John s on as well as the medi a ' s r o l e in sh ap i ng
pub l i c opinion in the United S t a te s .
I n unde r s t anding t h e TET o f f ensive from the point of
vi ew o f the Un ited S t a t e s mi l i t a r y , it i s imp o rtant to t a ke
a bri e f l o o k at how the Lao Dong party o f North Vietnam
interpreted the batt l e s o f the TET o f fens ive .
They came
out with t h e i r initi a l a s s e s sment s o f the a t t a c k s in the
beginning of March and believed TET was an unprecedented
33
success . They were able to i n f l i c t heavie r l osses on the
a l l i ed f o r c es than in any other bat t l es l eading up t o that
point in t h e War .
The Viet Cong also b e l i eved they
wea kened Ame r i can mora l e because o f the intense f i gh t i ng
and the heavy casu a l t i es they were able t o infl i ct on the
a l l i e d f o r c es . 37
The North b el i eved they were ab l e to
infi l t r a t e the ne rve centers of the a l l ied fo rces
part i cu l a r l y in S a i gon and Hue .
S t aging coordinated
a t t a c ks a l l owed the Nort h, in t h e i r analysis, to repl enish
supp l y l i n e s and t a ke b a c k regi ons in the count ryside
secured by the a l l ied forces .
Fina l l y, they b e l i eved that
their fight ing force b ecame much more mature dur ing the
o f fensive and new mi l i t ary l e ade rship was st epp ing
forwa rd . 38
Even with a l l o f this success, the Lao Dong
Party did see a number of important issues that were not
resolved by the New Year o f fensive .
An inabi l i t y to i n i t i a t e a movement o f the masses to
rise up aga inst the a l l i ed forces and j oin th e side o f the
Commun ists was a ma j or concern t o North Vi etnam .
S t a ging a
mass movement o f the pe asant ry in the count ryside was a
maj o r a im of TET and f a i l ing t o a ccomp l ish this diminished
the perce ived mi l i tary suc cess they were aiming to achi eve .
37 George Katsiaficas, Vietnam Documents: American and Vietnamese Views ofthe War, (Armonk,
M.E. Sharpe., 1992), 102.
38 Ibid., 103.
NY:
34
They b e l i eved this was mo re of a p l anning p roblem because
many in the mi li t a ry be l i eved there was no c l e a r strategy
in p l ace t o convince the South Vietnamese t o rise up and
j o in the N o rth . 39
An inab i l ity to communicat e the messages
o f the Lao Dong Party in a coordinated manne r was anoth er
ma j o r obst acle; i f they could pass a l ong their p o l i t ical
message i n a mo re e f f icient manner, they could g a in more
suppo rt and converts from the South .
The L a o Dong P a rty a l so fai l ed t o replenish their
troops and suppl i es quic kly enough to sust a i n the o f fensive
into a new phase of cont inued attac ks throughout the
sp ring . Even whi le North Vi etnam b e l i eved TET was a ma j o r
mi l it ary success, they st i l l fai led accompl ish some o f
their maj o r goa ls, and i f they were going t o turn the t i de
o f the Wa r t o their favor in 1968, they woul d have to
accompl ish all o f t hese amb i t i ons . 4 0
I n t e rpreting the No r th
Vietnamese r eact ion t o the T ET o ffensive o ne c o u l d be l ed
to b e l i eve that the United States was badl y beaten ; the
United S t a tes, however, had a much di f fe rent int e rpret a t i on
of the same event .
Many mi l i t a ry o f fici a ls loo ke d at t he TET o ffensive as
a clear vict ory for the Al l i ed forces .
3 9 Ibid.
1
Ibid.
,
40
104.
104.
These b a t t l es were
35
not even debat ab le, as f a r as Gene ral Will i am Westmo rel and
was concerned .
Many of the i n i t i a l reports submi t t e d had
the a l lied fo rces kil ling roughly f ive Viet Cong soldiers
for every one slain Amer i can Soldi e r .
One ma j or f l aw in
t his l o g i c is the fact t hat the United States numb e rs were
o ften i n f l ated because they could not find the bodies o f
t h e i r count e rp a rt,
in p a rt be cause of the gue rri l l a warfare
the North Vietnamese emp l o ye d, and because o ften there were
no bodies l e ft to count a ft e r a i r stri kes incine r ated the
Viet Cong .
Opt imism a f t e r the i n i t i a l battles was rather
high because o f these h i gh ki l l rates . 41 I n most cases the
North Vi etnamese were driven out of cit ies a ft e r two to
three days o f fi ght ing, but the fi ghting was the most
intense and bloody f i gh t i ng that had t a ken p l a ce up to that
point in the War .
Both sides suffered more casu a l t i es
during the TET o f fensive than in any other p e r i o d o f the
War up to that point i n 1968 .
The most int ense f i ghting t o o k pl ace around and in the
c i t i es of S a i gon and Hue .
The a l l ied units r esponded
quickly but they were not prepared for urban combat .
The
Viet Cong was almost able to ove rrun the ent i r e c i t y of Hue
before the a l l i ed forces react ed, but in the end, the
41
David M . Barrett, Lyndon B . Johnson's Vietnam Papers: a Documentary Collection, (College Station,
TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1997), 576-577.
36
a l l i ed forces fought admi rab l y and were able to de feat the
Viet Cong, and the cit i e s of Hue and S a i gon began t o r eturn
to norma l by the middl e of March 1968 . 42
When a l l of the
report s were submitted a f t e r the o f fens ive , the final
fat a l i t y rates had five t hous and Viet Cong dead ve r su s fi ve
hundred a l l i ed s ol d i e r s ki l l ed.
Whi l e thi s was c l e a r l y a
vi ctory for the a l l ied forces, the US rai sed ser i o u s
que s t i ons rega rding mi l i t a ry readine s s and int e l l i gence
gathe ring.
Wa s hington was much more s h o c ked by the TET o f fens ive
than the mi l i t a ry people ove r s eei ng things in Vietnam .
They had re ceived no warning i n the days l eading up to the
Janua ry 31st a t t a c k, they had only been informed that the
enemy was p l anning s omething around the TET hol iday but
were given no s p e c i f i c s . 43
Gene r a l We s tmorel and fai l ed to
keep Wa s h ington informed of what w as happening in the days
before the first a t t a c k s , but w a s not ent i re l y at fault.
He knew there were going to be attacks and that they were
being coordinated around the TET h o l iday but h i s
inte l l i gence f a i l e d to l ocate where t h e attacks were going
to t a ke p l a ce.
Problems r e l aying i nt e l l i gence when the
a t t a c ks f i r s t began a l s o l e ft the m i l i t ary con fused for
James J . Wirtz, The TET Offensive: Intelligence Failure i n War, (Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press,
1991), p. 231.
42
43
Ibid. '234-235.
37
much o f the f i rst twenty-four hours o f the o f fensive.
Informat ion was de l a yed getting from the b a t t l e si ghts back
to the mi l i ta r y command center, and many o f the f i rst
reports were unre l i ab le, which l e ft the command with l i t t l e
to report t o Washington.
Aft e r t h e init i a l wave, the
mi l i t ary stabi l i z e d its e f forts and the int e l l i gence
subse quent l y improved, from that point on i t was much more
rel iable.44
One conclusion drawn from the inte l l i gence gathered
before TET and the response t o the fi r�t a t t a c ks is that
Gene ral Westmo rel and knew an a t t a c k was coming ; h owever, he
was not prepared to handl e the t iming o f the init i a l
battl es.
What is uncl�a r is why he did not have the a l l ied
forces better prepared to fi ght ?
The a l l i ed forces were
able to de fe at the North but it se ems as if Westmor e l and
fai led t o gauge the reso lve of the enemy.45
It a lso l o o ks
as i f Westmo r e l and and his commanders f a i l e d t o anti cipate
the int ensity, scope, and nature of the o f fensive.
Given
the informat ion the a l l i ed for ces were able to get from the
Viet Cong,
the troops should have been better equipped to
deal with an o f fensive that ' s ma in goal was to t urn the
t ide of the war in favor o f the No rth.
44
Ibid. '235.
571. .
45 Barrett, p.
The United Stat es
38
mi l i t a ry w a s vi ctorious t o a n ext ent but the �ET o f fens ive
brought s ome troubl ing reve l a t i ons to the f o r ef ront .
TET
p roved to b e s ome o f the mo s t intense fi ghting of the War,
and i t came at a t ime when the admini s t ra t i on was
reas suring Ame r i cans that the war was winnabl e .
P r e s i dent
Johns on had s ome d i f f i cult que s t ions in front of h im and
the a t t a c ks that s tarted on January 3 1,
a l t e r his legacy in Ame ri can hi s t o ry .
1968 would forever
John s on w as one o f
the mo s t act ive Pres ident s in t e rms o f passing l e g i s l a t i on .
Hi s Great S ociety o ffered peop l e hope for the futu r e,
e sp eci a l l y i n the area o f race r e l a t i ons, but Lyndon .
John s on w i l l forever be remembered for Vietnam .
The United S t a t e s , l i ke North Vietnam, b e l i eved 1968
could be a c r i t i c a l turning point in the War .
1968,
Going into
Pre s i dent Johnson was given every indic a t i o n that
there was a l i ght a t the end o f the tunne l concerning
ending the war in Vietnam .
The TET o f fens ive came a s a
surp r i s e t o · tho s e in· the Wh ite Hou s e, who had not been
not i fie d by the m i l i t a r y commande r s in Vietnam that an
a t t a c k was imminent .
Whi l e the init i a l a t t a c k s ·came as a
s u rpri s e there w a s s t i l l determinat ion in the Whi t e Hous e
that the Wa r could s t i l l b e won .
The init i a l report s
c l e a r l y ba c ked thi s be l i e f that the a l l ied f o r c es were
winning the TET o f fens ive .
One ma j or po int o f cont ent i on
39
arose when the TET o f fensive began and President Johnson
began l osing support of the pub l i c and in Congress .
President Johnson was faced with probl ems on two
fronts.
He no longer had t o worry j ust about wha t North
Vi etnam was do ing but he a lso had t o regain mass support
for his w a r e f fort.
According to Johnson :
I n one way or another in the days ahea d , we have t o
ra l l y our count ry so that t h e enemy comes t o b e l i eve
that we w i l l insist on even handed app l i ca t i ons of
rules o f int e rnational l aw .
. l i ke the a rmist i ce
agreements i n Korea and t h e Geneva Accords o f 1954 and
1962.46
Johnson was astute at gauging the pub l i c response t o what
was happ e n i ng in Vietnam and after TET i t was c l e a r many
Ame ricans had become t i red o f the War .
The Un i ted S t a t es
would need a renewed w ar e ffort i f it was to bring a
successful conclusi on to the Vietnam War.
Johnson a r ranged
for Genera l Westmorel and to g ive dai l y addresses to the
media about how the a l l ied forces were thwart ing the Vi et
·Cong a t t a c k s and would u l t imat e l y come out o f the War
victorious.4 7
This was all t a king p l a ce in early February
'
j ust a f t e r the o f fensive began, and Johnson was st i l l
disinc l ined t o commi t t o a p o l i c y change in Vietnam .
46
Ibid. '578.
580.
47 Ibid.
'
40
Presi dent Johnson was unw i l l ing to show any s i gn o f
we akness o r retreat . H e was c onvinced t h a t t h e United
States needed t o surge forward to show the Vi e t Cong that
the Uni ted S t a t es would not b a c k down because of t he new
o f fensive .
On February 9,
1968 in addressing his cabinet,
Johnson made it clear that as the Viet Cong changed their
tactics the Uni t ed S t a t es and the a l l ied forces would
change t he i r t a c t i cs as we l l .
I n his mind, the a l l i ed
forces would cont inue to mat ch the Viet Cong ;
fi fteen thousand mo re men,
if they added
the a l l ied forces would match
He a lso started t o show si gns o f discont ent ·with the
them .
South Vi etn amese Gove rnment and its President Nguyen Van
Thieu .
Johnson b e l i eved the Uni ted States was so
ent renched in South E ast Asi a that the South Vietnamese
should do what the Unit e d S t a t es asked of it,
and i f t hat
meant l ower ing the draft age t o e ighteen l i ke the Uni ted
S t at es, they should do i t with no questi ons asked . 48
P resident Johnson was unwi l l ing to budge on his stance
in Vi etnam even as discontent cont inued to grow at home .
I n early February he st i l l b e l i eved the War could be won .
He was wi l l ing t o app e a r in f ront o f Congress to ask for
mo re support of his programs and to quiet the discontent
that was eme rg ing .
48
Ibid.
'
598.
Johnson t oyed wit h the idea ext ending
41
t o u r o f dut i e s, a s king f o r an e x t r a hundred mi l l i on do l l a rs
o f mi l i t a ry aid for South Vi e tnam, and l i ft ing the go l d
s t anda r d t o cover s ome o f the c o s t o f the Wa r .
He w as not
wave r ing yet, but he had yet to s e e the wor s t of h i s
probl ems o n the dome s t i c f ront . 4 9
P r es ident John s on did
ma ke a ma j or move by repl a c ing de fense s e cret a ry Robert
McNama ra with Clark Cl i f ford .
He feared that McNama ra had
become too s o ft because he began to change his s t ance on
the Vietnam War and the p o l i c i e s Johnson should f o l l ow .
C l i f f o rd,
on the other hand, b r ought a new voice and a
diffe rent pe rspect ive in Vi etnam .
McNamara would not be the only p e r s on c l o s e to Johnson
who changed their p o s i t ion on V ietnam ; a s 1968 wore on many
advi s o r s c l o s e t o the Pres ident a l s o b e l i eved that there
needed t o be a pol i cy chang e .
Opt imi sm s l owly drifted to
de spa i r in e a r l y February when t h e Viet Cong a t t a cked
Saigon .
They di rected a ma j o r a t t a c k on the pr es i dent i a l
p a l a c e and even a s t h e a l l i ed f o rce s drove them b a c k, the
damage to S a i gon w as a s exten s i v e a s the damage to Hue .
Pres i dent Johnson be l i eved thi s w as bad in the respect that
the Ame r i can people were s e e ing many of t h e s e imag e s e a ch
night on the news, ma king i t d i f f i cu l t to spin the i de a
t h a t the a l l i e d troops w e r e winning t h e War .
49
Ibid. 578.
,
Congre s s was
42
close behind in the ir disapprova l for the direction o f the
War .
Memb e rs o f Congress were openly crit i c i z ing t he
President o n Vietnam for the f i rst t ime .
Senator Robert
Byrd, angered by the poor int e l l i gence p r i o r to TET,
beli eved the Uni ted S t ates was unprepared for the a t t a c ks,
a point few would disput e .
He b e l i eved the Vi et Cong had
been unde rest imated and that the i r mo r a l e and v i t a l i t y had
never been h i ghe r . 5 0
Even C l i f f o rd and Wa l t e r Rost ow, a
spe c i a l assistant for N a t i onal S e curity A f f a i rs, were
struggl ing for answers .
They b e l i eved the batt l es over the
next few months would be even c l oser and they were unsur e
o f the Vi e t Cong's mi l i t a ry capa bi l i t i es . 5 1
Johnson was
gett ing mixed messages f rom membe rs of his st a f f and needed
to t a ke a much c l e a r e r path in V i etnam .
He p l ayed the
middle far too o ften ; being t he consummat e p o l i t i c ian he
was attemp t i n g to gain a consensus among his st a f f, but by
March that was a d i f f i cu l t t as k .
The middle o f March p roved t o be a ma j o r turning point
for President Johnson .
inner c i r cl e .
TET cre a t e d a spl i t in Johnson's
S e cretary o f S t at e Dean Rusk, Rostow, and
Westmorel and, who rep resented the mi l i t ary's posi t i on,
believed t h e Un i t ed States had a c l e a r advant age a f t e r TET
SO·Ibid. , 583.
Ibid. ' 642.
51
43
and shou l d cont inue t o a t t a c k the Viet Cong .
side Cl a r k Cli fford and Ave r e l l Harriman,
On the other
forme r Governor
o f New York and an Ambassador a t - l a rge, b e l i eved the United
S t a t es could not win the Wa r .
The North Vietnamese had
been f i ght ing for decades and showed no si gns o f
wea kening . 5 2
Acco rding to hist o r i an George C . He rring :
"Al t hough he seems t o have l eaned toward the Rusk­
Rostow posi t i on emo t i ona l l y, the president re fused to
adopt either posit ion .
He was unwi l l ing to esc a l a t e
the war t o b r e a k the mi l it a ry st a l emate o r to ma ke
concessi ons to brea k the diplomat i c deadloc k . " 5 3
Johnson ne eded to ma ke the di f f i cult decisi ons inst e a d o f
loo king f o r a consensus among his advisors .
He was l o o king
at the situation and it was as i f a l l of the Hawks that had
been b ehind his Wa r e ffort were now t urning into Doves .
By the middl e o f March even the "wise men", a group o f
cold warri o rs incl uding Dean Acheson, McGe orge Bundy, and
Ave r e l l Harriman, were advising the President to get out of
Vie tnam . 5 4
Westmorel and p romised a l i ght at the end of the
tunne l, but as 1968 drew on it became clear that no end to
the Wa r was in sight .
C l i f ford est imated that the Uni t ed
S t at es would have t o commi t one mi l l i on more t roops t o
Vietnam, br ing ing t he t o t a l to rough l y one and a hal f
52 George C. Herring, Shadow on the White House: Presidents and the Vietnam War 1945-19 75,
(Lawrence, KA: The University Press of Kansas, 1 993), p. 106.
53 Ibid. ' 107.
54
p.
.
Robert Mann, A Grand Delusion: America's Decent Into Vietnam, (New York, NY: Basic Books, 200 1),
598.
44
mi l l ion s o l diers in combat to win the War.
The se kinds o f
e s t imat e s w e r e be coming a rea l i t y a n d they would n o t b e
accep t a b l e in the eyes o f t h e Amer i can pub l i c or Cong re s s.
Pre s i dent Johns on was again in a di f ficult spot becaus e he
has We s tmore land a s king for two - hundred thous and mo re
s o ldi e r s and hi s advi s o r s were t e l l ing him they could not
give h im that many troops.
Pub l i c opinion wa s plumme t ing
da i l y and John s on would have to do s omething t o que l l the
ant i-wa r p r o t e s t o rs.5 5
Whi l e the pub l i c w a s di smayed by what th ey h a d been
witne s s ing on t e l evi s i on, Congre s s was beginning t o b e l i eve
Johns o n had been deceiving them a l l a l ong in re spect to the
s t rength o f the Viet Cong.
Cong re s s bel i eved i t was
s impl e : a f t e r three ye a r s o f f i ghting and five-hundred
thous and t roops, the Viet Cong were s t i l l capabl e o f
attacking one hundred c i t i e s a n d town s t hroughout the
count ry s imultaneous l y . 5 6
This w a s the b i gge s t vi ctory o f
t h e T E T o f fens ive . Becaus e o f t h e abi l i t y o f N orth Vietnam
to hurt t h e morale o f the Amer i can people, Pres ident
John s on no l onger had free rein in Vietnam .
Congre s s
wanted t o s e e r e s u l t s and want e d a s surance s that the Wa r
was winding down.
ss Ibid.
56
' 573.
Ibid. ' 5 73.
As far a s many people were conce rned,
45
Johnson had no clear ob j e ct ive and no plan to win the w ar .
He was even l osing credit within the Democrat i c Part y . 57
Much of the support he got on V ietnam was coming from the
Repub l icans .
Presi dent Johnson faced a ma j or p o l i t i c a l
cha l l enge f rom two Demo crats who were going to run f o r the
party ' s nomination, Eugene McCa rthy and Robert Kennedy .
I t was be coming i ncreasing l y c l e a r by the middle o f
March 1968 that Johnson was l osing his grip o n the
Democra t i c Part y .
Senator McCa rthy j o ined the Presi dent i a l
Race and, t o many in the P a rty, he was a more app e a l ing
choice that John s on and some were wi l l ing to move on
without him .
Aft e r the New Hampshire p r imary, Senator
Robert Kennedy a l so de c i ded to seek the President i a l
nomina t i on .
Kennedy was unwi l l i ng to cause dissent within
the Party but he b e l i eved that h ad al ready happened and his
running would not ma ke the situa t i on worse . With two tough
opponents,
P resident Johnson was b a c ked into a corne r
p o l i t i ca l l y . 58
Both Kennedy and McCarthy were running on c amp a i gn
p l atforms designed t o get the United S t ates out o f Vi etnam .
Johnson was going t o have to run as the p ro -war candidate
i f he p l anne d to run f or r e e l e ct i on .
57 Ibid. ' 589.
58 Ibid. 591.
,
He was going to have
46
t o b e a Hawk in a party that had turned into the Dove
p a rty .
Many on John s on's s i de a dvi sed him to b a c k o f f h i s
s t ance i n Vietnam ; he should b e loo king t o g a i n p e a ce with
dign i t y and should p repare t o halt the bombing . 59
Making
thi s kind o f po l i cy change could give John son a chance to
survive p o l i t i ca l l y, b ut it was no t s omething he w as
w i l l i ng to do immedi a t e l y .
John s on b e l i eved Hanoi wou l d pe rce ive a h al t in the
bombing a s weakne s s and that WQuld g ive the United S t a t e s
l i t t l e nego t iat ing s t r ength.
papers,
Loo king at the pentagon
i t s e ems a s if John s on wanted to g ive We s tmo re l and
eve ryt h i ng he ne eded t o cont i nue the War, but i t was
be comi ng painfully clear that We s tmore l and would never be
g iven everything he needed and it would be a great burden
on t he Ame r i can peop l e .
Cli f f o rd w as abl e to p e r suade
John s o n t o s tep b a c k and l o o k at the e f fect TET had on the
Ame r i can pub l i c and con s ider what t hings woul d be l i ke i f
he a s ke d congre s s for 5 0 0, 0 0 0 mo re men t o further e s ca l at e
t h e wa r .
P o l i t i c a l l y s p e a king,
Johns on had l i t t l e he could
do to change the pub l i c' s percept i on of him and h i s
admin i s t rat i on .
Once aga in, Joh n s on needed to ma ke a
d i f f i cult de ci s ion i n s t e a d o f wa i t ing for a cons ensus among
59 Barrett. , p.688.
47
his adviso rs, and Johnson qui c kl y rea l i zed in March that
his adviso rs would not be able to find a mi ddl e ground . 60
Desp i t e a l l o f the debate wi thin his cabinet, Johnson
did become the p ro-war candida t e .
Throughout most o f Ma rch
he stuck b y his p l e dge that the Uni ted S t a tes would no t
appease the Viet Cong, would no t "cut and run" l eaving the
South Vie tnamese to fend for themsel ves . 61
By c l inging to
his pro-wa r stance Johnson caused a great divide in
American s o ci e t y .
Whi l e this was ta king pl ac e, r a c i a l
vi o l ence b e came an increasing problem, as w e l l a s t h e
growing so c i a l di vide between Ameri can youths and t h e i r
elders .
Vietnam was everything and that was going t o have
to change for Johnson to win r e e l e ct i on . 62
By the end o f
March Johnson rea l i z ed that change was necessa r y not only
in Vietnam but on the domest i c front as we l l .
On Ma rch 31,
1968 Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for
ree l e c t i on nor would he accept h i s p a rty ' s nominat i on to
run again .
In h i s speech to the Ame rican pub l i c Johnson t a l ked o f
peace in Vi e tnam and for the fi rst t ime was wi l l ing to sit
down with Hanoi to begin p e a ce nego t i a t i ons .
He ma int ained
that the T E T o f f ensive was a fai l ure, the government o f
60 Mann. . , p.
61
Ibid. '596.
62 Ibid. ' 595.
596.
48
South Vietnam was stronger than ever, and the o f f ensive
f a i l ed t o produce any gene ral uprisi ngs.
He did concede,
however, that the there was no p o int in del aying p e a ce
t a l ks any l onge r .
Johnson b e l i eved that a Ame r i c a divided
could not stand, and he needed to wor k to bridge the
divisi ons that had been created by Vietnam .
Many b e l i eved
this was a ma j o r p o l i cy change for Johnson, but the move
was made ma inly to calm things on the domest i c front . 63
Herring b e l i eved the move put Johnson in a worse pos i t i on
t han before be cause he was now a l ame duc k President
l e aving his advisors more divided than eve r . Johnson's
announcement not to se e k r e e l e ct ion was fue l e d in some
respe cts be cause he no l onger knew whose opinion he could
count on .
It woul d be d i f f i cu l t t o a ccomp l ish anything with
Hanoi because he wou l d not be i n o f f i ce next ye ar .
Congress was a lso l e ft wonde ring i f Johnson was
sincere in his p l e dge for p e a ce in Vietnam .
On Apr i l 1,
1968 United States bombers f l ew 10 0 bomb ing missions ove r
North Vietnam, nearl y twi ce the da i l y average .
Many i n
Congress we re l ef t asking about t h e move towards peace when
i t se emed l i ke the bombing increased .
By October, Johnson
had shown that he had been ser i ous about getting out o f
Vietnam, but he was st i l l l o o king to g e t t h e United S tates
63 Herring, p . 102.
49
out wit h some sense o f pride , not as a defeated nat ion . 6 4
President Johnson ended the yea r pushing for p e a ce but
could not a rrange a de a l b ef ore he l e ft o f f i ce ; the final
clean up in Vietnam wou ld be l e ft to President e l e c t
Richard M. N ixon .
Media cove rage of the TET O f fensive had a prof ound
impact on pub l i c opinion.
Ame r i cans were more i nfo rmed
about Vietnam than any other w a r in Ame rican h ist o r y.
The
increased media coverage o f f e r e d Ame r i cans images f rom the
War that a l l owed them to ·form t h e i r own opini ons .
I t is
imperat ive t o look at how the medi a interpreted the T ET
Of fensive and how they shaped public opinion o n the War .
I n the f i rst few yea rs o f the War, the media was an
import ant t o o l for the Johnson a dminist ra t i on .
According
to hist o r i a n Wi l l i am Hammond,
"Although prone at _ t imes t o b e l i eve the wo rst o f
o f f i c i a ldom, t he Ame r i can news media both re f l e ct e d
a n d r e i nforced t h a t t rend, replaying o f f i c i a l
st a t ements on t h e v a l u e o f the w a r and supporting the
so ldie rs in the f i e l d if not always his generals . " 65
The t e l evision networks made it c l e a r that they we r e
spreading t h e offi cial w ord o f t h e Uni ted States
government .
TET changed a l l o f that, once President
Johnson l ost app rova l in Congress tbe media soon fo l l owed;
64 Barrett. , p. 798.
65 William M. Hammond,
"The Press in Vietnam as Agents of Defeat: A Critical Examination," Reviews in
American History, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jun, 1989), p. 321.
50
s e i z ing t h e opportunity to be c r i t i c a l o f the Whi t e Hous e
and t h e e s ca l at i on of t h e War .
Much o f the medi a coverage
after TET was negat ive in nature, however, Hammond
i l lu s t r a t e d that publ i c opinion had a l ready began to s h i ft
be fore TET . 66
John s on wa s a l s o wary o f addre s s i ng the
pub l i c imme d i a t e l y after TET because o f how the people
reacted to the b attle s .
The brut a l i t y o f the bat t l e s was
enough t o change pub l i c opinion qui c kly and Johns on was
·
unsure how t o swing pub l i c opinion back behin d a renewed
War e f fort .
The media did not g i ve him any chance because
the news reporting during TET wa s powe r ful . 6 7
I t wa s
di fficult t o f ind an antiwar b i a s on tel evi s i on o r in the
newspaper p r i o r to TET .
There s eems to be a con s en s u s o f when Pre s i dent
Johns on t ru l y l o s t the Ameri can pub l i c ' s support .
February 2 7 ,
On
1 968 Wa l t e r Cron kit e spoke to the people at
the end o f h i s n i gh t l y news t e l e c a s t and s a i d the United
States woul d be better off n e go t i ating out o f Vietnam, not
a s vict o r s, but a s a people who did the best they could . 68
Pres ident John s on knew f rom that moment that he had l o s t
the supp o rt of the ave rage Ame r i c an c i t i zen .
66
Cron kite
Ibid. , 3 18.
Culbert, "Televisions Visual Impact on Decision Making in the USA, 1968: The TET Offensive
and Chicago's Democratic National Convention," Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 33 No. 3 (Jul.,
1998), p. 434.
68
Ibid., 430.
6
7 David
51
carried that much power ove r the Ame r i can peop l e . H e was
the v o i ce o f the peop l e because he kept them abr e a s t o f a l l
the new development s in Vietnam and around t h e country .
In
many re spects, Wa l t e r Cron k i t e wa s t ru sted mor e t han the
Pre s i dent was because the people heard from him each ni ght.
Some have argued that the me dia was p a rt of the
p roblem in Vietnam becau s e they only showed the r e s u l t s of
a bat t l e, not what led up t o that point .
After TET, much
o f wha t was on t e l evi s i on wa s negat ive and it caused the
Ame ri can pub l i c to give up on the Wa r e ffort .
The images
were t o o d i f f i cult for many Ame ri cans to cope with, whi ch
led many to come out in prot e s t o f the war . 69
The media had
an e ffect on pub l i c opini on, but it is d i f f i cu l t to gauge
how much influence the med ia had over the people because
all o f the s tudi e s comp l e t e d ar e debatable in one way or
another .
I n addi t i on, much o f what a i red on the news was
edited and few vio lent ima g e s were shown to the publ i c .
They were more l i ke l y to s e e v i o l ence in the popul a r shows
of the e ra,
l i ke Gunsmo ke or Koj a k .
Regardl e s s , one p i e ce
o f footage had incredible power and could change Ame r i can
opinion rather qui c kl y .
The Loan exe cut i on became a mi crocosm fo r the TET
o f fens ive and the ent i r e Vi etnam War .
6 9 Hammond.
,
p.3 12.
H i s t o ri an David
52
Culbert asserts, " I t made vivid and p a rt i culari z ed,
in ways
most p e o p l e could not e asi l y a r t i cu l a t e, the frust r a t ing,
confusing sense that the war was no l onger between good
guys and bad guys . " 7 0 People who were loo king fo r a re ason
to spe a k out against the Wa r had one a fter this a i red on
t e l evision .
The media, however, j ust reported the footage;
t hey fai l ed to look at the part i cu l a rs of the execut i o n .
S a igon was in a st ate o f mart i a l law and the man executed
was brea king a number of rules that could resu l t in death.
He was a rmed, and wearing civi l i an c l othes, both against
the rules o f ma rt i a l law, and t hey a lso knew his name,
Nguyen Ta n Dat, an a l i as for Hans Son.
member o f the Viet Cong .
He was also a
Wha t grabbe d the viewer was the
man was d e fensel ess and shot b y Gene r a l Nguyen Ngoc Loan, a
high - ranking member o f the South Vi etnamese gover �ment.71
It was imp o ssible to exp l a i n to the Ame rican pub l i c that
t his was not common pract i ce ; it was engrained in the minds
of those who saw it, and many o f them began losing faith in
the Ame r i can mi l it a ry e f fort .
I t would seem that Ame ri cans
should be more upset over the l oss o f Ameri can l i ves, but
the exe cut ion evoked strong fee l i ngs in those who witnessed
it on t e l evisi on or saw p i ctures in the newspape r .
7 ° Culbert.
71
,
p . 428.
Ibid. 421.
'
The
53
Loan execu t i on repres ent ed the brut a l i t y o f the War and
proved to many Ame r i cans that the c o st of f i ght ing in
Vie tnam w a s j us t too great .
The Vietnam Wa r was the Amer i can pub l i c ' s f i r s t t rue
l o o k at war and i t s a f t e rmath and e f fect on a culture .
Images o f vio lence and de ath became a ni ght l y occurrence
and, in many ins tances, people cho s e t o spe a k out about
what they were witne s s ing .
Whe reas in other Wa r s the
gove rnment was ab l e to use the me dia to spread its me s s age
and p ropa ganda, Vi etnam changed the l ands cape of the medi a
because j ourna l i s t s were mo re apt to be c r i t i c a l o f
mi l i t a ry p o l i cy than i n t h e pa s t becau s e t h e y were
concerned with the d irection o f the count ry .
. The Vi etnam
War could h ave cont inued f or an undet e rmined amount of t ime
had the medi a not s hined a l i ght on what w a s happening
thous ands o f mi l e s away .
54
Chapter Three:
I ntroduction to the Portfolio
The Vietnam War w i l l a l ways have an ausp i c i o us p l a ce
in Ame r i can hist ory .
As such, i t is a War where the people
in l eade rsh ip posi t i ons were highly scruti ni z ed f o r their
de c isions .
Because o f t h i s, there are a number o f great
t e a ching resources ava i l ab l e to help exp l a i n pub l i c
discontent with gove rnment o f f i c i a ls .
A ke y s ki l l h i gh
sch o o l students must l e a rn is to decipher mat e r i a l on their
own, and t h e sources p resented give them a chance to
ac c ompl ish this t ask .
My resea rch fo cused on how Vietnam imp a cted many
di f ferent sectors o f Ame r i can so ciet y .
Students can l o o k
at sources deal ing w i t h domest i c rami f i c ati ons o f the War,
as we l l as the foreign p o l i cy de cisi ons made during the
War .
The ant iwar movement made a great imp a ct on decision
ma king a f t e r the TET o f fensive and it is imp o rtant t o study
how things changed aft e r 1968 and how the peace movement
helped end the War .
Out o f the nume rous ways to provide this i nfo rmat i on,
I have de c ided to c r e a t e a Pro fessional Port fol i o .
port f o l i o ,
I n the
I w i l l organ i z e a l ist of resources that one
could use when they are t e a ching -the Vietnam War in the i r
classroom .
There a r e many resources ava i l ab l e f o r
55
educators, but they are not a lways e a s i ly acc e s s ibl e .
This
proj e ct w i l l look to t a ke s ome o f the r e s ources a t e a cher
can use i n their teaching and put i t in one pl ace .
Anno t a t i n g web s i t e s · i s u s e ful b e c a u s e a te acher can get an
ide a of what s i t e they mi ght want to use without having to
s e arch a myr i ad d i f fe rent webs i t e s .
A Pro fe s s ional
Port fo l i o a l s o offers a numb er o f d i f f e rent proj e c t s
al ready de s igned t h a t are a dapt abl e for u s e in any
c l a s s r oom .
De s i gning a Profe s s ional P o r t f o l i o should have a ma j or
impact on my teach ing .
B eing a b l e to f ind u s e ful
in f-orma t i on and re s ource s to u s e for da i l y l e s s on p l a n s i s
a cri t i ca l s ki l l every t eacher needs t o po s s e s s .
Thi s type
o f a c t i v i t y shows that a t e a c h e r h a s an abi l i t y to te ach a
topic f rom many di f ferent p e r s p e ct ive s , which always h as a
p o s i t ive impa c-t on s t udent l e a rning .
Studen t s mu st be able
to d i f f e rent iate between opp o s ing p e r spectives and form an
abi l i t y t o pull out the informa t i on they need to st rengthen
t h e i r a rgument s and opi n i ons .
I t i s a l s o c r i t i ca l for
s tudents t o learn to que s t ion the dec i s ions made by t h o s e
in powe r, not to be d i s re spect ful, but to rea l i z e that
the i r opinions mat t e r, e sp e ci a l l y when they are res ea rched
b a s ed .
T h i s port fol i o w i l l give s tudent s the opt ion to u s e
prima ry s ource s from t h e 196 0 s that are organ i z e d in
56
locations that are mo re cent r a l s o that the r e s e a rch i s , to
an ext ent , t eacher driven.
There are t ime s that a l l owing
student s t o r e s earch a topic b l indly wi l l be bene f i c i a l ,
but many t ime s high s chool s tuden ts need guidance .
There wou ld a l s o be the opt i on o f s e t t i ng up a
works hop t o p re s ent a p o r t f o l i o and di s cu s s how i t i s
u s e ful i n a vari e t y o f c l a s s rooms .
Teachers would benefit
from this because they may fi nd new ways t o delve into a
top i c i n s t e a d o f the way they have done s o i n the p a s t .
It
i s a l s o imp ortant f o r educators t o share i de a s , t o
di s s eminat e new ide a s , and the topic doe s not become s t a l e .
Wor�s hop s a r e a l s o u s e ful becau s e teachers a r e able t o get
feedb a c k from othe r t e a chers s o they can ma ke chang e s i f
s ome content may n o t b e appropri ate or i f a d i f fe rent
approach would be bene f i c i a l.
T h i s t ype o f t e aching port f o l i o addre s s e s a l l o f the
New Y o r k S t a t e t e a ching s t andards as the t op i c cove r s
Ameri can H i s t o ry, Geography , Government , a n d World H i s tory .
A topic t h i s bi g , with thi s many r esources avai lable a l lows
a gre at dea l of f lexib i l i t y for educators.
One way to
a s s e s s s t udent l e a rning would be to de s i gn a p r e - t e a ching
survey about Vietnam that cove rs b a s i c s of the con f l i ct ,
and then have the s t udent s t a ke a s imi l a r t e s t a f t e r the
unit ha s been t aught.
�hi s typ e of activity wi l l a l l ow the
57
t e ache r t o see what s e ctions o f the unit were st ronger and
wher e changes need to be imp l emented in the future t o
enhance s t udent l e a rning .
The t e acher could a l s o have the
s tudents answer a survey a ft e r the · unit describing what
they have l e a rned and what they found mo st intere s t ing .
One could a l s o l o o k at the scores on AP exams a s proo f of
s t udent l e a rning in advanced c l a s s e s a s well a s perfo rmance
on the United States Hi story NYS Regents exam .
58
Profe s s ional Portfolio
The Vi e tnam War E ra ' s
Amer i can
A C o l l e c t i on
T e a ch i n g
Impac t on
S o c i e ty
o f Re s o u r c e s
fo r
t h e V i e t n am W a r
C omp i l e d b y :
An t h o n y S c o t t
59
Web - Ba s ed Resources
I .
Pr imary
eve n t s
Sources
and p e op l e
II .
III .
IV .
on
Mu s i c
Web
that
f r om t h e
du r i n g
P i ctures
Movi e s
the
f r om
the
focus
on ma j o r
Vi e t n am W a r
Era
V i e t n am E r a
the
and Short Video
V i e t n am E r a
a c c o un t s
of
the
V i e t n am W a r
V:
The
M a r ch
t o War :
Do cume n t s
f r om
the
V i e t n am W a r
VI :
The
North
V i e t n ame s e
P e r spe ct ive
60
I.
Primary Sources on the Web that focus on ma j or
events
•
and people from the Vietnam War Era
http : / /members . tripod.com/ rat ional revolut ion O /wa r / c o l l
e c t i on o f l e t t e r s b y ho chi .htm
T h i s i s a c o l l ection of l e t t e r s written by Ho Chi Minh.
They could be u s ed as an int rodu c t i on to key f i gu r e s of the
· Vietnam Wa r.
Because it is imp o rtant to unde r s t and key
f i gu r e s of the War, s tudent s could look at the writings of
Ho Chi Minh to get an accurate p i cture of what hi s t hought s
and b e l i e f s were. When loo king a t the Vietnam War i t i s
important t o rea l i z e that H o C h i Minh had reached out t o
the U n i t e d S t a t e s i n the 195 0 s . I f the United Stat e s had
agreed to re cogni z e the Vi e tname s e r i ght to form the i r own
count r y, the Vietnam Wa r may have b e en avoi ded.
The Unt ied
S t a t e s cho s e t o s t a y out o f the French and Vietname s e
con f l i c t pub l i c l y, wh i l e a t the s ame time shipping weapons
and money to help the French.
•
http : / /www . democra cynow . or g / a r t i cle.pl ? s id= 0 5 / 01/17 / 1 6
4233
Thi s i s a l ink to a video o f M a r t i n Luther King Jr.
di s c u s s ing the United S t a t e s involvement in Vietnam.
S t udent s can watch this video t o get a s ense o f what key
p ub l i c f i gu r e s in the United S t a t e s thought about the
Vietnam War.
Vietnam was r e a l l y th e f i r s t war that had
been p l ayed out in the me d ia and fo r the first t ime people
_
were spea king out against the government in an attempt to
s t op t he War.
61
•
http : / /www . vietvet . o rg/thewa l l . htm
Th i s s i t e h a s s ome great r e f l e c t i o n s of the Vietnam
Memo r i a l i n Wa sh ington D.C.
I t would be a great
int roduct i o n to how the count r y has memo r i a l i z e d the
Vietnam War.
S t udent ' s can l e a rn from how others have
memo r i a l i z e d the mo s t controve r s i a l war i n Ame r i can
h i s t ory .
The Wa l l i n Washington D.C. has a l s o had a
controver s i a l h i s t o ry and stude n t s can get a s e n s e o f that
by looking a t images of the wa l l and reading individua l s
re spon s e t o what they s ee .
•
http : / / thewa l l -us a . com/
This i s another l i n k to the V i etnam Memo r i a l Wal l i n
Was hington.
Y ou can type in cau s a l i t i e s of War and they
tell you how they died and how l ong they s e rved i n Vietnam .
Thi s s i te h a s s ome great ima g e s o f the w a l l that would be
great to u s e in the c l a s s room .
I t i s another great l i n k i f
you a r e l o o king t o d i s cu s s Vietnam Vet eran Memori a l s .
It
a l s o h a s very helpful l i n k s that could be us eful i f you are
loo king for l i t e rature dea l ing with the War .
Thi s web s i t e
a l s o has l i n k s t o j ournal art i c l e s a n d b o o k s that di s cu s s
teaching the Vietnam War which could be helpful in p l anning
a unit on the Vi etnam War .
•
http : / /www . vietnampix.com/ f i re . htm
Thi s web s i t e h a s s ome great p i ct u r e s from the War, as well
as from the antiwar movement .
Thi s s i te could be very
u s eful in the c l a s s room becau s e o f i t s s cope and coverage
62
of the wa r .
Studen t s could compare and cont r a s t images o f
the Wa r f rom diffe rent ye a r s t o t r y and g e t a s e n s e o f how
things were changing in the count ry .
The pub l i c ' s
pe rcept ion o f the Vietnam War changed a great de a l from the
beginning of the Wa r unt i l the end and student s can rea l l y
get a s e n s e o f that through the s e p i cture s .
They w i l l a l s o
have t o have b a c kground i n forma t ion o n the Wa r , s o thi s
could be u s ed t owards the end o f a unit to r e a l l y get an
idea of how much informat ion the student s have l e a rned .
•
http : / /www . di g i t a l h i s t ory . uh . edu/databa s e / subt i t l e s . c f
m ? t i t l e i D= 7 1
This s it e o f fers short excerpt s about import ant people and
events dur i ng the V i e tnam War .
Students could u s e them a s
a starting p o i n t f or t h e i r own r esearch .
Thi s i s another
s i te that could be used for s tudent s to get a better
understanding o f w ho the key people of th e Vietnam War were
and what impact they made during the War .
•
http : / / www . k i rj a s to . s c i . f i /hoch i . htm
This s i te o f fe r s a n i c e �ac kground of Ho Chi Minh ' s
educat i o n and worldly exp e ri enc e .
He spent a lot o f t ime
in France s t udying and that i s where he wa s int roduced to
s o ci al i sm and other pol i t i ca l i deo l ogi e s .
•
www . l e a rningcurve . gov . u k / c o ldwa r / g6 / c s2 / s4 . htm
T hi s s ite h a s s ome great p r ima r y s ources a l ready f o rmatted
for a DBQ exerci s e .
Sources de a l with the impact o f the
63
TET Offen s i ve on the Vi etnam Wa r.
Thi s s it e i s conveni ent
becau s e t h e teacher can gu i de the r e s e a rch they want t h e i r
s t udent ' s t o focus o n whi l e s tudying Vietnam a n d the T E T
O f fens ive.
•
www.t u rnerlearni ng.com/ ... /vi etnam/vi e t dis.html
T h i s i s another great s i te ful l of resources s e t up for
r e s e a rch p r o j ects and further inve s t i ga t i on.
There ar e
l i n ks t o v id eos and que s t i ons t o answ er when s tudent s ar e
done w a t c h i ng the vide o s .
•
http : / /www.upa.pdx . edu / IM S / currentproj e ct s /TAHv 3 / Conte
nt /Vi e tnam Confl i ct.html
Thi s i s another great s i t e that o ffer s a det a i l e d
·ba c kground o f t h e Uni t e d S t a t e s involvement in Vietnam and
a l s o t a ke s a n in-depth l o o k at the antiwar movement.
•
http : / /www2.iath . v i r g i n i a.edu / s i xt i e s / HTML do c s /Narrat
ive.htrnl
T hi s s i t e i s c a l l ed the " S i xt i e s Pro j e c t " and o f f er s a
number o f p e rsonal na rrat ives from people who grew up
during t h e 196 0 s.
P e r s onal narrat ive s o f f e r an exc e l l ent
supp l y o f p r ima ry s ource ma t e r i a l because t h e s e ar e peopl e
that actua l l y l ived t hrough the Vi etnam Wa r and ar e sh a ring
t h e i r a c c ount of what happened.
64
II .
•
Music during the Vietnam Era
http : / /www . j ws roc kgarden . com/ j w02vvaw . htm#pre face
Thi s web s i t e o f fers an ove rview of how mu s i c i nfluenced the
antiwar movement and does a n i ce j ob o f o f fe ring song
lyrics that share the theme s of the ant iwar movement .
The
s i t e o f f e r s a number of s ongs written during the era and
a l s o adds the lyri cs, s o you could have the student s read
the l y r i c s b e fore they hear the s ong .
•
http : / /www . i chiban1 . org/html /mu s i c . htm
T h i s s i t e o f fers a di f f e rent way o f l oo king a t how mus i c
r e f l e c t e d Ameri can s o c i ety during the 1960 s .
The s i t e
s hows t h e t op 10 songs f o r e a c h ye ar of the 196 0 s and could
be used to s how how ove r t ime the negative e f f e c t s o f the
Wa r spi l l ed into mu s i c and other p a rt s of Ame r i can culture .
Student s c o u l d l i s ten t o t h e s ongs from e a r l i e r in the
decade and c ompare them to the mu s i c comp o s e d l ater in the
decade .
T h e s it e a l s o o f f e r s a number o f movie revi ews o f
fi lms about Vietnam .
•
http : / / www . youtube . com/wa t c h ? v=vJV4 4 YV69 z O
T his i s a v i deo o f B u f f a l o Spring f i e l d ' s " S omething ' s
Happening H e re ", a s ong that t ruly epitomi z e s the way many
Ame r i cans f e lt during the Vi etnam War .
I t a l s o i l l u s t rates
how art i s t s and c i t i z ens a l i ke were beginning to que s t i on
what they were being to l d .
Thi s could be u s e d a s a wa rm-up
65
exerc i s e where s t udent s have t o write about the way the War
was a ffect ing Ame r i ca n s o c i e t y .
•
h t tp : / /www . youtub e . com/wat c h ?v=HVi 7 DXOfnAM
Thi s i s another great v ide o that could be u s e d to di s cu s s
the s t a t e o f Ame r i can s o c i e t y during the Vi etnam War .
This
could b e powerful t o use w i t h h i gh s chool s tuden ts becau s e
t h e k i d s involved in the Kent S t a t e s hoot ings w e r e young
when they were ki l l ed by Nat i on a l Guard members t rying to
b r ea k up a r a l l y .
•
http : / /membe r s . t r ipod . com/ � f fh i ker / index- 3 . html
T h i s s i t e o f fers a l i s t of the 4 0 best songs dur i n g the
Vietnam Era .
I t a l s o l i s t s the Bong l yri c s wh i ch could be
helpful i f you were to have s tudent s analyze the meaning
behind t he s ongs .
Mu s i c i s a ma j o r way o f memo r i a l i z i ng
important s oc i a l event s and the Vietnam War Era was known
for the mus i c that s e emed t o truly define a generat ion .
•
http : / / facul t y . b u f fa l o s t a t e . edu / fi shlm/ fo l ks ongs /ameri
ca nsongs . htm
Thi s s i t e t a ke s a l o o k at how mus i c impacted the s ol d i e r s
a n d a l s o o f f e r s examp l e s o f s on g s from t h e t ime p e r i o d .
Lydia Fi sh l o � ks at how the s ongs cou l d be u s e d a s a t o l l
t o und e r s t and how s o l d i e r s w e r e dea l in g w i t h the War .
66
III .
P i c tu r e s
from the Vi e tnam Era
h t tp : / / w ww . s q u i d o o . c om / w i n n i ngv i e t n am
This
s ite
loo k
at
The
use
o f fe r s
what
of
to
deve l op
at
ima g e s
it
s ome
would
pictures
have
t a ke n
photographs
f r om t h e
empa t h y
those
for
f r om t h e Wa r .
f r om t h e
who
to
Wa r
and
actua l l y win
V i e t n am E r a
t a ke s
the
a l l ow s
a
Wa r .
s t ud e n t s
f o u g h t b y h a v i n g t h em
look
67
Pictures
peace
and
on
l i ke
the s e
demon s t r a t i o n s
s t ude n t s
what
they
moveme n t .
c o u l d be
l o o ked
used
l i ke
an
a
during
could write
an
see
t h e y p e r c e i ve
and how
i n t e r a c t i ve
e x amp l e
the
what
V i e tnam Wa r ,
j ou r n a l
the
of
t op i c
antiwar
ba s e d
68
These
ima g e s
could
a n t i w a r moveme n t
Ame r i c a n s .
The
t ra g i c
rem i n d e r
not
e x c l u s i ve
be
be
used to
and the
show
the
despa i r
that
Sho o t i ng
at
State
thaL
violence
the
the
Kent
of
S o u t he a s t As i a .
re a l i t y
it
cau s ed
proved
the
of
to
the
s o many
be
V i e t n am Wa r
a
would
69
Th i s
It
is
one
s ho w e d
how
V i e t n ame s e
Wa r
as
and
the
these
i nt e n s e
the more
c i vi l i a n s
nume r o u s
c omb a t
of
f a mo u s
e x e cu t i on
that
j ourna l i s t s
f amo u s
d e v a s t a t i ng
that
and
the
the
i ma g e s
of
f i gh t i n g
were
c a ught
the
was
in
V i e t n am W a r .
on
the
count r i e s
that
were
were
the
i nnocent
War .
ima g e
f r om t h e
happened
cove r i n g
the
t o be
War .
War
this
c a u gh t
on
was
a
of
I ma g e s
a f fe c t e d by
ma n y V i e t n ame s e
North
the middle
d a i l y b omb i n g mi s s i o n s .
show how both
c a s ua l t i e s
Ano t h e r
of
publ i c
c ame r a
by
the
such
70
This
p h o t o g ra p h
l i ke .
This
was
c o u l d be
t a ke n
a t t a c k p l a n n e d a r o un d
31,
1968 .
u s ed
during
the
to
the
s how what
TET
c omb a t
o f f e n s i ve ,
V i e t n ame s e T E T h o l i d a y
a
l o o ked
s u rp r i s e
on
Ja n u a r y
71
IV .
Movi es
and Short Video accounts of the
Vietnam War
•
http : / /www.me t a c a f e.com/watc h / 1 39017 / t h e vietnam confl
ict/
T h i s web s i t e o f f e r s a s ho rt compi l a t i on of footage from the
Vi etnam War that could be us ed to give the s tudent s an idea
o f what combat l o o ked l i ke.
I t i s set to mus i c and copld
be used as an introduct ory l e s s on that captures the
student s ' a ttent ion and get s them to think about the Wa r
and the impact the f igh t i ng had on the s ol d i e r s.
•
http : / /memb e r s . a o l.com/wa r l i b / l Oviet.htm
T h i s web s i t e give s a d e t a i l e d l i s t of movi e s that have been
related t o the Vietnam War.
S tudent s could cho o s e from the
l i s t and do a review that they p r e s ent to the c l a s s .
The
teache r could a l s o s horten the l i s t with movi e s that ar e
appropr i a t e and a s s i gn them to s tudent s.
There have been
count l e s s fi lms made about Vi etnam and students could get a
r e a l s e n s e o f what Vietnam was l i ke from s ome o f the s e
movi e s .
Whi l e they ma y t a ke a r t i s t i c l i cen s e in many
i n s t ance s , t hey s t i l l give a s e n s e of what the Wa r meant to
the people ma king the f i lm.
Film i s another way o f
memori a l i z ing t h e Vi etnam W a r a n d i n many ways it give s a
great indicator o f how p eopl e were a f fected by the Wa r with
the me s s age they convey on the s c reen.
and
Fu l l Metal
Jacket
Movi e s l i ke
Pl a t o on
s h ow the s avage s i de o f the Wa r
e f fort and t he ment a l angu i s h many o f the s o ldiers faced
whi l e they were in Vi etnam.
Other movi e s l i ke
Deer Hun t er
72
and
Born
on
t h e Fo urth
of July
convey s imi l a r me s s ages but
a l s o focu s on the a f t e rmath of the War and what it was l i ke
f o r s o ld i e r s to come h ome from Vietnam and the di ffi cu l t i e s
v ete rans faced a s t h e y a t t empted to r e s ume t he l i ves they
l e ft .
•
http : / / l ink . h i s t o ry.com/ s e rvice s /p l a y e r /bcpid128 7 04 0 7 0
4 ?b c l i d=129529336 3 & bct id=132 7 1537 7 4
Th i s s it e o f fers a s hort video o f f i ghting during t h e T ET
o f fens ive .
I t h a s s ome f i r s t hand ac count s and provide s
s ome good informa t i on about TET.
The TET o ffens ive wa s one
of the defin ing mome n t s of the Vietnam War and i t i s
c r i t i ca l f o r s t udent s t o build a n unde r s t a nding o f what TET
wa s and the impact the f i ght ing had on support for the War
e f fort a t home.
•
http : / / l i nk.hi s t o r y . com/ services /pl aye r /bcpid128 7 04 0 7 0
4 ?bclid=129529336 3 &bct id=132 7 153768
T h i s video o ff ers a b r i e f l o o k at the My L a i Ma s s a cre that
o c curred during the V i etnam War .
It can b e used to show
how War a f fects the innocent civi l i ans a s w e l l a s the
s o l d i e r s f i ght ing i n i t .
The My Lai ma s s a c r e was an
i n comp rehen s ible a c t t h a t s hows that even t h e innocent
s u f f e r s during t ime of War.
73
•
http : / / l ink.h i s t o ry . com/ s e rvices /player /bcpid12 8 7 04 0 7 0
4 ? bcl i d= l 2 95293 363&bctid= l 327 15 3 7 7 0
T h i s i s a good comp i l at i on di s cus s ing the r e l e a s e o f the
Pentagon Papers and the down fa l l o f the John s o n Pr es idency.
T h i s would be u s e ful t o s how the c l a s s when t a l king about
the extreme pres s u re P re s i dent Johns on wa s under to end the
War in Vietnam and how it u l t imat e l y led to h im not see king
r e e l e c t i on .
The Pent a gon Pape r s o ffer an i n-depth l o o k at
Pres ident John son ' s de c i s ion ma king during the Vietnam War
and o f fers an exce l l ent opportunity to s crut i ni z e h i s
de c i s i ons ; whi l e at t h e s ame t ime one can g e t a s en s e o f
h o w much s crutiny the P r e s i dent w as unde r, a n d h o w s p l i t
h i s Cabinet and advi s o r s had become throughout t h e course
of the Wa r-- ma king de c i s i on s that much mo r e d i f f i cult.
74
V:
The March to War:
Documents from the
Vietnam War
•
http : / / www . cnn . com/ S PECIAL S / c o l d . war/epi sode s / 04 / do cum
ent s / x . html
The p o l i c y of cont a i nment introduced by Geo rge Kennan in
194 7 was the defining p o l i c y i n regard t o dea l ing with the
spread o f Commun i sm .
I n thi s a r t i c l e, whi ch Kennan
pub l i shed anonymo u s l y, he d i s c u s s ed h i s view of the Soviet
Union and the idea that communi sm wou l d spread into we a ker
count r i e s and pos e a ma j or threat to democracy around th e
world .
T h i s i s an important d ocument for s tudent s to r ead
b efore a un i t on Vietnam beca u s e i t w i l l help t hem
unde r s t and why the United S t a t e s b e l i eved it was nece s s a r y
t o int ervene in Southea s t As i a .
The United S t a t e s could
not a f ford t o a l l ow the North V i etname s e to t a ke cont r o l o f
t h e South because t h e p o l i cy o f containment and t h e Domino
Theory b e l i eved that would be t h e beginning of a much
l arger problem whi ch could spread through a l l of South e a s t
A s i a and p o s s ib ly furthe r .
•
http : / /www . ya l e . edu / l awwe b / aval o n/ tonkin-g . htm
The Ava l on Proj ect o f f ers s t udent s ' the opportun i t y to
s tudy the Gul f of Tonkin Re s ol ut i on .
Thi s res o l u tion h as
b een qui t e cont rove r s i a l becau s e i t became f a i r l y c l e a r
t h a t the U n i t e d S t a t e s emb e l l i s hed t h e supp o s e d a t t a c k s to
garner the support need ed from Congre s s to incr e a s e troops
i n Vietnam .
The Gul f of Tonkin Re s o lut i on is impo rtant to
l o o k a t because i t g av e t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s the ne eded c au s e
75
to go into Vi etnam. W i thout the a t t a c k in the Tonkin Gul f ,
t h e i r may not have been enough informat i on t o convince
Congr e s s to s end t roops into Southeas t As i a.
•
http : / /www.yal e.edu/ lawweb /avalon /wa rpowe r . htm
Thi s l i n k i s to the War Powe r s Act of 197 3 .
Thi s
l e gi s l a t i on w a s p a s s e d by Congre s s a s a di rect r e s ul t o f
what they de emed w a s a mi s u s e o f power by t h e Execut ive
Branch.
T eachers could u s e t h i s document in a t hemat i c
e s say about t h e power o f t h e Execut ive branch or in .a DBQ
about the Vietnam Wa r and s ome of the l a s t ing change s made
becau s e of the l e ga c y o f Vietnam.
The War Powe r s Act made
i t much mo re di f f i cu l t for the P r e s ident t o s end t roops
abroad to intervene i n fore i gn a f f a i r s .
•
http : / /www.ya l e . edu / l awweb /avalon/ int dip/ u smu l t i /u smu O
0 3.htm
Thi s l i n k i s t o the S outhe a s t As i a C o l l e ct ive Defense
Treaty ( Ma ni l a Pact ) w h i ch w a s s i gned in 1954 .
Students
mus t unde r s t and Un i ted S t a t e s invo lvement in Vietnam
s t a rted in 195 4 when t he French were f i ght ing against the
North Vietname se.
The Uni t e d State s wa s c oncerned that
l o s ing any s overe i gn n a t i on i n Southe a s t As i a to Communi sm
would be a blow to Demo cracy around the world and would
s t art a domino e f fect of count r i e s succumb ing to communi sm .
76
•
http : / /www.ya l e . edu / l awweb / ava l o n / i nt d i p / indo ch / inch O O
B . htm
The Ava l on Proj ect h a s a numb er o f l inks s e t up with
p rimary s ource documents that p rovi de an excel l ent place to
s e t up DBQ o r thema t i c e s s a ys.
T h i s l in k i l l u s t rat e s th e
Un it ed S t a t e s i nvolvement in Vietnam s t arted in the ear l y
1 95 0 s , when the United S t a t e s recogn i zed the Repub l i c o f
Vietnam, L a o s , a n d Cambodia a s French coloni e s.
At this
t ime H o C h i Minh a n d t h e North Vietname s e were l o o king to
b e recogn i z ed by the United Sta tes a s a free and s ove r e i gn
n a t i on,
•
s omething the U.S. f a i l e d t o do.
http : / /www.mtholyo ke.edu / a cad/ intrel /pentagon /pent l.ht
ml
S tudent s can read an exce rpt f rom the Pent agon papers t o
g e t a better unde r s t anding f o r t h e United S t a t e s f o r ei gn
p o l icy during the Vietnam Wa r.
The s e were c l a s s i f i e d
do cument s t h a t w e r e l e a ked t o t h e N e w Y o r k T ime s by Daniel
E l l sburg, an o f fi c e r in the state department.
There a re
l i n ks t o four vo lume s o f the report and o f f e r a vivi d loo k
a t how the Vietnam War s t a rted i n the 194 0 s when the United
S t a t e s a i ded the French, whi l e c l a iming to stay out of
their colon i a l s t rugg l e with North Vietnam .
The s e
document s show the s t ruggle that Pre s i dent John s o n h a d a s
he re al i z ed that t h e Wa r wa s not winnab l e, but at t h e s ame
t ime there was no way to turn ba c k and concede de fea t - - or
admit that the Wa r was a s t a l emate.
Reading the s e papers
can gain a sense o f t h e intense pr es sure he was under and
how it l a t e r r e s u l t e d in him not s e e king re - e l e c t i on.
Th is
77
c o l l e c t i on o f f e r s a comp rehens ive look a t the Vietnam War
from the Whi t e Hous e ' s p e r spect ive . They had no . intent ion
o f pub l i s hing the s e document s and i t is s a fe t o a s sume that
many in Wa s hington w i s h they had never been l e a ked .
•
http : / /vietnam . vass a r . edu / abs t ract s . html
Thi s i s another s it e with a number o f l i n k s t o primary
s ources r e l evant t o the Vi etnam War .
L i nks inc lude
document s on t he Tonkin Gulf Re s o l u ti on,
as w e l l as
di s cus s i ons bet w een key f i gure s during the Vietnam War .
78
VI :
•
The North Vietname s e
Perspe ctive
http : / /www . pb s . o rg/ba t t l e f i e ldvietnam/t ime l ine/ index . h
tml
This t imel i ne gives s tudents the chance t o exp l o re the
extent of the North Vietname s e s t ruggle to gain their
independence from the French .
I t is u s e fu l because i t
breaks the Wa r up into d i f f e rent catego r i e s that wo u l d ma ke
it e a s y for student s to navigate to see how North Vietnam
was be ing a f fected by the Wa r during di f fer ent p e r i ods .
Another l in k on t h i s s i t e b r e a ks down what gue r i l l a warfare
was and how it wa s emp l o yed by the Viet Cong .
There i s
qui te a b i t of informat i on that i s focu s e d o n thB United
States invo lvement i n V ietnam, but s tudent s can a l s o focu s
on how that a f fected North Vietnam .
There i s a s e ct i on
that di s cus s e s the A i r War , which can i l lu s t rate how much
de s t ruction too k p l a c e on the t iny country of North
Vietnam .
•
http : / /www . vietnampix . com/popvc . htm
T h i s s it e offers a br i e f de s c ript ion o f what the Viet Cong
was and how they were organi z e d .
When l o o king at the
Vietnam War i t is cri t i ca l for students to know against
whom the United S t a t e s wa s f i ghting and fo r what , exact l y ,
they were fi ght ing .
79
•
http : / /vietnam.v a s s a r . edu/docnl f . html
T h i s i s a rguab ly one of the mo s t u s e fu l do cuments
d i s cu s s i n g the a ims of the Nat ional Libe r a t io n Front
o r t h e Viet Cong .
NLF so
( NL F )
T h e do cument spe l l s out t h e a ims o f the
s tudent s can · get a t rue s en s e f o r what the Vi et
C ong was f i ghting a�d why they were trying t o uni t e a l l of
Vietnam unde r one Gove rnment.
Reading t h e document gives
one a c l e a r s ens e o f t he NLF' s dis content with We s t e rn
i d e a s a nd the i r rea s on i ng for uni fying Viet nam .
goals,
From th eir
one can a s s ume that they did n o t want a t rue
c ommuni s t state becau s e they were advocat i ng fo r freedom of
p re s s,
f r e edom o f opini on, and the freedom o f trade ; things
they deemed as e s s ent i al democra t i c p r i n c i p l e s .
Howeve r,
t he Unit ed St ates wa s unwi l l ing to accept any of t h e s e
i de a s because there was the unde r l ying fea r t h a t communism
was spreading in Southe a s t As i a and North Vietnam was a
threat t o demo cracy a round the worl d .
80
Pro j ect Summary
The Vie tnam War was a rguabl y th e mo s t cont rove r s i a l
war in Amer i can h i s tory .
The C i v i l War w a s fought by a
divided country w i t h d i f f erent vi s i ons fo r what t h e Uni t e d
S t a t e s s h o u l d be , and i n many w a y s Vi etnam was s imi l a r i n
i t s d i v i s ivene s s .
B e c au s e t he Vi etnam W a r cau s e d such a
great divide , t h e re are many di f fe rent ways t o p r e s ent
mat e r i a l to s tudent s so they get a b a l anced v i ew of the
War.
P r e s ent ing a b a l anced l o o k a t t h e War i s p robab l y the
mo s t imp o r t ant p a rt o f t e a ching th e Vietnam War because it
a l l ow s s tudent s to form their own opinions based on p r imary
s ource mat e r i a l s .
The med i a coverage o f the V i et nam W a r h a s l e f t
count l e s s re s ou r c e s f or t ea cher s t o ut i l i z e in t h e i r
c l a s s rooms.
There are a numbe r of ways t o des ign virtual
t ou r s o f memo ria l s to g ive student s a vant age point they
might not g e t t o see on their own.
Teachers can s e t up
v i rt u a l t ou r s of memo r i al s from d i f f erent c i t i e s s o
s t udent s can comp a re and contr a s t t h e di f ferent ways the
War has b e e n remembered.
Vietnam memo r i a l s o ff e r a gre a t
re s ou r c e for s tudent r e f l e ct ion a s t h e y o ff e r a d i fferent
v i ew of Ame r i can combat t han other W a r s h ave i n t h e p a s t .
The memo r i a l in W a s hington D . C. w a s de s i gned amid s t a gr eat
81
dea l o f controve r s y b ecau s e i t w a s vi ewed a s not
nece s s a ri l y morbi d, but not with the s ame s e n s e of
a ccomp l i s hment as many other memo r i a l s had i n the p a s t .
" The Wall " , a s it h a s come t o be known, o f fe r s a v i s i to r an
intro spect ive l o o k at the Vietnam War b e c au s e of the image s
Virtual tours can give
they s e e a s they tour the memo r i a l .
student s a s en s e of what it meant t o l o s e a f ami l y memb e r
and t h e t o l l i t too k o n Amer i cans a s a whol e .
Being able
t o see your r ef l e ct ion i n the w a l l give s people a s en s e of
b elonging when they l o o k at the Wal l they ar e not s impl y
l o o king a t name s .
The Vi etnam Memo r i a l i n Roch e s t e r a l s o o ff e r s a uni que
way of remembering tho s e that l o s t their l iv e s in Vi etnam .
I t ha s a di s t i nct ive de s i gn t hat should get h i gh s cho o l
s tudent s thin king about what i t must h ave been l i ke to be
s ent t o Vietnam .
B e f ore the trip you could s et up a
s imul a t i on where s t udent s are drafted to f i ght in a
f i ct i onal wa r and have them write a r e f l e ct i on e s s ay before
and a ft e r t h e i r t rip t o the memor i a l .
e ff e ctive becaus e , on the memor i a l ,
Thi s could be
i t di splays from wher e
and when the s ol d i e r s g r a duated and many o f the s oldiers
from the Ro ch es t er area that di ed i n Vietnam were recent l y
graduated from h i gh s ch o o l .
As t eacher s , one o f the mos t
d i f f i cu l t things t o imp a rt o n o u r student s i s emp athy, and
82
thi s exerci s e could g ive s t udent s a newfound p e r sp e ctive o f
the Vietnam War .
Anoth e r great way t o encourage student r e f l e ct i on i s
u s ing pi cture s f rom the e r a b e i ng s tudi ed .
Vi etnam h a s
b e e n o n e o f t h e most s crut i ni z ed War s i n h i s t or y a n d there
a r e thous and s o f p i ct u r e s that coul d b e u s ed i n the
c l as s room .
The phot ography ca n be u s e d a s a n i nt roduct i on
t o c e rt a i n i s sue s regarding V ietnam, s u ch a s the antiwar
movement .
Student s can s et up an interactive j ournal where
they chr o n i c l e the i r t hought s about the images and how they
would f i t thos e ima g e s into t h e l arger context of the
196 0 s .
Interactive j ourna l s e ncourage r e f l e ct i on and
empathy b e caus e you are as king studen t s t o put thems e l v e s
into the p i ctures a n d d es crib e what t h e y ar e f e e l i ng .
There a re a numb er o f web s i t e s that h ave det a i l ed
out l i n e s o f event s that occurred during the Vietnam War .
Many o f them h ave p r imary s ou r c e s a l r e ady di spl ayed s o
s tudent s c o u l d u s e them i n r e s e a rch proj e c t s a n d pape r s .
T eache rs could a l s o u s e the s e s it e s a s a review activity or
could even s e t up a DBQ o r themat i c e s s ay u s i n g s ome of
the s e s ou r ce s .
There are many d i f f e r ent ways one cou l d s et
up a DBQ about Vietnam .
They could cho o s e t o f o cu s o n the
antiwar movement, or the focus could be on the imp a ct on
83
One could a l s o focus s ome o f the study
Ame r i can s o c i et y .
on the imp a ct the War had on t h e count ry of Vi etnam .
Thi s p r o j ect wi l l a l s o h e l p t eachers f ind di f f erent
ways to introduce s t uden t s to the Vi etnam War .
Howard
Gardne r has done a great de a l of r e s e a r ch on mul t i p l e
int e l l igence s a n d h a s i l lu s t r a t e d how student s l e a rn in
di f ferent ways .
Thi s port f o l i o give s edu cators nume rous
ways to app r o a ch the Vietnam that w i l l app e a l to many
d i f fe rent l e a rning s t y l e s .
S tudent s who l e a rn b e t t e r
visua l l y w o u l d bene f i t f rom wo r king w i t h photographs from
the Vietnam E r a a s a way o f under s t anding the cultural
imp a ct of the War .
U s ing f i lm i n the c l a s s r o om can a l s o
help r e a ch the s e s t udent s because i t w i l l app e a l t o t h e i r
v i s u a l l e a rning s ty l e a n d cou l d b e u s e d a s a h o o k t o get
them inter e s t ed in the t op i c .
There ar e a l s o t imel in e s
w i t h important event s t h a t might b e u s e ful f o r s omeone who
is a s p a t i a l l earner and want s to know the order o f
event s .
The beauty o f u s ing web-b a s e d mate r i a l s t o t each the
Vi e tnam War is i t p rovide s many di f f erent ways educat o r s
c a n approach the cont rove r s i a l t ime p er io d in whi ch Vietnam
too k p l a ce .
The u s e o f p r imary sources in the c l a s s room
can help give s tudent s an idea o f t h e imp a c t t he Vietnam
War had on Amer i can culture .
84
Bibliography
Ande r s on, David Ed .
Wh i t e Ho u s e:
Lawrence,
( He r ring, George C . ) .
Pre s iden t s an d t h e
KA :
Shadow of the
Vi e tnam
War 1 9 4 6- 1 9 75 .
The Unive r s i ty Pre s s o f Kan s a s, 1993 .
Barrett, Davi d M . E D .
Lyndon B .
John s on ' s
Vie tnam
Papers:
A
C o l l ege S t a t i on, TX : Texas
Do cumen tary Col l e c t ion .
A&M Pre s s, 1997 .
Berman, W i l l i am C .
Th e Dis s en t
Wil l iam
of a
Fu lbrigh t an d
Pol i t ical
an d Mus ic .
Th e
Vie tnam
War :
Vie tnam
War :
Kent, OH : Kent
Real is t .
S t a t e Unive r s i t y Pre s s, 1988 .
C l ymer, Kenton .
the
I t s His t ory,
L i t era t ure ,
E l P a s o, TX : Tex as We s t e rn Pre s s, 1998 .
Culbert, Davi d .
" T e l evi s i ons V i s u a l Imp a ct on Deci s ion
Ma king i n the USA, 1968 : The TET O f f e n s i ve and
Chicago ' s Democrat i c National Convent i on, " Journal o f
Contemp o r a ry H i s t o ry Vo l . 3 3 No . 3 ( Ju l 1998 ) : 4 19449 .
Dittmar, Linda, and Mi chaud, Gene, Ed .
Hol lywood:
Th e
Vie tnam
From Han o i
War in Am erican
Film .
Brunswi c k, N J : Rut g ers Unive r s i t y Pre s s, 1990 .
to
New
Farbe r, Davi d .
Th e S ix t ies: From Mem ory to His t ory .
Chapel H i l l, NC : T h e Unive r s i t y o f North C a ro l i na
Pre s s, 1994 .
H ammond, W i l l i am M .
" The Pre s s in Vie tnam a s Agent s o f
De feat : A C r i t i c a l Exami n a t i on, " Reviews in Ame ri can
Hi s t o ry Vo l . 17 , No . 2 ( Jun, 198 9 ) : 312 - 323 .
He lme r, John .
in
Brin gin g t h e
Vie tn am an d Aft e r .
War Hom e:
Th e Am erican
S o l di er
New Y o r k, NY : The Free P re s s,
1974 .
Ka i s e r,
Davi d .
Origin s
Bel knap
Am erican
Tragedy:
Ken n edy ,
John son ,
and
Camb r i dge, MA : The
Pre s s of Harva rd Unive r s i t y Pre s s, 2 0 0 0 .
of the
Vie t n am
War .
the
85
Kat s i a f i c a s , George .
Vi e tn a m e s e
I nc . ,
Vi e tnam D o c um en t s :
Vi e ws
of the
1 992 .
Mann, Robert .
A Gra n d Del u s i on :
Me lans on, Richard A .
Wa r :
S e r fa ty, S imon .
Am eri can
Th e
Sea rch
Wor l d Wa r II .
Sma l l, Melvin .
into
Pol i cy S i n c e
the
from Ni xon
to
Am eri c a n
Fore i gn
Pol i cy
Bos ton, MA : L i t t l e, B rown, and
An ti wa rri ors :
Th e
Vi e tn am
Wa r a n d
th e
Wi lmi n gton,
A S ch o l a r l y Re s ource I nc . Impr i nt, 20 02 .
Ba t t l e
Turner,
Forei gn
for Con s en s u s
Th e E l u s i ve En emy :
Company, 1972 .
DE :
Am eri ca ' s Des cen t
Armonk, NY : M . E . Sha rpe, 1996 .
Cl i n t on .
Si n ce
and
New Yo r k, NY : Ba s i c Bo o ks, 2 0 01 .
Vi e tn am .
Vi e tn am
Ameri c a n
Armon k, NY : M . E . Sharpe
Wa r .
for Am eri ca ' s Hea r t s
Fred .
Ech oes
of Comba t :
Am eri ca n s
E.
and
Th e
Vi e tnam
Wa r i n
New Yo r k, NY : Anchor B o o k s, 1994 .
Am eri can Mem ory .
We s t h e i d e r, Jame s
a n d Mi n ds .
Fi gh t i n g on
the
Vi e tnam
Two
Fron t s :
Afri c a n
New Y o r k, NY : New York
Wa r .
Unive r s i ty Pre s s, 199 7 .
Wirt z , Jame s .
Th e TET Offen s i ve : In t el l i gen ce Fa i l u re
Wa r .
I t haca, NY : Cornel l Unive r s i t y Pre s s , 1991 .
Woods, Rand a l l B .
Sea rch
for a
J.
Wi l l i am Ful bri gh t ,
Col d Wa r Forei gn
Cambridge Unive r s i t y Pre s s,
Z i nn, Howa rd .
Vi e tnam ,
Pol i cy .
1998 .
A Peopl e ' s Hi s t ory of
the
th e
Cambridge,
Un i t ed S t a t e s :
New Y o r k, NY : Harp e r C o l l ins
Publ i sh e r s , I nc . , 1995 .
1 9 42 - Presen t .
and
in
MA :