TEACHER’S GUIDE
• In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg secretly gave the New York Times a classified
Pentagon study of the Vietnam War that indicated that several Presidents
had deceived Congress and lied to the American people about the real
situation in Vietnam. The government tried to prevent the “Pentagon
Papers” from being published, saying that the information would damage
“national security” and harm the war effort.The Supreme Court eventually ruled that the documents could be printed.Ask students to evaluate
Ellsberg’s actions and the Court’s decision. Did the American people’s
right to know about the government’s Vietnam War policy outweigh the
government’s interest in winning the war?
Follow-up Activities
• One of the great tragedies of the Vietnam War was that many Vietnamese
civilians, including women and children, were killed. Have students
research the My Lai massacre to learn about one of the worst atrocities
of this conflict.Ask students to evaluate the actions of Hugh Thompson,
an American pilot who stepped in to halt the slaughter of unarmed
Vietnamese civilians by American soldiers. Conduct a mock trial for
Lieutenant William L. Calley, who was in charge at the time of the
massacre.
• Many students may wonder how the Vietnamese people were able to
withstand the relentless bombing campaign of the Americans during the
war.Ask students to research and learn about the Vietnamese strategy of
digging tunnels to survive at this Web site www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/
history398/WarInTheVillagesAndTunnels.html.
• Ask students to talk to a relative, neighbor or friend who served in
Vietnam or lived during the Vietnam era. Have students develop a list of
ten questions they have about the war and interview their prospective
person.Ask students to report to the class what they have learned.
• Numerous songs relating to the Vietnam War were written during the
1960s. Provide students with the lyrics to or play songs such as “For What
It’s Worth” by Stephen Stills,“Ohio” by Neil Young or “What’s Goin’ On” by
Marvin Gaye.Ask students to write an essay analyzing the song’s tone and
how it might have influenced public opinion at the time. In a creative
writing exercise, ask students to write their own protest lyric or poem
that captures their thoughts about a current event or world situation.
• Ask students to discover more about Vietnam, known as the “Jewel of
Southeast Asia.” Conduct a “virtual tour” of Vietnam by using travel books
and Internet resources to learn more about the culture and geography of
this country. Break students up into small groups and ask each group to
develop travel posters, brochures or pamphlets about Vietnam.
• Ask if any students have seen or visited Maya Ying Lin’s Vietnam Veterans
Memorial, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Washington,
D.C. Explain the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and ask students to evaluate Lin’s decision to list on her monument the names of
the over 58,000 people who died in the conflict.Ask students to design
their version of a memorial to the veterans of this conflict.
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TEACHER’S GUIDE
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Suggested Internet Resources
Periodically, Internet Resources are updated on our Web site at
www.LibraryVideo.com
• www.library.kent.edu/exhibits/4may95/index.html
This Kent State University Department of Special Collections site has a
Web Exhibit describing the events of May 4, 1970.
• www.tamu.edu/comm/pres/speeches/lbjgulf.html
This Web site contains the full text of President Johnson’s August 4, 1964,
Gulf of Tonkin speech to the American people.
• www.teachvietnam.org/
Site sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund that provides
teachers and students with educational materials, has a Virtual Vietnam
Memorial Wall and tells how to invite guest speakers into your classroom.
TM
Suggested Print Resources
• Karlin,Wayne, et al. The Other Side of Heaven: Post-War Fiction by
Vietnamese and American Writers. Curbstone Press,Willimantic, CT;
1995.
• Yancey, Diane. Life of an American Soldier. Lucent Books, San Diego, CA;
2001.
• Young, Marilyn Blatt. Vietnam War: A History in Documents. Oxford
University Press, New York, NY; 2002.
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Jeffrey W. Litzke, B.A., Political Science, M.Ed.
Curriculum Specialist, Schlessinger Media
Teacher’s Guides Included
and Available Online at:
T
his guide is a supplement designed for teachers
to use when presenting programs in the United
States History series.
to the topic by relaying aspects of the program
summary to them. Select pre-viewing discussion
questions and vocabulary to provide a focus for
students when they view the program.
• The Progressive Movement
• U.S. & The World (1865-1917)
• The Great War
• The Roaring Twenties
• The Great Depression
& The New Deal
• World War II
• Post-War U.S.A.
• The Cold War
• Civil Rights
• The Vietnam War
• The Middle East
• U.S. Politics (1960–1980)
• U.S. Politics (1980–2000)
After Viewing: Review the program and vocabulary, and use the follow-up activities to inspire
continued discussion. Encourage students to
research the topic further with the Internet and
print resources provided.
This program correlates to the following
Prentice Hall textbooks:
The American Nation: Chapter 28
America: Pathways to the Present: Chapters 21 & 22
800-843-3620
Teacher’s Guide and Program Copyright 2001 by Schlessinger Media,
a division of Library Video Company
P.O. Box 580,Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620
Executive Producers, Andrew Schlessinger & Tracy Mitchell
Program produced and directed by CBS News Productions
11/03
All rights reserved.
Grades 5–12
Before Viewing: Give students an introduction
COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES
• Three Worlds Meet (Origins-1620)
• The Era of Colonization (1585-1763)
• Slavery & Freedom
• The American Revolution
• A New Nation (1776-1815)
• Expansionism
• Democracy & Reform
• Causes of the Civil War
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction & Segregation (1865-1910)
• Industrialization & Urbanization
(1870-1910)
• Immigration & Cultural Change
• A Nation in Turmoil
THE VIETNAM WAR
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V7023
Program Summary
The Vietnam War, America’s longest war, is one of the most controversial
topics in American history. More than 58,000 American men and women
were killed; another 150,000 were wounded. No one knows for sure how
many Vietnamese soldiers and civilians died in the war, but estimates range as
high as two million.The war left America deeply divided and created doubts
about the nation’s military invincibility and America’s role in the world.
After World War II, the nation of Vietnam, controlled by the French for many
years, began a struggle for independence. In 1954, Ho Chi Minh, head of
Vietnam’s Communist Party, negotiated an agreement with the French that
split the nation in two. Ho Chi Minh and his followers began to build a
Communist society in the North backed by the Soviet Union, while the
French took control of rural South Vietnam and received millions of dollars
from the United States to help train their army. Many poor peasants in the
South were convinced by Communists in the North to take up arms against
the South Vietnamese government.These fighters became known as the Viet
Cong. Soon Soviet-made arms and supplies were flowing to the Viet Cong
fighters in the South along what was known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
American involvement in the conflict continually increased due to the
domino theory, a principle held by democratic leaders that if one country fell
to communism, a chain reaction would occur and neighboring countries
would soon follow. Following the now-disputed Tonkin Gulf incident in 1964,
the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that would allow President Lyndon
Johnson to send troops into combat without a formal declaration of war. By
the end of 1967, there were almost half a million American troops in Vietnam.
American soldiers were not prepared for the jungle terrain or the guerrilla
tactics of the Vietnamese, and at home, America watched the number of
casualties build.Anti-war demonstrations on college campuses erupted in violence, and the United States became a nation in turmoil, with many citizens
pitted against each other. In 1973, President Nixon withdrew American
troops from Vietnam, officially ending U.S. involvement. In 1975, the North
Vietnamese military took Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, bringing to a
close a difficult chapter in the history of the United States.
Time Line
1858 — The French invade and begin to colonize Vietnam.
1941 — Ho Chi Minh forms the Vietnam Independence League, or Vietminh.
1954 — The French are defeated at Dien Bien Phu and Vietnam is divided
into two parts.
1954 — President Eisenhower sends aid and military advisers to South
Vietnam.
1963 — The Premier of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, is assassinated.
1963 — The President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, is assassinated
and Vice President Lyndon Johnson becomes president.
1964 — Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
1965 — The United States military begins Operation Rolling Thunder.
1968 — The North Vietnamese launch the Tet Offensive;Americans fear the
1968 — President Johnson announces that he will not run for re-election.
1970 — President Nixon orders United States ground troops to invade
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) — A student movement in
the 1960s that actively protested the Vietnam War.
conscientious objector — A person who will not fight in the military
Cambodia.
1970 — Student anti-war protestors are killed on college campuses.
1973 — The Paris Peace Accords are signed, declaring a cease-fire. Fighting
resumes ten months later.
1975 — The North Vietnamese military attack and take Saigon as Americans
evacuate.
for moral, religious or philosophical reasons.
Vietnamization — A U.S. policy during the Vietnam War of giving the
South Vietnamese government responsibility for carrying on the war, so as
to allow for the withdrawal of American troops.
Watergate — A White House political scandal involving President Nixon
that ultimately led to his resignation in 1974.
Vocabulary
Pre-viewing Discussion
nationalist — A member of a political group fighting for national indepen-
• Have students locate Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos on a map of the
world and discuss their relative size and proximity to the United States.
Ask students to think about why the United States became involved in a
conflict so far from home.
• Relate to your class that many students of American history only learn
about the Vietnam War’s effect on America. Inform students that while
almost 60,000 Americans died in the conflict, estimates of Vietnamese
casualties range as high as two million.Ask students to speculate on the
war’s impact on Vietnamese society.
• Many students recognize references to the historical period known as
“The Sixties.” Ask students to brainstorm and list some of the values
they think were a part of the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s.
Ask students to relate those values to the Vietnam anti-war protest movement of the same period.
• Presidents Kennedy and Johnson described the war as an “invasion” of
South Vietnam by North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh described the war as a
“liberation” of South Vietnam by North Vietnam. Discuss how these
differing descriptions served as motivations for each side.
• Vietnam was the first televised war, and many Americans watched
nightly coverage of the day’s battles and read the names of American
casualties. Ask students to consider how images of the Vietnam War
might have affected American public opinion about the conflict.
dence.
Communism — A system of social organization in which all economic and
social decisions are made by a single dominant political party.
Vietminh — Name for the League for the Independence of Vietnam, a
Communist movement from 1941–1954 that challenged and defeated the
French.
Vietcong — A Communist-led army and guerrilla force in South Vietnam that
fought its government and was supported by North Vietnam.
guerrilla — A person who is not part of a regular military force but engages
in warfare.
Ho Chi Minh trail — The route used by the North Vietnamese military to
conduct raids in South Vietnam and to deliver supplies to the Vietcong.
Cold War — An intense hostile rivalry during the second half of the 20th
century between communist nations, particularly the Soviet Union, and the
democratic nations of the world, led by the United States.
domino theory — The fear that the spread of communism would run
rampant among neighboring countries if one were to fall under communist
influence.
Pentagon — The headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.
Tonkin Gulf Resolution — Resolution passed by Congress in 1964 in
response to perceived aggression by North Vietnamese against the United
States Navy, which gave President Johnson approval to escalate the use of
military force in Vietnam without declaring war.
Operation Rolling Thunder — A series of bombing attacks started in
1965 that were conducted by the United States in North Vietnam in an
attempt to cut supply lines to the Vietcong in South Vietnam.
Agent Orange — An herbicide used by the United States military during
the Vietnam War to destroy forests and crops.
napalm — A mixture of chemicals used by the United States military in
flamethrowers and firebombs during the Vietnam War.
Tet Offensive — A major Communist attack against South Vietnamese and
U.S. positions in South Vietnam in January 1968 during Tet, the Vietnamese
New Year.
New Left — A political movement that evolved out of the 1960s with concerns about the Vietnam War, civil rights and the environment. (Continued)
Follow-up Discussion
• Ask students to evaluate the reasoning behind the United States’ decision
to get involved in the Vietnam War. Do you think the need to prevent the
spread of communism in Southeast Asia justified America’s actions?
• Inform students that the average age of the American soldier in Vietnam
was 19, and that many high school graduates were drafted or volunteered to fight in the war.Young people could be jailed for evading the
draft, and college students who protested against the war could be
expelled from school and made eligible for the draft.Ask students to talk
about what they would have done if they were in high school or college
at this time.
• The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution provided President Johnson with
permission to wage war without a formal declaration of war. Discuss with
students the Constitutional issues relating to the start of the Vietnam War.
Share information from Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution with students. Discuss who really has the power to declare war. (Continued)
(Continued)
war cannot be won.
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