Vietnam Sources Questions
Calvin Evans
Mr. Parker
VIETNAM COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Questions 1 - 6
Vietnam coursework assignment
Question1-2
.Study Sources A
What can you learn from source A about the reasons for US involvement in South Vietnam?
Source A was taken from a book written by John F Kennedy, who was soon to be president of the USA. It states a belief that America claimed the domino theory, this involved the belief that countries that were threatened by communism were like a row of dominoes once one fell the others would follow. So for this reason the Americans claimed to get involved in Vietnam to stop the fist domino falling and therefore preventing the chain reaction from accruing. Kennedy also felt Vietnams economy was essential to the economy of South East Asia. This belief is true but is no reason to wage war in Vietnam.
2. Study Sources B and C.
In what ways does the evidence of source B and C help you understand the reasons for US involvement in South Vietnam?
Source B and C give us a variety of reasons for us involvement in South Vietnam. Source B is an official statement made by the us state department which mainly states the same reasons for intervention in Vietnam as source a that it was purely to protect the independence of south Vietnam and its people. Source b even goes as far as to compare the attempt of North Vietnam to take South Vietnam to the similar situation in Korea in 1950." North Vietnam commitment to seize control of the south is no less total is no less total then was the commitment of North Korea to take the south in 1950
Source C on the other hand shows the view of a soldier who volunteered to actually fight in the war Philip Caputo tells us some of the reasons for soldiers like himself getting involved in Vietnam war like war is attractive to young men who no nothing about it. Kennedy's challenge was said to influence young men to go into war "ask what you can do for the country." .It also shows how the recruits interpreted the official reasons for going to war, they realized communism had to be stopped "we were ordained to play cops to the communist robbers and spread our political ideas around the world. In addition both sources note the fact that the USA had never lost a war therefore supplying the USA with confidence to go and fight communism and spread there political ideas.
3. Study sources C, D and E.
Use the evidence of Sources C, D and E, and your own knowledge, to explain why the US forces were unable to defeat the Viet Cong.
Based on sources C, D and E we can determine the US could not defeat the Vietcong due to a number of reasons. Several of the US plans failed. The number of US troops in Vietnam increased rapidly, but there were never enough to fight the NFL effectively.
Vietnam coursework assignment
Question 6
6. Study all the sources.
The writer of source M believed that television played an important part in peoples attitude toward the Vietnam War
Use the sources, and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this
...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Based on sources C, D and E we can determine the US could not defeat the Vietcong due to a number of reasons. Several of the US plans failed. The number of US troops in Vietnam increased rapidly, but there were never enough to fight the NFL effectively.
Vietnam coursework assignment
Question 6
6. Study all the sources.
The writer of source M believed that television played an important part in peoples attitude toward the Vietnam War
Use the sources, and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this
I agree with this to some extent as television played an important role in changing peoples attitude to the Vietnam War. To a lesser extent there were other reasons for the changing of attitudes, such as magazines, newspapers and radios all of which informed people on day to day happenings and all of which were relatively uncensored. Even though they all put forth similar messages, television was more reliable, direct and visual. People believed what they saw.
Source f gives us a good idea of how influential television was out of 100% 90% were influenced by television in some form or another. Source f reflects how television influenced people to do one thing or another, whether you opposed it or supported it television played some role in influencing the public.
Source h is a letter sent by a soldier in which there were probably thousands of others similar which shows the hard ship of war. This letter supports my idea of letters influencing people as the receiver would probably move to oppose the war after receiving a letter of this magnitude. Although the letters are influential its not as direct or reliable as television.
Source I is an article published in Time Magazine it describes a massacre of Vietnamese civilians by an American soldier. Like other magazines the article could be twisted, this is why television was more reliable you couldn't always believe what you read but you could what you saw.
Although they all reflected the same message, television might have been the most influential. Television had an immediate impact, when something happened in Vietnam it was televised back in the USA. Television had very little censorship as they did not have the time to censor footage as they had to broadcast as soon as possible. Television had an effect of making things closer and more realistic. Now the war was beamed straight into people's homes. Footage from the war was repeated over and over again, this had an effect of drilling events into the public. It became a part of their lives; they knew exactly what was going on. This differed from the radio, newspapers and magazines, as you could not believe everything you read or heard about, with the television people believed what they saw, what they saw was uncensored hardship, brutality and death. The public began to wonder if what they were seeing should be happening
Vietnam coursework assignment
Question 3
3. Study sources C, D and E
Use the evidence of sources C, D, and E and your own knowledge to explain why the US forces were unable to defeat the Viet Cong.
What is probably the most important reason for the Vietcong's victory over the US is the fact that they very rarely fought set-piece battles. Source D explains this, the Vietnamese's used guerrilla warfare tactics "is not to go in for large scale battles and big victories" but rather to "nibble at the enemy in such a way that he can neither eat nor sleep in peace". Source C states, "the rare occasion when he VC chose to fight a set-piece battle, provided the only excitement", this showed us the US army was only used to fighting set piece battles. The Americans had very little experience with the kind of warfare that the VC fought. When the VC did fight a set-piece battle, these battles did not achieve anything. As stated by source E, the VC had support amongst the Vietnamese "be fair and honest with the people," when staying in a civilian house maintain it as if it is your own", "be polite with the people ". And in return, they were "respected and loved by the people." The Us took a different approach they had very little support amongst the Vietnamese .The US tactics, simply killing any Vietnamese people, did not help anything. Source C confirms this by saying that, "their mission was not to win terrain, but simply to kill" with this "some men acquired a contempt for human life." The out come was that huge massacres occurred which, led to massive loss of innocent life. One of the failed plans of the US was that of rolling thunder this was a massive bombing campaign. This was intended to halt the supply of men and ammunition along the ho chi min trail. As help to the VC increased bombing became heavier and wider spread by the end of the war most cities and military targets had been destroyed causing thousand of civilian casualties per week and all this achieved little.
Vietnam course work assignment
Question 4
4. Study Sources F, G and I.
How useful are these sources as evidence of the public reaction in the USA to the Vietnam war in the mid-1960s?
Sources F, G and I give us a mixed variety of public reactions in the USA to the Vietnam war. Source F is an article in News Week, a US magazine that was published in 1967. It states "television seems to have encouraged the majority of viewers to support the war." It states, "out of 100% only 64% of people said television had made them feel like backing up the boys in Vietnam", and the other 26% felt moved to oppose the war but it doesn't state why the 64% felt to support the war. Television played an important role in public opinion saying this it might of made them feel sympathetic and feel they need to play apart but at the same time oppose it.
Source G is a result of an opinion poll in the 1960s. It is not very useful, as it does not tell whether people supported or opposed the war. It tells us that during the time period 1965-1968 people felt Vietnam was the most important problem facing the USA, although they felt it was a problem it doesn't state whether they opposed the war or supported.
Source I is not very useful in evidence of public reaction to the Vietnam war. An army reporter, who was present at the time of the war, wrote it. It was kept back for two years, hoping it would become less important. But at the same time does have some importance as it lets us know the American public was becoming more aware what was going on in the war and the government felt the public might move to oppose the war if such a horrific event got out, to me this shows they were unsure whether the public would support their government if this event came to light .So to some extent this source is quite useful.
In conclusion all three sources have some usefulness as they show to some aspect what happened.
Vietnam coursework assignment
Question 5
5. Study sources G, H, I, J, K and L.
Use the evidence of these sources, and your own knowledge, to explain why public opinion about the war in the USA changed between 1967 and 1970
There are several reasons why public opinion about the war in Vietnam changed between 1967-970 Vietnam was seen as an on going problem far along time. This is shown in source G. This was a poll of the public's view of the most important problems facing the country during 1961-1968. This ongoing problem of the war was seen as a major problem due to the large amount of money going into the war. Funds had to be redirected to the war therefore keeping people upset toward the government.
The ongoing problem of war affected the black community as not only was the draft unfair but it was considered to be a bigger problem than racial issues. Black Americans felt that their fight was in America fighting for equal rights and not fighting in Vietnam imposing the American political system on another completely different culture. People like Mohammed Ali, Martin Luther King and black civil rights groups were a major influence on the black community.
To a lesser extent the change in opinion could have come about from letters sent home. An example of this is found in source H. This is an example of a letter that was sent by a USA solider fighting in the Vietnam War. There were probably thousands of similar letters sent to families and loved ones during the war. The letters were thought to be very strong and emotional. The letters would have had a strong impact on the reader. The letter in source H says, " I am tired of going to sleep and listening to the rockets and mortars and artillery. I'm sick of facing every day a new bunch of kids ripped to pieces."
America began to realise that they were fighting for the wrong reasons. The song in Source K confirms this. It is a song written by country Joe McDonald in 1967. Its tone is sarcastic and the chorus reflects the view of the soldiers toward the end of the war. Source K also shows the growing anti war culture in the USA. Songs like this had a wide audience and they were able to broadcast their opinions better than a political debate and targeted wider range of audience.
Lesser reasons include the demonstrations at Universities and Colleges. Not only did these demonstrations raise public awareness but also sparked the government into doing more for the boys at war.
One of the more important reasons was the fact that the public became more aware of what was going on in Vietnam the USA was losing the war thousands of young Americans were losing their life for what some might of called an immoral war. Every thing, which happened in Vietnam, was relayed back to the American public and what they saw was uncensored.
