Does Source C show that the anti-war protests described in Source A had an immediate effect on the number of U.S. troops in South Vietnam?

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Rachel Cormack 10H1/JGr

Source Based Questions

  1. Study Sources A and C.

Does Source C show that the anti-war protests described in Source A had an immediate effect on the number of U.S. troops in South Vietnam?

Source A is a timeline from and American school textbook showing the events occurring during the war in Vietnam. It is a secondary piece of information, published in 1990 and it is unlikely to be biased as it only states facts and not opinions.

        Source See shows a table of figures illustrating the number of US troops sent to Vietnam in different years. The source also shows the numbers of soldiers killed during the war of Vietnamese and American nationality. Although the figures are rounded to the nearest thousand this is a reasonably reliable source. It states only facts and is very useful very useful when compared to Source A.

        By comparing these two sources, we can see that in 1965, when the first anti-war protest took place, 60, 000 American soldiers were stationed in Vietnam. After the protest took, place, however, the number of men had ballooned to almost 270, 000. This shows us that the first anti-war protest did have an immediate effect on the number of US troops in Vietnam, but it was the opposite effect to the resolution the protestors had wanted.

        Troops began to withdraw from Vietnam in 1970 and I believe that there were three main factors contributing to this: Although the My Lai massacre occurred in March 1968, it was not made public until late 1969, this left a lot of people feeling betrayed. Nixon was elected as President in November 1968 and he supported the Peace Movement changing the opinions of many civilians. The final factor was a second much larger protest in May 1970 in Washington. Thousands and thousands of protestors voiced their opinions along with war veterans and the government finally realised the majority of the country was against them.

        In conclusion source C shows that the anti-war protests id not have an immediate effect on the number of troops in South Vietnam, but as the war continued, the second protest had a positive influence in ending the combat.

B) Study Sources D, E, F and G.

How reliable are these sources as evidence of the importance of the role of women in the war in Vietnam?

Source D is a photograph showing a female Vietcong soldier loading a machine gun. We are told it is a woman in the caption although the photograph is not clear enough to be able to tell if this information is correct. We can presume that this photograph was taken by a member of the Vietcong although there is a possibility of it being staged, however the source is primary.

        As long as this caption is correct the source shows women having a part in the war, although the photograph shows this woman’s duty as just a time saving for others; the photograph does not tell us whether the woman pictured is actually firing the bullets.

        Source E is a photograph of Vietnamese troops on a boat in South Vietnam. They are carrying machine guns and the soldier at the back of the boat appears to be a woman although again the picture quality makes it difficult to be sure and the caption does not give us any information. This photograph could be staged, but was probably taken by a Vietcong soldier and it does show women in Vietnam playing a part in the war.

Source F is a photograph of General Nguyen Thi Dinh. This is a primary source and the woman in the picture is the well-known Deputy Commander in Chief of the National Liberation Front (a sector of the Vietcong). We know that a woman did do this job and it is unlikely that the photograph is staged. This is a very reliable source and it does show that women in Vietnam played major roles in the war.

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        Source G is another photograph, this time of a Vietnamese woman being held at gunpoint by American troops. The caption tells us that she is under suspicion of being a member of the Vietcong. This photograph could have been taken by the Americans however it could also have been staged by the Vietcong to act as propaganda, discouraging Americans from supporting the war. It suggests that women were part of the war but this woman is just suspected by the Americans and it has not been proved that she is a member of the Vietcong. I do not feel that ...

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