The Decision to Americanize the War in Vietnam

Standards Correlations

This lesson correlates to the National History Standards.

Part 1 - Standards in Historical Thinking

Standard 1 - Chronological Thinking
Standard 2 - Historical Comprehension
Standard 3 - Historical Analysis and Interpretation
Standard 5 - Historical Issues - Analysis and Decision Making

Part II - U.S. History Standards for Grades 5-12

Era 9 - Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
Standard 3C - Demonstrate understanding of the foreign and domestic consequences of U.S. involvement in Vietnam by analyzing the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations' Vietnam policies and the consequences of escalation of the war. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas.]

This lesson correlates to the National Standards for Civics and Government

Standard III - How does the government established by the Constitution embody the purposes, values, and principles of American democracy?

1. How are power and responsibility distributed, shared, and limited in the government established by the U.S. Constitution?
2. How is the national government organized, and what does it do?

Standard IV - What is the Relationship of the United States to Other Nations and to World Affairs?

1. How is the world organized politically?
2. How do the domestic politics and constitutional principles of the United States affect its relations with the world?
3. How has the United States influenced other nations, and how have other nations influenced American politics and society?

Constitutional Connection

This lesson relates to providing for the common defense as stated in the Preamble.  It also relates to Article I, section 8, which grants Congress to power to declare war, and to Article II, Section 2, in which the president is charged to serve as commander in chief of the nation's armed forces.

Cross-curricular Connections

Share this exercise with your colleagues in history, government, and language arts.

Teaching Activities

 Introductory Exercises

1. Ask students to read the introductory essay and to use the list of suggested resources, their textbooks, or other classroom materials to construct a timeline of the major events in the Vietnam War.  Compile the timeline on the board.
2. Ask students to use their textbooks and other classroom resources to identify the important events of Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency and/or the 1960s.  Compile a timeline on the board.

Evaluate the Historical Record

1. Ask students to write a paper in which they assume the identity of one of President Johnson's advisers and recommend to the president a course of action to take regarding the Vietnam War in 1965.  This �policy paper� should be based upon students' reading of this lesson's documents and should take the form of an official memorandum to the president.
2. Divide the class into small groups--three or four students in each--and assign each group a particular document to analyze.  Ask each group to complete an analysis worksheet (available below) appropriate to each kind of document--written text, photograph, or sound recording--included in the learning package.  What course of action in Vietnam does the assigned document recommend?  Why did the document's author recommend that course of action?  What kind of document is it?  Who authored it and why?  What was its intended audience?

Once the groups' analyses are complete, hold a class discussion comparing their findings.  Which suggested course of action in Vietnam was the best and why?

Document analysis worksheets from the National Archives and Records Administration:

http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/document.html
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/photo.html
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/sound.html

Creative Writing/Oral History

1. Assign students to interview family, staff, or community members who have memories of the Vietnam War and write a short paper recounting those experiences.  Students should compose a list of questions and record the interviewees' responses: Did they serve in Vietnam, and what were their experiences?  Did they know someone who served in Vietnam?  Did they support or oppose the war in Vietnam?  Were they involved in the domestic anti-war movement?  On the day the papers are due, hold a class discussion in which students share their findings.

Reenact the Past

1. Hold a mock debate, organized like a National Security Council meeting held in 1965, in which the teacher plays the role of President Johnson.  Divide the class into small groups--three or four students in each.  Ask each group to take the perspective of one of the president's key advisers--Gen. William Westmoreland, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Ambassador Earle Wheeler, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Under Secretary of State George Ball, or Clark Clifford.  Each group should prepare for the debate by researching the biography of its assigned historical actor and the views about Vietnam expressed by that actor in the lesson's documents.  Assign one student from each group to record the group's findings.  Then, during the debate, have one student from each group express that group's findings.  What was the assigned adviser's role in the 1965 debate about Vietnam?  What course of action did that adviser favor and why?  What were the benefits and drawbacks of that suggested course of action?  Which adviser recommended the best course of action and why?  What was President Johnson's ultimate choice and why did he pursue that option?