QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (WEEK 8)

 

Lyndon Johnson’s Speech of July 28, 1965 [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 84-85]: Why, according to Johnson, was the United States in Vietnam? Does his explanation conflict with John McNaughton’s March 10, 1965, paper? How?

Walter Cronkite on the Tet Offensive [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 85-87]: What was Cronkite’s assessment of the U.S. position in Vietnam? Why did his opinion matter? What does this suggest about the effect of the Tet offensive on the United States?

Selections by Truong Nhu Tang and Tim O’Brien [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 101-105]: According to Truong Nhu Tang, what were everyday conditions like for members of the National Liberation Front? According to Tim O’Brien, what sorts of things did American combat forces have to carry while in Vietnam? What does this suggest about the way the war was waged by, and the strategies of, the different sides?

Miscellaneous Documents [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 109-113]: How did the war affect Vietnamese peasants? What might the documents concerning Michael Casey, the Japanese war correspondent, and David Bressem suggest about how peasants responded to the American presence? How did the actions described in the documents affect the Americans’ desire to win the peasantry’s “hearts and minds”? Based on the account of Christine McGinley Schneider, why do you think the Americans may have often acted as callously as they did?