Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
1. Did Lyndon B. Johnson make effective decisions during the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. Who was Lyndon B. Johnson? What important decisions did he make?
b. What examples show that he was effective or ineffective?
· Check out: Gulf of Tonkin incident, managing public opinion, Christmas bombing, My Lai Massacre, response to Tet Offensive
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
2. Was Ho Chi Minh an effective leader during the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. Who was Ho Chi Minh? What did he want to accomplish?
b. What examples show that he was effective or ineffective?
· Check out: Gulf of Tonkin incident, Tet Offensive
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
3. Did the U. S. medical personnel care effectively for American soldiers? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. Who were the medical personnel? What was a typical day for a U. S. medic like?
b. What examples show they were able to overcome unfavorable conditions? What examples show they were not able to overcome unfavorable conditions?
· Check out: Tet Offensive, field hospitals, medivac, PTSD, Agent Orange
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
4. Did the Vietcong soldiers fight effectively during the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. Who were the Vietcong? What did they want to accomplish?
b. What examples show they were effective? How could have been more effective?
· Check out: Tet Offensive, guerilla warfare, tunnels, Ho Chi Minh Trail
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3) Remember to add in key words like “Vietnam”
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
5. Should the U. S. have used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. What is Agent Orange? How and why was Agent Orange used?
b. What were the benefits of using Agents Orange? What were the negative effects of its use?
· Check out: long-term effects, defoliants
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
6. Did the ARVN soldiers fight effectively during the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. Who were the ARVN? Why did the U. S. train these soldiers? What were they supposed to accomplish?
b. What examples show that they was effective or ineffective?
· Check out: Vietnamization
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
7. Should the Laotian (Hmong) citizens have helped the U. S. during the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. How was Laos involved in the war? What support did they give and what did they withhold?
b. What examples show that their fighting was beneficial? (What were the benefits? Who benefited?)
c. What examples show their fighting was detrimental and/or impractical? (Who was affected?)
· Check out: Fall of Saigon, refugees, CIA, secret army, Pathet Lao, General Vang Pao, Refugees Acts of 1975 and 1980
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
8. Should the U. S. have withdrawn from the Vietnam War when they did? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. When did the U. S. officially withdraw and what happened when it did?
b. What evidence shows the U. S. left at the most appropriate time? What evidence shows that the U. S. should have either left earlier or stayed later?
1. Check out: Fall of Saigon, Paris Peace Treaty, helicopter evacuation, Vietnamization
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3) Remember to add in key words like “Vietnam”
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
9. Did media coverage accurately portray the events of the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. How was media coverage of the Vietnam War different from that of other wars?
b. What evidence is there that the American public was given an accurate picture of the war? What evidence suggests that the war coverage was inconsistent and/or biased?
· Check out: Kent State, My Lai, body count, propaganda, Walter Cronkite
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
10. Was the American military prepared for the challenges it met in Vietnam? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. What were some of the weapons and military strategies the Americans used?
b. What is some evidence that the American military was prepared for Vietnam? What is some evidence that the American military was not ideally well prepared for the War?
· Check out: Viet Cong tactics, tunnels, names of particular weapons, etc.
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3) Remember to add in key words like “Vietnam”
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
11. Were American protesters effective in changing the course of the war through their protests? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. What were some of the different groups and exactly what did each group want?
b. What is some of the evidence that suggests American protesters were effective in changing the course of the war? What evidence suggests that American protesters were less effective in changing the course of the war than they might like to have been?
· Check out: Mai Lai Massacre, Kent State, Woodstock, civil rights movement, etc.
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3) Remember to add in key words like “Vietnam”
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
12. Should the U. S. have implemented the draft system for the Vietnam War? Provide three arguments to support your answer. You may wish to consider:
a. What was the draft system? How did the draft system work?
b. What evidence is there that the draft helped the military and the war effort? What evidence can you find that the draft hurt the military or the war effort?
· Check out: draft card burning, escaping to Canada, etc.
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
13. The United States fought North Vietnam not only militarily but also through so-called “psyops,” or “psychological relations,” intended to reduce the morale of North Vietnamese troops and turn the civilian population against the North Vietnamese military. Were these efforts well-planned and effective?
a. What is a psyop? How were they used?
b. What evidence is there that these psyops were effective? How might they have been ineffective?
· Check out: pacification missions, pamphlet bombings, propaganda
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Research Paper Topic List and Assignments
14. The Tet Offensive is sometimes described as a military victory for the United States, and sometimes as a strategic victory for the North Vietnamese. Which of these is actually the case? Provide three arguments to support your answer.
a. What was the Tet Offensive and how did the U.S. military respond to it?
b. What evidence is there that the US military scored a military victory? What evidence is there that the North Vietnamese won a strategic victory?
· Check out: The Tet Offensive
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3) Remember to add in key words like “Vietnam”
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