ILS 275: The Vietnam Era: Music, Media, and Mayhem
“I listened to music whenever I could when days were dark in Vietnam. There was this cafeteria on base, and sometimes I’d go there at three or four in the morning, thinking about guys who weren’t coming back. I sat there listening to the jukebox.”
- Ricardo Lopez, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam & Thailand, 1967-69, quoted in We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War
“We sat in the dim light of my hootch, boots off, listening to Mary Hopkin on my tape deck . . . That high elegant voice. Someday, when the war was over, I’d go to London and ask Mary Hopkin to marry me. That’s another thing Nam does to you. It turns you sentimental; it makes you want to hook up with girls like Mary Hopkin. . . ‘Those were the days’ she sang.
Azar switched off the tape.
“Shit, man,” he said. “Don’t you got music?”
- Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried
“The tall body of the boy from Mississippi had to be carried up the hill to the LZ. The Medevac choppers would fly him to Da Nang, where his intestines would be sterilized then reinserted into the cavity below his stomach . . . No one would know that he had been shot and killed the same instant that his hero, Martin Luther King, had turned to ask a question at the windy back door of room 306 of the Lorraine Hotel.”
- Alfredo Vea, Gods Go Begging
Course Texts: Students will need to acquire the following required texts:
Bates, Lichty, et al. Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959-1975.
Bradley, Doug and Craig Werner. We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried.
Vea, Alfredo. Gods Go Begging.
The following texts are recommended (not required) as background/historical reference:
Maraniss, David. They Marched Into Sunlight
Young, Marilyn. The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1999
I. “Goodbye My Sweetheart, Hello Vietnam”
Sept. 6 – Welcome and course introduction/overview
Sept. 8 – Overview of Vietnamese history and the Three Wars
Reporting Vietnam: Homer Bigart, “A ‘Very Real War’ in Vietnam . . . ” (11-17); Bernard Fall, “Master of the Red Jab” (18-28); Malcolm Browne “He Was Sitting in the Center of a Column of Flame” (29-35); Stanley Karnow, “The Fall of the House of Ngo Dinh” (36-49); David Halberstam, “They Can Win a War If Someone Shows Them How” (50-65)
Sept. 13 – The Vietnam Veterans National Anthem
We Gotta Get Out of This Place, pp. 1-19; 145-147.
Sept. 14 – Long Binh Film Festival: Go Tell The Spartans @7 p.m.
Sept. 15 – “Songs of Army Aviators in Vietnam” with Marty Heuer, U. S, Army 174th Assault Helicopter Company, Phu Tai, 1966-67; 341st Aviation Detachment, Ch Chi 1970 (WGGOOTP, pp. 20-32)
Sept. 20 – Whose Side Are You On?
Reporting Vietnam: Meg Greenfield, “After the Washington Teach-In” (76-83); Don Moser “Eight Dedicated Men Marked for Death” (84-105); Henry Graff “Teach In on Vietnam By . . . “
(133-149)
Sept. 22 – “The Ballad of the Green Berets” with Jim Kurtz, U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division, Di An, 1966-67 (WGGOOTP, pp. 32-41)
Sept. 27 – Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
Reporting Vietnam: Spec. 4 Jack P. Smith, “Death in the Ia Drang Valley” (118-132); Ward Just “Reconnaissance” (150-168); WGGOOTP, pp. 67-90
Sept. 28 – Long Binh Film Festival: We Were Soldiers @7 p.m.
II. “Bad Moon Rising”
Sept. 29 – “The Music Changed and either you changed with it or you were gone” with MosesMora, U. S. Army mobile artillery, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta, 1968-69 (WGGOOTP, pp. 125-126; 128-129)
Oct. 4— The Making of a Quagmire
Reporting Vietnam: Neil Sheehan, “Not a Dove, But No Longer a Hawk” (169-186); Jonathan Randall “U. S. Marines Seize 3d Hill in Vietnam After 12-Day Push” (200-203); Jonathan Schell from The Military Half: An Account of the Destruction in Quang Ngai and Quang Tin (204-234);
WGGOOTP,pp. 42-67
Oct. 6 – “These Boots are Made for Walkin’” with BillChristofferson, U. S. Marines 1st Marine Division, I Corps, 1967-68 (WGGOOTP, pp. 139-141; 170-173)
Oct. 11 – The Medium is the Message AND Vietnam’s Big Three: ‘Retha, Jimi, and CCR
Reporting Vietnam: Michael J. Arlen, “A Day in the Life” (235-251); Tom Wolfe, “The Truest Sport: Jousting with Sam and Charlie” (270-301); Michael Herr, “Hell Sucks” (314-326); WGGOOTP, pp. 147-167
Oct. 12— Long Binh Film Festival: Good Morning Vietnam @7 p.m.
Oct. 13– – In class Midterm Exam
SPECIAL THREE-DAY SYMPOSIUM
“And a Hard Rain Fell: Gender, Politics, and Resistance during the Vietnam War”
Oct. 18 – “Women and Gender in Vietnam” with Heather Stur, John Ketwig, Susan O’Neil and Mary Reynolds Powell (readings TBD)
Oct. 19 – Community event @ 7 p.m. Veteran Roundtable – “Music, Survival, Healing, and the Long Road Home” with Heather Stur, John Ketwig, Susan O’Neil, Mary Reynolds Powell, Doug Bradley, Craig Werner, and Jim Wachtendonk (?) (readings TBD)
Oct. 20 – “GI Resistance and Vietnam Veterans against the War” with John Ketwig, Susan O’Neil and Mary Reynolds Powell (readings TBD)
III. “I Feel-Like-I’m Fixin’-To Die”
Oct. 25 – “One, Two, Three What Are We Fightin’ For?”
Reporting Vietnam: Thomas A. Johnson “The U. S. Negro in Vietnam (349-361); Wallace Terry, “Black Power in Vietnam” (396-400); Seymour M. Hersh “The My Lai Massacre” (413-427); Stewart Alsop “The American Class System (463-466); John Saar “You Can’t Just Hand Out Orders” (467-474)
Oct. 26 – Long Binh Film Festival: Born on the Fourth of July @7 p.m.
Oct. 27 – Protest, Pot, Black Power, and Psychedelic Sounds
We Gotta Get Out of This Place, pp. 91-134
Nov. 1 – “Masters of War” with Tom Deits, U. S. Army 1st Infantry Division, Bear Cat, 1969-70 (WGGOOTP, pp. 40-41; 120)
Nov. 3 – Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (“The Things They Carried” through “How To Tell A True War Story”)
Nov. 8 – Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (“The Dentist” through “Notes”)
Nov. 9– Long Binh Film Festival: Hamburger Hill@7 p.m.
Nov. 10 – Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (“In the Field” through “The Lives of the Dead”)
Nov. 15 — Special showing: Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
IV. “What’s Going On”
Nov. 17 – Welcome Home Soldier Boys
Reporting Vietnam: Karl Fleming, “The Homecoming of Chris Mead (517-521); Donald Kirk, “Who Wants To Be the Last American Killed in Vietnam?” (522-539); Hunter Thompson from Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72(644-653)
Nov. 22 – “What Did You Do In the War?” with Tom Helgeson, Dennis McQuade, Bruce Meredith, and StevePiotrowski of the Deadly Writers Patrol (WGGOOTP, pp. 196-200; DWP magazine pp. ____?)
Nov. 24 – Happy Thanksgiving (no class today!)
Nov. 29 – “I Was Your Classic Angry Black Vet” with Art Flowers, U. S. Army USARV Headquarters, Long Binh, 1970-71 (WGGOOTP, pp. 185-196)
Nov. 30 – Long Binh Film Festival: Hearts and Minds @7 p.m.
Dec. 1 – Alfredo VeaGods Go Begging (Chapters 1-4)
Dec. 6 – “They Had Strong Hearts in Vietnam” with Tom Holm, U. S. Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Corps, 1967-68 (WGGOOTP, pp. 133-134; 200-223)
Dec. 8 – Gods Go Begging (Chapters 5-8); WGGOOTP, pp. 217-220.
Dec. 13 – Gods Go Begging (Chapters 9-14)
Dec. 14 – Long Binh Film Festival: Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories@7 p.m. (introduced by/Q&A with filmmakers Mik Dirks, producer, Wisconsin Public Television, and Butch Soetenga, Vietnam veteran and videographer)
Dec. 15 — Last Lecture
*** Important Dates at a Glance ***
Sept. 6 – Classes begin
Oct. 13 – In Class Midterm exam
Nov. 24 – Thanksgiving (no class)
Dec. 15 – Last class
Dec. 21 – Final exam due
Course Requirements
Attendance and email responses (20%): If you cut more than three classes, your grade will be lowered one level (i.e., B to C, C to D, etc.). If you cut four classes, your grade will be lowered two levels (i.e., B to D, C to F, etc). Missing more than five classes will result in a failing grade (F). You will be required to post e-mail responses to the day’s readings periodically throughout the semester. These responses will be graded on a check, check minus, and check plus basis; the more insightful responses may be used to help structure class discussions. Responses are due by 9 a.m. on your assigned due date.
Midterm (30%): The in-class midterm exam will consist of two parts:
- Five identifications connected to the course material covered to date.
- An in-depth thesis statement explaining how any three of the suggested IDs would work together in an essay on a subject to be determined by you.
Final (40%): The final exam will be a take-home and will consist of two-three parts.
Enrichment (10%): You’re required to accumulate a minimum ofthree points for attending enrichment events or film series nights or writing films reviews. Points are credited as follows:
- ONE point for Enrichment events (TBA)
- ONE point for Film Reviews. Reviews should be two pages in length, typed, and double-spaced and can be on any of the films shown during the Long Binh Film Festival (see syllabus). You may also choose to review other Vietnam-centered films, subject to approval by your instructors.
- ONE point for attending Long Binh Film Festival screenings
(Note: Other relevant outside activities may receive 1 point of credit, but must be approved by the instructors in advance. There is no limit on how many points you may accrue. For those students who accumulate more than four points, the additional points may be counted for extra credit on your final grade.)
Class Policies:
- Plagiarism – Presenting more than three consecutive words of any source withoutattribution is plagiarism. This includes websites.Any student caught plagiarizing any work or cheating on a test will be given an F. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, ask the instructors or your T.A.
- Computers – The only acceptable uses of a computer in the classroom are: taking notes and following the lyrics to a song being played in class. If you use your computer for anything else (i.e., email, Facebook, surfing, etc.), you will be asked to turn it off. In-class computer users will be assigned a designated area in the classroom.
- Phones – We expect phones to be turned off and put away during class.
- Playlists – You will be sent links to numerous songs available in an ILS 275 drop-box. We will also provide hard copies of the song titles and artists included in the drop-box playlists.
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