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TITLE: History 3005/Section 002– Vietnam at War
TIME/LOCATION: MWF12:00 p.m. – 12:50 p.m., Brewster B-205, EastCarolinaUniversity, Spring 2008
INSTRUCTOR and OFFICE LOCATION: Mr. Jeff Wilhelm; 201 Brewster Building “A Wing” – B A-201
OFFICE HOURS: MWF 11:00 am-12:00 pm, TTH 11:30 am – 12:30 pm, and by appointment. If you are
unable to contact me during office hours, please notify me and I will attempt to accommodate your schedule.
EMAIL: Students can also contact me via email at . Please BE AWARE that electronic correspondence is NOT an entirely reliable substitute for human conversation, particularly if YOUR grade is involved.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course will examine the dreams, hopes, and sorrows of the thirty-year war that ravaged and consumed Vietnam. Although emphasis will be placed upon the American experience, a multitude of perspectives will be employed to enable the student a more holistic and hopefully clearer understanding of this perplexing and still very emotive episode in Cold War history. Thus students will be introduced through lectures, readings, and independent research to the French and American experience as well as the rarely explored worlds of those that fought with them and those that fought against them, their friends and enemies – the Vietnamese.
This class at times will broach sensitive issues and will be emotionally charged. While disagreement of opinion and debating is paramount to historical truth, at all times students should strive for objectivity. A blatant disrespect for objectivity will not be tolerated. This is not a tale of good vs. evil or evil vs. good. That would be an exercise fundamentally incapable of producing historical understanding.
IMPORTANCE OF THIS COURSE: There are several substantive reasons for offering this course. First, the sheer historical immensity of the Vietnam conflict alone warrants this course. Second, no single event until perhaps the current war on terror has proved more politically divisive and yet fundamental in reshaping America’s outlook and approach to foreign affairs since World War II than the Vietnam conflict. Third, with American politicians, media, and popular opinion appropriating the Vietnam Conflict daily, an actual understanding of what happened should be exceptionally relevant. Fourth, because of Hollywood, it is critical that Americans begin to understand that this was much more than just an American experience.
REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:
1)Textbooks–
- Stanley Karnow. Vietnam: A History (New York: Penguin, 1997)
- Bui Diem. In the Jaws of History. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1999)
2)Supplementary Monographs
- Xuan Phuong, and Danielle Mazingarbe. Ao Dai: My War, My Country, My Vietnam. (Great Neck,
NY: Emquad International, 2004)
- Hal Moore, and Joseph Galloway. We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam. (New York: Harper, 1993)
- Bao Ninh. The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam. (New York: Riverhead
Books, 1996)
- Larry Berman. No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam. (New York: Touchstone, 2002)[only available new at but must be downloaded, $6.49)
3)Primary source readings will be accessed electronically through the VietnamArchive. The online search engine for the Archive can be found at the following address,
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Class members will be held responsible for all material treated in the course, which includes attending lectures, finishing assigned readings in advance, and actively participating in discussions. Below is a breakdown of the allotted percentage weights for the course. For all due dates on assignments please consult the attached tentative schedule.
1) One Midterm Exam – the midterm will be worth 15% of your final grade
2)Announced/Unannounced Quizzes– the format of the quizzes will vary – essay, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer - and are based on assigned readings and distributed handouts, cumulatively they amount to10% of your final grade
3)Three (3) Book Reviews – students will be required to write a 500-750 word historical reviewfor three of the four monographsread in the course(this does not include Stanley Karnow or Bui Diem’s book), each review will constitute 10% of your final grade, thus the reviews are collectively worth 30% of your final grade (Due dates for book reviews will be listed on the schedule)
4)Research Paper – students are required to write a fifteen-page research paper that utilizes both secondary and primary sources for which students will receive 25% of their final grade. (Students will receive a separate handout regarding guidelines for the research paper)
5)Final Exam – there will be one final essay exam worth 20% of your final grade
GRADE schedule: A (100-90), B (89-80), C (79-70), D (69-60), F (59 and below).
Disability Statement:EastCarolinaUniversity seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Support Services, located in Brewster A-117, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The telephone number is 252-328-6799.
ACADEMIC HONESTY STATEMENT:
The following THREE statements are applicable in this class:
1)It is the aim of this class to foster a spirit of complete honesty and a high standard of integrity. The attempt of students to present as their own any work that they have not honestly performed is regarded as a serious offense and renders the offenders liable to serious consequences, possibly failureof the course.
2)Cheating: Dishonesty on examinations and quizzes or on written assignments, illegal possessions of examinations, the use of unauthorized notes during an examination or quiz, and obtaining information during an examination or quiz from another student are all instances of cheating and will not be tolerated. IN OTHER WORDS, ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY FOR CHEATING.
3)Plagiarism: Offering the work of another as one’s own, without proper acknowledgment, is plagiarism; therefore any student who fails to give credit for quotations or an essentially identical expression of material taken from books, encyclopedias, magazines, and other reference works, or from themes, reports, or other writings of a fellow student, is guilty of plagiarism. Those found guilty of plagiarism will receive a “0” for the work, will be subject to failure for the course, and will be reported to the proper EastCarolinaUniversity administrative officials.
Abbreviation of Course Topics:
- Visions of Vietnam: The American Prism and Contemporary Vietnam
- Approaching Vietnam: The Viet, the “Montagnards,” and the Land
- French Colonialism and Vietnamese Nationalism: Colonial Discourse & Popular Reaction
- First Indochina War: Internationalization & the French Paradox
- The Interwar Years: Geneva Conference & the Consolidation of Power
- America Approaches Vietnam: From Commitment to Buildup
- Insurgency, Escalation, & War: The Best, the Brightest and LBJ
- The First Three Years: Geography, Strategy & Operations
- The American Combat Experience: Rumors, Valor, and Disillusionment
- Tet Offensive: Reality, Perception and the Antiwar Movement
- Understanding the Enemy: Why They Fought
- Post-Tet and Vietnamization: The New Soldier and De-escalation
- Assessing Our Allies: All They Had to Give
- Defense & Betrayal: Paris “Peace” Talks and the Easter Offensive
- Vietnam Remembers the War: Reeducation, Refugees, and Postcolonial Communist Impressions
- America Remembers: The Spitting Image and Learning to Hate America
History 3005 Schedule for Spring 2008
January 11Introduction
January 14Western Visions of Vietnam
January 16Contemporary Insight into the DRV’s Version of the American War
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 1
January 18Where is Vietnam and Who are the Vietnamese: The People and the Land
January 21Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 23French Colonialism and the Sinews of Vietnamese Nationalism
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 2
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 1-4
January 25Vietnamese Nationalism
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 3
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 5-7
January 28 Return of the French: The First Years of the Indochina War
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 4
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 8-9
January 30The Tiger Rises: The Border Wars and General de Lattre
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 10-11
February 01The French Paradox Emerges: The Red River Delta & Hoa Binh
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 5
February 04Dien Bien Phu
- PAPER TOPICS AND BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
February 06 The Geneva Accords and Its Processes
February 08Who Won and Who Lost the First Indochina War: Assessing the Value of Dien Bien Phu
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapter 12
February 11CLASS DISCUSSION of Ao Đai
- BOOK REVIEW on Ao Đai due
February 13The Interwar Years: Ike, Vietnam, and Ngo Dinh Điem
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 6
February 15The Interwar Years: JFK and Increasing Involvement
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 7
February 18The Year of the Hare
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 8
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 13-15
February 20Fighting a War Without a Government: Coup and Counter-Coup
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 9
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapter 16
February 22The National Liberation Front and the Viet Cong Insurgency
- THESIS & BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
February 25The TonkinGulf Incident
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 10
February 27The General and the President Opt for Combat, 1965
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 11
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 17-19
February 29MIDTERM EXAM
March 03American Strategy and Combat Zones - Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapter 20
March 05The Battle of Ia Drang: Geographical Implications and Lessons Learned
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 12
- CLASS DISCUSSION of We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young
- BOOK REVIEW on We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young due
March 07Hanoi’s Strategy for the South and China’s Role
March 10Spring Break
March 12Spring Break
March 14 Spring Break
March 17The Mekong Delta and the Mobile Riverine Force
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 21-23
March 19Westmoreland’s Drive for Khe Sanh: The Dien Bien Phu Analogy -Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 13
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 24-25
March 21Easter Holiday
March 24The Tet Offensive: Enemy Strategy and America’s Military Response
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 14
March 26Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure, Military Surprise, and a Political Quaqmire
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 26-27
March 28Khe Sanh: Battle in Waiting
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapter 28
March 31The Tet Offensive and Khe Sanh: The Media and the Antiwar Movement
April 021968-1970, a Different War?: Bitter, Volatile Little Battles
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 15
April 04The Life of the American Combat Soldier
April 07The Life of a Combat Soldier in the North Vietnamese Army
-CLASS DISCUSSION of Sorrow of War
- BOOK REVIEW on Sorrow of War due
April 09The Life of a Combat Soldier in the Vietcong
April 11Three Stories of Our Ally: Bui Điem, Khanh Le, and Nguyen Xuan Phong
April 14Pacification: America Fights a “Better War”
April 16Nixon and Kissinger’s Search for Peace
-Reading: Vietnam: A History, Chapter 16
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 29-30
April 18Nixon’s Greatest Offensive: Silencing the Media and the Antiwar Movement
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapters 31-32
April 21The Easter Offensive
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapter 33
April 23CLASS DISCUSSION of No Peace, No Honor
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapter 34
- BOOK REVIEW on No Peace, No Honor due
April 25The Fall of Saigon
April 28 Legacy and Memory
- Reading: Into the Jaws of History, Chapter 35 and Epilogue
-TERM PAPERS DUE (NO EXCEPTIONS)