Vietnam and the 1960s


American involvement n the Vietnam Conflict was one of the most controversial events to take place during the late 20th century in the United States. Spanning three decades, many American lives were lost to fight the spread of communism and preserve peoples' right to choose their leaders. The Vietnam War can be separated into different periods based upon the United States involvement. From 1957 to 1965, the war was mainly a struggle between the South Vietnamese army and Communist-trained South Vietnamese rebels known as the Viet Cong. The U.S. provided military advisors. The first U.S. troops entered Vietnam in March 1965. Until 1969, North Vietnam and the United States did most of the fighting. By 1969, the Vietnam War seemed endless, and the United States slowly began to withdraw troops. In January 1973, a cease-fire was arranged. The last U.S. ground troops left Vietnam two months later. Despite the treaty fighting between North and South Vietnam resumed soon afterward, but U.S. troops did not return. The war finally ended on April 30, 1975 when South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.

Here are the questions for which you need to answer to better understand the Vietnam War. Use the links provided on the next page to answer the questions.

1. What started the whole conflict?

2. Who was involved in the War? Were other countries allied with America?

3.) What was Agent Orange? What were the long term affects on soldiers exposed to Agent Orange, if any?

4.) Who was the president of North Vietnam at the time? Also who was the president of South Vietnam? - What happened to the President of South Vietnam and who replaced him as leader?

5.) How many Casualties were there from the American side, South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese? How did America honor those who have fallen?

6.) What year did John F. Kennedy order more help for the South Vietnamese government in its war against Vietcong Guerillas?

7.) Who was the Vietnamese communist or Vietcong commanded by?

8.) So go to the Vietnam War Stories link and choose a story. Read the story, and write a paragraph about how you feel about the story. Include parts that you think is necessary to help prove why it meant what it did to you.

9.) What happened during the protest at Kent State? What year was the incident? Who was called in to settle the protests?

10) When was the Vietnam Wall put up? How are the rows figured, are they put by day, month, group? How long is the wall? Who designed/built the wall?

11.) For the last exercise I want you to think about what it was like to be a soldier over in Vietnam for months to years, then coming home to a country that did not support you. How did it make you feel, and think about what it did to the real soldiers who were over there? Think about the young soldiers who are over in Iraq right now, most of them pretty close to your age. How would you feel coming back if this were you? Go through the We Were Soldiers web site and look up the different stories and biographical information that is provide and write a paragraph or two to summarize.

  1. For questions 1,2 you will go to the History Channels website. We have provided the link so just answer the questions. For question 1 and 2 go to the link below: http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=119120
  2. For question number 3 use this link to get the definition: http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=70735
  3. Once you are done with questions 1,2,3 move on to questions 4 and 5 which is the Vietnam War site. Which we have provided the link to. For question 4 you will have to go under the History section of the webpage. http://www.vietnamwar.com/WarHistory.htm
  4. For question 5 go back the home page and look under Casualties. http://www.vietnamwar.com/CasualtiesComp.htm
  5. For questions 6 and 7 you will be heading to the pbs site. which the link has been provided: http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index.html
  6. For the last question (8) you will go to a special site were Vietnam stories are written down. You will choose one off the link: http://www.war-stories.com/
  7. For question (9) you are going back to the history channels website but for the Kent State site: http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=95561
  8. For question (10) you will again go back to the History Channel website but for information on the Vietnam War Memorial: http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=119119
  9. For question (11) go to the We Were Soldiers website and just look around: http://www.weweresoldiers.com/splash.html