University of the Rockies Vietnam War Essay
Begin by reading Gorn 14. Take critical notes as you peruse the material about the Vietnam War.
- Also, read Hollitz chapter 11 – Causation and the Lessons of History: Explaining America’s Longest War. “This chapter presents two secondary courses and several primary sources dealing with America’s involvement in the Vietnam War.”
- Essay assignment – Using both chapters answer the following questions:
- Are the historians arguments in the essays supported by the evidence in the primary sources? The historians’ arguments are from the Hollitz book – Fighting in Cold Blood: LBJ’s Conduct of Limited War in Vietnam (1994) by George Herring (pg.285) and God’s Country and American Know-How (1986) by Loren Baritz. Make sure to articulate the authors’ argument and support with details from the text.
Do the primary sources suggest that the main reason for the US failure in Vietnam was the inherent difficulty of fighting a limited war, false assumptions rooted in US culture or some other factor? Use the primary sources from the Gorn book and Hollitz book.
- How did the film impact your perspective of the The Vietnam War and US involvement?
