OVERVIEW

 We will explore the history, meaning and lessons of the Vietnam War.  Why study Vietnam?  For starters, the political and cultural legacies of Vietnam continue to have a profound effect on American society.  The contemporary relevance of the war can be seen in recent debates over U.S. policies toward Central America, the Persian Gulf war, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia and Haiti as well as the tidal wave of books and movies devoted to Vietnam.  Many Americans, especially the young, are intensely curious about the war:  Why and how did the United States become involved in Vietnam?  Why did our involvement drag out so long and at such great expense?  Why did U.S. aims fail?  What should be learned from the experience?  We study these questions and others not only for history's sake but also because our answers may help us to come to terms with some vexing contemporary issues concerning America and its role in the world. Ultimately, the Vietnam War offers an important window onto the character of American society.

 If the Vietnam War was traumatic for the United States, it was, of course, far worse an experience for the people of Vietnam as well as the other countries of Southeast Asia.  While most of our attention will be on America's role in the war, will will also examine in less detail the history and politics of Vietnam itself as well as the long term effects of the war on the region.

CLASS PARTICIPATION

 This class is meant to center around vigorous discussion.  This means that you each have a responsibility, to both yourselves and your classmates, to share you opinions and ideas and to participate fully in every class meeting.  This is a collective enterprise and we need everyone's help to make it work.  The real burden to make this a stimulating and interesting class is on your shoulders.  This means that you must come to each class meeting fully prepared.

REACTION PAPERS

 Each student will write six reaction papers during the term.  In these papers, you will react to various readings, films, and class discussions.  These reactions may take a variety of forms.  You may, for instance,  criticize an author, contrast your views as they have evolved during the course with previous views that you once held, react to a video, expand on a point raised in a reading or in class, contrast two readings, etc.  You may do many things in your reaction papers, but you may not:  (1) summarize readings except to the extent necessary to provide background for a comment or reaction of your own, or (2) offer opinions for which you do not provide support (i.e., logic, evidence, examples, etc.).  You have a great deal of discretion over your choice of topic.  It is important, therefore, that you think about about which problem or question you want to address before you sit down to write and that the paper itself sticks to the point. To help focus your thinking and writing, please head each paper with the question to be addressed in the text that follows.

 Your papers should be relatively short (roughly 3-4 pages), crisp, concise, to the point and stimulating.  A strong opinion, provided that it is thoughtful and well argued, is better than a weak, neutral response.  In assigning grades, I will consider both the quality of your thought as will as the quality of your writing.  I do not care so much which point of view you express but I do care very much that you express some point of view and that you do it persuasively and with style and wit.  While the style of writing need not be overly formal, I do expect correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.

 Papers are due each Friday. It will not be necessary, of course, for you to turn in a paper each week. I only expect to have seven papers by the end of the term. Please note, however, that if you write a paper addressing a particular reading, video or discussion, I expect you to submit your paper on that topic by the end of the same week. DO NOT plan to drop seven papers in my box on the last day of classes! I want the papers turned in shortly after we discuss the topics addressed by the paper - not the next week or month. Adjustments will be made for weeks shortened by holidays.

Mini-Term Paper

 Each student will prepare a mini-term paper. The purpose of this project is to allow you to explore a particular topic in greater depth. These papers should run 5-6 pages in length and are due by the final day of class. These projects may take a number of forms: (1) Read and critique any of the books listed near the end of this syllabus. (2) Compare, contrast and critique three feature films on the Vietnam War (these must be films you have not previously seen). (3) Conduct an interview with a relative or friend of the family who served in the Vietnam War. Write a paper on the personal impact of the war on the people who fought in it. (4) Do research on the anti-war movement in your hometown (or state), using newspaper accounts from the era and/or oral interviews. (5) Visit webpages devoted to the experience of various military units who served in Vietnam. Compare the experience of units in different parts of the country or units with different types of missions. Other suggestions will be offered in class. You may also design your own project, with the approval of the instructor.

GRADING

 There will be a take home final exam. The final exam will account for 20% of your total grade. The mini-term paper will account for 20% of your total grade. The six reaction papers will account together account for 40% of your total grade. Class participation will account for the final 20% of your total grade.

REQUIRED BOOKS

Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History, 1983

Frances Fitzgerald, Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam, 1972

Andrew Rotter, Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Vietnam War Anthology, 1991

(Additional readings will be placed on reserve or handed out in class.)

READING SCHEDULE

8/25: Introduction to course.

David Collins, ìDoing It Rightî  (class handout)

8/27: American Culture and the War

Loren Baritz,  Backfire, 3-40  (class handout)

9/1: Vietnamese Culture and the War

Fitzgerald, chapter 1, ìStates of Mindî and chapter 2, ìNations and Empiresî

9/3: The Vietminh and French Colonialism

Karnow, 118-127, 135-160

9/8: The Early Years of U.S. Involvement

Karnow, 169-205

Hammer, "Geneva, 1954" (Rotter), 101-113

 9/10: The Diem Period

Karnow, 213-269

Fitzgerald, chapter 3, ìThe Sovereign of Discordî

9/15: The Fall of Diem

Karnow, 277-311

9/17: The ARVN in Battle

Sheehan, ìThe Battle of Ap Bac,î A Bright Shining Lie, 201-266  (on reserve)

9/22: The Vietcong I

Fitzgerald, chapter 4, ìThe National Liberation Frontî

ìWith the Enemy,î Vietnam: A Television History (in class video)

9/24: The Vietcong II

Read one of the following:

Tang, "The Making of a Revolutionary" (Rotter), 239-252

Pike, ìThe Communistsí Road to Powerî  (Rotter), 253-265

Kellen, "The People and the Americans" (Rotter), 266-273

9/29: Moving Toward U.S. Combat Involvement

Karnow, 319-348, 357-386

10/1: The Americanization of the War

Karnow, 395-426, 435-473

10/6: Soldiers at War

Broyles, "Why Men Love War"  (on reserve)

Herr, ìAt the Edge of Sanityî (Rotter), 283-290

Caputo, ìGetting Hitî (Rotter), 291-296

10/8: Who Fought the War

Baskir and Strauss, ìThe Draft and Who Escaped Itî (Rotter), 457-475

James Fallows, ìWhat Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?î  (on reserve)

10/13: The Tet Offensive

Karnow, 479-514, 523-566

10/15: In-class Video: "How the War Was Fought" from Vietnam: A Television History

10/20: Fall Break

10/22: Media Coverage of the Vietnam War

"How the War Was Reported"  (on reserve)

Arlen, "The Number One Story" (Rotter), 504-513

10/27: The Anti-War Movement I

ìHomefront USA,î Vietnam: A Television History (in class video)

10/28: Evening Video Viewing: "The War at Home"

10/29:  The Anti-War Movement II

Todd Gitlin, ìThe Achievements of the Antiwar Movementî  (on reserve)

ìFading Consciousnessî (class handout)

Young, ìThe SDS and Vietnamî (Rotter), 475-493

ìTaking Sides: The War at Homeî  (on reserve)

11/3: Nixon, Vietnamization and Cambodia

Karnow, 577-612, 623-670

Shawcross, "The Secret Bombing of Cambodia" (Rotter), 206-219

11/5: Endgame

Karnow, 623-670

11/9: Evening Video Viewing: "Hearts and Minds"

11/10: One Perspective on the War: "Hearts and Minds"

Discussion of video.

11/12:  The Anatomy of Decision-Making I

Thomson, "A Bureaucratic Tangle" (Rotter), 400-410

Gelb, "A Systematic Success" (Rotter), 436-453

11/17: In Soldier's Words

In-class video: "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam"

11/19: The Anatomy of Decision-Making II

Noam Chomsky, "U.S. Imperialism in Southeast Asia"  (on reserve)

11/24: The Anotomy of Decision-Making III

Podhoretz, "A Defense of Freedom" (Rotter), 423-435
Kolko, "A Capitalist Imperative" (Rotter), 411-422

11/26: Thanksgiving Break

12/1: War Crimes

"When War Becomes a Crime"  (on reserve)

Lewy, "The Question of American War Guilt"  (Rotter),  346-374

12/3: Aftermath: Vietnam Since the War

Duiker, "The Aftermath of Communist Victory" (Rotter), 533-549

Hien Nguyen, ìThe Long Hard Journeyî  (in class handout)

12/8: The Morality of the War

Fred Barnes, "My Change of Heart" (on reserve)

Hedrick Hertzberg, "Why the War Was Immoral" (on reserve)

12/10: Conclusions and Discussion of Student Projects

TAKE HOME FINAL EXAM
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VIETNAM CHRONOLOGY

mid-19th century - France colonizes Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos)
1919 - Versailles Conference; Ho Chi Minh appeals to U.S. to support Vietnamese self determination;  ignored by Woodrow Wilson
1930 - Indochinese Communist Party formed
1940 - Japanese occupy Indochina
1941 - Ho forms Vietminh
1945 (March) - Japan takes over day to day administration of Indochina from French
1945 (August) - Japan surrenders; end of Pacific war
1945 (August) - Ho and Vietminh declare Vietnamese independence; set up provisional government
1946 - negotiations between French and Vietminh break down; French forcibly retake control over Vietnam; Vietminh resist; war begins
1946 - U.S. declares neutrality in conflict; rejects Vietminh appeals for U.S. to oppose French recolonization
1950 - U.S. openly sides with French;  begins subsidizing French war effort
1954 - Dienbienphu (French military outpost) falls to Vietminh;  French agree to Vietnamese independence; Genena Conference divides country into military regrouping zones in preparation for elections scheduled for 1956
1956 - Ngo Dinh Diem (S. Vietnamese leader) refuses to hold election;  Diem has U.S. backing
1960 - National Liberation Front (NLF) formed; fighting begins
1961 - U.S. begins buildup of noncombat military advisers;  steps up aid
1963 - Diem overthrown and murdered in U.S. backed coup de etat
1965 - U.S. introduces combat troops;  gradual escalation and Americanization of the war begins; North Vietnam begins to send regular forces to the South
1968 - Tet offensive; cities attacked for first time;  military defeat for Vietnamese communists but psychological blow to U.S.
1970 - U.S. invades Cambodia
1973 - Paris Peace Accord;  U.S. pulls out troops; U.S. POWs returned;  cease fire in South with forces of both sides holding in place;  but political future of South Vietnam not settled; fighting soon breaks out again
1975 - South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all fall to communist forces
 

Vietnam Films/Videos

Apocalypse Now                                                               Hearts and Minds
Born on the Fourth of July                                                 Heavan and Earth
Coming Home                                                                   In the Year of the Pig
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam                           Platoon
Full Metal Jacket                                                               The Quiet American
Garden of Stone                                                                Vietnam: A Television History
Go Tell the Spartans                                                          The War at Home

Books on Vietnam

Adams, Samuel, War by Numbers  (An account of faulty intelligence estimates on NVA and VC troop numbers by a CIA insider.)
Baritz, Loren, Backfire  (Explores effects of U.S. culture, technology and bureaucracy on involvement in Vietnam.)
Capps, Walter, The Unfinished War  (Examines legacies of Vietnam for post-war American culture.)
Capps, Walter, The Vietnam Reader  (Collection of essays on the war.)
Caputo, Philip, A Rumor of War  (Ground level account of Vietnam war by former U.S. soldier.)
DeBenedetti, Charles, An American Ordeal  (On the anti-war movement.)
Ellsberg, Daniel, Papers on the War  (Interpretations of U.S. policy-making in Vietnam.)
Fall, Bernard, Hell in a Very Small Place (Intense account of the battle of Dienbienphu.)
Fitzgerald, Frances, Fire in the Lake (Examines clash between American and Vietnamese cultures.)
Gelb, Leslie (with Richard Betts), The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked (Interpretation of high level decision-making on war.)
Gitlin, Todd, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage  (Account of New Left and anti-war movement by former SDS president.)
Greene, Graham, The Quiet American (Novel set in Vietnam during early fifties.)
Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest  (Examines background and beliefs of foreign policy elite that led U.S. into the Vietnam war.)
Hallin, Daniel, "The Uncensored War": The Media and Vietnam (Thorough assessment of media coverage of war.)
Herr, Michael, Dispatches (Reflections and memories of war correspondent.)
Herring, George, America's Longest War  (Standard history of U.S. policy-making.)
Hersh, Seymour, Cover Up  (On Army efforts to hush up My Lai massacre.)
Hersh, Seymour, My Lai 4  (On My Lai massacre.)
Jamieson, Neil, Understanding Vietnam (On sources and dynamics of Vietnamese revolution.)
Karnow, Stanley, Vietnam: A History  (Lively history of Vietnam war.)
Kolko, Gabriel, Anatomy of a War  (Radical analysis of U.S. and communist strategies in war.)
Lewy, Guenter, American in Vietnam (Examines issue of war crimes.)
MacPherson, Myra, Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation (On aftermath of war in U.S.)
Mailer, Norman, Armies of the Night  (Account of 1967 March on the Pentagon.)
Moise, Edwin, Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the War (Account of the Tonkin Gulf incident.)
Moore, Hal, We Were Soldiers Once...And Young  (Account of battle of Ia Drang by commanding officer.)
Nixon, Richard, No More Vietnams  (Nixon's defense of the war.)
Oberdorfer, Don, Tet! (On Tet offensive.)
O'Brien, Tim, Going After Cacciato  (Novel.)
Popkin, Samuel, The Rational Peasant  (Examines sources of social revolution in Vietnamese  countryside.)
Prochnau, William, Once Upon a Distant War (Examines early media coverage of Vietnam war.)
Race, Jeffrey, War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province (The war from perspective of Vietnamese villagers.)
Rotter, Andrew, Light at the End of the Tunnel  (Collection of essays.)
Rotter, Andrew, The Path to Vietnam  (Examines origins of U.S. commitment to Vietnam.)
Schlesinger, Arthur, The Bitter Heritage  (Outlines Quagmire Theory.)
Shawcross, William, Sideshow  (On U.S. intervention in Cambodia.)
Sheehan, Neil, A Bright Shining Lie  (On John Paul Vann.)
Sheehan, Neil, After the War  (On conditions in contemporary Vietnam.)
Snepp, Frank, Decent Interval  (On 1972-75 period in Saigon by CIA analyst stationed there.)
Spector, Ronald, After Tet (Focus on the combat over the year following Tet offensive.)
Terry, Wallace, Bloods  (On role of African-American soldiers in Vietnam.)
Valentine, Douglas, The Phoenix Program (Account of secret assassination program mounted against NLF cadre.)
Warner, Roger, Backfire: The CIAs Secret War in Laos and its Link to the War in Vietnam (On Laotian conflict.)
Wells, Tom, The War Within (On the anti-war movement.)

The Vietnam War Internet Project: http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/shwv/shwvhome.html