Introduction
The US government had to make many decisions during the Vietnam War that ultimately led to defeat or a failure to meet the stated goal of preventing the spread of communism to South Vietnam. Until recently this was America’s longest war and looking back, it is easy for historians to point out many of the mistakes that were made. The most telling consequence of the war was the huge casualty count on both sides of the war. The cost in human life was staggering. More than 58,000 American deaths along with hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and untold numbers impacted by these losses. The “Vietnam Analogy” is commonly used to describe American involvement in other countries in the decades since the end of the Vietnam War. This idea that a powerful United States will fail when attempting to use its’ military might to impose its will in other parts of the world is commonly related back to decisions made during the Vietnam War.
This site is designed for students to explore primary sources that describe some of these decisions. Some of the sources are straight from the Vietnam time period, while others will link Vietnam to more current events using the "Vietnam analogy" described above. The main goal is for students to be able to answer the following guiding question after working through the primary source pages.
Guiding Question: How did decisions that were made in Vietnam lead the US to defeat and how has American foreign policy since been shaped by those decisions?
This site is designed for students to explore primary sources that describe some of these decisions. Some of the sources are straight from the Vietnam time period, while others will link Vietnam to more current events using the "Vietnam analogy" described above. The main goal is for students to be able to answer the following guiding question after working through the primary source pages.
Guiding Question: How did decisions that were made in Vietnam lead the US to defeat and how has American foreign policy since been shaped by those decisions?
Created by Dan Taylor and Chris Hellums
June 30, 2013
June 30, 2013