The Vietnam War

In light of the recent conflicts occurring in the Middle East, I decided to focus on a conflict that often does not get covered in history classes for lack of time. It was something of a black mark when it did occur and at the time people did not want to acknowledge it because it seemed like a loss for the United States. In more recent times, perhaps because it is not so recent it has become less controversial. The Vietnam Conflict happened during the 60s when peace, love, and happiness seemed to be the bywords of the day.

To that end, my iTunes U mix is a series of broadcasts dealing with how the four presidents dealt with the Vietnam War. To this I add the Wikipedia entry for two reasons: 1) so students can get a synopsis of the war and 2) for the references and sources cited at the end of the entry. In addition to this I added the The Vietnam Center and Archive. Its mission “. . . is to support and encourage research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam experience; promoting a greater understanding of this experience and the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia.” To this end it includes oral histories, teaching tools, and best of all . . . the Virtual Vietnam Archive. The Archive includes over 2.7 million pages of scanned documents, pictures, artifacts, moving images, sound clips, etc. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on this website, you can probably find out where you need to go. The most interesting aspect of this website is the oral histories from the veterans. It is such a personal story that these veterans tell, not only the hardship of the war itself, but the readjustment that occurs when coming home. Plus, I’m a big fan of primary sources. The last website I added is the Battlefield: Vietnam. It is through PBS and includes information on the war, fighting tactics, notable battles and online resources.

Using these several websites and the iTunes U mix together, students should be able to find out the allies, the enemies, and the results. Students can ask the question, should we have been there in the first place? For some students it might even be more personal if they had a parent or family member who served in Vietnam.

One great way to utilize the material would be to write an inquiry search paper. Instead of regurgitating information as you would in a typical research paper, students could use all these great primary sources and write about the Vietnam War with a new perspective. In order to thoroughly process the information in the primary sources it might be necessary to use document analysis' to determine audience, tone, etc. which can be found at National Archives website. Another great way to utilize the information would be as supporting materials for a debate, in which you try to answer the question: Should we have been in Vietnam or not?