President Johnson sent more American Troops to Vietnam in order to win the war. But with each passing year, casualty lists got longer and victory seemed further away. As soldiers died abroad and hawks and doves argued at home, the Vietnam War War opened up a deep emotional rift in American society.

Focus Question: How did the American war effort in Vietnam lead to rising protests and social divisions back home?

Key Terms and People: draftee, SDS, "Credibility Gap", Tet Offensive, Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy

Essential Knowledge for the Week

Read through PowerPoint and take notes in your notebook or print out guided notes that accompany the slides- use this information to help you complete Week Two Activities

*PDF Version for better printing

*If you are taking these notes in a notebook, make sure you include all bold vocabulary words and answer all checkpoint questions

Read more about the draft below, discover whether or not you would have been drafted, and answer the analysis questions that follow.

1. If you had been selected for the draft in 1969, what would you have done? Would you have willingly served? Would you have pursued deferment? If so, what would you claim as the reason for your deferment?

2. If you did not get drafted, because your number wasn’t selected, you were a woman, or you were granted deferment, would you have volunteered to serve in a non-combat role? Would you have participated in the anti-war movement? Why or why not?

3. What were the ways young men avoided the draft?

4. What do you think the U.S. Government should do to those who illegally avoid the draft?

Watch this video about the Tet Offensive, a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam...

Read the Article "How the Tet Offensive Shocked Americans into Questioning if the Vietnam War Could be Won" below and answer the questions following the link in your notes.

The Vietnam War divided the United States, leaving cultural scars that persist today. As the war raged, protests erupted at hundreds of college campuses, and tens of thousands of people marched on Washington demanding an end to the conflict. What made the Vietnam War so controversial? In this lesson, you will investigate images of the war, study a timeline of opposition to it, and read anti-war speeches to determine why so many Americans opposed the war in Vietnam.

Vietnam War protests began small among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses but gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest. Anti-war marches and other protests, such as the ones organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), attracted a widening base of support over the next three years, peaking in early 1968 after the successful Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese troops proved that war’s end was nowhere in sight.

Reading Like a Historian: Why did many Americans oppose the Vietnam War?

Using the timeline below, fill in the graphic organizer with your initial hypothesis in response to the question: Why did many Americans oppose the Vietnam War? Draw on information in the Anti-War Timeline, but also draw inferences about the anti-war movement from what you may already know about youth culture during this time and what you've learned about Vietnam so far.

*If you cannot print the Anti-Vietnam War Movement Graphic Organizer at home, you can completed this activity in a notebook or digital word document

Read Documents A and B and complete the graphic organizer for those two Anti-war speeches.

Anti-Vietnam War Movement Reflection Questions

1. Why did MLK and John Kerry oppose the war?

2. Why did anti-war sentiment grow after 1968?

3. Based on what you read, who opposed the war in Vietnam? Was it mostly college kids?

4. Using all the documents and photographs, why did many Americans oppose the Vietnam War?

5. Considering the context, can you speculate what those Americans who supported the war said?

6. What methods did protestors use to oppose the war? Give an example of those methods being used today.

7. What impact, if any, do you think protests have upon American leadership?

In 1968 Walter Cronkite was the anchor of CBS news at a time when news was not available 24 hours each day. Many Americans would watch the evening news, which always included information on the Vietnam War. Significantly, this was the first war to be seen on TV, and this made Americans more aware of the realities of the fighting. Reporters questioned soldiers in battle; this was the kind of footage Americans watched on the evening news. Walter Cronkite himself would often broadcast the news from Vietnam. Many Americans viewed Cronkite as a trusted and authoritative voice on news in America. When Walter Cronkite shared his opinion on the Vietnam War after the Tet Offensive, even more Americans began to grow skeptical of the war. Read Cronkite’s editorial, either on its own, or with the audio or video excerpt and answer the analysis questions below.

Using the article above, timeline below, and PowerPoint make your own 1968 timeline with 10 events you believe are the most significant; describe each event in a sentence or two and explain why each was important or impactful to people at the time. *Create your timeline on a poster, powerpoint, or word document. Consider adding pictures to make it visually appealing.

Another key turning point during the Vietnam War was the My Lai massacre. The mass killing of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers took place on March 16, 1968, but did not become public until late 1969, when Seymour Hersh, journalist, reported the story. At the same time, the military tried Lieutenant William Calley with murder. You will study the varying responses to the killing of over 300 unarmed women, men, and children. In particular, you will view the massacre at My Lai from five different perspectives: (1) Army Photographer William Haeberle and LIFE magazine journalists, (2) Lieutenant William Calley; (3) Lewis B. Puller Jr, a Vietnam veteran who wrote about the massacre in his autobiography; (4) Nguyen Hieu, an eye-witness, at My Lai; and (5) the Peers Commission report, the Army’s official investigation of the My Lai massacre and cover up.

Using the What Happened at My Lai (CWA 4.10) source analysis chart (pages 41- 42) and the primary sources (pages 43 – 46). Review each source and complete your graphic organizer following the directions on the source analysis chart.

The Vietnam War protest inspired many popular songs that became an anthem for their generation. Phil Ochs wrote “What Are You Fighting For?” in 1963 and “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” in 1965. Other songs whose very titles were a protest unto themselves included Pete Seeger’s “Bring ‘Em Home” (1966) and Joan Baez’s “Saigon Bride” (1967). Nina Simone’s “Backlash Blues” (1967) took a civil rights poem by Langston Hughes and adapted it into a protest of Vietnam: “Raise my taxes/Freeze my wages/Send my son to Vietnam.” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” from 1971 went on to be one of the most popular songs of all time. John Lennon’s first song after leaving the Beatles, “Give Peace a Chance,” hit airwaves in 1966. "Imagine" from 1971, has transcended the Vietnam era to continue to be a song of peace and unity.

Select FIVE songs from the Vietnam War era playlist to complete the questions below

1. What is the name of the song?

2. Who is the artist or group?

3. Is the song pro or anti war?

4. Pick two lyrics/lines in the song that vividly inform your answer to question 3

and

5. Explain why you think it is pro or anti war