Introduction

The Vietnam War is arguably one of the most controversial events in American history. It was a war fought between the communist Viet Cong from North Vietnam, and the democratic South Vietnamese, who the United States was trying to protect from expanding communist threat. Many Americans felt that our interference was meddling with a civil war. There were other reasons that Americans opposed this war, including the use of the draft. The poor, young and African American populations were affected the most. Others opposed the wartime tactics employed by the United States military, which included the use of chemicals, such as napalm and Agent Orange, which had disastrous effects on innocent civilians. These military and poltical controversies fell on the eve of an escalating civil rights movement throughout America.

Discussion Question

Based on your reading of the documents below, why was the Vietnam war so controversial? Many Americans supported the war and many opposed it? Why were opinions so divided?

Primary Sources

History of the Viet Cong: Vietnamese Communist
http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/guerrilla/index.html

Excerpts from Rusk-McNamara Report to Kennedy, Nov.11, 1961
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/doc7.html

Program of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/docnlf.html

The Senate Debates the Tonkin Gulf Resolution Aug. 6-7, 1964
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/doc9.html

History of the Vietnam Conflict
http://www.vietnamwar.com

Vietnam Veterans against the Vietnam War
http://www.vvaw.org/about/warhistory.php

Government site dedicated to Agent Orange
http://www1.va.gov/Agentorange/

Secondary Sources

Speech by Martin Luther King against the Vietnam War
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

Website for Special Operations, Navy SEALS
http://www.specialoperations.com

Abbreviated Timeline
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/vietnam/timeline.htm