1. The DBQ
John Q. Student

2. TEK
USH.8.F
Describe the responses to the Vietnam War such as the draft, the 26th Amendment, the role of the media, the credibility gap, the silent majority, and the anti-war movement

3. Materials
Selected primary source documents 1-8

4. Document 1
President Kennedy's Remarks at the High School Memorial Stadium, Great Falls, Montana, September 26, 1963.
It is the United States, this country, your country, which in 15 to 18 years has almost singlehandedly protected the freedom of dozens of countries who, in turn, by being free, protect our freedom. So when you ask why are we in Laos, or Viet-Nam, or the Congo, or why do we support the Alliance for Progress in Latin America, we do so because we believe that our freedom is tied up with theirs, and if we can develop a world in which all the countries are free, then the threat to the security of the United States is lessened. So we have to stay at it. We must not be fatigued.

5. Document 2
Excerpt from letter to President Kennedy, February 16, 1963, by Bobbie Lou Pendergrass, sister to American soldier killed in action.
Please, I’m only a housewife who doesn’t even claim to know all about the international situation – but we have felt so bitter over this – can the small number of our boys over in Viet Nam possibly be doing enough good to justify the awful number of casualties? It seems to me that if we are going to have our boys over there, that we should send enough to have a chance – or else stay home. Those fellows are just sitting ducks in those darn helicopters. If a war is worth fighting – isn’t it worth fighting to win?... I am a good Democrat – and I’m not criticizing. I think you are doing a wonderful job - and God bless you.

6. Document 3
Lyrics, Ballad of the Green Beret by Sergeant Barry Sadler, 1966.
Fighting soldiers from the sky Fearless men who jump and die Men who mean just what they say The brave men of the Green Beret
Silver wings upon their chest These are men, America's best One hundred men will test today But only three win the Green Beret
Trained to live off nature's land Trained in combat, hand-to-hand Men who fight by night and day Courage peak from the Green Berets
Silver wings upon their chest These are men, America's best One hundred men will test today But only three win the Green Beret
Back at home a young wife waits Her Green Beret has met his fate He has died for those oppressed Leaving her his last request
Put silver wings on my son's chest Make him one of America's best He'll be a man they'll test one day Have him win the Green Beret.

7. Document 4
Excerpt from,"Misinformation About Vietnam," by Rodney Driver, 1968, which Senator Hatfield inserted into the Congressional Record.
The expression "credibility gap," as part of the American language, indicates a public awareness that the Johnson Administration has not always been quite candid about Vietnam. But few people yet fully realize the magnitude of the problem ... I certainly didn't for a long time. It was only after hearing several similar accounts of gross misrepresentations that I felt obliged to check some primary references myself. Having started this, one is led from one item to another- until he is suddenly struck with the alarming realization that his government has been misleading him time and time again. Disconcerting as this discovery may be, it is vital in a democracy that people should find out what is going on. Such was the motivation for this pamphlet. Compiled herein (in bold-face type) are just a few typical statements on Vietnam by the Johnson Administration.

8. Document 5
Excerpt from CBS news broadcast, Walter Cronkite, February 27, 1968.
To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

9. Document 6
President Nixon’s “Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam” November 3, 1969.
Let historians not record that when America was the most powerful nation in the world we passed on the other side of the road and allowed the last hopes for peace and freedom of millions of people to be suffocated by the forces of totalitarianism. And so tonight -- to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans -- I ask for your support. I pledged in my campaign for the Presidency to end the war in a way that we could win the peace. I have initiated a plan of action which will enable me to keep that pledge. The more support I can have from the American people, the sooner that pledge can be redeemed; for the more divided we are at home, the less likely the enemy is to negotiate at Paris. Let us be united for peace. Let us also be united against defeat. Because let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.

10. Document 7
Excerpt from Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement. John Kerry, former US Navy officer, testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 23, 1971.
In our opinion and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. And to attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos by linking such loss to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits supposedly abuse, is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy, and it is that kind of hypocrisy which we feel has torn this country apart.

11. Document 8
Excerpt from article “Ford Says Indochina War is Finished for America,” New York Times International, April 24, 1975.
"Today America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam," Mr. Ford said. "But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished — as far as America is concerned," he said. "The time has come to look forward to an agenda for the future, to unity, to binding up the nation's wounds and restoring it to health and optimistic self-confidence."

12. Learning Targets
Students will be able to trace the evolution of America’s role in Vietnam
Students will be able to explain changing American responses to the war in Vietnam
Students will be able to support an essay with information from primary source documents

13. Objective
Students will construct an argument in essay form focusing on America’s responses to the Vietnam War using selected primary source documents as evidence

14. Essential Questions
How did most Americans feel about the Vietnam War when US involvement expanded under Kennedy?
What caused American attitudes to change? Were these changes universal?
How did the US end its involvement in Vietnam? Could it have been different?

15. Lesson Delivery Students will write a document based essay
Students will write the essay using the following prompt:
Using your knowledge of the era and information from selected primary sources, discuss American responses to the Vietnam War. Did American attitudes towards the war change over time? If so, to what extent?

16. Understanding / Assessment
DBQs will be graded according to the rubric
Topic A B C F
Thesis
Student has a fully formed thesis – effectively addresses the question
Thesis is present but is unclear - addresses parts of the question
Thesis was attempted but did not adequately address the question
No thesis present
Used Documents
Student used all the documents to support their arguments
Student used all but 1 document to support their arguments
Student used all but 2 documents to support heir arguments
Student did not use enough of the documents to support their arguments
Understood Documents
Students showed understanding of all the documents
Students showed understanding of all but 1 documents
Student showed understanding of all but 2 documents
Student showed little understanding of the documents given
Comprehension of Subject
Students used extensive outside information to augment their arguments
Students used some outside information to augment their arguments
Students attempted to use outside information to augment their arguments
No outside information was introduced to augment their arguments

17. Reteach
Class discussion of document analysis and application of those documents as support for written arguments
Model document analysis of given documents

18. Closure / Summary
Discuss Vietnam War timeline using documents as conversation points
What other documents would add to our understanding of the topic?
Point out political and social turning points in the Vietnam War