Zach ParkinSec. Ed. 4013Historical Investigation

Essential Question: The Vietnam War has been known as the war Americans watched from their living rooms. Throughout the war, the media was virtually unrestrained by the government and provided substantial coverage of the war including many graphic images. As a result, many of the images and newsreels that covered the Tet Offensive had a drastic effect on the American public. Many would even argue that the news coverage of the Tet Offensive affected the outcome of the war. Was it in the best interest of American society to allow the media open access to the Vietnam War? Should the government restrict the media during wartime?

Objectives:

In groups, students will analyze and interpret primary sources in order to get the “big picture” of what is being said within the document and what is being talked about.

Using primary sources, students will analyze why the Tet Offensive was labeled as a negative turning point for the Vietnam War on the American home front even though it was labeled as a military victory.

Students will apply concepts from the primary sources and develop an argument based on whether or not and to what extent should the government be allowed to censor the media during wartime.

Lesson Outline—2 days in class, day 3 assignment due.

Day 1: The Media in Vietnam

1. Hook: Students will be asked to write in their journals if the media or something that they once saw on television has ever influenced them. They will be asked to briefly share examples with the class. The focus of the conversation will be directed at how influential the media can be at times.

2. Explain how media coverage during the war was virtually unrestricted. Provide examples and images that were captured by reporters and explain to students that Americans were viewing this on a daily basis.

a. Explain to students: i. How the Vietnam War was actually a popular war in the beginning.

ii. How Americans soon became confused as to why we were there due to inability to judge progress because there was no front like in previous wars.

iii. Briefly explain how body count was used to measure victory. iv. By the late 1960s Americans were beginning to question our involvement

in Vietnam.

v. By 1968, fatigue had fully set in and Americans were completely against the war due to what they were watching every night.

3. Students will be presented with two handouts regarding a marine’s experience with the media while serving in Vietnam during Khe Sanh.

a. Audio clips from John Kaheny’s recording will be played and students will read along with their handouts.

b. Students will need to highlight or underline phrases they find significant to the media’s role/influence during the Vietnam War.

c. Students will be divided into small groups to work on a worksheet that requires historical thinking about the document. They will source the document and analyze what is being said and how media played an influential role.

d. When students have finished their assignment with their groups the class will the open for discussion about the documents. As a class, we will review the results they have recorded in their charts

e. Next, take it a step further by asking more critical thinking questions to the students.

i. What is your overall reaction to hearing a Veteran talk about his experiences and disapproval of the media?

ii. How does this source demonstrate how false beliefs and myths spread throughout American society?

iii. How would it cause people’s opinion to change?

Day 2: The Tet Offensive

1. Students will be presented with a summary of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and a brief overview of at the anti-war movement on the home front to show growing tension and disapproval for the war.

2. Students will be shown a short clip from General Westmoreland’s interview during the Tet Offensive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INNKKE7Qmss

a. Point out specific during the video clip and discuss with class, such as:i. The explosions in the background during the interview and

Westmoreland’s reaction.ii. What effects did it have on public opinion?

3. Students will be presented with the remaining documents regarding the Tet Offensive and will be instructed to work in groups to fill out the worksheets. These include:

a. David Culbert’s “Television’s Visual Impact on Decision-making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago’s Democratic National Convention.” Which includes Eddie Addams photograph of the Long execution.

b. Interview with Bruce Southard in Television's Vietnam: The Impact of Visual Images.

c. Peter Braestrup’s interview in Television's Vietnam.

d. Walter Cronkite’s CBS broadcast.i. Depending on the class, this can also be done as a Jigsaw activity to

challenge the students even more.4. Explain to students how each of the documents portrays the media’s rendition of the Tet

Offensive before or after students are in their groups. Be sure not to make any persuasive statements. This must be left open to debate so the students can come to their own conclusion.

a. Assist any students/groups that are struggling.5. After students have completed their worksheets have them present their results to the

class. At this time, open the floor for discussion. Allow students to express their thoughts and opinions. When necessary, play devil’s advocate to stimulate critical thinking.

6. At the end of lesson, recap the Tet Offensive and ask students:a. If you were watching this at home in early 1968, at the height of the anti-war

movement, what would be your initial reaction of the war in Vietnam?b. Would you say this was a crushing defeat for the U.S. military/a major victory for

the North Vietnamese? Explain.c. Discuss with students how the Tet Offensive was labeled as a military victory but

was still a labeled as a turning point for the worse. i. How did the media effect this perception?

ii. Should the government have restricted the media?iii. Was this beneficial for American society at the time?iv. If students have not done so already mention the first amendment, freedom

of press.7. After the lesson and discussion has come to an end assign students their assignment.

Inform them that they may start on it that night but will also be given class time to work on it in case they have questions or need assistance. The assignment will be two questions that address the essential question for this investigation. Students will need to construct clear and concise essay about a 1-2 pages in length. Students will be reminded that there is no right or wrong answer that this is an opinionated question. However, they will need to make specific references to what they have learned from the documents to support their argument. Students will be informed that their grade will reflect the validity of their argument and their ability to reference the documents to support their argument.

Day 3 assessment due at the end of class.

1. Students will be advised the day before that they should start on their essay at home but will be given class time to work on it.

2. While students are working or finishing up their essay assist any students who need additional help such as instructions, examples, or referencing documents.

3. If students finish early have them review their work or peer edit if they choose to do so.

Background Synopsis:

The Vietnam War is known as the war that Americans watched from their living rooms. It was the war that was brought to the home front. Televisions had become much more affordable for the average American family. By the late 1960s, televisions were in nearly every home. Unlike in previous wars where news traveled much slower, what was caught on camera one day in Vietnam would be playing on the evening news throughout homes across America with in a couple days. Due to the vast coverage of the media the anti-war movement had a continuous arsenal to justify their protests. Unfortunately, many of these protest quickly escalated to full-scale riots. Resulting in shootings and massive property damage such as what happened at Kent State. Students being shot and ROTC buildings being blown up. The question remains, would these unfortunate events have occurred if the government restricted where the media was allowed to go and censored what they were allowed to broadcast on national television?

Vietnam was unlike previous wars America had fought in due to lack of support from the American population. By the late 1960s, it had become a very unpopular war and the media did not help its cause. As Americans were beginning to distrust their government for the first time on a massive scale the media was there to fuel the fire. In disagreement with the war, reporters filmed and reported graphic images of the war and televised them on a daily basis. It is impossible to deny that the media influenced the nation to turn their backs on the war and on the veterans in disagreement and protest for everything that was happening. Still, what can be argued is should the government allowed it to happen. Should the government placed greater restriction on press coverage in Vietnam due to wartime. To this day, there are many historians and veterans, who argue whether or not the media is to blame for America losing the war in Vietnam. They also argue whether or not America achieved its objectives in Vietnam. Some would argue that U.S. forces achieved its objectives in Vietnam and the media is to blame for the American public believing that Vietnam was a complete failure. However, that is another argument to be addressed.

Audio Recording document.

Who produced this document and when was it produced?

What is the main idea or concept of this document?

Why was this document produced, what was the purpose of this document?

What does this document tell you about media’s role and influence in Vietnam? Is there bias? Would this cause misinterpretations of what actually happened?

Document 1

Document 2

Name__________________Directions: After reviewing the documents, discuss what was being said and work together to fill out the chart. Do not simply answer yes or no. You must explain your answer.

Name__________________Directions: After critically analyzing the documents, work in your groups to establish a critical response to answer the questions. This means you must explain your answers. Use historical thinking skills while you are reading the documents.

Questions Critical Response

Document 3

What is the source?

What do you expect the document to be about?

What does the document say?

What is your reaction?

Who is the target audience?

Is there bias? What is the

tone? How does this

document reflect media’s influence on the American public towards Vietnam?

What questions are raised about the role the media played in covering the war?

Should this have been allowed to be shown on national television, i.e. should the government restricted this?

Document 4

Document 5

Document 6

Document 1

“Television Vietnam" - John Kaheny, No date, Douglas Pike Collection: Audio / Moving Images, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=992AU1200>.

This quote is from John Kaheny, a marine who served in Vietnam. The recording describes his involvement in the battle of Khe Sanh. He was a 1st Lt. with the 1st battalion in the 26th marines. The recording takes place on November 6, 1979. Kaheny recalls many of the myths he encountered when he returned home due to the media blowing things out of proportion.

“One of the other interesting myths that I encountered when I got home was the so called vermin syndrome that rats were running all over the base. Picture of a Lt Fitzgerald with the standard rat trap in his hand. There’s no doubt that there was rats at the base and the trash dump outside the base was swimming with rats. But the rat problem that was blown up by the press was one that was occurring in the North Vietnamese area. We didn’t have any serious problem with rats because of our field sanitations, even throughout the siege was outstanding.” Lt Fitzgerald had an interesting experience in that regard however. He had gotten a letter from a congressmen or a congressmen’s aid asking that a letter written by a mother of one of the young marines in Khe Sanh that the allegations in that letter be investigated. It seems that she was under the impression that her son was eating rats. Well the actual letter that the mother received from the son stated that the son was thrilled because he didn’t have to eat C-Rations anymore because some of his buddies had gotten ahold of some “long rats”. Of course he meant long range patrol rations; the dehydrated type. His mother however, after hearing the news about the rats running wild thought he referred to a rather large vermin instead of a long range patrol ration.”

Document 2

“Television Vietnam" - John Kaheny, No date, Douglas Pike Collection: Audio / Moving Images, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=992AU1200>.

This quote is from John Kaheny, a marine who served in Vietnam. The recording describes his involvement in the battle of Khe Sanh in 1967. He was a 1st Lt. with the 1st battalion in the 26th marines. One of John Kaheney’s duties while fighting on hills was calling in air strikes on suspected enemy positions.

“We were out there one day… and a news team came in the trench with us and they wanted to film what we were doing. They were highly critical of what we were doing. For some reason the head of the news team seemed to think it was ridiculous to shoot at these targets unless we actually saw the North Vietnamese. I remember the conversation going something like this:

Reporter—“What are you shooting at?” Kaheny—“Well we figured there was some Vietnamese over in that tree line across the gorge.” Reporter—“Well you can’t see them can you?” Kaheny—“The answer was “No.”Reporter—“Then why are you shooting at them?” Kaheny—“Because they’re obviously there.” Reporter—“How do you know they’re obviously there?” Kaheny—“If you stick your goddamn head up out of this trench for more than two or three seconds you’re going to find out they’re there.”

Well the news team did that, the guy stood up, two seconds later 60 mm mortar rounds exploded all around us. They jumped in the trench with us with their cameras. We dropped a round in on the tree line and sure enough some North Vietnamese soldiers came running out of the tree line thinking that an artillery strike was going to be called on the tree line. And they just happened to run into the impact area of the A-4s and Napalm strikes. The film crew filmed the whole thing. Did and interview with Neal Galloway and myself. And when I got back to the United States 3 days later I watched the news hoping it would be on. It never was. I suppose they probably didn’t like our attitude. But the thing that bothered me the most was that their questions were totally unreal, totally and completely removed from reality.”

Document 3

Culbert, David. “Television’s Visual Impact on Decision-making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago’s Democratic National Convention.” Journal of Contemporary History 33, no. 3 (1998): 419-449.

“Cholon district, downtown Saigon, late morning, Thursday, 1 February 1968 (Saigon time). South Vietnamese troops bring a Vietcong terrorist who was carrying a pistol and who had just killed a number of South Vietnamese on the third day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. The prisoner has been beaten. As the telex from NBCs Saigon bureau chief told New York editors: 'We are the only ones who have the film on the execution.' Frame enlargement from NBC color news film, broadcast to 20 million viewers on Friday, 2 February 1968, on the Huntley-Brinkley Report. Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by Eddie Adams of the Loan execution. NBC cameraman Vo Suu and Adams were standing side by side. The photograph appeared in newspapers the world over on 2 February and on NBC Television the night before.”

The following image is of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing Vietcong captain Nguyen Van Lem in Saigon who was captured during the Tet Offensive

Document 4

Interview with Bruce Southard in Peter Rollins and David Culbert, Television's Vietnam: The Impact of Visual Images (80 mins; Humanitas Films, 1982). An ideologically recast version of this film, narrated by Charlton Heston, was shown nationally over PBS in 1986.

Professor Bruce Southard, a graduate student in 1968, recalls what he witnessed, what he felt, and has never forgotten what he saw on television.

“I was just watching the news. General Loan pulled his gun and shot the man, and at first I could not believe that it was happening. It was unlike anything that I had seen before, and then I saw the blood coming out of the guy's head.... It really turned my stomach. I didn't throw up but I came close to it. After that I decided what we were doing in Vietnam was wrong, I could not conceive of the callousness with which one person executed another with no pretense, with no trial, with no evidence. . .. After that I became active in the antiwar movement.”

Document 5

Peter Braestrup, interview in Television's Vietnam. This interview was filmed at a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, held at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in February 1978.

“In journalistic terms, it was fantastic. It is not often that a television cameraman, or a still cameraman for that matter, gets on film happening right there before your eyes one man blowing another man's brains out.... It was kind of the supreme melodrama ... a kind of super pornography. It evoked strong reactions among those who saw it apparently.... It was a kind of ultimate horror story that you captured in living color. But in terms of information it told you almost nothing. That's the chronic problem especially for television and for the still photos, the difference between drama and information.”

Document 6

Cronkite CBS broadcast, 'Who, What, When, Where, Why: Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite', 27 February 1968, reprinted as Appendix XXVI, Braestrup, Big Story, II, op. cit., 180-9; David Halberstam, The Powers That Be (New York 1979), 514.

The following is a quote from CBS commentator Walter Cronkite's special broadcast about the Tet Offensive, transmitted on 27 February 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. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then would 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.”

Historical Investigation Assignment

Over the past few class periods, you have examined a number of primary and secondary source documents. These have been in regards to the media’s role during the Vietnam War as well as how reporters and news stations influenced a nation. The Vietnam War has been known as the war Americans watched from their living rooms. Throughout the war, the media was virtually unrestrained by the government and provided substantial coverage of the war including many graphic images. As a result, many of the images and newsreels that covered the Tet Offensive had a drastic effect on the American public. Many would even argue that the news coverage of the Tet Offensive affected the outcome of the war.

Was it in the best interest of American society to allow the media open access to the Vietnam War?

Should the government restrict the media during wartime?

Directions: In regards to the previous questions, your task is to construct a clear and concise essay (1-2 Pages, double-spaced) by developing an argument as to what extent you agree or disagree with the media being allowed virtually unrestricted coverage during the Vietnam War. Your essay should clearly answer both questions and you should reference at least 2 of the sources in your essay to support your argument. Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. These questions are opinionated and your essay should reflect your opinion in a well drafted argument.

It is suggested that you get a head start on this for homework or at least draft an outline. You will be given class time to finish your essay. However, this assignment will be due at the end of the hour. If you have any questions, come prepared to class with them.

Grading Rubric

Areas of Evaluation

Excellent Proficient Adequate Needs Improvement

Argument Excellent argument is constructed and student goes beyond minimum requirements to validate their case. Little to no mistakes are made. Argument takes a stand and does not contradict itself.

Argument is valid and properly supported using proper sources. Few mistakes are made and the argument does not contradicts itself

Argument is somewhat lacking and sources are not properly used to support their case. Argument is somewhat unclear and opinions are not fully made. Multiple mistakes are present.

Argument is poorly constructed. Little to no argument is present. No clear direction or points made for argument. Sources are not properly used or absent from essay. Many mistakes are present

Sources Sources are used very well to support argument. Proper use of citation. Sources are used in proper context. References more than minimum requirements.

Sources are used properly and cited correctly. Sources are used in proper context to support argument.

Sources are not used properly and is lacking requirements. Improper citation of sources. Sources are used out of context.

Sources are lacking or absent from argument. Sources are used out of context and improperly used to support argument.

Organization Essay is written and organized very well. Essay is well thought out and maintains a progressive flow and does not repeat or talk in circles.

Essay is clearly written, has been thought out, and flows smoothly. Essay does not repeat itself or talk in circles.

Essay is somewhat unclear and has not been properly thought out. Essay repeats itself and talks in circles at times.

Essay is unclear and organization is poor. No evidence of brainstorming present. Essay repeats itself and has no clear direction.

Selected Bibliography

Adams, Eddie. “South Vietnamese Officer Executes a Viet Cong Prisoner". From the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Breastrup, Peter. Big Story: How the American Press and Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1977.

Culbert, David. “Television’s Visual Impact on Decision-making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago’s Democratic National Convention.” Journal of Contemporary History 33, no. 3 (1998): 419-449.

Television Vietnam" - John Kaheny, No date, Douglas Pike Collection: Audio / Moving Images, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=992AU1200>.

Rollins, Peter, David Culbert, and Townsend Ludington. Television’s Vietnam: The Impact of Visual Images. Oklahoma: Stillwater, 1981.