The Vietnam War Timeline: Understanding the nature of a controversial conflict

Suggested Teaching Instructions

Use this activity while teaching about the Vietnam War. For grades 8-12. Approximate time needed is 90 minutes.

Before beginning the activity, contextualize the Vietnam War for students. This activity minimally addresses the U.S. role in Vietnam before 1956, but does not cover that information in great depth. This is a great way to set up the activity before allowing students to work independently or in pairs. (Also note that this activity does not cover all aspects of the Vietnam conflict.)

Display the activity for the class and click on the orange "open in new window" icon for one of the documents in the activity. Model document analysis for students. Ask them to use this process to understand each primary source in the activity. Point out the date and description for the document as well. While this provides easy access to the date – and students are charged with creating a timeline – point out that they will need to understand what each primary source reveals about the Vietnam War (not just the date) in order to answer the end-of-activity questions.

Show students how to drag your example document to its correct location in the lower panel. (Note that the activity only allows primary sources to be placed in their correct spots.) Ask students to begin the activity and place each primary source in its proper location in the timeline.

The correct order for the documents is (inform students that if they only have a year for a date, to place that document at the beginning of that year):

1. Vietnamese Army's Seven Commandments Poster, 5/28/1956
2. National Security Action Memorandum No. 115 Defoliant Operations in Vietnam, 11/30/1961
3. Memorandum Notifying President Johnson of Attack on the USS Maddox, 8/2/1964
4. Press Release Following the First Tonkin Gulf Incident, 8/3/1964
5. President Johnson's Vietnam Address, 8/4/1964
6. Tonkin Gulf Resolution, 8/10/1964
7. Napalm Bombs Explode on Viet Cong Structures, 1965
8. Richard Nixon in Chu Lai, South Vietnam, 9/5/1965
9. Arrival of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Air Mobile) in Vietnam, 9/14/1965
10. Newspaper Article "D.M. Schools Ban Wearing of Viet Truce Armbands," 12/15/1965
11. First Family Visiting with Combat Soldiers Wounded in Vietnam, 12/1966
12. Rolling Thunder 53 Strike Map, 1/1967
13. Captured Viet Cong Prisoner, 1/23/1967
14. State Department Telegram Text of a Letter from Ho Chi Minh to President Johnson, 2/15/1967
15. Letter from Mrs. Keck to President Johnson Regarding her Son's Death, 5/27/1967
16. Operation Shelby- Manuel Garcia Cleans His M-16 Rifle, 8/1967
17. The March on the Pentagon, 10/21/1967
18. A Viet Cong Soldier Crouches in a Bunker with an SKS Rifle, 1968
19. Memo from Walt W. Rostow to President Johnson, 1/30/1968
20. President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at a Cabinet Meeting, 2/7/1968
21. “Withdrawal Speech” by President Johnson, 3/31/1968
22. Vietnamese Popular Force Soldier and U.S. Marine Practice Ambush Techniques, 7/28/1968
23. Regional Forces En Route to the Suspected Viet Cong Base Camp, 1969
24. Private First Class Joseph Big Medicine Jr. Writes a Letter, 7/21/1969
25. 336th Aviation Company Sprays a Defoliation Agent on a Jungle in the Mekong Delta, 7/26/1969
26. UH-1D Medevac Helicopter, 10/16/1969
27. President Richard Nixon During a Vietnam War Press Conference, 4/30/1970
28. Sergeant Robert E. Fears Using a Flamethrower, 5/22/1970
29. Certification of the 26th Amendment, 7/5/1971
30. Statement by the President on Evacuation of American Personnel from South Viet Nam, 4/29/1975

After students have placed all of the documents in the timeline, they should click on "When You're Done" and answer the following questions:

1a. What event caused the United States to increase their military involvement in Vietnam?

1b. What document or law gave President Johnson the authority to escalate the U.S. involvement in Vietnam?

 

2. What were the major events of the Vietnam War? State each major event with a short description of it (one sentence or less).

 

3.  The geography of Vietnam was very different from any previous war the United States had fought in. Technology was therefore used to help overcome geographic difficulties. Using the documents in the activity, explain the technologies used in the war to aid fighting.

 

4.  President Johnson decided not to run for re-election in 1968. Why do you think he made this decision? Would you make the same decision? Explain your thinking.

 

5. Based on the pictures in the activity, what was life like for the soldiers fighting in the war? What challenges do you think they faced as they fought?

Discuss students' answers as a class.


Optional Extension Activity: Use the information covered in this activity to examine the anti-war movement in greater depth, including the divergent opinions of the war and how those opinions change over time. Consider using images of protests and protest songs to make students apply the knowledge they gained from this activity to contextualize these new-to-them sources.