Note to Vietnam Veterans

I would say to the Vietnam Vets that what they went through when they got home from the war (people saying that they got what they deserved when they lost a leg or arm or body part and people saying they were horrible for going there, etc) was not right and they did not deserve to be treated like that. Also, people now are more "accepting" of the Vietnam Vets. Before, many were mad at them or thought they deserved what they got. Now, people understand (to some extent) how awful it really was, and they weren't all that happy to be there. People now remember what the soldiers did to serve our country, and that they are celebrated. To the people who served in the war and are on the Vietnam Memorial, I would say I am sorry that they had to die from this war and we all miss you.

Times Of Change May 23

Farmer Nguyen by W.D. Ehrhart
1 page - complete by Wednesday May 26
Massacre at My Lai by Hugh Thompson
2 pages - complete by Wednesday May 26
A Nun at Ninh Hoa by Jan Barry
1 page - complete by Wednesday May 26

What do these two poems and the article say about the impact of the war on the native Vietnamese? Can you think of any other ways in which the war will impact the native Vietnamese?
The impact of the war was that the natives were stolen from and hurt because they had supposedly given help or information to a side, when they didn't necesarily do that. Both sides hurt the innocent civilians. Other ways the war will impact the native Vietnamese is that their country will be torn apart and traps that the Viet Cong set for the Americans could possibly backfire on the native Vietnamese. Also, Vietnamese will never forget this war and that will lead to hatred of Americans. Because the contry will be torn apart, that may lead to communist governments to get the country back on its feet, which will be the exact opposite of what the United States wanted.

Times Of Change tues may 22

What challenges does Jack Smith face as a soldier in Vietnam? (a bulleted list is fine)
· Not many had combat experience
· First few months they never found anyone
· Can’t be trained for combat
· He and his division walked right into an ambush
· Killed a Vietnamese soldier right in front of him
· Pretended to be dead when North Vietnamese troops came so they wouldn’t kill him
· Had to act dead for most of the day and was the only person in the clearing between North Vietnamese and American troops
· Napalm bomb exploded near him and his troops and the North Vietnamese troops
· Vietnamese went around killing all the wounded
· The wounded mortar platoon leaders called for artillery and they drove the North Vietnamese troops away
· When Jack woke up, he saw a dead man in front of him
· Huge amounts of dead
· People wanted to kill North Vietnamese wounded like they did to Americans but Jack told them not to but they told Jack they wanted revenge
· All of his friends died at the battle

How does Smith’s attitude toward war change? In the beginning, Smith wanted to go fight in the war; he wanted adventure and all the “wonders” of war. When he ended up in Vietnam and after the battle, he found out that war is not so wonderful and that it is actually a horrible thing and so many die.



I Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag by Joe McDonald
2 pages - complete by Wednesday May 23

I Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag by Joe McDonald2 pages - complete by Wednesday May 23 This song by Country Joe and the Fish became one of the first protest songs of the Vietnam Era. Read the lyrics to the song, and then respond to the following:

What is the song asking the

“big strong men to do”? fight in the war- Uncle Sam needs their help again

the “generals” to do? Kill all the communists in Vietnam

“Wall Street” to do? Make money for the war in Vietnam to get weapons

… “mothers” to do? Send their children to Vietnam to fight

Write down four specific lines from the song that display sarcasm, cynicism, or anti-war sentiment.
“Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.”
“Be the first one on the block to have your boy come home in a box”
“And you know that peace can only come when we’ve blown ‘em all to kingdom come”
“What are we fighting for?”

Times of change

A Dubious Crusade by James A. Warren
2 pages - complete by Tuesday May 22

Look up both words in the title of the short essay. What do they mean?- Dubious-doubtful Crusade- holy war
Relate the title to the reading. What is Warren saying? How do you think this will relate to the rest of our study if Vietnam? Warren is saying that this war was a "religious" war and the religion was democracy. The US was trying to fight communism with democracy. This will relate to the rest of our studies because we will keep this perspective in mind and look at different perspectives throughout this unit.



History by Thuong Vuong-Riddick
2 pages - complete by Tuesday May 22

What is the overall theme of Vuong-Riddick's poem? The theme is that the poem is that Vietnamese were in a never ending circle of killing and that they overthrown many times.



The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution … by Goldberg
2 pages - complete by Tuesday May 22
What is the main thesis of the essay? Lyndon Johnson could have been lying about the Vietnamese bombing a US ship in order to put men in Vietnam.

What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution? It was a order given by the president to defend US interests in Vietnam.

What evidence does the author give to support his thesis? Johnson might have wanted more support for his plan to send US troops to fight the Viet Cong.

How does this link to the theme of the first reading, “A Dubious Crusade”? It was a doubtful war. The US didn't have to fight it and thats what this article is saying.

10 Things Everyone Should Know About the Korean War

1.In September 1949, Communists in China defeated the Nationalists (anti-communist) in a civil war and Mao Zedong became head of the Communist state there. The Nationalist government then went to Taiwan, an island off the coast of mainland China. Many Americans saw this as the Communist's plot to take over the world.
2.Korea had been a Japanese colony, and when Japan surrendered to the Allies, Soviet Troops occupied Korea north of the 38th parallel (line of latititude) since 1945 and Americans occupied Korea south of that line. In North Korea, Soviets helped a Communist government get to power and in South Korea, a oncommunist leader was in power.
3.June 1950- North Korea invaded South Korea and the US appealed to the UN to stop the communist move into South Korea and 16 nations gave soldiers to the UN force, but Americans made up most of the force and did most of the fighting. This war lasted for 3 years and is called the Korean War.
4.Early on, North Korea pushed South Korea back to Pusan (South Korea had a small wedge of land near the ocean) but MacArthur (commander of all UN forces) turned the situation around and landed his troops at Inchon, a port city behind North Korean lines. This plan was dangerous, but luckily it worked. Because North Koreans were being attacked from both sides, they retreated behind the 38th parallel.
5. MacArthur asked for permissionm from the US and UN to go after the North Korean troops and they said yes. Truman hoped this would reunite the 2 Koreas and when UN forces pushed north, beyond the 38th parallel toward the Yalu River, the boundary seperating China and North Korea, the Chinese warned them to stop.
6. Communist China thought the UN invasion into North Korea would threaten China's security and because China had warned the UN troops about advancing further and the UN ignored the warning, China entered teh War on November 25, 1950 and attacked across the Yalu River into North Korea and drove UN troops back into South Korea.
7. General MacArthur asked Truman for permission to blockade and bomb China, but Truman refused. MacArthur then tried to win support for his war aims by speaking and writing to newspapers and writing to Republican Leaders. Truman thought that this was undermining civillian control of the military and fired MacArthur.
8. The war was draggin gon and was very unpopular and Truman accepted a Soviet suggestion for truce talks which lasted for 2 years and continued through the 1952 elections. Dwight D Eisenhower was elected and promised to end the war quickly.
9. Eisenhower talked with North Korea and China and they agreed to compromise to end the war, but warned that he would use nuclear weapons and carry war into China.
10. In July, 1953, a cease-fire ended the war. The Koreas were left basically where they were when fighting had started and the border was near the 38th parallel and communism had been contained in Korea.

Has MLK's Dream been Realized?

African Americans have been protesting for civil rights for a long time and the Civil Rights Movement helped to change that. From my research, I found that the whites are still "favored" over blacks. The unemployment rate for African Americans for 204 was 10.4% whereas the unemployment rate for whites was 4.8%. The African American Unemployment rate in 1985 was 15.1% and kept going down until 2000 (7.6%) but then it started to rise from 2002 (10.2) to 2003 (10.8%) and then it fell in 2004 to 10.4%. The white unemployment rate for that time follwed a similar pattern, but with lower percentages.
African Americans fought for equality. When you look at the Full Time Wage and Salary chart, you can see that they didn't get equality. The white's average weekly earnings was $657 and the black's was $525. That is a difference of $132 weekly and that comes out to about a $6864 difference yearly. That is not equal.
Martin Luther King Jr's dream has been realized somewhat when looking at labor factors, but definitley needs some improvement. The unemployment rate has overrall gone down, but the wages of whites compared to blacks is drastic and something needs to be done about that.

Martin Luther King JR Questions

Why does the author feel that whites owe King the greatest debt? The author feels that whited owe King the greatest debt because he liberated them from racism. He made it so that the US can rightfully call themself the "leader of the free world".
Was King "the right man at the right time"? Yes, the Civil Rights movement needed a strong leader and he was the one.
Would King be upset with the current use of his most often quoted line? Why or why not? No because it is being used for things he would never have endorsed. This is because the people using this quote have "filtered out his radicalism and sense of urgency" It is now being used to calmly, not at all how he intended it to be.