Letters Home From Vietnam

One of the struggles with teaching the Vietnam War is perspective.  How can we look back as historians and history teachers and support the decision of the United States to enter a country that was asking for its independence from foreign colonial powers for years?  When I have time to spend to look solely at Vietnam, I like to start off by looking at Ho Chi Minh's Declaration of Independence and discuss with students the ideas of the Enlightenment and why Ho Chi Minh would select, copy, downright plagiarize Jefferson.  We usually lead to a discussion about what freedom and liberty are and then discuss the events that lead up to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Once students have a general background about Vietnam, the film Dear America does a good job of showing what the fighting was like in Vietnam.  The film uses actual footage shot by the military and other civilians, with voice overs from many prominent stars reading letters that were sent home to America from the soldiers in the war.  It even includes songs, both pro-war and anti-war from the time period.  You could spend a great deal of time analyzing the different songs, letters, and footage seen.

I generally pose a set of questions for students to think about and respond to while they are watching the film.  I often change the questions for different sections I may be teaching in order to focus on the interests of the students in the class.  Recently, I had a group of 20 boys (in my class of 25) and a majority of them played the game Modern Warfare.  Before watching the film, we brainstormed, using the game, what many of them knew about war, the Vietnam War, weapons, the enemy, military slang, etc.  I then crafted a set of questions that had them focus on the reality of war.  This allowed them to analyze the Vietnam War as a time period in history, but also allowed them to make a connection to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  We were able to have a very thoughtful discussion not only about the Vietnam War, but about how video games are designed, marketed, and create a false reality of war.  I was only able to do this because I had a great understanding of the interests of my students and knew their interests in studying history.  Make sure you set up an environment in your class that allows you to do the same.

I also like to read selections from:
an American history textbook and then compare it to the chapter from Lies My Teacher Told Me
Dear America has a text that you can purchase that has many of the letters in it too.

~John

Teaching the Impact of the Atomic Bomb

As a teacher of United States or World History, we must at some point discuss the impact the Atomic Bomb had on shaping the world and shaping the foreign policy of the United States.  I have seen some teachers talk about the bomb in the abstract, focusing on the options that President Truman had and the difficulty he had in making the decision.  However, I like to present students with the information, let them make a decision, and then let them see the power this bomb truly has.

A film that I use in my classroom to discuss how the bomb impacted the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is Steven Okazaki's White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This film is broken into four parts, each with interviews of people who survived the bomb, Americans who dropped the bomb, and Japanese youth and citizens living in the rebuilt cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This film is one that you should watch before showing it in class and make a decision, based on the comfort level of you and your students, if you need to contact parents/guardians to watch the film.  


The Lesson--
I usually first ask students to look at the various options that were available to the United States and the decision makers at the time.  I make use of the "Choices: Truman, Hirohito, and the Atomic Bomb"   resources and ask student to write a one-page position paper that discusses the options and then provide advice to President Truman on what they believe the best option would be to bring the war in the Pacific to a close.  The day the assignment is due, I have a brief discussion with them about the options and take a tally of the number of students who advised the president on the various options.  I have also completed this activity as an alternative if I have more time and can go more in-depth.  I like to make sure to focus on the time constraints due to the negotiations at Potsdam the U.S. had before the Soviets entered the war.  It adds an interesting perspective that I don't think is touched on in the post-war build up to the Cold War in regular high school classes.

I am usually not one to require worksheets during films, but when I was preparing to teach this film, I came across a guide to teaching the film and made a worksheet for my students to follow along.  I like to tell students that this worksheet is not one that you can listen for key words and fill in the blank, but instead is one that requires them to think and ponder the important critical thinking questions.  You may want to stop the film throughout the time watching it in order to allow students to think and respond to the questions.  I like to stop it after each section and discuss the questions students are unable to create a response to immediately.  Be careful not to discuss them too much as you want to make sure you can have a thorough discussion at the end of the film.

At the end of the film, I provide a set of guiding questions for students to think about as homework and come back to discuss the following day.  I require them to journal their responses to the film and then ask them, at the conclusion of our discussion, to reflect on their advice to the president earlier.  There are many different ways you can go with this discussion, and each individual teacher, using his/her own style, structure, and course goals, can personalize this section as they please.

Have more time?
I also include readings from different perspectives of World War II to make sure that students get a more balanced approach to their study of this war.  Many call it a just war and I like to include readings about what a just war is.  One that I have recently found is from a San Diego State University Philosophy course reader taught by Tom Weston which provides a brief overview of "Just War" theory.

I also like to include readings about the events leading up to the United States' involvement in the war:
Four Freedoms
Atlantic Charter
Lend Lease
FDR's Speech to Congress

Prior to learning about the Atomic Bomb, I like to include readings from Studs Terkel's The Good War and E.B. Sledge's With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, especially chapters three and five, (those two chapters are available on Google books)

~John