Vietnam: An introduction

Required Reading: America Divided, 67-83, on-line reading:

Vietnam War Origins

Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, 1945

Recommended Websites See more extensive list of website links on Vietnam the 1960s link on my website

On precedents in Iran and Guatemala and elsewhere, see

· The documents on the CIA in Iran, 1953

· Browse through an article planted by the CIA in the New York Times about the ousting of Mossedeq in 1953

· CIA and Guatemala/Assassinations

· US/CIA manipulations of Italy’s postwar elections, 1948

· The CIA in Indonesia: bloody coups and dictators

Documents, Vietnam

· Leslie Gelb Analyzes the Roots of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam (document)-this is the state departments own “explanation” for the roots of U.S. involvement; note the defensive reaction to the accusations about the real motivations for involvement

· McNamara on the way that the Cold War purges affected Vietnam

· Senator Fulbright on the Arrogance of Power 1966

· Fort Hood Three

· President Johnson White House Tapes -“I don’t think it’s worth fighting for, and I don’t think we can get out” –May 1964

Websites:

· Vietnam War –PBS’ American Experience Website

· Vietnam: Yesterday and Today (Includes good basic chronology)

· Spartacus Educational Website on Vietnam—links to short biographies, and 100 other websites

Vietnam War Internet Project –documents, including those relating to Mai Lai

Remembrance stories, poems, songs, maps, and narratives from or about the Vietnam War era