Vietnam War Student Project

1. Introduction

   Wars are fought for many reasons: to protect a nation's interests, to expand territory, to defend a country from an aggressive neighbor, to force one country to think or behave like another, to gain influence and political power. The reasons that a government has for going to war have a lot to do with how much support it gets from its people. If the general population strongly opposes a war, it is very difficult for a government to continue conducting it.

   The United States became involved in a war in Vietnam because our leaders were determined to stop the spread of communism in southeast Asia. Vietnam is a long, narrow country located south of China and due west of the Philippine Islands. North Vietnam, which bordered communist China, became independent of French colonial rule in 1954. So did South Vietnam. Under Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnam became a communist country which aggressively tried to spread communism to the south. The United States first tried to prevent the spread of communism into South Vietnam by sending American military supplies to support a weak, undemocratic government. When this didn't work, the United States sent its own army, which eventually numbered over 500,000 soldiers. Because of the type of war being fought, the unpopularity of the reasons for continuing the war, and the widespread belief that America should not be in Vietnam, the U.S. army was withdrawn in 1975. The Vietnam war was a controversial, divisive, and tragic period of American history, but one that should be studied and understood.

2. Identifying Topics

   Use reference materials to identify at least ten topics that you could study about the Vietnam war. Choose one of these topics for your project. Here are some key terms that you can look up:

   1. Vietnam war
   2. Lyndon B. Johnson
   3. Richard M. Nixon
   4. Ho Chi Minh
   5. Viet Cong
   6. Saigon
   7. Hanoi
   8. The Tet Offensive
   9. General William Westmoreland
   10. Ngo Dinh Diem

3. Finding Sources

   Find five sources of information about your topic. You may include a person who fought in the Vietnam war as one of your sources. There are many encyclopedia references, library books, biographies, magazine articles, videos, websites, textbooks, and other materials available about the Vietnam war. You should have no difficulty locating enough sources of information to do this project.

4. General Requirements
   1. Design a presentation that explains what you have learned.
   2. You will be required to present your project to your teacher or to your class, and perhaps to other audiences.

5. Project Idea

   Make a large wall map, or a tabletop relief map, and show where major battles and important events took place. Also show cities, towns, borders, and geographic features that played a role in the war:

   1. Mekong River
   2. Da Nang
   3. Haiphong harbor
   4. Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City)
   5. Gulf of Tonkin
   6. Hanoi
   7. Ho Chi Minh Trail
   8. 17th parallel

6. Due Dates
   1. Mid-Project Report:

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   2. Final Project Presentation:

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Excerpted from Social Studies Projects.