The Vietnam War

Vietnam Vietnam
Yesterday I got a letter
From my friend fighting in Vietnam
And this is what he had to say:
Tell all my friends that I'll be coming home soon
My time'll be up sometime soon
Don't forget, he said, to tell my sweet Mary
Her golden lips as sweet as cherries
And it came from Vietnam Vietnam

It was just the next day
His mother got a telegram
It was addressed from Vietnam
Now Mistress Brown she lives in the USA
And this is what she wrote to say:
Don't be alarmed, she told me the telegram said,
But Mistress Brown, your son is dead
And it came from Vietnam Vietnam
Somebody please stop that war now

I. THE COLD WAR CONTEXT

A. THE "DOMINO THEORY" AND CONTAINMENT

B. U.S AID TO THE FRENCH

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

II. THE GENEVA ACCORDS

A. PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

B. U.S. IGNORES THE GENEVA ACCORDS.  Ngo Diem:  leader of U.S.-backed puppet government in South Vietnam.

III. THE GULF OF TONKIN INCIDENT (1964) AND THE ESCALATION OF THE WAR

IV. U.S. SOLDIERS IN VIETNAM

A. RACISM TOWARDS THE VIETNAMESE

 

 
 
 
 
 

B. MILITARY ATROCITIES

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

V. THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

VI. THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT

A. LYNDON JOHNSON'S POLITICAL FALL

B. NIXON'S "VIETNAMIZATION" OF THE WAR

C.  DRAFT RESISTANCE

D. RESISTANCE FROM ALL SOCIAL CLASSES

E. THE KENT STATE KILLINGS (1970)

VII. THE U.S. DEFEAT

A. THE TET OFFENSIVE (1968)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

B. THE FALL OF SAIGON (1975)

C. A LOSS OF FAITH IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

VIII. INTERPRETATIONS OF THE WAR

The Sixties Counterculture

In the morning when you rise
Do you think of me, and how you left me crying?
Are you thinking of telephones, and managers,
And where you have to be at noon?
You are living a reality I left years ago
It quite nearly killed me.
In the long run it will make you cry
Make you crazy and old before your time
And the difference between me and you
I won't argue right and wrong
But I have time to cry, my baby
You don't have to cry
 
 

I. "THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL": THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT

II. PHILOSOPHY OF THE COUNTERCULTURE

A. A "PLAY ETHIC" INSTEAD OF A "WORK ETHIC"

 

 
 
 
 
 

B. EASTERN SPIRITUALITY INSTEAD OF WESTERN "CIVILIZATION"

Detail from a poster advertising a Jimi Hendrix concert.

The Jefferson Airplane, Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco.

"Things Are Better in the East"
Written by Marty Balin
Performed by the Jefferson Airplane

Things are better in the east, they say
For a poet and his fevers
A fellow with all those fancy words
His heartbreak and his favors
I feel like a little white kitten reborn...
I'd like to remember it just like this if I can
The rain, the fog and the kiss you send
You know I love you just like you always wanted me to...
 

C. BLACK CULTURE INSTEAD OF WHITE CULTURE

 

 
 
 

III. SEX

A. THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL

 

 
 
 
 
 

B. "FREE LOVE" AND THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Woodstock Music Festival.
 
 

C. SEX AND POLITICS

 

 
 
 
 

IV. DRUGS

A. THE NARCOTICS CONTROL ACT OF 1956

"The Pusher"
Written by H. Axton
Performed by Steppenwolf

You know the dealer, the dealer is a man
With the love grass in his hand.
Ah but the pusher is a monster
Good god he's not a natural man.
The dealer, for a nickel lord
He'll sell you lots of sweet dreams.
Ah but the pusher'll ruin your body,
Lord he'll leave... he'll leave your mind to scream.
God damn the pusher.
I said god damn god god damn the pusherman.

B. DRUG USE AS A FORM OF PROTEST

 

 
 
 
 
 

C. THE "DOORS OF PERCEPTION"

 
 
 
 
 

D. KEN KESEY AND THE MERRY PRANKSTERS

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

E. DRUGS AND POPULAR MUSIC

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

V. THE STUDENT MOVEMENT

Percentage of students who agreed with the statement, "The war in Vietnam is pure imperialism"

1969             16%
1970             41%

Percentage of students calling themselves "radical or far Left"
1968             4%
1969             8%
1970             11%
 

A. STUDENTS CRITIQUE THE "ESTABLISHMENT"

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

B. STUDENTS ATTACK "THE KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRY"

 

 
 
 
 

C. STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY (SDS) AND THE "NEW LEFT"

Bob Dylan.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues"
Written and Performed by Bob Dylan

Maggie comes fleet foot, face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway, Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May, orders from the D.A.
Look out kid, don't matter what you did
But walk on tiptoes, don't tie no bows
Better stay away from those that carry around a firehose
Keep a clean nose, watch the plainclothes
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

Oh get sick, get well, hang around the inkwell,
Ring bell, hard to tell if anything is gonna sell,
Try hard, get barred, get back, write braile,
Get jailed, jump bail, join the Army if ya fail
Look out Kid, You're going to get hit
By losers, cheaters, six time users
Hangin' 'round the theatres
Girl by the whirlpool's lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders, watch your parkin' meters

D. PEOPLE'S PARK: BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, 1969

We Can Be Together
Written by Paul Kantner
Performed by the Jefferson Airplane

We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive we steal cheat lie forge fuck hide and deal
We are obscene lawless dangerous dirty violent and young
But we should be together
Come on all you people standing around
Our life's too fine to let it die and
We can be together
 
 
 
 

VI. "ESTABLISHMENT" RESPONSES TO THE COUNTERCULTURE

VII. LEGACIES OF THE SIXTIES