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History 357:
The Vietnam War
Syllabus - Fall 2001
Professor David
Hunt
University of Massachusetts Boston
TuTh, 5:30-6:45
Schedule of Topics and Readings
September 4: Background to 1945
September 6, 11, 13: Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1945-1954.
Read Bradley, entire;
Lewy, pages 3-7.
September 18, 20: The Northern Revolution, 1930-1954.
Read Hoang Van Chin on land
reform, plus Reading Packet,, pages 1-18.
September 25, 27: The GVN and the Geneva Accords, 1949-1954. Read Lewy, pages 7-41, plus Reading Packet, pages 19-24.
October 2, 4: The Diem Regime and its Enemies, 1954-1963. Read Race, chapters 1-4, plus Reading Packet, pages 25-33.
October 9, 11: The Southern Revolution, 1930-1965. Read Race, rest of book.
October 16: Midterm EXAM
October 18: U.S. Special War, 1960-1965. Read Isserman & Kazin, chapters 4-5 (selected passages), plus Reading Packet, pages 34-36.
October 23, 25: President Johnson Decides to Escalate (summer 1965). Read Lewy, chapter 2; and Isserman & Kazin, chapter 7 (selected passages).
October 30, November 1: GIs vs. Guerrillas (1965-1967). Read Lewy, chapter 3.
November 6,8: The Tet Offensive (1968). Read Isserman & Kazin, chapter 12 (selected passages).
November 13, 15: Nixon’s Strategy (1969-1975). Read Lewy, chapter 4; and Isserman & Kazin, chapter 14 (selected passages).
November 15: PAPER due
November 20: Vietnamization Put to the Test (1965-1975). Read Lewy, chapters 5-6.
November 27, 29: The DRV and the Great Spring Victory (1954-1975)
December 4, 6: Americans at War (1960-1975). Read Isserman & Kazin, rest of book, plus Reading Packet, pages 37-59
December 11, 13: The War Crimes Debate (1971-present). Read Lewy, rest of book.
Dates to Note
September 9: Pass/fail & withdrawal deadline
November 8: Pass/Fail and Course Withdrawal
November 22: Thanksgiving Day
Readings
Mark Bradley, Imagining Vietnam and America, Guenter Lewy, American in Vietnam, Jeffrey Race, War Comes To Long An, and Maurice Isserman & Michael Kazin, America Divided, are available in the bookstore. You should purchase the Reading Packet (# 026), available for $14.79 in the Wheatley Copy Center.
Exams, Papers, and Grading System
The final grade will be based on:
Midterm exam: 30%
Paper: 30%
Final exam: 30%
Classroom work: 10%
There will be no short-answer component on exams. Instead you will be given a choice of topics and requested to write an essay on one. Topics will take the form of a statement, and you will be asked if you agree or disagree and why. The questions will not be of the right-answer-wrong-answer variety. Any position you take will be respectfully considered, so long as it is supported by appropriate reasoning and evidence. You will be graded on the clarity of your essay and, most important, on the persuasiveness of the argument that you provide in support of your view.
Both exams will be open-book, and you are encouraged to bring readings, classroom notes, handouts, and any other materials you think might be useful.
For the paper, you will be given a question and asked to write a six-paragraph response. The question will be of the do-you-agree-or-disagree variety, similar to the ones on the exams.
Classroom Work
I take attendance, in the form of a sign-up sheet, at the beginning of each class. If you arrive late, make sure to sign in at the end of the session. If you come to me and say, “I was here last time, but forgot to sign in,” I will record you as present, no questions asked. But if you tell me at the end of the semester, “I was not absent five times, I only missed one class, I must have forgotten to sign in on the other days,” I will let the record stand, based on the sign-up sheets.
Regular attendance is strongly encouraged. Themes explored in class will be featured on exams, and the handouts distributed each day are essential for making sense of the course. You should establish a connection to at least a couple of other people in the room, so that, in the event of a missed class, you will have someone to turn to for notes and handouts. If you miss more than three class, you will forfeit the 10% credit toward the final grade awarded for classroom work. If you sign up for the class after the first day, the classroom sessions you missed will count as classes missed.
History Department policy, which I support and will enforce, specifies that no one can sign into a class after missing the first two sessions.
Discussion is an important element in my teaching strategy, and in an effort to get everyone involved, I will call on individual students. Come to class with readings and documents in hand and prepared to participate. The classroom grade, worth 10% toward the final grade, will be based on the degree to which you contribute to the learning of other students and the instructor.
An Emphasis on Debate
Many Americans, including the instructor, continue to hold strong views on the Vietnam War, and the course is built around the assumption that disagreement about the war is a given. No matter what you think about the Vietnam War, keep in mind that there are plenty of intelligent people out there who disagree with you! There are no “right” answers to the questions you will be asked in each of our classroom sessions and on the exams and paper assignment. To do well in the course, students must demonstrate an awareness of debates and an ability to back up opinions, whatever they might be, with logical argument and pertinent evidence.
Another way to state this point is to underscore that History 357 is indeed an upper-level history course, with a focus on scholarly approaches to the Vietnam War. People are always saying that Americans do not remember or do not pay enough attention to what happened in Vietnam. But at the same time our society is awash in bogus “lessons” drawn from the war, proffered in newspaper editorials, made-for-TV documentaries, and commentaries from academic and politicians. If you are satisfied with that sort of discourse, perhaps you have come to the wrong place. But if you looking for a more analytic address to the topic, I hope the class will satisfy your needs.
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