Description
What our Vietnam War lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Vietnam War introduces students to the causes and effects of this war. They will understand why the US entered the conflict. They will also discover how public opinion can shape war policy and outcomes. This lesson is for students in 5th grade and 6th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Options for Lesson
The “Options for Lesson” section of the classroom procedure page outlines some additional activities and variations that you can use when presenting this lesson to your students. Many cities have museums dedicated to military veterans and their service to our country. Arrange a trip to visit one or have a veteran come speak to your class.
Teacher Notes
The paragraph on this page provides a little more information or guidance on what to expect from the lesson. It suggests you take a deeper dive into other related topics if you want to. You can use the blank lines to record any thoughts or ideas you have as you prepare.
VIETNAM WAR LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
The Vietnam War lesson plan contains four pages of content. The Vietnam War is complicated and controversial. One of the longest-running wars in United States history, it began in 1955 when the US deployed advisory troops to Vietnam. The administrations of five US presidents served during the war. While not all the presidents served full four-year terms in office, their policies shaped the course and eventual outcome of the war.
The war’s story began long before Americans got involved in 1955. Conflict and political upheaval in Vietnam started in the 19th century, when the country was under French colonial rule. Under France, Vietnam was part of French Indochina. A political movement—the Indochinese Communist Party—led by communist leader Hồ Chí Minh, was developed in opposition to colonization. The party demanded independence from France and any other country interfering in the country’s affairs.
Japan’s Occupation
During World War II, Japan occupied Vietnam. At the end of World War II and with Japan’s surrender to the Allies, Hồ Chí Minh’s political party saw an opportunity to gain independence. They declared independence from France, which led to the First Indochina War. It pitted the French against Vietnamese communists. The war ended with the defeat of the French. Similar to what happened in the Korean War, Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam at the 17th Parallel.
Taking a page from the book of his predecessor, President Truman, President Eisenhower was alarmed that communism was spreading across Asia. Sending military aid and troops to South Vietnam, Eisenhower tried to prevent the expansion of communism. His successor, President Kennedy, continued to increase support for South Vietnam. South Vietnam’s president, Ngô Đình Diệm, though no friend of democracy and unpopular with the South Vietnamese people, welcomed the aid provided by the US and other democratic-friendly countries.
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
In 1964, an incident between a US Naval vessel and the North Vietnamese resulted in an escalation of US forces to Vietnam. In the Gulf of Tonkin, two US ships came under fire from North Vietnamese troops. There are conflicting reports regarding the exact sequence and what actually occurred. However, President Johnson, who had risen to become president after President Kennedy was assassinated, asked Congress to pass a resolution (The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 1964) giving President Johnson authority to escalate the war against the North Vietnamese.
By 1968, the US had increased its troop presence in Vietnam to over 500,000. At first, the US public was in support of retaliating against the North Vietnamese for the attacks against the Navy. Then, as more details and confusion arose over what occurred during the second attack against naval vessels, support for Johnson’s escalation began to fade. The mounting death toll of American soldiers, combined with a mixed message of why Americans were involved in what appeared to many as a civil war in Vietnam, resulted in the slow decline of public support for the war.
Tet Offensive
In January 1968, a significant event turned the tide of support for the war into opposition. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched a massive sneak attack. It became known as the Tet Offensive. The military was able to withstand and repel the attack, but at a significant cost. Several hundred American servicemen were wounded or killed alongside South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. The images and carnage from this and other attacks began to erode the public’s confidence in the US-elected leadership, specifically President Johnson.
War protests erupted at universities and college campuses. Street protests and marches occurred nearly daily in large cities. The news media published images of the protests. Young men of draft age avoided military service. Some even fled the country so as not to be called to serve in Vietnam. Soldiers returning from the battlefield and to their homes in the US were unfairly targeted by protesters and portrayed as enemies of peace. Never before in the history of America had US soldiers returned from a battle not as heroes. The American public had seen enough and was ready for a new vision. The war must end.
President Nixon and the Paris Peace Accords
The election of 1968 brought into office a new president, Richard Nixon. President Johnson, immensely unpopular because of Vietnam, chose not to run for office. His management of the war proved to be too much of a hurdle for him to win a new term. Nixon’s campaign focused on reducing the American presence in Vietnam and ending the war. In a tight race against Hubert Humphrey, the vice president of Johnson’s ticket, Nixon was able to squeak by in the popular vote and win 302 Electoral College votes, securing the victory.
Nixon’s strategy to end the war was to gradually begin withdrawing US troops while providing aid to the South Vietnamese. Nixon believed that to be successful, he had to cut off the aid going to the North by disrupting the supply lines in neighboring Cambodia and Laos. Nixon’s escalation of the battle into Cambodia and Laos was met with more violence and war protests.
In 1973, after years of haggling and negotiations, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, paving the way for a ceasefire. The US began withdrawing troops and participating in prisoner swaps. As the US military presence rapidly declined, the fighting between the North and South unfortunately accelerated. Without the aid of the United States military, South Vietnam’s troops were unable to fend off the attacks by the North. In April 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the South’s capital. Saigon was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City. Vietnam was officially reunified under communist rule.
Effects of the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War led to significant changes in the United States’ politics and how leaders engage in foreign conflicts. More than 58,000 American soldiers died. Over three million Vietnamese people died, and countless were left homeless or fled to other countries. During the war, several new weapons were used that wrecked the environment and impacted the health of the population. One of those was a chemical known as Agent Orange, and its effects still remain today. For the first time in US history, Americans lost confidence in the government and demanded changes in military policy to avoid what many termed a “narrow” conflict.
In modern times and since the war, Vietnam has gone through a remarkable transformation. In the 1980s, the country began implementing significant economic and government reforms. Although it remains a communist country, Vietnam has become a hub for global trade. In 1995, President Bill Clinton normalized diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Although the war has long ended, the memories and images of the war continue to shape the relationship between the United States and Vietnam.
VIETNAM WAR LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Vietnam War lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet and two practice worksheets. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson. You can refer to the classroom procedure guidelines to know when to hand out each worksheet.
LABEL THE MAP ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work with a partner to complete the map by coloring and labeling each country and surrounding bodies of water.
VIETNAM WAR REVIEW PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet requires students to answer a series of 10 questions. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them often for the answers. In addition, each question provides which reading tool the question corresponds to, such as text feature, vocabulary, or comprehension.
KEY POINTS HOMEWORK WORKSHEET
For the homework assignment, students will answer five questions regarding the key points that they learned throughout the lesson.
Worksheet Answer Keys
There are answer keys for the worksheets at the end of the lesson plan document. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
