Transcript SEE NO EVIL

Chapter 9:
SEE NO EVIL
CHOOSING NOT TO LOOK
AT THE WAR IN VIETNAM
Objectives
1. To what extent do the
textbooks cover the
Vietnam War?
2. Do the texts answer
the six questions
proposed by Loewen?
3. Do the texts portray
popular images that
accurately reflect the
Vietnam War?
How Much Space is Dedicated?
Loewen says:
“Scant space was only part of the problem. Nine
gripping pages on the Vietnam War might
prove more than adequate. We must ask what
kind of coverage textbooks provided.” – 245
Boorstin (1986) NO CHAPTER
20/489 = 4%
Berkin (1992)
38/854 = 4.4%
Appleby (2003)
27/913 = 3%
Cayton (2003)
24/916 = 2.6%
Questions To Answer
Loewen says:
“Perhaps we can agree that any reasonable
treatment of the Vietnam war would discuss at
least these six questions:” – 254
1. Why did the United States fight in Vietnam?
2. What was the war like before the United States entered it?
How did we change it?
3. How did the war change the United States?
4. Why did an antiwar movement become so strong in the
United States? What were its criticisms of the war in
Vietnam? Were they right?
5. Why did the United States lose the war?
6. What lesson(s) should we take from the experience?
Why did the United States fight in Vietnam?
Loewen Says:
Our Texts Say:
“So which interpretation do they
choose?...Most textbooks simply
dodge the issue.” – 255
“President Eisenhower pledged his
support to South Vietnam’s
Diem…Thus the United States
became involved in the Vietnam
War.” – (Cayton, 2003) 793
“Since textbooks rarely suggest that
the events of one period caused
events of the next, unsurprisingly,
none of the textbooks I surveyed
looks before 1950’s to explain the
Vietnam War.” – 255
“He [President Johnson] offered to
meet with Ho Chi Minh and other
Communist leaders to talk over
peace terms. But the North
Vietnamese refused to consider
peace talks.” – (O’Connor, 1979)
682
“South Vietnam by 1965 was in such
a desperate plight that the United
States began to intervene
directly.” – (Freidel, 1970) 797
What was the war like before the
United States entered it? How did we
change it?
“Meanwhile air raids in the North continued. Both
sides continued to escalate (step up) the fighting”
– (O’Connor, 1979) 682
“Coupled with airstrikes, United States began a
rapid strengthening of its ground forces in South
Vietnam. By the end of the summer[1965],
125,000 American troops were in the country or
on their way, with more promised if needed” (Curti, 1966) 790
How did the war change the United
States?
“As the struggle wore on, opposition to the war in the
United States grew stronger and louder. Protest
demonstrations were staged throughout the nation.” –
(O’Connor, 1979) 682
“Our part in the war seriously divided feelings in our own
nation in the 1960’s and early 1970’s” – (O’Connor,
1979) 698
“The war cost the United States more than $150 billion. It
damaged the nation’s prestige in the world, and it
eroded its self-confidence at home. Most importantly, it
took the lives of about 58,000 Americans and injured
300,000 more.” – (Berkin, 1992) 750
Why did an antiwar movement become so strong in
the United States? What was its criticisms of the
war in Vietnam? Were they right?
Loewen Says:
Our Texts Say:
“…with the passage of time, the Vietnam
“The brutal act did much to reinforce the
War is no longer very recent or very
antiwar feelings many Americans
controversial…. Authors may be coming to
began to develop after the Tet
treat the war more forthrightly…” – 252253
Offensive, only one month earlier.” –
“No textbook quotes the trademark
cadences of Martin Luther King Jr., the
first major leader to come out against the
war…” – 252
(Berkin, 1992) 740
“King had refrained from speaking out
against the war for fear that it would
draw attention from the civil rights
movement. In April 1967, however he
broke his silence and publicly
condemned the conflict:” - (Appleby,
2003) 776
Why did the United States lose the
war?
“After losing 46,104 men in the war and with 1200
missing, the United States was doing exactly what
President Nixon had said we never would do. This
was both “a one-sided withdrawal” and “the
acceptance of terms that would amount to a onesided defeat.”” – (Boorstin, 1986) 442
“It had been the longest war in American history,
and it was now the only conflict the United States
had ever clearly lost.” – (Berkin, 1992) 750
What lesson(s) should we take from
the experience?
“Many believed that it had taught the United States
that there were limits to what it could hope to
accomplish in the world.” – (Berkin, 1992) 751
“Americans had believed that they could defend the
world from communism anywhere, at anytime.
American technology and money, they assumed,
could always bring victory. Vietnam proved that
assumption to be false.” (Cayton, 2003) 815
Popular Images
Loewen says:
“…short descriptions [of the images] prompts
most older Americans to remember the
images in sharp detail.”
“Young people have little chance to see or recall
these images unless their history books
provide them.”
“The seven cited images are important examples
of the primary materials of the Vietnam War.”
– 247 (all)
Buddhist monk immolating himself to protest the
South Vietnamese government
Little girl running naked, fleeing a napalm attack
National police chief executing Vietcong man with a
shot to the head
Bodies after the My Lai massacre
Americans evacuating from a Saigon rooftop
In Our Texts
• Picture 1:
•
•
•
•
Picture 2:
Picture 3:
Picture 4:
Picture 5:
Berkin (1992) – 728
Appleby (2003) – 777
Cayton (2003) – 794
NO TEXTBOOKS!
Berkin (1992) – 740-41
NO TEXTBOOKS!
Cayton (2003) – 814
Berkin (1992) – 761 – DIFF. PHOTO
Kent State Shooting (1970)
Boorstin (1986) – 653; Berkin (1992) – 746; Appleby (2003) – 791; Cayton (2003) – 814
“Without censorship, things can get
terribly confused in the public mind.”
– Gen. William Westmoreland
Bibliography
Appleby, Joyce. The American Republic Since 1877. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.
Columbus, OH. 2003. 770-797
Berkin, Carol. American Voices: A History of the United States 1865 to the
Present. Scott, Foresman and Company. Glenview, IL. 1992. 724-765
Boorstin, Daniel. A History of the United States Since 1861. Ginn and
Company. Lexington, MA. 1986. 308-309, 361-362, 428-433, 435, 439, 441,
442, 444, 477, 489, 490-491, 509-510
Cayton, Andrew. America: Pathways to the Present. Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ. 2003. 792-816
Bibliography
Curti, Merle. Rise of the American Nation: Second Edition. Harcourt, Brace,
and World, Inc. New York City, NY. 1966. 789-790
Freidel, Frank. America: A Modern History of the United States. D.C. Heath
and Company. Lexington, MA. 1970. 96-100
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History
Textbook Got Wrong. Simon & Schuster, INC. New York, NY. 2007. 244-258
O’Connor, John. The New Exploring Our Nation’s History. Globe Book
Company, Inc. New York City, NY. 1979. 680-683