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  1. Kayla O'Connell Kayla O'Connell

    In the two videos assigned for class, we watched a timeline of the war as well as a video that outlined the Vietnam Protest Movement. The overall opinion on the war was the fact that it was “unjust”. There was an outburst of protests across the country as a result of the draft and the war itself. How do you think the Vietnam War would have played out differently if the United States was not involved? What do you think ultimately convinced the U.S. to join the war in the first place?

  2. Julia Borger Julia Borger

    After watching both videos on the Vietnam War I am extremely overwhelmed with emotions. It is unbelievable how an entire country was protesting the tragic war, even veterans, and it took the government so long to listen. Again, learning about past history makes me worry about today’s political climate, and question why the government still cannot listen when we protest, and will they ever?

  3. Olivia Cosco Olivia Cosco

    In the two videos we watched, we learned about the Vietnam War. The first one was more a timeline of important events, and the second was more about how Americans reacted, which was with protest. Many Americans seemed to not even understand why they had entered the war. Along with not understanding reasons for entering the war, many protested drafts and the war itself. If so many people were against the war, why did we enter? Why wasn’t this a sign to the military and government that maybe entering the war wasn’t the best decision?

  4. Margot Roussel Margot Roussel

    I have never really studied the Vietnam war in depth, so i am a little confused who is on what side in the war. My understanding from the video is that the US was helping the south fight the north, but there was also a group in the south that disagreed with the US and didn’t want their help. Is this correct? Also did the group in the south that was fighting against the US want to be communist or just wanted to be separate from the US?

  5. Tess Keating Tess Keating

    After watching the videos, what was most interesting to me was the loopholes in being drafted. I would like to learn more about how people reacted to these loopholes and who was exempt from being drafted… I can’t imagine it was good. Did a majority of people protest the draft due to its inequalities? Or what group was it mostly? Something that doesn’t make sense to me is forcing someone to fight in a war that is being fought over something they do not believe in. Why would you want soldiers that don’t want to fight?

  6. William Coben William Coben

    After watching the video that explains the timeline of the Vietnam war, I was curious as to how the war was handled differently after JFK’s death. Obviously, all presidents and people think differently, so I am curious as to what the predicted war outcome and events would have looked like if JFK was never assassinated and sat as the acting president during the times of war.

  7. Zachary Andrews Zachary Andrews

    I found the two videos to be very interesting. One thing that peaked by interest was a short scene of a man presenting information and forums upon how men between the ages of 18 and 26 can avoid the draft. The person did not specifically list a few of these methods; however, I’m sure that there numerous. What loopholes were there for the draft and how frequently were they used?

  8. Alexander Barnett Alexander Barnett

    After watching the video on the history of the Vietnam War, I was surprised when seeing the number of deaths sustained by South Vietnam compared to the US. While I know the United States was supposed to be acting as a supporting role, why did the United States have so little deaths compared to the million lost by South Vietnam?

  9. Zariah Chiverton Zariah Chiverton

    Did JFK’s assassination have anything to do with his position on the Vietnam War or was it over opposing views about something else?

  10. Carly Cohen Carly Cohen

    Why did it take so long for the American government to listen to it’s people ? If the United States didn’t get involved in the war, what would have gone differently?

  11. Jeffrey Sprung Jeffrey Sprung

    “The Vietnam War Timeline” and “The 20th Century: The Vietnam Protest Movement” videos provided great insight on the negative sentiments of the American people toward our involvement in the Vietnam War and displayed horrifying real-life footage of the destruction within Vietnam as a result of the war. I was shocked by the statistic that roughly 1.5 million college students protested against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. “The Vietnam Protest Movement Video” included MLK speaking out against the United States participation in the Vietnam War due to the disproportionate number of African Americans who were dying in Vietnam. I was wondering if African Americans represented the majority of soldiers being enlisted in Vietnam and if they were put in more dangerous positions in battle?

  12. Olivia Cranshaw Olivia Cranshaw

    As seen throughout these videos, there was plenty of media coverage from the scene of war for one of the first times in history. Although not all images and videos may have been regularly accessible, because of attempts to silence media coverage, how important or influential were these brutal images and videos for the anti-war movement? On average, did it push people towards or away from joining the movement?

  13. Charley Blount Charley Blount

    The video mentioned that the USSR and China recognized Northern Vietnamese independence from France in 1950, but that was the last time the two countries were mentioned. What role, if any, did Soviet Russia and China play in the Vietnam War?

  14. Delaney Demaret Delaney Demaret

    The video mentioned the growth of dissent in middle America as a separate movement from youth counterculture, but were there forces purposefully stopping the coalition of these groups? Could it have been a natural pairing between the groups even before the Kent State shooting brought together movements that didn’t necessarily work together yet?

  15. Christopher Wilson Christopher Wilson

    Many Vietnam War veterans were coerced into either killing the “enemy” or being killed by the “enemy” or by America itself. In response, these Veterans came back to America with PTSD and other mental illnesses from the trauma they endured overseas. So, why is it that America continues to undermine the seriousness of mental health despite it proclaiming its gratitude for the men who sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War?

  16. Christina Glynn Christina Glynn

    After watching the video about the timeline of the Vietnam War I was surprised by the lack of information I knew about the Vietnam War. What would have happened if the U.S. did not have a strong military in the Vietnam War? Did it scare away future soldiers?

  17. Julia Leonardi Julia Leonardi

    I was thoroughly impressed with the footage presented in the first video. Interestingly, Kennedy had fought to remove the United States from Vietnam because he foresaw the tragedy the War would later become. It was actually Johnson who decided to keep the troops there. How different would America be today if JFK was not assassinated? Going along with that, how different would America be today if Bobby Kennedy had not been assassinated and has become president of the US?

  18. Alexandra Oloughlin Alexandra Oloughlin

    After watching the videos, I am shocked about how much I did not know about the wars. This ties into the reading as well but I am wondering about the process of presidents declaring war without congress’s approval and how that works.
    In another area, how much power does the president have over silencing media? Can he and the government realistically do anything?

  19. Annie Waters Annie Waters

    Could you briefly contextualize the history of French colonialism in Vietnam? What global interest did France have in Vietnam, and what prompted its original invasion of the country?

  20. Sophia Peltzer Sophia Peltzer

    Are there any other anti-war movements in US history in which we see a similarly strong and widespread opposition to a war? Could protests occurring within the last 4 years such as the Women’s March, the marches for gun control and an end to gun violence, and the many Black Lives Movement protests be seen as a similar “anti-war” sentiment, in which the war is against our civil rights and representation in government?

  21. Samuel Hussey Samuel Hussey

    After watching the Vietnam War videos, one thing that stood out to me was when the white parents got so upset about their kids being abused by law enforcement for protesting. They were finally feeling the unjust treatment that African Americans had always dealt with within our country but since it was their own kids now they were more motivated to act on it. My question after these videos is why were the soldiers treated so poorly after the war by anti-draft and anti-war protestors when a lot of the time the soldiers themselves did not want to go to war but were drafted into it? Why take it out on those who couldn’t get out of the draft?

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