Directions: Use the themes, questions and video clips below to teach and learn with portions of C-SPAN's American Writers program featuring David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan and the Vietnam War Writers. Link to the complete video clip list to identify clip descriptions and create your own lessons. Each theme contains questions and video clips appropriate for varying grade levels. Lesson Credit:
Curriculum Advisory Team Member, Mary T. Mason.

1. Describe the resources committed by America to the Vietnam War. Describe the results of American involvement in the Vietnam War.
2. Did America win or lose the Vietnam War? Why did the war end the way it did for America?
3. Did the U.S. government learn any lessons from the war? If so what were they? What lessons, if any, did the American public learn? Explain your answers.
4. How did journalists like Sheehan and Halberstam gather information in Vietnam about what was happening during the war? How did the U.S. government react to their findings?
5. How does the Vietnam War relate to the war on terrorism today?

1. What was the "domino effect"? Why did America fear the spread of Communism? What other factors should be considered when determining the reasons behind U.S. involvement in Vietnam?
2. Why was Vietnam a strategic location to target in order to prevent the spread of Communism? What other countries were involved?
3. Besides military involvement, what other stategies did the U.S. government employ to deter the spread of Communism? 4. What impact did American efforts have on the overall spread of Communism?
5. Did President Kennedy intend to remove U. S. troops from Vietnam in 1965? Explain your answer.

1. To what degree did domestic politics play a role in driving Kennedy, then Johnson, to escalate our involvement in Vietnam?
2. How did the the Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba influence Kennedy's actions in Vietnam?
3. Was President Johnson's initial interest to engage in war personal or public? Explain your answer.
4. Johnson became President after the assassination of Kennedy. How did LBJ's administration handle the onset of war?
5. During the Vietnam War, what role did Robert McNamara play? How did he publicly characterize the progress of the war? How do historians view his behavior?