LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

United States History

Goal 11: Recovery, Prosperity, and Turmoil (1945-1980) - The learner will trace economic, political, and social developments and assess their significance for the lives of Americans during this time period.

Objective 11.04. Identify the causes of United States' involvement in Vietnam and examine how this involvement affected society.

Additional related resources

We’re in the process of aligning our content for students to the Standard Course of Study. As we do, you’ll find it here.

The Vietnam War: A timeline
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.2
A timeline of major events, including French colonization, the First Indochina War (1946–54), the buildup of U.S. military forces, the U.S. war in Vietnam, the war's aftermath, and the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Vietnam.
Format: timeline
By David Walbert.
The Vietnam War
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.1
An overview of the era of the Vietnam War in the United States.
Format: book
Something he couldn't write about: Telling my Daddy's story of Vietnam
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.3
A personal history of growing up the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and of coming to terms with the war and its legacy.
Format: essay
By Sharon Raynor.
A soldier's experience in Vietnam: Tex Howard
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.5
Oral history interview with a North Carolina veteran of the Vietnam War. Howard discusses the injury he received while fighting in Vietnam.
Format: interview/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.
A soldier's experience in Vietnam: Robert L. Jones
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.7
Oral history interview with a North Carolina veteran of the Vietnam War. Jones discusses how his time in Vietnam left him with self-doubt and confusion about who he was as a person.
Format: interview/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.
A soldier's experience in Vietnam: Johnas Freeman
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.8
Oral history interview with a North Carolina veteran of the Vietnam War. Freeman explains that, despite the difficulties he faced readjusting to everyday life after Vietnam, he did not have any regrets about his decision to serve in the military.
Format: interview/primary source
A soldier's experience in Vietnam: John Luckey
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.6
Oral history interview with a North Carolina veteran of the Vietnam War. Luckey discusses the relationship between white and black soldiers in Vietnam and his struggle to readjust to civilian life after the war.
Format: interview/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.
A soldier's experience in Vietnam: Herbert Rhodes
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.4
In North Carolina History: A Sampler, page 5.7
Oral history interview with a North Carolina veteran of the Vietnam War. Rhodes describes his interactions with South Vietnamese civilians, and what he believes was the purpose behind the war.
Format: interview/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.
Campus protests
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.10
Press release by the UNC-Chapel Hill student government, May 9, 1970, explaining students' strike to protest the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia and the killing of protesters at Kent State University in Ohio. Includes historical background.
Format: document/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.
Anti-war demonstrations
In Postwar North Carolina, page 7.9
Although the anti-war protests of the 1960s and 1970s are remembered today mainly as something young people participated in, people aged 18 to 29 actually were more likely to support the war than their elders, and college campuses were deeply divided on the issue. Protests in cities drew people of all ages and backgrounds. This page includes video of a 1967 march on the Pentagon.

General resources

Aligned lesson plans

Resources on the web

Vietnam once again: Examining why the Vietnam War is still difficult to discuss
Students share what they know about the Vietnam War before examining how the war was viewed and discussed by people who lived during that period. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
Provided by: New York Times Learning Network
The human costs of war: Examining the role of civilians in armed conflict
Students explore the notion of a civilian cost to armed warfare. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
Provided by: New York Times Learning Network
Building Vietnam War scavenger hunts through web-based inquiry
This lesson uses fiction or nonfiction books on the Vietnam War as a catalyst for research on how the war affected different groups of people. Once small groups are formed based on student interest, the teacher models how to write effective questions and... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Computer/Technology Skills, English Language Arts, and Social Studies)
Provided by: ReadWriteThink