Syllabus
History 4360/6360

The Vietnam Wars

Mon-Wed-Fri, 1:25, Hardin 232

Spring Term, 2018

Prof. Edwin E. Moise
Office: Hardin 102
Cell: 650-8845
e-mail: eemoise@clemson.edu

Messages can be left in my mailbox in Hardin 124, or in the box on my office door.

Office Hours: I will try to be in my office at the following hours. It is possible that I may occasionally miss office hours, but on the other hand, I will be in my office, and available to you, at a lot of other times. E-mail me, or just check and see if my door is open.

    Monday                  2:30-3:20
    Tuesday    11:00-12:00, 2:00-3:15
    Wednesday  10:10-11:00, 2:30-3:20
    Thursday   (none)
    Friday     (none) 

Course Objectives

To give students an understanding of the two major wars, which are in an important sense two stages of one long war, that have been fought for the control of Vietnam: the First Indochina War (1946-54) and the Second Indochina War (1960-75). Strategy, tactics, political factors, and technology will be included.

Learning Objectives

What goes into your grade

Your grade in the course will be based mainly on the written work I have assigned. You cannot do extra papers for extra credit. You can improve your grade a bit by participating in class discussion. The best way to pick up extra points is to argue (constructively) against me in class; If you can point out to me that I have made a mistake you get two point extra in the gradebook. If you present a good clear argument that I am wrong about something, with evidence, then your grade may be boosted even if you do not succeed in convincing me.

I do not emphasize trivial factual details in this course. On tests and quizzes I will NOT ask you to tell me the date of the Battle of "Hamburger Hill", or to name the American units that fought in it. There are some facts you need to know, but they are more important things than dates. On the other hand, I will expect you to get an idea of the sequence of events, what came first and what came later.

The most important single part of your grade will be the course paper. You can write it on whatever topic you please, within the limit of the subject matter of this course. The actual text of your paper, not counting title page, bibliography, maps, and illustrations, should be about ten pages long, typed double spaced (if you are signed up for History 6360, fifteen to twenty pages). Longer papers are acceptable.

When you are trying to decide what sources to use for your term paper, or if you are just curious about something that has come up in the course, I suggest you consult Bibliography of the Vietnam War on the Web. But bear in mind that when you see a book listed in this bibliography, this does not necessarily mean you will actually be able to find a copy of that book, in or near Clemson.

A lot of things that have been written about the Vietnam War are not true. As you do your research, you should be thinking actively about whether you believe the things your sources are saying. I will not flunk you for guessing wrong, but you should make an effort to judge who is telling the truth and who is not; don't just take things on faith. Don't dodge the problem by sticking to questions on which you believe everything you read, either. Explaining why you think a particular source was wrong about a particular fact will tend to have a good influence on your grade.

For more detailed guidelines on the term paper, see Writing a Term Paper in Military History.

The paper is due Wednesday, April 25. I request that you turn it in electronically through Canvas, which records the date you submitted it. If Canvas says it was turned in on April 25 (in other words, if it got in before midnight), it will be considered on time. There will be a five point penalty if the paper is submitted on April 26 or 27. The penalty will be fifteen points if it is not in by midnight April 27.

You can have a pretty free choice of topics for this paper, within the limits of the subject matter of this course. You must come in and talk to me about your paper, and discuss the sources you will be using. It is not enough to say to me as we are walking out of the classroom one morning "Professor Moise, is it OK if I write about the U.S. bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos?" You will need to talk things over with me for ten or fifteen minutes, not just a few seconds. After we have talked, I will give you a blank topic sheet, which you will then fill out and return to me. The sheet should describe your topic, with a list of the main sources you plan to use. There will be a five point penalty if you have not given this to me by March 14, and an additional five points if it is not in by March 28. If it still is not in by April 4, I will either give you yet another five-point penalty, or else simply hand you a sheet of paper telling you what topic you must write on, and what sources you must use.

If you give me a preliminary draft of your paper as an e-mail attachment by April 18 (preferably before that), I will look it over and give you suggestions about how you could improve it.

The paper is worth 150 points. The other written work will be:
    --Two short papers on assigned topics (three for History 6360), worth 40 points each.
    --One essay quiz (20 points).
    --The midterm test (70 points) and the final exam (120 points), which will be mostly essay questions.
This adds up to 440 points for undergraduates, 480 for graduate students. The basic grade scale is that 90% (396 points for undergraduates) is the bottom of the A range, 80% (352 points for undergraduates) is the bottom of the B range, and so on. Sometimes I alter the scale in the students' favor, never against them. Thus 396 points (90% of 440) is a guaranteed A for an undergraduate; 394 or 390 points might be an A, depending on how the rest of the class does.

Academic Integrity Policy

Academic integrity requires that we not try to pass other people's work off as our own. The ways students have gotten into problems of academic dishonesty in courses I have taught that were similar to this one, in past years, have been:

    Large portions of a term paper copied from a book or web site, without any indication that the material was copied. Typically this involves both large amounts of material quoted word-for-word, without quotation marks, and also a serious shortage of source notes pointing to the book from which the material came. Often there are misleading source notes claiming the material came from some source other than the one from which it was actually copied word-for-word. These false source notes are especially strong evidence that the copying was dishonesty and not just carelessness.

    Whole term paper obtained from some source (a commercial term paper service, or the Internet, or the collection of term papers that one of the fraternities used to have, and may still have).

    One student copies another student's 40-point newspaper research exercise, maybe changing a few words and substituting synonyms, but leaving the two papers still so similar that it is obvious the resemblance could not be coincidence. I would be likely to bring charges both against the student who copied and the student who allowed his or her paper to be copied.

If a student copied a paper from someplace without citing that source, but rephrased it, substituting synonyms for enough words so that the copied paper was not identical, word for word, to the original, this would still be academic dishonesty, but would be more difficult for me to prove.

There are some ways in which it is all right for students to help each other. If two students want to study together getting ready for a test, that is perfectly OK. Only after I have handed out the questions does help on a test become improper. But if two people work together on a newspaper research exercise, and turn in papers that are very similar because each has been getting a lot of help from the other in writing it, both will be in deep trouble. If one of your fellow students asks to look at your paper, to get a better idea of how the assignment was to be done, please say no. They should come to me to ask for further explanations of the assignment, rather than looking at a completed paper to give them their clues. If two papers are so similar it is obvious the author of one must have seen the other, I will file charges.

In furtherance of its Academic Integrity policy, Clemson University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism in student assignments. I will request that you submit your research papers, at the end of the semester, to Turnitin through Canvas. You will have the right to refuse to do this, if you wish. Turnitin will provide me with an originality rating and notation of possible text or contextual matches with other source documents. Turnitin does not make any determination of plagiarism. Rather, it identifies parts of an assignment that may have significant matches with other source documents found on the Internet, in the Turnitin database, or from other sources. If matches are identified and indicate the possibility of inclusion of material that is not properly cited, I will discuss this information with you before reaching any judgment or decision.

Do not turn in a paper in this course that you have also submitted in some other course, in this semester or a previous one, without consulting me first.

Policy on late work

Under normal circumstances, my policy is: If you do not do written work on time, you will be able to make it up. However, you will be marked off for lateness. You will be marked off even if your excuse is very, very good. You can avoid a penalty only if I have told you before the work was due that you would be able to do it late without penalty. Forty-point short papers will not usually be accepted at all (you just get an F) if they are more than seven days late.

Attendance policy

You are allowed up to six cuts INCLUDING EXCUSED ABSENCES. You lose two points for every unexcused absense after that. I would advise you not to take even five. I am going to be saying quite a few things in lectures that are not in the reading. Even if you are very careful about doing all the assigned reading, you will have trouble answering the questions on my tests if you have not been at the lectures.

If I am Late

If I have not gotten to class by five minutes after it was supposed to begin, I would be grateful if a student would go bang on my office door and see whether I am there. If I still have not arrived by ten minutes after the time the class was supposed to begin, you can give up on me and leave.

If Class Is Cancelled Due To Weather

If class is cancelled due to weather, on a day when an assignment was due or a test or quiz was scheduled, the date of the assignment, test, or quiz will simply be postponed to the next class, unless I inform you otherwise by e-mail.

Title IX (Sexual Harassment) Statement

Clemson University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, veteran's status, genetic information or protected activity in employment, educational programs and activities, admissions and financial aid. This includes a prohibition against sexual harassment and sexual violence as mandated by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This policy is located at http://www.clemson.edu/campus-life/campus-services/access/title-ix/. Ms. Alesia Smith is the Clemson University Title IX Coordinator, and the Executive Director of Equity Compliance. Her office is located at 110 Holtzendorff Hall, 864.656.3181 (voice) or 864.656.0899 (TDD).

Accessibility Statement

Clemson University values the diversity of our student body as a strength and a critical component of our dynamic community. Students with disabilities or temporary injuries/conditions may require accommodations due to barriers in the structure of facilities, course design, technology used for curricular purposes, or other campus resources. Students who experience a barrier to full access to this class should let the professor know, and make an appointment to meet with a staff member in Student Accessibility Services as soon as possible. You can make an appointment by calling 864-656-6848, by emailing studentaccess@lists.clemson.edu, or by visiting Suite 239 in the Academic Success Center building. Appointments are strongly encouraged – drop-ins will be seen if at all possible, but there could be a significant wait due to scheduled appointments. Students who receive Academic Access Letters are strongly encouraged to request, obtain and present these to their professors as early in the semester as possible so that accommodations can be made in a timely manner. It is the student's responsibility to follow this process each semester. You can access further information here: http://www.clemson.edu/campus-life/campus-services/sds/.

Assigned reading

I will try to hold the assigned reading in this course down to a moderate level, since you are supposed to be putting a lot of work into your course papers. There are three books you should buy:
    The Killing Zone, by Downs
    America's Longest War, 5th edition, by Herring
    Hanoi's War, by Lien-Hang T. Nguyen

There will also be reading assignments that I will make available online.

Course Outline

The following course outline is tentative. It may be modified slightly by class request or as a result of shifts in what I find practical to place online, or as a result of unforseen events. Each day, items marked >>> are assigned reading for that day.

January 10: Introduction to the course.

January 12: Background to Vietnam. Vietnamese civilization began in the Red River Delta of what is today northern Vietnam, slightly more than 2,000 years ago. It spread southward gradually. The French conquered Vietnam, in chunks, in the late 19th century. Vietnamese could not effectively defy French power.
>>> Read Moise, The Vietnam Wars all the way through, to give you an idea of the overall pattern of events we will be seeing in this course, and to allow you to get started thinking of what topic you might want to choose for your term paper.

January 15: MARTIN LUTHER KING'S BIRTHDAY, NO CLASS

January 17: Ho Chi Minh founded the Vietnamese Communist movement, and the Second World War gave the Communists their chance to try to make Vietnam an independent country. In 1945 the Communists established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
>>> Herring, pp. 3-10.
>>> Nguyen, pp. 1-23 (the most important part of this, for today, is pp. 19-23).
Questions for discussion:   Ho Chi Minh was the founder of the Indochinese Communist Party. What was the significance of this? In other words, what sort of organization was the Indochinese Communist Party? What was US policy toward Vietnam, in the period up to 1946?

January 19: Continue discussion of those events, particularly looking at a Communist viewpoint on them.
>>> Truong Chinh, The August Revolution (Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1958), pp. 1-40. The story of the Viet Minh siezure of power in 1945. Truong Chinh was General Secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party at that time; he published the Vietnamese original of this work in Su That in 1946. By the time this translation was published in Hanoi as a book, Truong Chinh had been demoted as punishment for his errors in the Land Reform campaign of 1953-1956. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University, in two parts. I am asking that you read only the first part, up to page 40.
Questions for discussion:   What was Truong Chinh's picture of the international situation? Of French policy, in particular? How did he say the Communists had gotten power? Notice the contrast in some places (for example pp. 31-32) between statements that "The whole people rose up" in support of the revolution, and discussion of people who were against the revolution. Is this attitude toward defining "the people" a common one? What picture did Truong Chinh give of the Communist Party, and the nature of Communism? How dictatorial does he make Communism look? I am not asking what you believe about the nature of Communism; I am asking what Truong Chinh believed, or pretended to believe.

January 22: All-out war between Vietnam and France broke out in 1946. It was a classic guerrilla War. Meanwhile, the Cold War was deepening. US policy was ambivalent.
>>> Nguyen, pp. 23-25
>>> Herring, pp. 10-16.
>>> The Pentagon Papers, Senator Gravel Edition, Chapter 1. "Background to the Conflict, 1940-1950." pp. 42-52. U.S. views of the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh.

January 24, 26: From 1950 onward, the war in Indochina was much more entangled in the Cold War. By 1954 the Viet Minh were winning.
>>> Herring, pp. 16-34.
>>> Nguyen, pp. 25-29
>>> The Pentagon Papers, Senator Gravel Edition, Chapter 2. "U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War, 1950-1954." pp. 53-75.
>>>C. L. Sulzberger, "Bao Dai is Held Ineffective as Popular Viet Leader," New York Times, June 11, 1950.
Questions for discussion:   What was Bao Dai like? What was his government, the State of Vietnam, like? What was US policy toward the State of Vietnam? Did the US have a choice, in deciding its policy?

January 29: In 1954, The United States didn't quite jump openly into the war when France got in bad trouble in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
>>> Herring pp. 34-45
>>>Hanson W. Baldwin, "Conflict in Indo-china Is Vital to Free World," New York Times, March 28, 1954.
>>>"French Units Smash Vietminh Besiegers," New York Times, March 29, 1954.
>>> Bernard Fall, "Indochina--The Last Year of the War," Military Review, XXXVI:7 (October 1956), pp. 3-11.
Questions for discussion:   What was the importance of Dien Bien Phu? When an American official said "One cannot go over Niagara Falls in a barrel only slightly" (quoted in Herring, p. 39), did this comparison make sense? Why did the United States not intervene directly at Dien Bien Phu?

January 31, February 2: Vietnam was split in half in 1954. Ngo Dinh Diem became president of the Republic of Vietnam, in South Vietnam. For a couple of years there was not an actual war, but hostility between Communists and anti-Communists remained intense. North Vietnam was not well ruled.
>>> Herring pp. 45-81
>>> Nguyen, pp. 29-44
Questions for discussion:   What were the main provisions of the Geneva Accords of 1954? What was the United States' attitude to the Accords? Comment on Senator Knowland's statement, quoted in Herring, p. 50, that the Geneva Acccords were "the greatest victory the communists have won in twenty years." What was Ngo Dinh Diem's government like in 1954? What was it like in 1956? What was Le Duan like as a politician?

Quiz February 2

February 5: The war began again in 1959-60, both in South Vietnam and in Laos. The guerrillas did pretty well.
>>> Herring, pp. 81-89
>>> Nguyen, pp. 44-58
Questions for discussion:   Why did the insurgency start in South Vietnam? How did it start?

February 7: The guerrillas gained strength, despite increasing U.S. aid to Diem.
>>> Herring, pp. 91-115
>>> Nguyen, pp. 59-62
Questions for discussion: Why were the Viet Cong successful?

February 9: By 1963, Diem was in bad trouble.
>>> Herring, pp. 115-117
>>>> David Halberstam, "Vietnamese Reds Win Major Clash," New York Times, January 4, 1963.
>>>> "War Without Will," Wall Street Journal, January 10, 1963.
>>>> "Felt Sees Defeat of Vietnam Reds," New York Times, January 12, 1963.
Questions for discussion: What do you think of the geographical logic in the Wall Street Journal editorial? Are there any interesting bias issues in any of the articles or the editorial?

The Battle of Ap Bac: Plan and Assumed Enemy Situation

The Battle of Ap Bac: Situation About 1400 (2:00 p.m.)

February 12: The U.S. encouraged a coup that overthrew Diem
>>> Herring, pp. 117-133
Questions for discussion:   Why did some U.S. officials decide to back the idea of a coup against Ngo Dinh Diem? Did those reasons make sense? Why did so many ARVN officers support the coup?

February 14, 16: After Diem's death, Le Duan escalated the war on the Communist side; President Johnson hesitated about expanding the American role.
>>> Herring, pp. 135-156
>>> Nguyen, pp. 62-72
Questions for discussion:   How did Lyndon Johnson deal with the problem of Vietnam during his first year as President? What factors influenced his approach?

February 19: The war continued to escalate, and the U.S. sent in ground troops.
>>> Herring, pp. 156-179
Questions for discussion:   How useful were the military actions that the U.S. forces were taking?

TEST February 21

February 23, 26: The war was complex and messy
>>> Herring, pp. 185-231
>>> Nguyen, pp. 73-83
Questions for discussion:   Were the training, equipment, and tactics of the American forces appropriate for the war in South Vietnam? How did the arrival of large numbers of Americans affect South Vietnam?

February 28, March 2: An American infantry unit in 1967.
>>> Downs, Section 1

March 5: Air War.
>>> Herring, pp. 179-185
Questions for discussion:   How useful was the technological superiority of the United States?

March 7, 9: One infantry unit around the end of 1967.
>>> Downs, section 2.
Questions for discussion:   How effective was Downs' unit?

March 12: Counterinsurgency or Conventional Warfare?

Due date for term paper topic sheets: March 12

March 14, 16: One infantry unit around the end of 1967.
>>> Downs, sections 3 and 4.
Questions for discussion:   How effective was Downs' unit? How good an officer was Downs?\

            March 19, 21, 23: SPRING BREAK, NO CLASS

March 26: Le Duan decided to launch the Tet Offensive
>>> Nguyen, pp. 87-109

March 28, 30: The Tet Offensive of 1968: a major Communist offensive, that attained partial surprise. Militarily it cost the Communists a lot of men, but it produced important political benefits for them by shaking American confidence that the war could be won. Tentative peace talks began in Paris.
>>> Herring, pp. 233-275
>>> Nguyen, pp. 110-129
Questions for discussion:   What do you think of the Tet Offensive, with hindsight? What would you have thought of it if you had been considering the question in 1968?

April 2: Richard Nixon came into office as President in 1969.
>>> Herring, pp. 277-288.
>>> Nguyen, pp. 129-42
Questions for discussion:   What were President Nixon's goals for the Vietnam War? How realistic were they?

April 4: In 1969, the US began to pull out of Vietnam.
>>> Herring, pp. 288-96
>>> Nguyen, pp. 142-62 Photo taken during the My Lai massacre

April 6: Laos and Cambodia
>>> Herring, pp. 296-304

April 9, 11, 13: The U.S. pullout continued until U.S. participation in ground combat ceased in 1972. But Laos continued to be a battleground, and Cambodia became one. U.S. bombing declined in 1971, but increased again in 1972, especially after the Communists' Easter Offenive began.
>>> Herring, pp. 304-319
>>> Nguyen, pp. 162-256
Questions for discussion:   What else could the United States have been doing, other than what it was doing? Was military victory a realistic possibility, and if so, how could it have been achieved? Was a negotiated settlement of the war a realistic possibility? Was strengthening the ARVN to the point it would be able to stand on its own a realistic possibility?

April 16, 18: The Paris Peace Agreement
>>> Herring, pp. 320-331
>>> Nguyen, pp. 257-99
Questions for discussion:   What was the significance of the "Christmas Bombing" of 1972? What was Nixon trying to accomplish by this air campaign? Did he accomplish it? How did other people see the bombing? What do you think of the Paris Peace Agreement, signed a few weeks later?

April 20: The War after the Paris Agreement, 1973-1974
>>> Herring, pp. 333-343
Questions for discussion:   Do you blame the Watergate scandal for the decline in U.S. aid to the Republic of Vietnam after the Paris Agreement, or would the declining political support for the war, in the United States, have produced such a decline even without Watergate? What was the impact on the ARVN of the decline in aid?

April 23: The End, 1975
>>> Herring, pp. 343-352

April 25: Submit term papers online through Canvas

April 27: Aftermath and Legacies of the War; Review
>>> Herring, pp. 352-380

Final exam: Friday, May 4, 3:00 p.m.

 

Other Links

Photos Taken in Vietnam, 1986 and 1989

Photos Taken by Robert D. Jester, 5th Special Forces Group, Vietnam, 1965-66

Web site of the Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas

Military History Map Library: Vietnam War (U.S. Military Academy, West Point)

President Johnson's Speech, March 31, 1968

Clemson University Academic Success Center, which provides help and tutoring for students encountering academic problems. It does not, however, have tutors specifically for History courses.

Edwin Moïse's homepage

"Vietnam State Army Is Formally Created", New York Times, December 9, 1950.

"More Aid for Indo-China", New York Times, September 6, 1953.

Dana Adams Schmidt, "French Due To Get More U.S. Planes as Indo-China Aid", New York Times, March 23, 1954.

"Test in Far East", New York Times, March 28, 1954.

"The U.S. and Indo-China", New York Times, March 30, 1954.

"Invading China's Air Space", New York Times, August 22, 1967.

Revised March 6, 2018.