Course Description:

This course surveys the US Experience in Vietnam from 1945 to 1975 in view of the political, economic, and social forces of the Cold War.

Course Content:

During the years 1945 to 1975 the United States sought to deny Vietnam to communism. At first, the United States sought to uphold French control, then to maintain South Vietnamese independence, and finally to prevent a North Vietnamese victory. American involvement in Vietnam was not an unfortunate accident as some have suggested but rather a conscious decision made by American leaders based on assumptions about the responsibilities and omnipotence of American power. Over the years six presidents grappled with the Vietnam problem, all unsuccessfully. In the process, the United States suffered a major foreign policy defeat, lost more than 58,000 lives, expended $167 billion, and endured political and social turmoil at home.

The purpose of this course is to examine America’s experience in Vietnam. Major attention will be directed towards the questions that are still unanswered for many Americans. Why did the United States commit itself to an area that before 1945 had little apparent importance? What did the United States attempt to achieve in Vietnam during its thirty-year-long involvement? Why did the United States, the world’s most powerful nation, fail to achieve its objectives? And what were the consequences of America’s failed Vietnam experience for the Americans, the Vietnamese, and others?