Note to Soldiers

The Vietnam war was the most unpopular war in history. It must have been hard to fight, knowing that not only the Vietnamese didn't want you there, but also your home coutry. Although I may not agree with the war, you were just doing your job. Many of you didn't have a choice, and I belive that even if a war isn't right, the soldiers should be treated with respect, because they were still dying for our coutry.

Times of Change Responses

1. Look up both words in the title of the short essay. What do they mean? A doubtful war for the advancement of an idea.
Relate the title to the reading. What is Warren saying? How do you think this will relate to the rest of our study if Vietnam? He is saying that this war changed America, and that it affected us in a way we had never been effected before. This will relate to the rest of our studies because we will most likely go into depth about why this is so, and what exactly happened.

2. What is the overall theme of Vuong-Riddick's poem? War

3.What is the main thesis of the essay? The Gulf of Tonkin Incident may have been false.

What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution? The resolution passed in response to the supposed attacks on American battleships by the North Vietnamese.

What evidence does the author give to support his thesis? The ship attacked was not damaged, and other claims had no proof of any attack. Also, the head of the senate foreign relations committee at the time says that it was a lie.

How does this link to the theme of the first reading, “A Dubious Crusade”? It was a war started to defend an idea, but it was started with doubt. The doubt being the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The idea being democracy.

10 Things about Korea

1. The Korean War was not fought by the U.S. but fought by the U.N.
2. At the beginning of the war there were only 500 U.S. troops in the Korean Peninsula
3. By the time the U.N. entered the war only a little bit of Korea was still under democratic control.
4. General McArthur was the head of the military invasion force, but was fired, despite being the hero of WWII
5. China entered the war with a surprise attack after America crossed the 38th parrallel
6. The Chinese were able to take the South Korean capital, but were pushed back.
7. What resulted was a bloody stalemate that lasted for 2 years.
8. Negotiations were attempted, but were poseponed for a long time, and this is why the war lasted so long.
9. President Eisenhower visited Korea, and tryed to end the war, but it took him another 6 months.
10. The war ended with the same borders as it began with, and the Koreas stayed seperate.

Dream

Things have gotten better since the 1960s. There are more african americans in the labor force, and in some job occupations such as social workers and revenue agents, they occupy the percentage of the amount of total jobs as they should.
Despite some progress, many blue collar job positions contain more african americans than they should. The number of unemployed whites have gone down, while the number of unemployed blacks has gone up. Also, the median earnings of blacks are still lower than whites.
I belive the only solution to this problem is to improve public schools and use affirmative action. This will improve the chances that poor african americans can join the middle and upper classes.

Martin Luther King

1. I believe the authors feel that the biggest debt they owe to MLK is that he ended a system of opression that would have hurt America and its standing in the world.

2. Yes, MLK was the right man at the right time. He came onto the spectrum at a time when this cause needed a leader, and he was that man.

3. Yes, I believe he would, affirmative action is about euqality, not its denouncers. It would only be correct their way if blacks didn;t have much higher rates below the poverty level, worse schools, and less opportunities. Since blacks did not start on an equal footing, they need affirmative action to help them get to that equal level.

Ability to use Non-Violence

I do not think that I would be able to use civil disobediance to change things. The people of the Civil Rights era had resolve and tolerance for violence at a level that I think only an opressed people can have. While I will and have protested I will do it legally. Using civil disovedience is only neccesary in extreme circumstances, and the Civil Rights era was one of those times.

Unit 8 Preview

I am interested in learning about the cold war, politics, and vietnam. The cold war ended just before my lifetime, but is still very important and shaped America into what it is today, and I want to know how that happened. The politics of this era were very different from ever before, and ranged from the liberal politics of Bobby Kennedy to the conservative politics of Ronald Reagan. This was a time of change and I want to learn about what happened. Finally, the Vietnam War seems very interesting, and created a nationwide divide that still exists today. These three topics should prove to be very interesting to learn about.