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                                                      GINT 491

 

                     THE VIETNAM WAR AND THE SIXTIES

                                                             

                                                     Spring 2000

                                                     Jerel Rosati

                                                    rosati@sc.edu

                                                       777-2981

 

 

            The purpose of the course is to gain an understanding of the Vietnam War and “the sixties” -- especially from the perspective of American culture and history.  The era surrounding the Vietnam War and the sixties was a traumatic and profound experience for American society.  Although memories of the Vietnam era have receded, its legacy and significance remains to the present day.  This course focuses on the American journey throughout that era, and its political, economic, and social consequences for Americans and America.

                                                                                               

            I am excited about teaching the course and working with students who are motivated to learn.  Although I have high expectations for the students who take the class, the course is open and appropriate to all students throughout the university, not just GINT majors .  Students are expected to engage in a considerable amount of reading (fiction as well as non-fiction) and be active learners in class.  They will be evaluated through a variety of class requirements in order to have you study and think about the course material throughout the semester so as to maximize your ability to learn and grow intellectually.

 

REQUIRED READINGS                                          

 

 

            The readings are intended to be accessible and diverse so as to improve your ability to acquire a strong understanding.  The required readings for each week are specified under Course Topics and Readings below.

 

            Michael J. Hunt, Lyndon Johnson’s War: America’s Cold War Crusade in Vietnam, 1945-1968 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1996)

 

            Godfrey Hodgson, America in Our Time: From World War II to Nixon, What Happened and Why (New York: Vintage, 1976)

 

            Andrew J. Rotter, Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Vietnam War Anthology (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1999)

 

            Graham Greene, The Quiet American  (1956)

 

            Universal Copies packet of required readings, available at 1120 College Street (next to Sandy's Hot Dogs near the corner of Main and College Streets; 254-8931)

 

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

 

 

          Students will be evaluated through class participation and exercises, written essays, and examinations.  The intent behind these requirements is to have you study and think about the course material throughout the semester--to provide you with numerous opportunities to demonstrate the knowledge you have acquired and to get feedback--in order to maximize your ability to learn and grow as a student.

 

            1.  Class Attendance/Participation/Exercises (20%).  In order to get the most out of class, you must be prepared when you come to class.  Students are required to complete the readings prior to class meetings and to come to class ready to discuss them.  I expect everyone to participate actively in the discussion of the day.  Roll will be taken and attendance affects your participation grade; excessive absences will result in a lower or failing grade.  You may also be asked to complete short exercises, usually written, in class and out-of-class.  The short exercises will revolve around communicating an understanding of the readings. 

 

            2. Written Essays (40%).  There will be four short writing assignments during the semester.  The four essays will be on the following topics:

            i) a Vietnam novel,

            ii) a Vietnam film,

            iii) music about Vietnam and the sixties, and

            iv) interviews with people about Vietnam. 

All assignments are to be completed on time.  Grades for late assignments will be lowered by their tardiness.  Further information about the written essays is provided at the end of the syllabus. 

 

            3. Exams: a mid-term (20%) and final (20%).  Each exam will consist of key concepts and essay questions.  Your responses should demonstrate your mastery of the information and concepts provided in the assigned readings as well as the ideas generated in class discussions.  Your answers should reflect your thoughtful consideration and analysis of the material.  The final exam will be cumulative.  You will receive a study guide in advance of each examination to help you prepare.

 

            Missing an assignment or examination.  In order to turn in a late paper or make-up an exam, I (or the GINT office at 7-2676) must be contacted WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE DUE DATE and provided a legitimate explanation (e.g., medical illness) with evidence eventually provided.  Late assignments or make-up exams will be graded in terms of a higher set of expectations given the additional time allowed. 

 

 

GRADES

 

 

            Your grade will be based on the quality of substantive knowledge, quality of analysis, and effective communication demonstrated--in other words, the level of understanding demonstrated.  Your grade will not be determined by how well you do compared to others in the class.  That is, an A represents "excellent" understanding, a B+ represent "very good" understanding, a B represents "good" understanding, a C+ represents "satisfactory yet promising" understanding, a C represents "satisfactory" understanding, a D+ represents "poor" understanding; a D represents "very poor" understanding, and an F represents an "appalling" level of understanding.

 

 

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

 

 

            The University of South Carolina, like all institutions of higher education, is fundamentally dependent upon the maintenance of proper standards of honesty.  Maintenance of those standards is the responsibility of every member of this academic community--students, instructors, and staff alike.  I will not spend our time trying to find cheaters, but when confronted with clear evidence of academic dishonesty, I will respond vigorously.  Such impropriety in this class will result in an F for the course.

 

 

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY AND STRATEGY

 

 

            The class will be structured around what I call a class dialogue in which information, knowledge, and thought will be generated through lecture/background, discussion, and the Socratic method.  I will also make an effort to integrate other mediums (such as the use of videos, guest speakers, etc.) in order to enhance learning. 

 

            I will often play the role of provocateur and advocate to stimulate participation.  The class dialogue emphasizes the importance of student participation and active learning as a means to improve one's skills, interest, information, knowledge, and, ultimately, understanding.  In essence, class discussions will consist of an active exchange between the student and professor.  When deemed necessary, lectures will be provided for some of the more difficult material and to provide appropriate background.

 

            The class is organized around the required readings.  I expect every student to come to class prepared and regularly participate.  Every student should be able to summarize and analyze each assigned reading and place it in perspective relative to the rest of the course material.  Students also are encouraged to offer comments or questions which contribute to class discussions on a regular basis. 

 

 

NATURE OF THE COURSE

 

 

            One ultimate purpose of higher education and the offering of this course is to broaden your knowledge and understanding about the world around you--to learn about things that you probably don't know much about and to think about things that you haven't given much thought to.  At the same time, I recognize that many individuals hold strong beliefs and feelings about the United States, often based more on faith and emotion rather than substantive knowledge.  Therefore, much of the material in this course may be controversial and will challenge you to think about many beliefs and assumptions you hold (and have rarely examined).

 

            Your role is to act as student, social scientist, or policy analyst, not policymaker, activist, or true believer.  Remember, our goal is to better understand reality--in this case about the Vietnam War and the sixties--regardless of what your feelings and opinions are about that reality.  Learning and understanding are to be accomplished through the accumulation of information and knowledge and reliance on an open and critical mind.

 

 

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

 

 

            Jerel Rosati is a Professor and has been a member of the Department of Government and International Studies at Carolina for eighteen years.  He has a great love of knowledge and learning about the world and human affairs.  His intellectual interests range from understanding American politics and history, United States foreign policy, and the Vietnam War to exploring the dynamics of global change, political psychology, and the nature of human interaction.  In addition to the usual undergraduate and graduate students, he has taught Bulgarians, Chinese, Israelis, Somalis, Master's of International Business students, and high school teachers.  He has been named the Outstanding Professor of the Year in the Humanities and Social Sciences by the South Carolina (Honors) College and the Outstanding Teacher in International Studies in the Department of Government & International Studies.  He also enjoys research and writing, and is the author of The Carter Administration's Quest for Global Community: Beliefs and Their Impact on Behavior and The Politics of United States Foreign Policy, as well as the editor ofThe Power of Human Needs in World Society, Foreign Policy Restructuring: How Governments Respond to Global Change, and Readings in the Politics of United States Foreign Policy.  He has been a Research Associate in the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Library of Congress's Congressional Research Service, served as President of the International Studies Association's Foreign Policy Analysis Section, and President of the Southern region of the International Studies Association.  He is the proud father of three children and enjoys travel, sports, music, reading, and good company. He came of age during the early seventies as an undergraduate at U.C.L.A. when the events surrounding the Vietnam War and Watergate reached a cresendo, which had a profound impact on his personal and intellectual development to the present day.

 

            Please feel free to come see me during my office hours, or make an appointment.  EMAIL is a very effective way to communicate with me. 

 

            THIS SYLLABUS REFLECTS THE EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS YOU MUST FULFILL.  I EXPECT YOU TO TAKE THE COURSE SERIOUSLY AND WORK AS HARD AS I DO--WHICH IS, AFTERALL, THE KEY TO LEARNING AND INTELLECTUAL GROWTH.

 

 

 

                                               Course Topics and Readings

 

 

                     [A syllabus is an idealized schedule of assignments and activities.  If adjustments

                              to this schedule are necessary, all changes will be announced in class.]

 

                               [If you miss a class, you are responsible for contacting a classmate

                                              to find out the reading and class assignments.]

 

                                               [Please bring the readings with you to class.]

 

 

1. Introduction (2)

read Karnow, Vietnam: A History (Penguin, 1991), chap 1, “The War Nobody Won,” pp. 2-59

 

            I. THE VIETNAM WAR – AN INITIAL OVERVIEW

 

 

2. Origins and Historical Roots (1)

read Karnow, Vietnam, chap 2, “Piety and Power,” and chap 3, “The Heritage of Vietnamese Nationalism,” pp. 60-138; peruse pictures too

refer to Karnow, Vietnam, for “Cast of Principal Characters,” pp. 688-707 (for duration of class)

 

3. The U.S. and the First Vietnam War (1)

peruse pictures in Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 203, 210-212

read Hunt, chap 1, “The Cold War World of The Ugly American,” pp. 3-18

read in Rotter, George C. Herring, chap 2, “The United States, France, and the First Indochina War,” pp. 19-30

 

4. Ho Chi Minh (1)

read Hunt, chap 2, “Ho Chi Minh’s Brocade Bags,” pp. 19-41

read in Rotter, Robert Shaplen, “Ho Chi Minh: The Untried Gamble,” pp. 5-18

 

5. The Second Vietnam War and the American Role (1)

peruse pictures in Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 242-246, 274-276, 333

read in Rotter, David L. Anderson, chap 3, “Dwight D. Eisenhower and Wholehearted Support of Ngo Dinh Diem,” pp. 33-46

read in Rotter, Edward Geary Lansdale, chap 5, “The CIA Comes to Vietnam,” pp. 57-63

read Hunt, chap 3, “Learned Academics on the Potomac,” pp. 42-71

recommended in Rotter, Hammer (chap 4), Parmet (chap 6)

 

6. Americanizing the War (1)

peruse pictures in Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 349-356, 387-394, 427-434, 474-478

read Hunt, chap 4, “That Bitch of a War,” pp. 72-106

read in Rotter, George W. Ball, chap 10, “A Dissenter in the Government,” pp. 115-123

recommended in Rotter, Gardner (chap 8)

 

7. Vietnam Gone Bad and Getting Out (1)

peruse pictures in Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 515-522, 566-576, 613-622

read Hunt, chap 5, “How Heavy the Reckoning?”, pp. 108-128

read in Rotter, Larry Berman, chap 9, “The Tet Offensive,” pp. 105-114

read in Rotter, Stephen E. Ambrose, chap 11,“Bombing Hanoi, Mining Haiphong, and the Moscow Summit,” pp. 126-137

recommended in Rotter, Porter (chap 12), Colby (chap 13)

 

            ESSAY #1 DUE

 

            II. THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY

 

8. Postwar America and Americanism (2)

read Hodgson, preface and chaps 1-4, pp. xi-xii, 3-98

 

9. The Rise of the National Security State (2)

read Hodgson, chaps 5-7, pp. 99-152

read in Rotter, James William Gibson, chap 32, “A Perfect Technowar,” pp. 353-364

 

 

10. The U.S. and Third World Insurgency (1)

read Greene, all

read in Rotter, Frances FitzGerald, chap 28, “A Clash of Cultures,” pp. 297-313

 

            MID-TERM

 

            III. THE WARS ABROAD AND AT HOME

 

11. The Civil Rights Movement (2)

read Hodgson, chaps 8-10, pp. 153-224

 

12. The War on Poverty and the War on Vietnam (1)

read Hodgson, chaps 11-13, pp. 224-273

read in Rotter, James C. Thomson, Jr., “A Bureaucratic Tangle,” pp. 314-322

 

13. The Enemy Abroad (1)

read in Rotter, Konrad Kellen, chap 15, “The People and the Americans,” pp. 173-179

read in Rotter, William Duiker, chap 16, “Why the Communists Won,” pp. 180-189

read in Rotter, Tom Mangold and John Penycate, “The National Liberation Front and the Land, pp. 190-194

 

14. The Battlefield (1)

read Michael Herr, “At the Edge of Sanity,” pp. 283-290

read in Rotter, Philip Caputo, chap 18, “Getting Hit,” pp. 197-202

read in Rotter, Wallace Terry, chap. 19, “Feeling Cold,” pp. 202-207

read Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried,” pp. 1-25

 

            ESSAY #2 DUE

 

15. Military Performance (1)

read in Rotter, Bruce Palmer, Jr., chap 22, “Assessing the Military’s Performance,” pp. 224-235

read in Rotter, Loren Baritz, chap 23, “Military Mismanagement,” pp. 236-248

read in Rotter, Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim, chap 24, “My Lai: The Killings Begin,” pp. 2499-261

 

16. The Anti-War Movement and the Rise of the Liberal-Left (2)

read Hodgson, chaps 14-18, pp. 274-364

read in Rotter, Tom Wells, chap 34, “Seeds of a Movement,” pp. 379-391

read in Rotter, Noam Chomsky, chap 30, “An Act of Imperialism,” pp. 323-342

 

17. The Rise of More Movements and the Conservative-Right (1)

read Hodgson, chaps 19-22, pp. 365-428

read in Rotter, Myra MacPherson, chap 35, “Women at the Barricades, Then and Now,” pp. 392-400

read in Rotter, Norman Podhoretz, chap 31, “A Defense of Freedom,” pp. 343-352

 

            ESSAY #3 DUE

 

            IV. AFTERMATH & LEGACIES

 

18. Vietnam, and Coming Home: Vets, Refugees, and Survivors (1)

read in Rotter, Neil Sheehan, chap 36, “Returning to South Vietnam,” pp. 403-411

review Karnow, Vietnam, “The War Nobody Won,” pp. 2-59

read Myra MacPherson, Long Time Passing: Vietnam & and Haunted Generation, chaps 2 and 3, “The Generation” and “A Different War,” pp. 29-74

read in Rotter, Lynda Van Devanter, chap 20, “Nursing and Disillusionment,” pp. 207-214

read in Rotter, Gloria Emerson, chap 37, “A Deserter and His Family,” pp. 412-416

read in Rotter, Bobbie Ann Mason, chap 38, “Agent Orange and the Wall at Home,” pp. 417-424

19. Watergate and Public Trust

view All the President’s Men

 

20. Politics at Home and Abroad (1)

read Hodgson, chaps 23-25, pp. 429-499

read Daniel Hallin, “A Critique of the Oppositional Media Thesis,” pp. 546-555

read, Jerel Rosati in Intervention into the 1990s, edited by Peter J. Schraeder (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1992), “The Domestic Environment,” pp. 175-191

 

21. American Society and American Values (1)

read Robert D. Holsworth and J. Harry Wray, American Politics in Everyday Life (1987), chap 1 and 2, “Bringing America Back?” and “The Conventions of Consumer Society,” pp. 1-50

 

23. Conclusion and Review (1)

read in Rotter, Le Ly Hayslip, chap 39, “Letting Go,” pp. 425-435

 

            ESSAY #4 DUE

 

            FINAL