DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
November 30, 2015

1.    What new perspectives do these readings provide about the American war effort in Vietnam?

2.    James Fallows argues that "Vietnam left us with a heritage rich in possibilities for class warfare...."  What does he mean by that?  Can that statement be applied to the decade of the sixties generally?

3.    To what extent does the issue of class get lost in the face of other issues in the sixties, such as race?

4.    From the readings, what were the legacies of Vietnam for those who served, and for America generally?

5.    Are there any common threads which might tie these disparate readings together?

6.    What was LBJ's approach to foreign policy?  What impact do you think that outlook might have had on America's involvement in Vietnam?

7.    What was the impact of the war on the Vietnamese people, both north and south?

8.    "Without question, the central precondition for American involvement in Vietnam was the set of assumptions that underlay and shaped the
        history of the Cold War."  What were those assumptions and how did they contribute to America's involvement?

9.    How did Nixon succeed in bring America together?