The Vietnamese Conflict: An International History

The Vietnamese Conflict: An International History

Syllabus and Survival Guide

History 485A – Fall 2011

Wednesdays, 7:00 – 9:45 pm, Sierra Hall 288

Instructor

Dr. Thomas W. Devine

Office Hours: Sierra Tower 624, W 4:00-6:00 pm; Th 5:00-6:00 pm by appointment gladly given. Phone: (818) 677-3550 Email: tom.devine@csun.edu

Web Syllabus: www.csun.edu/~twd61312/485A/485Asyl.htm

Reading

The following books are available at the Matador Bookstore. All other readings will be provided in class or made available on the web syllabus. The Bookstore sends back all books after week four of the semester, so if you plan to purchase your books there, you should buy all of them early in the semester.

• Eugene Burdick and William Lederer, The Ugly American

• Seth Jacobs, Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America’s War in Vietnam, 1950-1963

• Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

• Truong Nhu Tang, A Vietcong Memoir

• Philip Caputo, Rumor of War

To subvert the system and to save yourself some money, you should consider buying used copies of the books. You are likely to find copies priced significantly lower at the following websites:

www.bookfinder.com; www.half.com; www.amazon.com; www.abebooks.com

Requirements & Grading

Class Participation, Quizzes, and Short Writing Assignments 20%

1^st Analytical Essay 15%

2^nd Analytical Essay 20%

Semester Project 25%

Final Exam (8pm, December 14) 20%

FINAL STUDY GUIDE

All grading will be done on the +/ – system. Any assignment not completed will be counted as a “zero” in calculating the final grade.

Spirit of the Course

For years, the Vietnam War has haunted many Americans, from high government officials, to antiwar protesters, to veterans, to the survivors of those who didn’t make it home. Arguably, the fear of repeating the mistakes of that painful conflict continues to shape US policy makers’ approach to employing military power and limits the options available to them in so doing. As time passes, passions cool, and the availability of reliable documentation grows, however, we can confront the “ghosts” of Vietnam with greater personal detachment and historical confidence.

In particular, we are better able to place the war in a broader context. We see, for example, that its origins long predated American involvement, and that the issues at stake – particularly for the Vietnamese – transcended the cold war considerations of Washington, Moscow, and Beijing. Likewise, we can view the war more clearly through the eyes of various groups – elites in Hanoi, Saigon, Paris, and Washington who directed the conflict; the soldiers who fought it; and the peoples of Southeast Asia who tried to survive it as best they could. Finally, as ideological fervor dissipates, we can assess more candidly the legacy of the Vietnamese revolution, the motives for US intervention in Vietnam, and the military and political decisions made on all sides of the conflict.

In looking at the Vietnamese conflict, then, we will examine accounts from a variety of perspectives and read across various genres – novels, memoirs, poetry and speeches, as well as scholarly books and articles. I encourage you to be open to the various points of view, but also to be critical in your reading of them. Keep in mind who the author believes is his or her audience, what points he or she most wants that audience to absorb, and how an author’s biases, preconceptions, or personal experiences may color his or her interpretations of events

This will be a demanding course. It engages material many of you will find unfamiliar and it will force you to see the world in ways you may not have even considered. It is my hope that you will finish the semester with a better understanding of the war and the circumstances that precipitated and sustained it. But I also hope you gain something more: a rich sense of the “fabric” of Vietnam during this era – a feel for how both soldiers and civilians on all sides lived their daily lives, the tragedies they suffered, and the triumphs they celebrated; an appreciation for the visions, hopes, ideas, and ideologies that intrigued and seduced them; an awareness of the problems and tough decisions that confronted both everyday people and top policy makers; and, perhaps most importantly, a recognition of the contingencies of history and an empathy for the historical actors who struggled with or fell victim to these contingencies.

Explanation of Requirements

Class Participation and Attendance

As much as is possible, the class will be conducted in a seminar format and therefore will emphasize student interaction and discussion. Our meetings will be conversations – free, open, and informal exchanges of ideas based on the assigned reading – and I expect everyone to take an active part. I will do my best to insure each student has ample opportunity to contribute, but, ultimately, it will be up to you to make certain that you remain an active participant rather than a passive observer. Missing class will hurt your participation grade. You will find that the key to success in this class is attending every session and participating in the discussion. If you do those two things, everything else will become easier.

Quizzes

There will be occasional short quizzes throughout the semester. The quizzes will provide an incentive (and a reward) for completing the reading. If you have done all the reading – or even most of it – you should have no difficulty doing well on the quizzes. A high quiz average can significantly improve your overall grade. On the other hand, if you don’t keep up with the reading, you can end up with very low quiz scores that will sink your grade even if you do well on the paper assignments and final exam.

Homework Assignments

In order to help you get the most out of the reading and to prepare you to discuss it in class, there will be occasional homework assignments that you will complete as you do the reading. These will be collected in class. Assignments not turned in will count as a zero, so avoid doing damage to your grade by turning in each assignment on time. There will also be “digs” – short exercises that will require you to examine primary sources. Over the course of the semester there will be 6 of these assignments. You may do as many as you like, but you must do at least two.

Analytical Essays

These two essay assignments will focus on the material covered in the readings and during class discussion. Each essay must be at least 1500 words. There will be a choice of topics handed out well before the due date. Since the paper topics will address issues we have previously discussed in class, it will be useful to take notes during our discussions and keep in mind the questions and themes that emerge from these discussions – you will likely see them reappear in the paper topic questions. For both assignments, there will be a choice of two options. If you wish, you may do both first paper options and I will count the higher grade. Likewise, you may do both of the second paper options and I will again count the higher grade.

Semester Project

This assignment allows you to become an “expert” on some aspect of the Vietnamese conflict by reading widely in the secondary literature that addresses your subject (mostly journal articles and some book chapters). In keeping with the international emphasis of the course, you will study your topic from at least three different national perspectives. You will then report on what historians have had to say about the topic, assess their arguments, and draw some conclusions of your own. A more detailed description of the assignment will be handed out in class, however you should expect to write an essay of approximately 7 pages.

Final Examination

The Final Examination will consist of 5-7 short essay questions and two long essays. You will have a choice of topics for the long essays. I will provide a study guide that will help you prepare for the exam. The exam will have a cumulative element to it, but the primary focus will be on material from the second part of the semester. You are responsible for bringing an unmarked blue book to the final.

Surviving History 485A…

Getting the Reading Done

There’s no getting around it – this class will require extensive reading. It is a college course taught at the college level. It will serve you well if you figure out approximately how many pages you can read in an hour and then calculate how many hours it will take you to read each assignment. (Most History majors read scholarly books and articles at about 20-30 pages an hour. Memoirs and novels usually go faster.) If you know ahead of time how long it will take to get through an assignment, you can manage your time more realistically. Don’t read every word of the first third of an assignment but nothing thereafter because you ran out of time. To help insure you get the reading done, make a commitment to reading 20 pages of the next week’s assignment when you get home from class. Once you’re into an assignment, it will be easier to keep going. Each day you put off beginning an assignment makes it less likely you’ll be able to finish it in time for class. If it’s clear you won’t have enough time to complete an assignment during a given week, use the study questions to guide your reading. Skim through the book or articles until you come across material that is covered in the questions. Since the study questions focus on the most important parts of the reading, if you are able to answer them, you will arrive in class better prepared to participate in the discussion.

Attendance

Since this class meets only once a week and its success depends on active student participation, it is important – and it is expected – that you will be at every session. I do take attendance before and after the break. Do not leave at the break and expect to be credited with having attended the entire class. You cannot participate when you are not present, so each absence will lower your participation grade.

Laptop Policy

I do not allow the use of laptops in the classroom unless you have a signed medical note stating that you must have one with you.

Common Courtesy

You are at a university among professional people so you should try to act like you belong here. Do not embarrass yourself by behaving badly. Please turn off and put away all cell phones and other electronic gadgets while you are in class. Texting or constantly playing with your phone during class is rude – I’m not blind. I can see you, and such behavior is very distracting. Arrive on time and do not walk out in the middle of class unless it is an emergency or you have spoken to me about it ahead of time. In short, act courteously and professionally. Try to show some class. It’s part of being an educated person.

Academic Honesty

Do not lie to me about why you missed class or failed to turn in an assignment. It is unnecessary and it insults my intelligence. Do not cheat on the quizzes. I will catch you and you will receive an automatic zero for the assignment. Do not plagiarize from written sources or from the web. Since plagiarism is always obvious and easily caught (I know how to use Google too), it is better to hand in your own work and get a C than someone else’s and get an F. Any and all plagiarized assignments will receive a grade of zero. Beyond that, your name will also be circulated among other faculty as someone who lacks integrity and you risk being expelled from the University. If you are unsure what plagiarism is, please consult with me BEFORE you hand in an assignment.

Problems

I appreciate that many CSUN evening students are stretching themselves quite thin, often working full time while taking classes at night. If you are feeling overwhelmed, find yourself falling behind, or are having any problems outside of class that are adversely affecting your performance in class, be sure to let me know. Do not wait until the end of the semester when it will be too late. I am more than willing to work with you to insure you “survive,” but I need to know you are having difficulties. You will find that as long as you keep me up to speed, I will be very sympathetic.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

31 Aug. Introduction: An explanation of course objectives, mechanics, and procedures.

7 Sept. “Beyond the Cold War Paradigm” – Race, Culture, Colonial Policy, and the Shaping of Vietnamese-American Relations

Reading: Martin Loicano, “Vietnam Divided: Regional History and the Vietnam Wars, 1698-1975”

Mark Philip Bradley, Imagining Vietnam and America, chapters 1, 2

Anne L. Foster, Projections of Power: The United States and Europe in Colonial Southeast Asia, 1919-1941, chapter 3

STUDY QUESTIONS

14 Sept. “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss…” – The U.S. Replaces the French in Vietnam

Reading: Stein Tonnesson, “Franklin Roosevelt, Trusteeship, and Indochina”

Mark Atwood Lawrence, “Explaining the Early Decisions: The United States and the French War, 1945-1954”

George C. Herring, “Franco-American Conflict in Indochina, 1950-1954”

STUDY QUESTIONS