Why did the u.s. lose the

Vietnam war?

The Vietnamese conducted a “people’s war in which everyone played

a part.”

The US never really understood the culture of the

Vietnamese people.

Analyze the following Vietnamese

propaganda posters to understand the

Vietnamese viewpoint of the war:

Compare the pictures of the Vietnamese propaganda poster

to the two pictures drawn by American soldiers of that depict their experiences in Vietnam.

How do the experiences/goals of the Vietnamese differ from those

of the Americans?

The U.S. underestimated

the fighting ability of the VC

and North Vietnamese.

Despite dropping more tonnage of high

explosives on Vietnam than the whole of WWii,

the US could not stop the movement of troops or supplies to the south along the Ho Chi Minh

Trail.

After 1969, there were deep questions about the efficiency of US troops.

There was a serious drug problem; desertion rates

were high and morale low.

America was not prepared to keep experiencing high

numbers of casualties.

At first, most Americans supported the war. By

1970, the Peace Movement had support

from all sections of society.

The peace movement included the VVAW (Vietnam veterans against the war.) listen to what John Kerry said to the senate committee investigating the war:

Read what John Kerry said to the Senate committee investigating the war:

https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/johnkerrytestimony.html