Organize the Evidence for Thinking through Sources 26

Document Links:

Document 26.1 Telephone Conversations between Lyndon Johnson and Senator Richard Russell (May 27, 1964)

Document 26.2 LYNDON JOHNSON, “Peace without Conquest” Speech at Johns Hopkins University (April 7, 1965)

Document 26.3 HERBERT BLOCK, “Our Position Hasn’t Changed at All,” Washington Post (June 17, 1965)

Document 26.4 STUDENT NONVIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE, Statement on Vietnam (January 6, 1966)

Document 26.5 ROBERT F. KENNEDY, “Vietnam Illusions” (February 8, 1968)

Organize the Evidence for Thinking through Sources 26

The following exercises provide an opportunity to use the sources collectively to respond to a guiding question.

Guiding Question: Why and how did President Lyndon Johnson escalate the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s, and for what reasons did the American public’s opposition to the war and their lack of confidence in the U.S. government surface and swell between 1965 and 1968?

Instructions

Below are three topics that might find a place in organizing an essay responding to the guiding question. This exercise asks you to identify which sources would provide relevant evidence for that topic. Select the best answers for each question. Choose ALL that apply. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question 26.16

1. Which of the sources provides specific evidence about Lyndon Johnson’s reasons for escalating the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War? Choose ALL that apply.

R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 26.1: Telephone Conversations between Lyndon Johnson and Senator Richard Russell
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 26.2: Lyndon Johnson, “Peace without Conquest” Speech at Johns Hopkins University
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.3: Herbert Block, “Our Position Hasn’t Changed at All,” Washington Post
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.4: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Statement on Vietnam
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.5: Robert F. Kennedy, Vietnam Illusions
Correct: Document 26.1: This document reveals Johnson’s ambivalence but also the reasons that Johnson thought increasing U.S. involvement in the war was necessary. Document 26.2: This speech outlines Johnson’s justifications for escalating the war in Vietnam.
Incorrect: Document 26.3: Block’s cartoon comments on escalation but does not shed light on the reasons behind it. Document 26.4: SNCC expresses its critique of the war. Document 26.5: Kennedy outlines his objections to the war and the reasons he has changed his mind about it.

Question 26.17

2. Which of these documents provides specific evidence about the ways the very early opponents of Johnson’s policies in Vietnam framed their objections to them? Choose ALL that apply.

kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.1: Telephone Conversations between Lyndon Johnson and SenatorRichard Russell
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.2: Lyndon Johnson, “Peace without Conquest” Speech at JohnsHopkins University
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 26.3: Herbert Block, “Our Position Hasn’t Changed at All,” WashingtonPost
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 26.4: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, “Statement onVietnam”
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.5: Robert F. Kennedy, Vietnam Illusions
Correct: Document 26.3: Block expressed his opposition to Johnson’s policies in Vietnam very soon after Johnson began to escalate the war, demonstrating here that he found Johnson and his justifications for war untrustworthy. Document 26.4: SNCC expressed its radical opposition to the war in its early months, outlining the hypocrisy of America’s rhetoric in light of the federal government’s inaction on civil rights at home.
Incorrect: Document 26.1: This document sheds light on Johnson’s thoughts about escalating the war in 1964. Document 26.2: This document sheds light on the arguments Johnson made to justify escalation after it began. Document 26.5: This document sheds light on the antiwar movement’s growing influence by 1968.

Question 26.18

3. Which of the following documents provides specific evidence about why some Americans who had supported escalation in Vietnam in the mid-1960s had begun to oppose the war by 1968? Choose ALL that apply.

kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.1: Telephone Conversations between Lyndon Johnson and SenatorRichard Russell
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.2: Lyndon Johnson, “Peace without Conquest” Speech at JohnsHopkins University
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.3: Herbert Block, “Our Position Hasn’t Changed at All,” Washington Post
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 26.4: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Statement on Vietnam
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 26.5: Robert F. Kennedy, Vietnam Illusions
Correct: Document 26.5: Kennedy offers the perspective of an American leader who had argued in the early and mid-1960s that it was important for the United States to escalate its military efforts in Vietnam but who had become an opponent of the war by 1968.
Incorrect: Document 26.1: Johnson never became a public opponent of the war or indicated that he had changed his mind about his policies. Document 26.2: Johnson never became a public opponent of the war or indicated that he had changed his mind about his policies. Document 26.3: Block’s cartoon indicates that he was not a supporter of the war in the mid-1960s, though it is possible that his views influenced those who changed their minds. Document 26.4: SNCC never supported the Vietnam War, though it is possible that its analysis contributed to some Americans’ change of heart about the war.

Thinking through Sources forExploring American Histories, Volume 2Printed Page 208