VISUAL ACTIVITY Evacuating South Vietnam As Communist troops approached Saigon in the spring of 1975, desperate South Vietnamese attempted to flee along with the departing Americans. Here they attempt to scale the wall of the U.S. Embassy to reach evacuation helicopters. Thousands were left behind, while South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu fled with fifteen tons of baggage on a U.S. plane. AP Images/Neal Ulevich. READING THE IMAGE: What in the photo suggests the desperation of the South Vietnamese? How might this kind of photo have been viewed in the United States by supporters of the war and opponents? CONNECTIONS: What besides the hasty departure from Saigon left a bitter taste in the mouths of Americans about the Vietnam War?