Times of Change- Monday

Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic

Stop the Sun by Gary Paulsen

To Heal a Nation by Joel L. Swerdlow




For your final readings of Times of Change, I would like you to set aside some time on Monday (Memorial Day) to read the choices above. Once you are done, I would like for you to post in your blog a note to the men and women on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. After what you have learned over the past few days, and what you saw when we went to D.C., what would you want to say to them?

Dear Veterans,

All of you are incredibly strong and i admire that greatly. Many people don't seem to understand or realize what you did for our country in Vietnam, but from what I have seen when I went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and what i have read, all the veterans are greatly appreciated by me. You went through unbelievably difficult times abroad and it must've been hard seeing Americans oppose your efforts when you came home. No one can fully recognize what you have done for our country if they weren't in Vietnam at the time but i am starting to understand many of your hardships. Thank you for your strength and help.

-Mahin

Times of Change - Thursday

Farmer Nguyen by W.D. Ehrhart

Massacre at My Lai by Hugh Thompson

A Nun at Ninh Hoa by Jan Barry

What do these two poems and the article say about the impact of the war on the native Vietnamese? Can you think of any other ways in which the war will impact the native Vietnamese?
- Some vietnamese civilians didn't know who to help. If they helped the wrong side, then they would get beat up or killed.
- Many innocent people were murdered and not just accidently killed. Everything was intentional by the U.S. Troops.
- To get our of their misery since they didn't have religious freedom anymore, Buddhists would set fire to themselves in public places.
- Families would be split apart and many kids would be in orphanages.
- American troops take their food so they may not have any to feed their families.

Times of Change- Wednesday

Jack Smith by Ron Steinman

What challenges does Jack Smith face as a soldier in Vietnam? (a bulleted list is fine)
- He feels unprepared
- He is scared because he sees dead bodies.
- He is being fired at by his own people while he is playing dead.


How does Smith’s attitude toward war change?
- He didn't like war at the end at all.


I Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag by Joe McDonald

This song by Country Joe and the Fish became one of the first protest songs of the Vietnam Era. Read the lyrics to the song, and then respond to the following:

What is the song asking the “big strong men to do”?
-Join the war.
… the “generals” to do?
- Kill the communists in Vietnam
… “Wall Street” to do?
- Support war effort by sending supplies.
… “mothers” to do?
- Send your boys off to Vietnam
Write down four specific lines from the song that display sarcasm, cynicism, or anti-war sentiment.
- whooppee! we're all going to die.
- Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box.
- So put down your books and pick up a gun, we're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
- And you know that peace can only be won when we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

Times of Change- Tuesday

A Dubious Crusade by James A. Warren

Look up both words in the title of the short essay. What do they mean?
Dubious: doubtful; marked by or occasioning doubt
Crusade: any vigorous, aggressive movement for the defense or advancement of an idea, cause

Relate the title to the reading. What is Warren saying? How do you think this will relate to the rest of our study if Vietnam?
Warren is saying that Americans weren't sure anymore if they were going to win the battle against communism. I think that the rest of the study will be about Americans panicking and what the government is doing to calm everyone down and help them fight.


History by Thuong Vuong-Riddick

What is the overall theme of Vuong-Riddick's poem?
Vietnam was never free of conflict or free.


The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution … by Goldberg

What is the main thesis of the essay?
Lyndon Johnson began the war.
What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?
Defense against the Vietnamese in the Gulf.
What evidence does the author give to support his thesis?
The evidence is what the Senator who opposed Lyndon Johnson was saying.
How does this link to the theme of the first reading, “A Dubious Crusade”?
The people were scared and unsure. The government was lying to them and people died in doubtful battles.

10 important things everyone should know about the Korean War

1) Korea was split at the 38th parallel. Everything North of the line was ruled my the USSR and became Communist. The United States had the country South of the line which was a non-communist government because of America's rule over it.

2) There was an uneasy agreement between North and South Korea. There was conflict before Joseph Stalin came.

3) USSR didn't show up to a UN meeting so the Allies wanted to aid the South Korean Forces so the UN forces joined with the South Korean forces and crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea which started the Korean War.

4) China warned the UN troops to go back because they felt a threat to their security. The UN troops ignored the request and Chinese forces drove UN troops back into South Korea. China joined the war.

5) General MacArthur was fired by President Truman because he wanted to use Atomic bombs and was very disrespectful.

6) Many people wanted to the war to end and were against it.

7) Truman decided not to run for again. Dwight D Eishenhower became President and wanted to end the war in North Korea.

8) Many people voted for him because they believed he would get them out of it.

9) He agreed to a compromise but warned that he would use Nuclear weapons and move the war into China if it didn't end.

10) It ended in July of 1953.

Has MLK's "dream" been realized? - Labor

African Americans, Hispanics and Asians, have made a large improvement in the labor force. From 1980's to recent time, there has been a double in how many African Americans work. Hispanics have quadrupled their labor but Asians have only gone up a little.

Females have a larger percent in the work force than African Americans. African Americans have found to have their largest percent of jobs in community and social services. This means that they are very locally involved with what is happening around them. Hispanics and Asians don't have as large of a percent and many aren't in work. African Americans are also not as much into farming as they used to be in the past.

African Americans and other minority groups should push theirselves harder education wise which has been a great improvement in the last 20 years, and they should try to get higher jobs like chief executives and high ranking positions. Many minority groups have brought theirselves a lot more in the education department and are getting better work as time goes on.

Unit 8 Preview

After listening to the introduction to Unit 8, what are you looking forward to in history over the next few weeks?
-I'm looking forward to learning more about Vietnam and what happened there. I haven't learned much about it but many people always talk about the Vietnamese War and the draft that was a apart of it. I'm really intrigued by the subject.