Images – The Vietnam War • L/O – You will study images of the Vietnam War and consider the impact these images had on the people back home.
Connection • Give three strategies adopted by the USA military in Vietnam.
• Explain how these strategies contributed to the failure of US forces in Vietnam
The Vietnam War and the Media • The American public got a clearer picture of the horrors of the war than during any previous war. • There was less censorship, and people had TVs in their homes. • Certain photographs changed people’s opinions about the war all around the world.
• Activation - Do you remember this picture? • What caused this harm? • Why might this photo have become so famous?
Activation 2 • Visit the website to look at images of the war in vietnam. • http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/v ietnam-photos/
Vietnam War Photographs
Activity 1:
Who was… a. Nguyen Ngoc Loan? _______________________________________________ b. Eddie Adams? ______________________________________________ c. Nguyen Van Lem? ______________________________________________ d. Why was Nguyen Van Lem being executed? _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ ________________________________________ The year is 1968. The man with the gun is South Vietnamese chief of police, General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan. The man being shot is Nguyễn Văn Lém, a Viet Cong soldier. The photographer is Eddie Adams, an American.
The photograph was transmitted around the world within hours of the execution. In America, the public began to turn against the war as they came to understand the horror involved. The south Vietnamese police claimed that the execution was necessary because Nguyễn Văn Lém was part of a Viet Cong death squad who killed south Vietnamese police officers and their families. But it was Nguyen Ngoc Loan who became a hate figure for the world. Eddie Adams says that he feels guilty about this. He feels that with the photo he ruined Nguyen Ngoc Loan’s life. After the war, Nguyen Ngoc Loan moved to America and opened a pizza restaurant. But he was forced to retire when the public found out that he was the man from the famous photo.
e. Why do you think the American public was so shocked by this image? _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________ f. Write 1 question for: Eddie Adams: _________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Nguyen Ngoc Loan _________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
Vietnam War: in photos
Activity 2: Choose 4 of the photographs to look at in detail. You may not be able to complete every box for every picture. You may leave some blank Number
People?
Objects?
Actions?
Place?
To fill in later: were you correct? Anything to add?
Activity 3: • •
ask your teacher for the captions sheet to find out what is really happening in each picture. Write the picture number next to each caption Then fill in the final column of this table. Were you correct in your inferences?
Vietnam War: captions A) Many US soldiers were young, inexperienced, and did not wish to fight in the war. Picture _________ D) In America, there were large demonstrations across the country and even cadets on parade could not expect to be ignored. Picture __________
B)
A wounded paratrooper of the 101st Airborne guides a medical evacuation helicopter through the jungle foliage to pick up casualties during a fiveday patrol of Hue, South Vietnam, in 1968 Picture ____________
C) Lieutenant Colonel Robert L Stirm is met by his family at a military base in California on his return from Vietnam Picture __________
E)
This picture of US Army helicopters pouring machine gun fire into the tree line during an attack on a Viet Cong camp near the Cambodian border is like a scene from a Hollywood film Picture __________
F) On 30 April 1975 soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army entered Saigon, in the south of Vietnam, capturing the presidential palace and assuming control of the country Picture __________
G) As the end draws near, this woman carries her wounded daughter away from the fighting.
• Imagine that you are the photographer who took one of the pictures we have looked at today (you choose which). Write a letter home to your wife in America: • Describe the picture to her • Tell her what was happening when you took it • Tell her how it made you feel
Dear Annie I took a very memorable picture today. I think it will be in the papers soon, so I’ll try to describe it to you….