Vietnam War Era Primary Sources

Take about a half hour to browse through the primary sources below. Find two documents from two different perspectives that interest you, and write a short critical response to them (2 pages long).

Questions to ask of the sources

• What is the historical context of each source? Who is the speaker? When and where is the document from?

• What point of view does each document convey? Whose perspective is represented?

• How do the two documents you selected relate to each other?

• What story do they tell about the American experience of Vietnam in the seventies?

Primary Sources

• Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement

• The Daily Diary of President Ford on "the day Saigon fell"

• Presidential Cabinet Meeting Minutes for April 29, 1975

• Declassified Vietnam War Documents (pick any one)

• Oral History Interviews (pick any one)

• The Hard Hat Riots (focus on the newspapers and photographs)