The American War in

Vietnam
Movements, Music and Media

Warm Up
With your pod, write down as many of the

things as you can.

1. Important Vietnam-era movements

and their key figures

2. Bands or popular songs.

Civil Rights
After years of protests the Civil

Rights movement finally prevailed.

On July 2, 1964, The Civil Rights Act

of 1964 was passed into law. This

act outlawed discrimination based
on race, color, religion, sex or
national origin. It also ended racial
segregation in all public spaces.
This was one of President Johnsons

greatest achievements.
Key figures: MLK, Rosa Parks,

Malcolm X

Black Power
Beginning in the late 60s, the Black

Power movement was an outgrowth of

the Civil Rights movement. The Black
Power movement focused on giving
African-Americans pride in their race.
Taught black autonomy, black

nationalism, black self-determination

and black separatism.
Many different ideologies within the

movement. There was some overlap

between prominent Civil Rights
leaders and the Black Power
movement.
Key figure: Stokely Carmichael

Anti-War Movement
The Anti-War movement is more broad

than the Civil Rights and Black Power

movements in that the movement was all
encompassing.
Anti-War protestors came in all shapes,

sizes, colors, genders, socio-economic

background, etc.
College students, on the whole, were very

instrumental within the movement.

In some cases, Anti-War protests on college

campuses turned violent. In April 1970,

four student protestors were killed by
National Guardsmen at Kent State
University in Ohio. In May 1970, two
student protestors were shot and killed.
Key figures: Too many to name individually.

Hippies
Began in the late-60s.
Centered around music, art and

drugs.
The Hippie movement combined

many elements of other movements

(the Anti-War movement in
particular) but there was an
emphasis on peace and love.
Key event: Woodstock, August 15-

18, 1969.
Key figures/bands: Janis Joplin, Jimi

Hendrix, Grateful Dead (Jerry

Garcia), Jefferson Airplane

Popular Music in 1963

To illustrate how much things changed

from the beginning of American

escalation in Vietnam in 1963 to
Vietnamization in late 1969, here are a
few of the chart topping songs of 1963.
Sugar Shack by Jimmy Gilmer and the

Fireballs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
iHzjfGF6MiU
Surfin USA by The Beach Boys

https://youtu.be/2s4slliAtQU

Popular Music in 1969

Here are some of the popular

songs of 1969.
Touch Me by The Doors

https://youtu.be/y7GKblttlMY
I Heard It Through the

Grapevine by Marvin Gaye

https://youtu.be/hajBdDM2qdg
Whole Lotta Love by Led

Zeppelin https://youtu.be/
Mln0RciE2o0

The Beatles in 1964

I Want To Hold Your

Hand https://youtu.be/
Ds3R0Zxh26g

The Beatles in 1967

A Day in the Life

https://youtu.be/
usNsCeOV4GM

The Power of the Media

The Vietnam War was the first war of the TV era.

While wars had been filmed since the First World

War, people would see the sanitized footage in
newsreels at the movie theatre.
Prior to Vietnam, people primarily got their news

from the newspaper and the radio. Television

changed everything. This was the first war to be
widely broadcast on television.
Instead of just hearing about war casualties, the

American people had visual reminders every

evening on the news broadcasts.
The footage from the war was frank, sometimes

gruesome and, many times, unfiltered.

This helped change public perception of the war.

Walter Cronkite
CBS News anchor during the

Vietnam era.
He was extremely influential. He

was known as the most trusted

man in America.
Gave one of the most important

reports following the Tet

Offensive.
https://youtu.be/Nn4w-ud-TyE
After this report, President

Johnson said, If Ive lost

Group Activity
In your pods, pretend you are all teachers

and you have to teach a lesson on the

Vietnam War. In chronological order,
brainstorm a list of key events, key
figures and important dates from the
beginning of the war to the end.
Type your list into a Google Doc and put it

in the shared folder.

Final Essay Prompt

For Americans, two of the biggest wars of

the 20th century were World War II and

the Vietnam War. Compare and contrast
the wars in terms of origins of American
involvement, public perception of the war
and combat methods.
Complete your typed essay with the

appropriate heading, 1-inch margins and

12 point Times New Roman font. Essays
should be at least three (3) pages in
length.