1.

Johnson already had plans to escalate the war but he could not do so until he did not have a
reason. The Tonkin incident gave him the excuse he needed and the US Congress passed a
resolution which allowed Johnson to fight a war against the North Vietnamese. This was the
opportunity for Johnson to be seen tough on communism as the presidential election was nearing
and there was political pressure. It allowed US air craft to bomb North Vietnamese naval bases
and oil refineries. It allowed him to fight a full-scale war. The Viet Cong fought a terrifyingly
effective guerilla war and by 1965, the South’s government was about to collapse. The Viet Cong
attacked the US base at Plieku and because of this the American bombing intensified through
Operation Rolling Thunder. The US now decided to get directly involved and started sending its
own troops.
The first US Marines arrived in 1965 and by the end of the year, there were 150,000 US troops.
The administration also wanted to reduce North Vietnam’s ability to produce and transport
supplies to aid the Viet Cong insurgency. The US tactics were to bomb strategic targets such as
army bases, factories, railways and bridges. The USA believed it could win because if modern
fighting equipment. Opposition to the US involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1964 and it
grew into a social movement. Most of the opposition was because of conscription and because of
the increasing death rate.
These sources are not accurate at all since neither did the Americans back at home support
Johnson nor was he resisting in sending more and more men to the battlefield. He was not acting
with restraint at all and gave his all in winning the war. He had already planned his strategies
before getting fully involved.

2. Source C shows Johnson going up the stairs blindfolded by victory and since he cannot see
anything, the higher he goes up the stairs and more he escalates the war the harder he will fall
down. It also shows the picture of a man putting his into a sandbox since he knows that the
Americans will not listen to anyone and it was useless to escalate the war.
Source D shows Johnson, a man of higher authority sitting idly and enjoying the war while ignoring
the numerous deaths and the misery taking place around him. It shows people being taken to the
strategic hamlets, soldiers taking away the dead body of their colleagues, scared children running
away and dead bodies.
These two sources show how Johnson was totally ignorant and blinded by the illusion that they
were going to win the war. The Vietnamese had started hating the Americans. Although the US
had planned their bombings they often missed their targets. This destroyed schools hospitals and
the jungles in which the guerillas took shelter. They attacked Vietnamese village and took the
people in strategic hamlets. America lost the support of its own people because of its violent
strategies. Asking Johnson to back put would be useless as he would never cooperate. Johnson
ignorance ended up with America taking a huge fall in the war.

3. Yes they would agree with each other since both of them are talking about the brutality faced by
the innocent people who had no choice but to get dragged into this war and risk everything for it.
Both of the sources tell how the US troops killed anyone they came across without knowing if they
were their enemies or not. They were ordered to shoot any Vietnamese they come across since
the NFL was using the guerilla warfare strategy and it was impossible to identify these guerillas.
Source E tells us about the carelessness of the troops who blew villages without any warning
 killing innocent lives of many people. He mentions how the US wanted to convince the same
people they were bombing that they were on their side. The bombs sometimes also missed their
targets and exploded in places where there were civilians. Source F tells us about the ‘search and
destroy’ mission where the soldiers destroyed everything and anything they found. It was led by
The Charlie Company and they were ordered to destroy all houses, dwellings and livestock without
any consideration.

4. The Tet Offensive was launched in on the Tet holiday by the NFL. They conquered almost 75% of
the country’s towns and the American embassy in Saigon. The communists had hoped that this
would spark a revolution amongst the South Vietnamese but it did not happen. It carried a heavy
casualty toll but it still was a strategic victory for the Viet Cong. Before this the American
politicians became getting disillusioned that their victory and the end of the war was near. The
offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and
encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. Though U.S. and
South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the attacks, news coverage of the massive offensive
shocked the American public and eroded support for the war effort. The victory of the NFL was the
turning point of the war and also was the beginning of the slow and painful American withdrawal.
These sources are very accurate and tell us about how the Americans were mocked for being too
confident and how the NFL defeated the ‘superpower’. It also tells about the excuses and the
desperation of the US administration and politicians. After this event, the movement to withdraw
their involvement in the war increased amongst the Americans who were encouraged through TV
that the US was bound to lose this war.

5. Source I would be more useful because the source J just states the actions of the US troops and
the brutality which is bound to happen in a war. On the other hand, source I gives an insight to
how the war in Vietnam was also resulting in increasing violence in the US. It shows how the
politicians were not listening to the civilians and were instead killing or wounding people and
resorting to violence once again proving the point of the protests and the movements in the US. It
shows the government had betrayed its people since Nixon had promised to bring the war to an
end but still continued bombing. It shows how Nixon was least bothered about his people and
continued to call the university students ‘campus bums’. This source shows the true side of the
war and that it is not just two parties trying to win. It shows that because of the selfish motives of
these two sides, other people like the innocent Vietnamese and the Americans had to suffer too.
Source J instead just states facts about the violent actions of the US. This will may be much helpful
to historians and is a war it is a given to act with aggression. It just gives out basic information
about the actions of the US troops in the War. Also this source is taken out froma speech of Ho Chi
Minh who could have also given out a biased or exaggerated statement so its also not a very
reliable source.