Vietnam & Iraq: Similarities and Differences

Forty years ago this month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announced his resignation to become president of the World Bank. His decision was due to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's outright rejection of McNamara's early November recommendations to freeze troop levels, stop bombing North Vietnam, and hand over ground fighting to South Vietnam.

Fast forward to today. President Bush recently ordered a military "surge" to increase our troop strength to provide security and time to achieve "victory." Victory is generally defined as creating a self-sustaining Iraq military and government that would allow our troops to withdraw.

Will President Bush's Iraq strategy turn out better than President Johnson's?

Help your students learn more about the 1967 escalation of the Vietnam War, designed to salvage victory from defeat. Encourage students to compare these two military and foreign policy decisions and project their own conclusions about Iraq (students may need to use SIRS Researcher to get more current information on the Iraq War and the Surge for Option 2).

Pathfinder: Click the 1960s icon, then select the Vietnam War.

Option 1: Use the Document Based Question link at the top left of the page that focuses on the Vietnam War only. Students should answer these questions in a 150-200 word report (models).

Option 2: Students should address two or more of these essential questions for critical thinking in a written report of 150-200 words (see link above):

• What similarities are there between the reasons the U.S. sent troops to Vietnam and to Iraq?
• What are the differences in comparing the reasons for sending the troops?
• How did the escalation in Vietnam that caused Secretary McNamara to resign differ from that of the resignation of Secretary Rumsfeld in Iraq?
• What are U.S. chances of The Surge succeeding in Iraq and why do you believe that?
• What would you do if you were Secretary of Defense Gates and why?