The aim of this enquiry is help students understand how the Americans really got involved in the Vietnam War.
The USA had been financially supporting the French against communism since the early 1950s, but why did they seriously ramp things up in 1965?
You class with act as investigative journalists. They will be given clues which will raise questions. It clearly looked from photographs that American ships were attacked by Communists in the South China Sea.
Subsequent apparently ‘robust’ clues may appear to answer their questions. However, not is all it appears.
Did the President give the real reason?! To get to the truth, they need to be able to explain the significance of the events of the 2nd and 4th August, 1964 and explore the realism/ resilience of the Domino Theory.
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- Lesson presentation: PowerPoint
- Lesson write-up: PDF
- Resource 1-2: PDF
- Worksheet 1-2: PDF
