Politics, Culture & Public Opinion

In this lesson, students will view a segment from Ken Burns & ​Lynn Novick: The Vietnam War and examine lyrics from selected songs from the Vietnam era. They will share their thoughts and viewpoints on these lyrics in a class discussion.

The late sixties were a kind of confluence of several countercultural rivulets—the anti-war movement itself, the movement towards racial equality, the environment, and the role of women. The anthems for that counterculture were provided by the most brilliant rock and roll music that you can imagine. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The Vietnam Experience in Music.

In this media analysis activity, students will view selected clips from Ken Burns & ​Lynn Novick: The Vietnam War and complete a graphic organizer about information found in the clips. They then will use the information from the clips and the organizer to write editorials/commentaries assessing Tet Offensive news coverage either as fair and balanced or as biased, turning American popular opinion against the war and undermining the US war effort.

Fighting in Saigon during the Tet Offensive is the focus of press coverage including television news. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The Tet Offensive: A Media Analysis Activity.

President Johnson insisted the Tet Offensive had been a "devastating defeat for the communists." Militarily, he was right. Of the 84,000 enemy troops estimated to have taken part, more than half—as many as 58,000 men and women—are thought to have been killed, wounded, or captured. But it also showed that even after so many years of war, North Vietnam still had the will and resources to fight. Walter Cronkite came home from covering the Tet Offensive convinced that victory was no longer possible. He told his viewers, "it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out...will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best they could." NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The Tet Offensive: A Media Analysis Activity.

One photograph would come to define the Tet Offensive for many people. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The Tet Offensive: A Media Analysis Activity.

In this lesson, students will view video segments from Ken Burns & ​Lynn Novick: The Vietnam War detailing the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of the Johnson administration and presidential candidate Richard Nixon related to the peace talks with North Vietnam prior to the election of 1968.

Hubert Humphrey is confident he will win but the Paris Peace Talks are delayed after Richard Nixon makes a promise to President Thieu of South Vietnam. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled Richard Nixon and the 1968 Presidential Election.

In this lesson, students will view segments from Ken Burns & ​Lynn Novick: The Vietnam War and complete a graphic organizer to help them make conclusions about what they see. They then will use the information from the organizer to role-play a police officer, demonstrator, convention delegate, or someone watching the convention at home. Then, they will write a letter to a friend or family member from the point of view of someone who witnessed the event.

Both sides moved in their troops for the confrontation in Chicago. Some 15,000 protestors had gathered and 12,000 Chicago policemen were on alert. Another 6,000 riot-trained Army troops and 6,000 armed National Guardsmen had been brought in. Also present were 1,000 intelligence agents from the FBI, CIA, and the military. Commenting from the convention hall, Walter Cronkite said "a Democratic Convention is about to begin in a police state." NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The 1968 Democratic National Convention.

An anti-war demonstration erupted on the floor of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, while outside, police and demonstrators clashed at Grant Park in downtown Chicago. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Violent scenes from Chicago are televised around the world. Hubert Humphrey wins the nomination on the first ballot. After the convention, Richard Nixon opens his campaign with a parade through the Chicago Loop and is cheered by thousands. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Thousands of demonstrators, barred from getting anywhere near the 1968 Democratic National Convention, moved their protest to Party headquarters on Chicago's Michigan Avenue. The National Guard was called to help the police put down the protest and the sides clashed violently. At the convention, there was more confusion. Some anti-war delegates, once pledged to the murdered Robert Kennedy, threw their support behind George McGovern. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The 1968 Democratic National Convention.

In this lesson, students will view selected video segments from Ken Burns & ​Lynn Novick: The Vietnam War and examine various viewpoints in regard to the legality of the publication of the Pentagon Papers.

President Nixon wants to end publishing of the formerly secret Pentagon Papers but the Supreme Court decides there is a first amendment right to publish them. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The Pentagon Papers: National Security versus the People’s Right to Know.

In January 1973, Daniel Ellsberg was indicted for theft and conspiracy under the Espionage Act of 1917. President Nixon, who feared Ellsberg possessed classified documents that would show that he himself had lied about the secret bombing of Cambodia and Laos, instructed Attorney General John Mitchell to discredit Ellsberg by leaking information to the press. Nixon also created a White House clandestine investigative unit, known as "The Plumbers," which was ordered to burglarize the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist to find material with which to blackmail him into silence. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The Pentagon Papers: National Security versus the People’s Right to Know.