Then and Now: Assessing the Critical Lessons

Then and Now: Assessing the Critical Lessons
  • Introduction....................................................................................2
  • Panel 1 - Was the War Just?.........................................................3
  • Was the war necessary strategically and ethically? What purpose was it intended to serve?
  • Keynote Address - Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman1
  • Panel 2 - War or Revolution? .......................................................5
  • Did the Vietnamese conflict represent a national revolution (and civil war) or an instance of foreign aggression?
  • Panel 3 - A Winnable War? ..........................................................7
  • Was the war lost because of poor leadership or was it winnable?
  • Panel 4 (Roundtable) - The Misconduct of War and Impacts in Vietnam ...........................................................................................9
  • What was the impact of the war on the Vietnamese people, South and North, and on American service members?
  • Panel 5 – Diplomacy.....................................................................11
  • What opportunities existed to negotiate an earlier end to the war, and how were these affected by political interests in Washington, Hanoi and Saigon?
  • Panel 6 - Lessons for U.S. Foreign Policy ..................................13
  • What were the crucial lessons of the war? How do these lessons apply to current U.S. foreign policy?
  • Panel 7 (Roundtable) - The Anti-War Movement ....................15
  • What were the impacts of the anti-war movement?
  • Our Wrap Up ...............................................................................17
  • Epilogue (An answer to why we still fight the war) ..................18
  • References .....................................................................................20
  • Addenda (Questions for Teachers and Journalists) .................22

1 Elizabeth Holtzman was an active member of the Congress which post-Watergate cut aid to Indochina. Her group, “Members of Congress For Peace
Through Law” (MCPL), devoted taxpayer funded staff time and other funds to the “anti-war” effort. She was a speaker at the Communist victory
celebration in New York City's Central Park on May 9, 1975.