Name ____________________________________________ Date _____________________________ Period _________
Informational Documents: Primary & Secondary Sources
Standard: Reading Comprehension 2.5 – Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis,
evaluation, and elaboration.
ESLR: Resourceful Learner
Directions: Read the following two articles. Then, read each multiple-choice question that follows, and circle the letter of the best
response. Don’t forget to use your test-taking strategies!
The Media and the War
Paul Boyer
By the end of 1967 more than 16,000 Americans had been
killed in Vietnam. Thousands more had been injured or
disabled. Despite the government’s optimistic forecasts, a
U.S. victory seemed increasingly distant. American television
news programs showed gruesome images of terrified
Vietnamese civilians and dead or injured soldiers. Some
Americans responded by demanding that the military be
allowed to do whatever it took to win. Others wanted the
United States to pull out of Vietnam.
The Vietnam War invaded American homes in a way that no
previous conflict had. During previous wars the military had
imposed tight press restrictions. In this war, reports,
photographers, and TC camera crews accompanied soldiers
on patrol and interviewed people throughout South Vietnam.
Television beamed footage and reports of the war into
people’s homes on a nightly basis. As a result, Americans saw
images that seemed to contradict the government’s reports.
frustration of many hawks. “Here we are at the height of our
power. The most powerful nation in the world. And yet we’re
afraid to use that power.”
Doves opposed the war for many reasons. Pacifists3 such as
Martin Luther King, Jr., believed that all war was wrong. Some
doves, such as diplomat George Kennan, were convinced that
Vietnam was not crucial to national security. Others feared
that the United States might use nuclear weapons.
Pediatrician and author Dr. Benjamin Spock and others
argued that the United States was fighting against the wishes
of a majority of Vietnamese.
-from The American Nation (history textbook)
Reporters such as David Halberstam of The New York Times
and Neil Sheehan of United Press International criticized the
government’s optimism. As early as 1962 they argued that
the war could not be won as long as the United States
supported the unpopular and corrupt regime 1 of Ngo Dinh
Diem. Journalist also reported on the ineffectiveness of South
Vietnam’s troops and accused the U.S. government of
inflating2 enemy body counts to give the appearance of
progress.
As the gap between official government reports and media
accounts grew wider, doubted at home increased. The
administration found itself criticized by both doves – people
who opposed the war – and hawks – people who supported
the war’s goals. Hawks criticized the way the war was being
fought. They argued for more U.S. troops and heavier
bombing. Air Force General Curtis LeMay expressed the
1
2
Regime: n. government; rule.
Inflating: v. used as n.: increasing beyond what is accurate.
3
Pacifists: n. people who oppose war for moral reasons.
from The Vietnam War: An Eyewitness History
edited by Sanford Wexler
JOHN M. G. BROWN
Thanks a lot for the Christmas presents. They were great.
Yesterday I went up Thunder Road on a guarded truck convoy
to see the Bob Hope USO Christmas show. It was really a
good time and very moving. One of the girls started crying
while she was singing “Silent Night” to us and got interrupted
by a barrage of artillery going off nearby. If you see pictures
of it, I’ll be sitting just to the left of two tanks with “Merry
Christmas” painted on them.
DU LUC
For the third time my life turned to war again. For the
liberation of our compatriots6 in the south, a situation of
boiling oil and burning fire is necessary! A situation in which
husband is separated from wife, father from son, brother
from brother is necessary. Now, my life is full of hardship.
Not enough rice to eat, not enough salt to give taste to my
tongue, not enough clothing to keep myself warm. But, in my
heart, I keep loyal to the [Community] Party and to the
people.
-Pfc. John M. G. Brown, U.S.A., First Aviation
Battalion from a letter to his family of December
25, 2967, from Rice Paddy Grunt (1986)
DICKEY CHAPPELLE
As I fell into the hypnotic rhythm of the patrol – we were
moving between trees and cane fields, stepping high so we
would not trip and clatter on the uneven ground – I was
obsessed by a question that had plagued me on the other
walks in other wars: Why?
Why was it that humans still got along so badly that conflicts
were settled like this, by young men betting their lives at
hide-and-seek? Did I truly think I could, with the camera
around my neck, help end the need for the carbine 4 on my
shoulder? Did I think I could make plain how warring really
was, how quickly the cutting edge of fear excised 5 every
human virtue, leaving only the need to live? Here, now, the
supreme virtue was the ability to shoot fast. Or first.
-Du Luc, Vietcong soldier
diary entry of December 190, from Time,
December 15, 1961
RON KOVIC
In one big bang they have taken it all from me, in one clean
sweep, and now I am in this place around all the others like
me, and though I keep trying not to feel sorry for myself, I
want to cry. There is no shortcut around this thing. It is too
soon to die even for a man who has died once already.
I try to keep telling myself it is good to still be alive, to be
back home. I remember thinking on the ambulance ride to
the hospital that this was the Bronx, the place where Yankee
Stadium was, were Mickey Mantle played. I think I realized
then also that my feet would never touch the stadium grass; I
would never play a game in that place.
-Sgt. Ron Kovic, U.S.M.C., on being severely
wounded in action in 1967, from his
autobiography, Born on the Fourth of July (1976)
-Dickey Chappelle, journalist with a U.S. and
Vietnamese River Assault Group in the Mekong
Delta in 1965, eyewitness account in National
Geographic, February 1966 [Chappelle, who died
on November 4, 1965, was the first American
correspondent to be killed in action in South
Vietnam.]
4
5
Carbine n.: light semiautomatic or automatic rifle
Excised v.: cut out, as if surgically removed.
6
Compatriots n.: citizens of one’s own country
1.
Which of these informational readings is a
secondary source?
A. The textbook excerpt “The Media and the
War”
B. Du Luc’s diary entry
C. The excerpt from Ron Kovic’s
autobiography
D. John M. G. Brown’s letter
2.
The writer’s purpose in the excerpts by Du Luc, Ron
Kovic, and Dickey Chappelle is to –
A. express strong personal feelings.
B. give detailed information about combat.
C. persuade the reader to support the war.
D. persuade the reader to oppose the war.
3.
“The Media and the War” presents information
that helps us to understand –
A. the reasons for U.S. involvement in the war.
B. the U.S. military strategy for the war.
C. the reasons for American’s antiwar feelings.
D. the history of Vietnam before the war.
4.
Which writer’s source would be MOST useful in
researching the war as seen from the Vietnamese
point of view?
A. Ron Kovic
B. Du Luc
C. Dickey Chappelle
D. the textbook writer, Paul Boyer
5.
The sources by John M. G. Brown, Du Luc, and Ron
Kovic are alike in that they –
A. are antiwar.
B. strongly support the war.
C. are based on other sources of information.
D. provide an eyewitness point of view.
6.
What kind of source would you expect to provide
the MOST objective reporting about the war?
A. an autobiography
B. a newspaper or magazine article
C. a diary entry
D. a letter home
7.
The two texts that are private and personal (that
the writers never intended to publish) are the ones
by John M. G. Brown and –
A. the textbook writer, Paul Boyer
B. Du Luc
C. Ron Kovic
D. Dickey Chappelle
8.
The writer who expresses despair over
humankind’s seeming dependence on war and the
fate of humankind is –
A. Dickey Chappelle
B. Du Luc
C. Ron Kovic
D. the textbook writer, Paul Boyer
9.
Which of the following sources would be LEAST
helpful if you wanted to extend and elaborate on
the ideas presented in these selections?
A. an interview with someone who served in
combat in the Vietnam War
B. an encyclopedia entry about the Vietnam
War
C. a map of Vietnam
D. a 1967 television news report about the
Vietnam War