38 - SAQ - Vietnam

This question is based on the following two passages. “The story of Tet as an enemy defeat was drowned out by an exactly opposite dovish interpretation, accepted by most of the media, of Tet as a ruinous defeat for the United States. (The military to this day curse and distrust the media for their bad reporting.) For years Washington had used the media to deceive the public, presenting the equally distorted angle that the war was a peripheral matter with everything going well and no need to worry. That angle was indeed false; suddenly the entire American nation realized there was a major war going on, and that it might even be lost. The media, feeling tricked, began to seriously question the veracity and optimism of the White House.” Richard Jensen, “Victory and Defeat in the Vietnam War,” 2001 

“Vietnam demonstrates the problems of an asymmetric war. This was not a total war for the United States; this was not the worst-case scenario of fighting an equivalent power with equivalent technology and probably greater numbers.…The Air Force came into the Vietnam War woefully unprepared for the war....While it is true that air operations were constrained by civilian-imposed restrictions, the Air Force had also limited its abilities by its concentration on nuclear war. It rose to the challenge of the war in Vietnam….But the war had also changed from a guerrilla war to a conventional one….What failed in Vietnam was not the technology, but a broad understating of the power and limits of both air power and air technology.” Kenneth P. Werrell, “Did the USAF Technology Fail in Vietnam?” 1998   Based on the two interpretations above regarding the Vietnam War, complete the following three tasks:

Briefly explain the main point made in Passage 1.

Briefly explain the main point made in Passage 2.

Provide ONE piece of evidence from the era of the Vietnam War that is not included in the passages, and explain how it supports the interpretation in either passage.