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Senator Case Is Still Goin' with the Flow

After returning from Vietnam, and until the time of the Paris Peace Accord of 1973, Senator Case's position on continuing American military involvement on Vietnam changed. Because Case never served in the military those close to him, including former Chief of Staff Sam Zagoria, felt that Case was initially more deferential to military personnel in the conduct of war. But as time went on Senator Case was more prone to criticize the methods employed to carry out the war as well as to point out the horrible price of war in terms of human and financial costs.

Constituent Newsletter Project

Using the following documents, your knowledge and understanding of the Vietnam War era and other outside sources develop a hypothesis explaining the events and circumstances that led to the evolution of Senator Case's position on American military involvement in the Vietnam War.

Then, create a newsletter which will go to every single voter in New Jersey from Senator Case explaining the evolution of his desire to withdraw militarily from Vietnam (your hypothesis). The news letter should be between 500 and 750 words. It must include statistics and images, clear and concise language, and it can be written in the first person. It must reflect careful craftsmanship, be informative and engaging to voters, and be historically accurate in terms of events of the Vietnam War era.

Senator Case Election Sticker

Senator Case Election Sticker

Links to Documents

Activity IV — Senator Case Is Still Goin' with the Flow

  1. Provide students with the materials for this activity if they do not have access to Electronic New Jersey.
  2. To complete the activities in this unit students must be familiar with the Cold War foreign policy of the United States and understand why the United States became militarily involved in the post-World War II conflicts in Indochina, including the conflict that would become the Vietnam War. They must also understand the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and the ramifications of the Congress' decision to pass it. Finally they must understand that support for the Vietnam War among Americans waned as the credibility gap widened, and the different ways in which dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War manifested itself in American Society.
  3. Direct students to the "Senator Case Is Still Goin' with the Flow" section of Electronic New Jersey. Once there they will see this brief statement which they are to read.
    After returning from Vietnam, and until the time of the Paris Peace Accord of 1973, Senator Case's position on continuing American military involvement on Vietnam changes. Because Case never served in the military those close to him, including former Chief of Staff Sam Zagoria, felt that Case was initially more deferential to military personnel in the conduct of war. But as time goes on Senator Case is more prone to criticize the methods employed to carry out the war as well as to point out the horrible price of war in terms of human and financial costs.
  4. In order for students to effectively communicate Senator Case's opinions in the newsletter project, they will need to be familiar with persuasive writing techniques and selecting materials and media to appeal to a targeted audience.
  5. Direct students to the culminating lesson activity instructions, listed below. Instructors should feel free to tailor the assessment as they see fit to meet their instructional goals.
    Using these documents, your knowledge and understanding of the Vietnam War era and other outside sources develop a hypothesis explaining the events and circumstances that led to the evolution of Senator Case's position on American military involvement in the Vietnam War.
    Then, create a newsletter which will go to every single voter in New Jersey from Senator Case explaining the evolution of his desire to withdraw militarily from Vietnam (your hypothesis). The news letter should be between 500 and 750 words. It must include statistics and images, clear and concise language, and it can be written in the first person. It must reflect careful craftsmanship, be informative and engaging to voters, and be historically accurate in terms of events of the Vietnam War era.
    1. Report by Senator Case on his Factfinding Mission to Southeast Asia, June 5, 1967
    2. Speech "Tonkin Gulf Resolution" September 26, 1967
    3. Fact Sheet on the Vietnam War
    4. United States Military Aid to Indochina
    5. Impact of the Vietnam War
    6. Press Release of December 29, 1972
  6. A great resource to direct students to is the New York Times The Week in Review for Sunday, October 8, 1967. The text and/or PDF of these articles are available on services such as ProQuest featuring the New York Times and the Historical New York Times database.
  7. Another good resource that you may wish to introduce to your students comes from the Congressional Record. It is "Visit to Vietnam", a report read into the record by Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia on April 11, 1967. Senator Case would go to Vietnam just one month later.
  8. An extension activity would be to have students re-visit the essential questions for this unit and answer them in terms of Senator Case and his response to the executive branch's conduct of the Vietnam War.
  9. Another extension activity would be to have students locate Senator Robert Byrd's speeches from 2002 and 2003 against the United States military action in Iraq as a comparison to Senator Case's sentiments on the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and the Vietnam War.