Learning from the Source: Cartoonist Commentary-Vietnam War

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War lasted more than a decade. Have students analyze political cartoons from the primary source sets below to consider different issues related to this war and how cartoonists’ perspectives of U.S. involvement evolved over time. If students are not practiced at analyzing political cartoons, use the accompanying resources to help prepare and guide students in this type of primary source analysis. You may choose to have students analyze the cartoons twice, first without reviewing the curator notes/bibliographic information and again after. Look to the Common Core State Standards alignments below to inform activity tasks. After, have students create their own political cartoons to demonstrate understandings they gained of the Vietnam War (CCSS Writing standards 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10).

Enduring Understandings time, place, and culture influence our perspectives on people and issues; different perspectives affect the interpretation of history

Focus Question What perspectives did U.S. cartoonists provide of the Vietnam War during the course of U.S. involvement?

Vietnam War Political Cartoons 1965

Click the cartoons to view larger images; click the cartoon title to view curator notes/bibliographic information.

Kindly move over a little, gentlemen	Hmmm?	But How to Let Go—Gracefully
Don’t forget your commitment	Let us reason together!	Up escalators
Our position hasn’t changed at all	The other ascent into the unknown	From this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety

Vietnam War Political Cartoons 1961-1972

1961 – What to do till the Peace Corps comes	1962 – After All, It Doesn’t Have to Be a One-Way Street	1963 – Why Don’t We Have the Thirty Budgets of Ben Franklin’s Day?
1964 – Midnight reading	1966 – They won’t get us to the conference table . . . will they?	1967 – LBJ and Vietnam spectres
1968 – Uncle Sam carrying an M-16 rifle	1969 – The Mini-and-Maxi Era	1970 – How do I let go!
1971 – My last employment? Vietnam.	1972 – Now, as I was saying four years ago–	1973 – Can’t you grow up in 12 years??