Thesis (M.S. in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy)--Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School, 2007. / Title from title screen; viewed on July 9, 2007. "5 April 2007." Electronic version of original print document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-101).

Theses (M.A .)--Marshall University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains vi, 85 pages. Bibliography: p.80-85.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-151) and index.

This thesis uses the referent “My Lai Massacre” to refer to the mythic memory of what happened in Son My on 16 March, 1968. It argues that it is a fitting name for the way it captures the ethnocentrism of the memory in the name by perpetuating an American misnomer rooted in ignorance. It also singularizes the scope of horrors of the day, and fails to differentiate ‘the massacre’ from the domestic turmoil with which it was conflated. The My Lai Massacre narrative as it currently exists in American history and memory is ‘exceptionalist’ in that it incorporates and excludes story elements in such a way that casts it as a highly exceptional occurrence. The main argument of this thesis is that American history and memory of the ‘My Lai Massacre’ have, to a large degree, been defined and shaped by conservative influences. In the time since the news of the atrocities became public this has manifested itself in a number of way and is not confined to conservative histories of the war. Despite the hold liberal orthodox scholarship has on the history of the war, there remains within it, this thesis argues, a conservative trend regarding the massacres in Son My. Reactions, explanations, and rationalizations that appeared in early conservative responses to news of the massacres have survived into a wider ideological spectrum of Vietnam scholarship and memory than that from which it came. Although it seems at first consideration an unlikely event from which a usable past might be constructed, the My Lai Massacre does get used in a didactic manner. This thesis examines some of the most prevalent ways the memory of My Lai functions as a usable past. The My Lai Massacre has been incorporated into a number of ‘lessons of the past’ that tend to be derived from conservative narratives of the war.

The aim of this study is to determine the objectivity of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s The Vietnam War (2017) 10-parter series in comparison to past Vietnam documentaries such as Emile de Antonio’s In the Year of the Pig (1968) and Peter Davis’ Hearts and Minds (1974). In doing so, this study observes Burns and Novick’s approaches in stylistic editing and the omission of certain narratives of the war, along with what such choices suggest of the political stances assumed by the series and its predecessors. Through each chapter, the study observes: the caustic portrayal of leaders, from their decisions to enter into and prosecute war and the effects of these decisions that remain after their leadership has ended; the way the series empathizes with first-hand veteran accounts through visual reconstruction; and the acknowledgement of the media as ever-present in the representation of the public and the war. The relation between each chapter’s focus is related to the way audiences connect with the war, whether through documented history, public opinion, and/or personal experiences. The study concludes that while the series maintains its objectivity to an extent, it gives a decidedly American perspective of the war.

This thesis addresses events and issues that occurred in 1963, how President Kennedy responded to them, and what followed after Kennedy's assassination. This thesis was created by using books published about Kennedy, articles from magazines, documents, telegrams, speeches, and Internet sources. What has been disclosed is that many of the legends attributed to Kennedy simply are not true. In examining this thesis, the reader will understand what Kennedy's political interests were and the impact of his Presidency on future generations.

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This project examines the scientific developments, strategic considerations, and political circumstances that led to the rise and fall of herbicidal warfare in Vietnam. The historical narrative draws on a wide range of primary and secondary source literature on the Vietnam War and the Cold War, the history of science, and American and international history of the 1960s and 1970s. The author conducted archival research in the United States in a variety government and non-government research facilities and toured formerly sprayed areas in Vietnam. This project utilizes oral history interviews of American and Vietnamese scientists who were involved in some aspect of the Agent Orange controversy. The thesis explains why American scientists were able to force an end to the herbicide program in 1971 and ensure that the United States would not engage in herbicidal warfare in the future. This political success can be understood only in the context of two major political transformations in the Vietnam Era: the collapse of Cold War containment as a salient model of American foreign policy, and the development of globally-oriented environmental politics and security regimes. The movement to end herbicidal warfare helped shift the meaning of security away from the Cold War toward transnational efforts to combat environmental problems that threaten all of the world's people. / History