Questions regarding the Vietnam War: Consider involving the critique of President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policies most succinctly defined four decades ago by J. William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Considered an expert on international relations, Fulbright's hearings focused on the limits of the containment doctrine and the propensity of the United States to assert what he described in his book as The Arrogance of Power. Does the Constitution impose any limitations upon the president's ability to wage war in opposition to congressional and public opinion?
What authority does congress have to hold presidential conduct accountable? Explain the extent to which journalists report and/or influence public perceptions of foreign policy. Focus your discussion as much as possible on the Vietnam situation from Franklin Roosevelt's decision to provide military assistance to the Vietminh during World War II until Gerald Ford's decision to evacuate American diplomatic and military personnel prior to the fall of what was then known as Saigon. What relevant lessons, if any, did the United States learn from its tragic experience in Indochina? Do the lessons of the Vietnam quagmire have contemporary relevance to current involvement within central and western Asia? Provide careful documentary evidence to substantiate viewpoint.