The Origins of the Vietnam War

Description

From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History website:

"Most discussions of the Vietnam War consider whether or not President John F. Kennedy could or would have withdrawn U.S. troops from the country, thus avoiding a long and bloody conflict. In this lecture, John Prados, a senior fellow of the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C., argues that America's path to Vietnam was set long before Kennedy took office. Near the end of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt allowed the French to maintain a foothold in Indochina (as Vietnam and its neighbors were then known). By the 1950s, when France began to cast its battle with Vietnamese nationalists as a fight against communism, the United States was already, irrevocably drawn in."

Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site [NY]

Description

The Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site preserves Fort Niagara, founded in 1726. The majority of structures on site date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The fort is strategically located at the mouth of the Niagara River. As a result, it was crucial to deciding American dominance in the Great Lakes Region, as opposed to control by the French or British. Both the British and French controlled either the fort itself or the site of the fort at various points of time. Soldiers lived and trained on site for both World Wars. The fort also shaped the history of the Iroquois. Collections include more than 102,000 artifacts.

The site offers period rooms, student programs, guided tours for students, school overnight programs, school outreach programs, and school distance learning programs. The website offers a virtual tour.

Fort Pitt Museum [PA]

Description

Situated in the recreated Monongahela Bastion at Point State Park, the Fort Pitt Museum commemorates the strategic importance of the Forks of the Ohio during the Great War for Empire in which British, French, Colonial, and Native American forces struggled for control of North America. Through exhibits and programs, the museum also addresses the important role of Fort Pitt during the American Revolution and the early development of the city of Pittsburgh. The site presents tours, exhibits, educational programs, and publications to broaden understanding of the significance of the area known as "the Point." In meeting this goal, Fort Pitt Museum closely examines the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the various military fortifications established on the site, the many cultures that influenced the development of the region, and the importance of the fur trade and other early commerce.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Goliad State Park and Mission Espíritu Santo State Historic Site [TX]

Description

The park contains a refurnished replica of Mission Nuestra Senora del Espíritu Santo de Zuniga, reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. The mission was originally established in 1722 near Matagorda Bay and moved to its present site in 1749. This mission was the first large cattle ranch in Texas, supplying its own needs and those of Spanish colonial settlements as far away as Louisiana. The park also contains General Ignacio Zaragoza's Birthplace, Plaza, and Amphitheater, which are located near Presidio La Bahia. General Zaragoza assumed command of the rag-tag Mexican Army and welded it into a staunch fighting force, which met and defeated the French on May 5, 1862, in the Battle of Puebla, which led to Mexico's independence from France.

The site offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

Iroquois Confederacy

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary describes Five Indian nations' formation of the Iroquois Confederacy in an effort to protect themselves against European settlers. The confederacy successfully maintained its strength through decades of colonization and warfare.

Marquis de Lafayette

Description

Mark Schneider, a historical interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, speaks as the Marquis de Lafayette, giving a first-person perspective of this youthful Frenchman whose assistance helped the Patriots win the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War.

Iliniwek Village State Historic Site [MO]

Description

On a high sand terrace above the Des Moines River floodplain in northeast Missouri sets Iliniwek Village State Historic Site, the largest and best preserved remnant known of any Illinois Indian village. This site was occupied from ca. A.D. 1640-1683, when Europeans were just contacting Native Americans in this region. During excavations in the 1990s, the locations of numerous houses, storage pits and even a ditch and palisade fortification were discovered. The Illinois Indians were the first Native Americans that Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette encountered in present-day Missouri in 1673. At that time, the village contained 300 lodges and perhaps 8,000 people. Evidence of early European contact appears in archaeological finds through glass beads, metal objects, and Jesuit trade rings. The historic site interprets the history and daily life of the Illinois Indians and the Jolliet and Marquette expedition of 1673. A short walking trail crosses the site, and the location of an excavated Illinois Indian longhouse is marked to show its size.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.

French and Indian War

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the war that ignited between England and France when a young George Washington was drawn into a skirmish with French scouts. Control over the continent of America was at stake as the two world powers conducted a massive war in the colonies.