The Tragic Legacies of the American War in Vietnam (DRAKE HALL)

This course explores the enduring consequences of the American War in Vietnam (1960–1975) and examines why the conflict remains important to Americans today. It raises a series of key questions: Why did the world's most powerful military fail to defeat an impoverished country smaller than Tennessee after more than eight years of intense combat? Did the war alter the trajectory of history, and in what ways? How did the war contribute to the rise of the imperial presidency? Did it help set the stage for subsequent conflicts in Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran? Did the American defeat in Vietnam prompt a reckoning—a reappraisal of national values—that challenged the notion of American exceptionalism? Did it create space for China's rise as a global power? Did the outcome reveal fundamental strategic weaknesses in U.S. policy and decision-making? 

Loren W. Crabtree is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, where he served as Chancellor from 2001 to 2009, and an Emeritus Provost at Colorado State University. He was trained as a historian of modern China at the University of Minnesota (B.A., M.A., and Ph.D.) and served as President and CEO of the Institute of Shipboard Education (Semester at Sea). He has taught some 20 courses, including Modern China, Modern Japan, and American–East Asian Relations, as well as graduate seminars on Wars in the Pacific and the Vietnam Conflict. He and his spouse, Monica Christen, live in Fort Collins. 

Notes

• A current OLLI membership is required to register for all courses and lectures.
• If you do not have a Fall 2026 membership, one will be added to your cart at checkout.
• OLLI membership fees and course tuition are critical to the Institute's sustainability and are non-refundable.

Recommendations

Max Hastings, Vietnam; An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975. (Harper-Collins, 2018).
John W. Dower, Cultures Of War, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq (Norton, 2010).
David Halberstam, The Best And The Brightest (Ballentine Books, 1972).
Kristin Hannah, The Women (St. Martin's, 2024).
Philip and William Taubman, Mcmamara at War; A New History (Norton, 2025).

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