Examiner’s Specific Advice

This question is testing your knowledge and your ability to communicate it effectively. There is no source material involved. You are required to explain motives for a particular decision, why Kennedy committed US forces to the support of South Vietnam in 1961. You are not expected to explain all possible motives, but you should certainly try to find a range, perhaps three. Therefore the question requires no more than a ‘mini-essay’ of probably two or three paragraphs at most, certainly not a full-length essay. You should aim to give a brief explanation for each motive. A high-level answer might include a brief summary and possibly a conclusion tying the motives together, identifying different types of motive (e.g. linking long-term and short-term factors) or deciding whether one motive was more important than others.

The examiner is not looking for sophisticated interpretations, but brief, clear explanations.

Exemplar Question

2 (03) Explain why President Kennedy approved plans to provide US military support for South Vietnam in 1961.  [12 marks]

Plan

• Introduction: Kennedy’s position as a new President
• Long-term factors: the context of the Cold War; the previous collapse of French rule; policies inherited from the Eisenhower administration
• Short-term factors: the weaknesses and corruption of Diem’s regime; reports from fact-finding missions; Kennedy’s desire to stand up to Khrushchev
• Conclusion: making the links

View Exemplar Answer 1

View Exemplar Answer 2