The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Sonoma State University is offering an eight-week lecture series on the Vietnam War from Sept. 13 to Nov. 1.
The series will highlight how the U.S. became involved in Vietnam, how the war was conducted, how Vietnam has opened to the West since the war, and the legacies and lessons of this important chapter in American history.
Prominent Santa Rosa lawyer Dan Lanahan, who was instrumental in opening Vietnam to the West in the 1990's, will provide historical and cultural background on Vietnam and talk about how Vietnam has changed in the last few decades.
Popular local speaker, United Nations historian and prolific writer, Chris O'Sullivan, will provide background on how Cold War attitudes and strategies influenced U.S. thinking about the situation in Vietnam.
Daniel Ellsberg, who worked at the highest levels in the Pentagon, spent years on the ground in Vietnam, and studied the war for the RAND Corporation, will also be participating in the series. Based on his insider role, he will provide us his view as to how the secret war aims of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon differed from what the public was being told and then explain why this knowledge led him to release the famous Pentagon Papers.
Well known writer Maxine Hong-Kingston, who has for decades helped Vietnam Veterans express their memories and feelings about their participation in the war, will bring in some of these Veterans to tell their stories.
Ellsberg, Lanahan and O'Sullivan will provide their views as to how the current situation in Iraq compares to the Vietnam War, how similar these experiences really are, and whether the lessons from one can be applied to the other.
The series will be held on Wednesday afternoons from 1 to 2:45 p.m. in the Cooperage at SSU. It is a part of the Osher Lifelong Learning fall program that includes ten other courses on topics such as the Enlightenment, the Legacy of Egypt, Election 2006, and the Analysis of Dreams.
The series is available to Osher LLI members. Institute membership is available for $150, plus a $60 administrative fee, and entitles members to take up to four eight-week classes.
For more information, please call (707) 664-2691 or visit the Osher Lifelong Learning Web site at www.sonoma.edu/exed/lifelong/.
