There are three basic parts of “Escalation”: background, role playing as
President Johnson, and outcome (what President Johnson
actually did and what actually happened). The background and
outcome sections are in a presentation format – the teacher
can use them to give students information and promote
discussion. The background section presents information and
explanation, including pictures, diagrams, maps, and video to
help students understand the context of their decisions. The
outcome section explains what President Johnson actually did
and how the conflict turned out. This allows students to
compare their decisions and decision-making process to that
used at the time. Several perspectives on the war are also
included in the handouts to stimulate further thinking on the
meaning of the experience.
The role-play
section is the heart of the simulation. It’s the part that
is interactive – what students get depends upon what they
do. The simulation puts students in the shoes of President
Johnson from 1964 to 1968 and asks them to make decisions
about the Vietnam War before they know what President Johnson
actually did. This section is basically like a very
complicated Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Novel. The computer
keeps track of your decisions and gives you new information
and decision problems based on your previous decisions. So, if
you decided in 1964 not to bomb North Vietnam, to ask for a
declaration of war, and to send 50,000 US troops to fight in
South Vietnam, you would get different outcomes, information
and decisions in January, 1965 than if you had chosen to bomb,
not ask for a declaration or not send that number of troops.
Students at different computers will have very different
experiences, therefore, depending on their choices.
The decision
section of the simulation proceeds in irregular intervals,
sometimes a month apart, sometimes 3 months, sometimes 6
months, and sometimes 9 months. This irregularity reflects the
intermittent nature of Presidential decision-making on any one
issue – it may be the subject of nearly constant meetings
for a week, and then not be discussed for months. There are 18
time periods in which students are called on to make
decisions, but some students will miss up to three of these
time periods, depending on their decisions. Students will make
between 25 and 40 decisions in the simulation.
