Longest war in US history. The first major military defeat for the United States 1954-1975

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Longest war in US history. The first major
military defeat for the United States1954-1975
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55,000 American soldiers dead
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Millions of U.S. and Vietnamese veterans
injured or psychologically damaged
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1.3 million Vietnamese soldiers dead, and unknown
numbers of civilians
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10 million Vietnamese refugees
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A country permanently scarred
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Where is Vietnam?
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Colonized by China from 200 BC to 938 AD
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Then by the French from the 1880s till WWII
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and the Japanese during WWII
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An Independent Vietnam was a dream
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WWII Aftermath

• After WWII, communism became the biggest threat
  to world peace
• After 1945, France threatened to regain control
  over Vietnam
• But Vietnamese nationalists, who also believed in
  communism and had connections to the Soviet
  Union, were determined to fight back
• The U.S. then decided that Frances position was
  more anti-communist and allowed a somewhat
  independent Vietnam to be established
• French Indo-China was split into 4 parts Laos
  and Cambodia to the West while Vietnam was split
  into 2 in the East. Communists ruled N. Vietnam,
  and S. Vietnam became somewhat independent.

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Vietnam during the War
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What prompted U.S. involvement?
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. . . Thus the Cold War and the Domino Theory

• Vietnam then became symbolic of the battle to
  prevent the spread of Communism a battle of
  power between the U.S. and the Soviet Union named
  the Cold War
• With China becoming communist and with a war in
  Korea, the U.S. feared the consequences of
  losing Vietnam
• This fear became known as the Domino Theory
  if one country came under communist rule, then
  adjacent countries would follow suit.

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Who was Fighting?
North Vietnam (Communists) North Vietnamese Army
(NVA) Vietcong (Charlie, VC) from the South

• Vs
• South Vietnam (Anti-Communists)
• Republic of Vietnam (RVN)
• United States
• Laotian (Hmong)

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A Vietnamese Buddhist monk burns himself alive to
protest the actions of the Diem government
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At first, the U.S. was
To only advise
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But involvement in Vietnam Grows

• U.S. involvement in Vietnam grew over time
• Following President Eisenhowers example,
  President Kennedy tripled aid to S. Vietnam (N.
  Vietnam was controlled by communists) and
  increased military presence to 16,700 troops
• After Kennedys assassination, President Johnson,
  faced w/ the potential allegation of losing
  Vietnam, committed himself and the country to
  deeper involvement in the Vietnam conflict

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Alleged Provocation, August 1964 Gulf of Tonkin

• A resolution was then developed allowing Johnson
  to use military force in Vietnam to take all
  necessary steps, including the use of armed
  forces to help the South East Asia Treaty
  Organization defend their freedom. Link

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Reflections after the war
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The Failure to Protect Democracy . . . And Its
Costs

• . . . The only time in its history the U.S.
  failed to achieve its stated war aims . . .
• Even after the U.S. Treasury spent over 140
  billion . . .
• And 200,000 South Vietnamese, 1 million North
  Vietnamese, 500,000 civilians, and 56,555 U.S.
  Soldiers lives were spent.
• Destruction to land, too, was costly 50 of the
  countrys forest cover was destroyed as was 20
  of its agricultural land.

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. . . Further Costs

• Vietnam became communist and several thousand
  refugees fled
• Laos and Cambodia erupted in chaos
• Hmong, citizens of Laos who helped the U.S., fled
  to Thailand and then the U.S.

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. . . And the U.S. soldiers return home was
difficult too.

• 2.6 million men and women served in the war
• Upon returning home, after facing intense combat
  stress, the veterans suffered from high rates of
  divorce, drug abuse, unemployment, and
  homelessness
• The veterans were also criticized by those who
  opposed the war, and they became symbols of
  Americas defeat

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. . . Until The Wall commemorating their service
was built in Washington D.C., helping to finally
honor the men and women who died in service to
their country
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Topic Choices

• How effective were
• Lyndon B. Johnson? (A key U.S. president)
• Ho Chi Minh? (North Vietnamese leader)
• The ARVN Army?
• The Vietcong?
• The American military?
• U. S. medical personnel?
• Protesters?
• The media coverage?

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Topic Choices

• or explore one of these topics
• Tet Offensive
• The use of Laotian citizen fighters
• The draft system
• Psyops (psychological warfare)
• Agent Orange
• Prisoners of war
• U. S. withdrawal from Vietnam
• The potential of avoiding the Vietnam War

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Your Homework

• Access this PowerPoint from our class website
• Check out the remaining slides to help you get to
  know the topics
• List your top 3 choices on a piece of paper and
  hand in next class.
• NOTE There will also be brief explanations
  posted in the LMTC

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Did Lyndon B. Johnson make effective decisions
during the Vietnam War?

• By 1965, Johnson had to choose between losing a
  war or making the Vietnam War a huge military
  commitment
• He did not choose either extreme, but still
  committed 300,000 troops which grew to 500, 000
  by 1968
• After the Tet Offensive, a surprise series of
  attacks on U.S. and S. Vietnamese Troops in 1968,
  Johnson slowly and painfully reduced U.S.
  involvement

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Browse the following pages to select your top 3
topics
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Was Ho Chi Minh an effective leader during the
Vietnam War?

• Ho Chi Minh was a Vetnamese nationalist
• A communist, Ho Chi Minh trained a group named
  the Vietminh who fought against first the
  Japanese during WWII and then later the French.
• They operated as guerillas, which later shaped
  the fighting of the Viet Cong
• As a leader, Ho Chi MInhs primary goal was to
  establish a unified, communist Vietnam

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Did the Vietcong soldiers fight effectively
during the Vietnam War?

• The Vietcong usually fought as guerillas, meaning
  they did not fight in the open but struck against
  their enemies and then resumed hiding in the
  jungle. They also were not distinguished by a
  uniform as the North Vietnamese Army would have
  been, so it was difficult to distinguish a member
  of the Viet Cong from a civilian
• They incorporated extensive methods to remain
  hidden, building tunnels where necessary
• As guerillas, they did not stage battles but
  instead murdered S. Vietnamese leaders and
  village heads to control the Southern country
  side
• Effective in their methods, the Viet Cong were
  supported by the North Vietnamese Army by 1960

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Did the ARVN soldiers fight effectively during
the Vietnam War?

• The ARVN military group was formed in South
  Vietnam in 1954
• The U.S., under President John F. Kennedy sent
  advisors and a great deal of financial support to
  aid ARVN in combating the Communist insurgents.
• The idea was the help South Vietnam help itself.
• The ARVN eventually became fully armed and funded
  by the U.S.

12 year old child soldier of the ARVN with a M-79
grenade launcher
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Should the U. S. have implemented the draft
system for the Vietnam War?

• In order to have enough soldiers, the U. S.
  initiated the draft.
• The system randomly assigned number (based on
  birthdays). If a persons number was called, he
  had to report to the local draft board or risk
  imprisonment
• Some took huge risks to avoid the war altogether

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The average soldier was 19 years old . . .
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Soldiers were drafted, while some volunteered.
Conditions in Vietnam were tough . . .
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Was the American military prepared for the
challenges it met in Vietnam?

• While the V.C. and NVA used light infantry and
  guerilla tactics, the U.S. relied on air
  superiority.
• The Air Force consumed over 6 million tons of
  munitions
• Also, because of the dense foliage of Vietnams
  jungles, the U.S. used a defoliant called Agent
  Orange to try to kill the plant helping the Viet
  Cong hide

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The. U.S. also used the helicopter for various
operations as well as other more Western
warfare technologies
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Should the Laotian citizens have helped the U. S.
during the Vietnam War?

• Because of its proximity to Vietnam, several US
  advisors were sent (but the CIA) to Laos to
  create a secret army against Communism.
• Although Laos was technically neutral in this
  war, and other countries had agreed not to attack
  it, a crucial trail from North Vietnam to South
  Vietnam ran though it.
• These secret armies helped the US by fighting in
  battles along this trail Laos itself was often
  under attack as US and North Vietnam fought each
  other.
• Laos helped helped because it trusted that the US
  would always stand by them

Notice how the Ho Chi Minh Trail (red line) goes
through Laos
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Were the U.S. psyops efforts well-planned and
effective? 

• Psyops are planned operations to give selected
  information to influence emotions, motives,
  objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior
  of foreign governments, organizations, groups,
  and individuals.
• It usually targets the common citizens of the
  areathose who usually are caught in the middle
• This information is often distributed by dropping
  leaflets from planes but it also done through
  whatever media is available (newspapers, radio,
  television, etc)

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Did the U. S. medical personnel care effectively
for American soldiers?

• A helicopter pilot points out something to his
  copilot in the cockpit of a US UH1 helicopter gun
  ship over the Mekong River Delta, 1968. The
  "Huey" became known as the workhorse of Vietnam.
  It could be adapted to many functions such as
  troop transport, medical evacuation and use as a
  gunship. No other machine saved as many lives
  during the war as the Medevac Hueys.

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Photograph of 1st Lt. Elaine H. Niggemann
Changing a Surgical Dressing 1st Lt. Elaine H.
Niggemann changes a surgical dressing for Mr.
James J. Torgelson at the 24th Evacuation
Hospital. Mr. Torgelson is a civilian
Photograph of a Nurse Tending to a Patient In the
South China Sea, a nurse tends a patient just out
of surgery in the intensive care ward of the
hospital ship USS Repose (AH-16).
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Photograph of Medevac Helicopter Taking Off to
Pick Up an Injured Member of the 101st Airborn
Division South Vietnam. A UH-1D Medevac
helicopter takes off to pick up an injured member
of the 101st Airborn Division, near the
demilitarized zone. 10/16/1969
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Was the Tet Offensive a victory for the United
States or the North Vietnamese?

• During a religious holiday in January of 1968,
  the Viet Cong mounted a surprise attack against
  the S. Vietnamese city of Saigon as well as Hue
  and other cities
• Though the U.S. suspected an attack was planned,
  they were misdirected
• Fighting was especially fierce, and about 32,000
  Viet Cong lost lives while 3,000 civilians of Hue
  were executed. American losses, too, were heavy
  14,000 soldiers perished.

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Should the U. S. have used Agent Orange during
the Vietnam War?

• Agent Orange was the code name for a herbicide
  developed for the military, primarily for use in
  tropical climates. Although the genesis of the
  product goes back to the 1940's, serious testing
  for military applications did not begin until the
  early 1960's.
• The purpose of the product was to deny an enemy
  cover and concealment in dense terrain by
  defoliating trees and shrubbery where the enmy
  could hide. The product "Agent Orange" (a code
  name for the orange band that was used to mark
  the drums it was stored in, was principally
  effective against broad-leaf foliage, such as the
  dense jungle-like terrain found in Southeast
  Asia.
• Agent Orange has been blamed for Vietnamese birth
  defect and illnesses and disease found in
  soldiers who fought during the war

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Did media coverage accurately portray the events
of the Vietnam War?

• The graphic nature of the Vietnam War was
  publicized day after day in peoples homes
• As a result of striking military losses of human
  life and money, the war became unpopular

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Were American protesters effective in changing
the course of the war?

• The first major demonstration was in NY City in
  1965, where 25, 000 people marched against the
  war most protestors were college-aged.
• The anti-war movement grew after 1968, following
  the My Lai Massacre and later in 1969, the Tet
  Offensive.
• The My Lai Massacre, in which a company of
  soldiers massacred 500 Vietnamese men, women,
  and children heightened public dissatisfaction
  with the war
• When the U.S. invaded Cambodia in 1970, a student
  demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio
  led to the deaths of 4 students, shot by the
  National Guard
• Other key protests occurred, including the
  bombing on the UW campus

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Overall, which side treated its prisoners of war
(POWs) better?
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Should the U. S. have withdrawn from the Vietnam
War when they did?

• During that time period, the U.S. reduced troops
  in the region however, in an attempt to protect
  fragile S. Vietnam, President Nixon spread the
  war to Cambodia
• By 1972, 47,000 troops were in Vietnam and the
  U.S. concentrated on training S. Vietnamese to
  hold off the communists
• By 1973, the Paris Peace Accord was signed

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Although the ceasefire was reached, it failed to
save the south

• The Vietcong captured Saigon in the South in 1975
• The last hours of Saigon were full of chaos as
  U.S. military tried to save its supporters
• Many were left to the vices of the Vietcong . . .

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Could the Vietnam War have been avoided somehow?

• This topic is geared for the individual who wants
  a challenge and can handle dealing with
  hypotheticals.
• While there are definite ways to prove either
  position, you must consider a variety of sources
  to completely understand the issues prove your
  points well.