The VIETNAM WAR ERA and How it Changed America

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The VIETNAM WAR ERAand How it Changed America

• Honors US History
• Unit 7

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Southeast Asia after WWII

• The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was
  established in 1945 Vietnam
• With the defeat and withdrawal of Japanese
  forces, Ho Chi Minh led the new state with 15,000
  French soldiers present
• French sought to depose Ho who led the Viet Minh
  troops in opposition to French colonial presence
• He retreated to hills and becomes a hero to his
  people
• French suffer huge defeat at the hand of the Viet
  Mihn as 12,000 troops surrender and withdraw from
  Indochina

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A New Division of an Old Land

• The Geneva Accords establishes a temporary
  division of Vietnam at 17th parallel in July 1954
  at Geneva, Switzerland
• Vietnam is divided into two nations with Ho Chi
  Mihn leading the north and Ngo Dinh Diem leading
  the "free" South.
• The Vietnamese people are promised free elections
  in 1956

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Protests over Diem and his Government

• Diem proves to be the wrong man for the job
• He is a wealthy American- educated Catholic
• Does not connect to the people
• The citizens protest including several Buddhist
  monks who self-emolliate themselves in protest

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Strife Begins Between the 2 Vietnams

• Many Vietnamese resent the division of their
  country and the Westerners they see as outsiders
• After receiving help and aid from Red China, Ho
  and his followers declare they are Communists and
  attempt to overthrow Diem and unify Vietnam in
  1960
• This group becomes the National Liberation Front
  (NLF)

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Another Assassination in 1963

• Diem overthrown and assassinated on November 2,
  1963
• American advisors are sent to keep the peace
• The war escalates even though in private many of
  Kennedys and LBJs advisors did not believe the
  war could be won
• This includes Robert McNamara- Secretary of
  Defense
• He is the former CEO of Ford Motors

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The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

• On August 1, 1964, two North Vietnamese Torpedo
  boats were accused of firing on an American
  destroyer, the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin
  off the coast of North Vietnam.

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The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Following the conflict between U.S. destroyers
  and North Vietnamese gunboats, Pres. Johnson is
  given authority by Congress to "prevent further
  aggression."
• The measure, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,
  passes Congress 416-0 in House and 88-2 in Senate
  
• By 1965 120,000 American troops are sent to
  Southeast Asia

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American Soldiers Far From Home

• The average age of an American foot soldier in
  Vietnam was 19 years old.
• Most likely not college educated
• Most soldiers were white, but minorities were
  overrepresented
• The South was overrepresented

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The Battlefield

• Conditions were rough on the body
• Leeches, fever, jungle rot
• Soldiers faced tough conditions and an enemy who
  was willing to die for his cause
• Viet Cong tactics included
• 10-foot tall elephant grass hid the VC and the VC
  booby traps
• Punji sticks, trip wires, and land mines were
  throughout the country

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The Vietcong

• South Vietnamese citizens who fought for the
  North were nicknamed the Vietcong
• VC
• Charlie
• Chuck
• These fighters were farmers by day and guerrilla
  soldiers at night
• Their tactics were old fashioned, brutal, and
  very effective

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Agent Orange

• Agent Orange is the code name for a powerful
  herbicide and defoliant used by the US to clear
  areas controlled by the VC
• Unfortunately, the defoliant caused serious harm
  to the health of exposed Vietnamese and American
  soldiers

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Napalm

• Napalm, or jellied gasoline, is a flammable
  liquid fuel weapon first used in World War I by
  the Germans
• The Americans used it extensively in Vietnam
• Napalm is the most terrible pain you can
  imagine," said Kim Puc known from a famous
  Vietnam War photograph

• Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
• Napalm generates temperatures of 800 to 1,200
  degrees Celsius

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Effects of Napalm
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Ho Chi Mihn Trail

• As the war dragged on, the North needed a pathway
  to supply its troops as the war
• The Ho Chi Mihn Trail was created and maintained
  in Laos and Cambodia
• US troops were not legally allowed to invade
  these countries
• Nixon authorized raids without informing leaders
  in Congress

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Operation Rolling Thunder- 1968

• Operation Rolling Thunder was a frequently
  interrupted bombing campaign that began on 24
  February 1965 and lasted until the end of October
  1968.
• During this period U.S. Air Force and Navy
  aircraft engaged in a bombing campaign designed
  to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to
  take over South Vietnam.

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Operation Rolling Thunder
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The Tet Offensive

• The Chinese/Asian New Year is known as Tet in
  Vietnam
• Most Americans believed that as the Vietnamese
  celebrated Tet, the war would slow down or stop
  as for celebration
• However, Tet on January 31, 1968 turned out to be
  a surprise offensive charge by thousands of
  Vietnamese
• This became known as the Tet Offensive

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The Results of Tet

• The Tet Offensive coordinated both the" Viet
  Cong" and the North Vietnams Peoples Army of
  Vietnam (PAVN), against South Vietnams Army of
  the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), and United States
  Military and other ARVN-allied forces.
• The North Vietnamese (NVC) surged into more than
  a hundred cities and towns.
• This proved to be the largest organized attack
  since the beginning of the war.

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How Tet Changed the War

• The Tet Offensive also proved to be the turning
  point of the war when the NVC proved that they
  could penetrate the South Vietnamese cities.
• While the ARVN and the US military won on the
  battlefield, the PAVN and the Vietcong were
  victorious as propaganda tools.

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Khe Sahn

• On January 21, 1968, the North Vietnamese began a
  rocket and mortar attack on the Marine Combat
  Base near Khe Sahn.
• The airstrip was destroyed and the Marines were
  surrounded
• The bombardment and siege continued for another
  76 days.
• The Americans made several attempts to destroy
  the Vietnamese with artillery and air bombardment
  but had limited success.
• The Vietnamese made several attempts to overrun
  the base but were repelled.
• The Marines had insufficient food and water and
  were overrun by rats.
• Eventually, the Vietnamese decided to abandon
  their attacks, and in June, the Americans
  abandoned the base.

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Khe Sahn
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Pleiku AttackMore Troops

• The VC attacked American troops at Pleiku in
  February 1968
• LBJ responded by bombing North Vietnam
• More attacks near Da Nang caused concern for
  protection of the critical airfield
• The resultmore troops were sent
• Almost 200,000 were there by the summer of 1965
• 385,000 by 1966
• 485,000 by 1967
• 536,000 by 1968

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The My Lai Massacre- 1968

• The My Lai Massacre was an attack by US soldiers
  of hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians,
  mostly women and children, on March 16, 1968.
• The US soldiers involved in the massacre
  ruthlessly killed 504 innocent civilians who were
  thought to be Viet Cong or supporters of the Viet
  Cong.
• It prompted widespread outrage around the world
  and reduced American support at home for the war
  in Vietnam.

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Lt. Calley

• Lt. William Calley led the unit which killed at
  least 175 unarmed Vietnamese civilians.
• The massacre would have of continued if it
  werent for the bravery of a helicopter gunship
  who threatened to fire on the soldiers if they
  continued with the killings.

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The Results of My Lai

• Many of the men were to be tried but none were
  convicted for their crimes except Lt. William
  Calley, who led the soldiers in the massacre.
• Calley was later court-martialed and convicted of
  the atrocities at
• The charges were later dropped
• He lives a quiet life today in rural Georgia

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HueAtrocities by the Communists

• Atrocities and massacres were not limited to
  American forces
• At Hue, many unarmed South Vietnamese were
  massacred
• Estimates are that close to 5000 were killed in
  Hue alone
• Anyone who worked with the Americans were
  considered traitors
• Anyone who did NOT work with the Communists were
  considered traitors

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The Hanoi Hilton

• The Hoa Loa Prison ("fiery furnace"), was a
  prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam
  for political prisoners and later by North
  Vietnam for prisoners of war during the Vietnam
  War.
• The conditions and food were so bad that the
  POWs nicknamed it the Hanoi Hilton
• When prisoners of war began to be released from
  this and other North Vietnamese prisons in the
  late 1960s and early 1970s, their testimonies
  revealed widespread and systematic abuse of
  prisoners of war.
• Initially this information was suppressed by
  American authorities for fear that conditions
  might worsen for the prisoners remaining in North
  Vietnamese custody.

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Hanoi Hilton

• John McCain was a prisoner at the Hanoi Hotel
  Hanoi Hilton for five years.
• Jane Fonda visited the prison during the war an
  interviewed inmates as part of a anti-war
  demonstration.
• The inmates were forced to say that they were
  being treated well.

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Protesters and Student Activism

• Many groups protested the Vietnam War
• Many were student-led and became known as The
  New Left
• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
• Tom Hayden
• The Free Speech Movement
• Centered at the University of CA at Berkeley

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The Counterculture

• The counterculture of the 1960s began in the
  United States as a reaction against the rigid
  social norms of the 1950s, segregation in the
  Deep South, and the US government's extensive
  military intervention in Vietnam.
• Studies suggest that (mostly) white middle class
  youth had time in their lives to raise concerns
  about Civil Rights, Women's Rights, and the
  American War in Vietnam.
• The far-reaching changes that developed in the
  late 1960s and early 1970s affected very many
  aspects and milieus of society.
• The effects of the 1960s and 1970s also
  significantly affected voters and institutions,
  especially in the U.S.

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The Counterculture Hippies

• The Hippies became the largest countercultural
  movement in the United States fighting for more
  openness within main stream culture in civil
  rights especially drugs and the escalating
  involvement and conflict in Vietnam.
• The Hippies mostly expressed their views through
  the new psychedelic rock genre of music.
• Bands such as the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane,
  Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin
  expressed their views about drugs and Vietnam
  through the genre.

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The Counterculture Yippies

• The counterculture movement of the 1960s did not
  always present a united front politically.
• The Yippies were more likely to use guerrilla
  theater or public pranks to bring attention to
  their causes.
• Although the Yippies were more radicalized than
  the Hippies, most members and associates drew the
  line at organized protests and sit-ins
• The most famous Yippies were Jerry Rubin and
  Abbie Hoffman

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The Counterculture The Drug Culture

• Most of the social movements in the United States
  shared the common philosophy of experimentation
  on drugs especially hallucinogens such as LSD.
• The shared belief of drug experimentation
  worsened the already large drug abuse problem in
  the United States especially with Alcohol and
  Heroin.
• Turn on, tune in, drop out" is a phrase coined by
  Timothy Leary in the 1960s

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The Counterculture The Sexual Revolution

• The sexual revolution of the 1960s expanded the
  growing acceptance of sexual encounters between
  unmarried adults.
• Throughout this period young men and women
  engaged in their first acts of sexual intercourse
  at increasingly younger ages.
• The impact of earlier sexual experimentation and
  the later age of marriage gave young people more
  time before entering upon a long-term monogamous
  relationship.
• In addition, the growing number of marriages
  resulting in divorce--and the lessening of the
  stigma attached to divorce--provided another
  opportunity for men and women to engage in
  non-monogamous sexual activity

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The Teach-In Movement

• Students became more involved in protests against
  the war as more and more young men died
• Teach-ins were groups of professors and students
  who organized and discussed the war on college
  campuses around the country
• Most were anti-war Doves

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Protests to the Draft

• Many young people who opposed the war were
  concerned about the draft
• The Selective Service Act had doubled the number
  of men who were drafted
• College students received a deferment
• Others were conscientious objectors who did not
  believe in war
• Many draft cards were burnt in protest to the war

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Anti-War Demonstrations

• Demonstrations against the war steadily increased
  in size during the late 1960s.
• In New York, over a million people took part in
  one demonstration.
• The public opinion polls showed that a narrow
  majority of the people still supported US
  involvement in Vietnam.
• However, the polls also indicated that much of
  this support came from middle class families
  whose own sons were not at risk.
• President Johnson knew that if the war continued,
  he would eventually be forced to start drafting
  college students.
• When that happened he would have great difficulty
  obtaining majority support for the war.

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Protests to the War and the Draft

• The decision to increase recruitment and the
  draft for the war increased the level of protest,
  especially amongst young men.
• To keep the support of the articulate and
  influential members of the middle class, students
  were not called up.
• However, students throughout America still
  protested at what they considered was an attack
  on people's right to decide for themselves
  whether they wanted to fight for their country.

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Protests to the War

• In 1965, David Miller publicly burnt his draft
  card and was sentenced to two and a half years in
  prison.
• His actions inspired others and throughout
  America, Anti-Vietnam War groups organized
  meetings where large groups of young men burnt
  their draft cards.
• Between 1963 and 1973, 9,118 men were prosecuted
  for refusing to be drafted into the army.
• The most famous of these was Muhammad Ali, the
  world heavyweight boxing champion

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Deaths in Vietnam by Year
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American Deaths in All Wars
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HeyHeyLBJ

• LBJs popularity was plummeting in 1968
• College students and other protesters blamed him
  for the death of a generation of young men
• The marchers called out, Hey, Hey, LBJHow many
  kids did you kill today?

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Hey LBJwhats the Weather like??

• Protests in song became popular
• Robert Zimmerman (AKA Bob Dylan) summed it up by
  asking
• You dont need a weatherman to know which way
  the wind blows

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The Weather Underground

• October 1969 hundreds of young people, clad in
  football helmets and wielding lead pipes, marched
  through an upscale Chicago shopping district,
  pummeling parked cars and smashing shop windows
  in their path.
• This was the first demonstration of the Weather
  Underground's "Days of Rage."
• The group took their name from a line in Bob
  Dylans song, Subterranean Homesick Blues
• Outraged by the Vietnam War and racism in
  America, the organization waged a low-level war
  against the U.S. government through much of the
  1970s.

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Politics

• LBJ's popularity ratings drop to 35
• He decides not to run for a second term in 1968
• The Democrats are splintered as they look for a
  viable candidate to face former VP Richard Nixon

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The Assassination of SenatorRobert Kennedy

• As U.S. Senator for New York, Kennedy had focused
  on issues of social reform and increasingly came
  to identify with the poor and disenfranchised.
• He reached out to members of minority groups and
  formed relationships with many of them.
• The evening he was shot, Kennedy had won the June
  4 Democratic Presidential primaries in South
  Dakota and California, boosting his chances for
  the Democratic nomination for President during
  the 1968 presidential election.
• His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan was waiting in a
  kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
  and shot him after he finished his victory speech

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The 1968 Democratic Convention

• The 68 Democratic National Convention was a very
  prominent reflection of the tension between
  anti-war and patriotic movements.
• The two principle candidates seeking nomination
  for presidency, Eugene McCarthy and Hubert H.
  Humphrey
• Humphrey received the Democratic nomination and
  faced Richard Nixon

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The 1968 DNC and the Chicago Seven

• In 1968 seven people were arrested for inciting a
  riot at the Democratic National Convention in
  Chicago (DNC)
• The Yippie leaders gathered crowds by the
  thousands in an attempt to revolt against the
  government
• Violence ensued outside and inside the DNC

ABBIE HOFFMAN DAVID T. DELLINGER RENNARD C.
DAVIS THOMAS E. HAYDEN JERRY C. RUBIN LEE
WEINER JOHN R. FROINES
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Yippies in an Uproar

• Before long a riot had in sued and Chicagos
  12,000 police officers retaliated with brutal
  force.
• People were beaten senseless and tear gassed, but
  to no avail.
• Rioting continued for days until police officers
  arrested the Chicago seven.
• The Chicago Seven were tried and convicted of
  inciting a riot, however the police officers were
  acquitted of violating the civil rights of
  civilians.  

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The Election of 1968

• Nixon avoids antiwar protests by not telling
  Congress or people about bombings
• He tells the American people he has a secret
  plan
• Richard Nixon defeats Humphrey and George Wallace
  in November 1968
• Nixon wins with 43.4 of the popular vote
• After his election, he authorizes the secret
  bombing of North Vietnam and Cambodia in March
  1969
• This was illegal and was not authorized by
  Congress

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Vietnamization

• Vietnamization was Nixons plan to turn the war
  over to the South Vietnamese
• A gradual withdrawal of land troops
• Nixon continued to use air power to bomb the
  enemy.
• Peace with Honor

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Kent State -May 4, 1970

• Perhaps no event in American history came to
  symbolize the potential government held to become
  its people's worst enemy than the Kent State
  Massacre.
• The anti-war demonstrations held here on May 4,
  1970 shocked the nation not only by the presence
  of the National Guard, but in that these same
  troops were responsible for the death of four
  Kent State students.

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The Counterculture

• Hippies followed the Beat Generation of the
  1950s as part of the Counterculture
• Political protest and a sexual revolution were
  part of the hippie lifestyle
• Music and musicians became important to the
  movement
• Drugs including LSD and other psychedelic drugs
  became popular

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Woodstock and Altamont

• Woodstock and Altamont were two large scale music
  festivals
• Woodstock was generally a peaceful experience
  although 400,000 people crashed the gates
• Altamont went badly however
• The Hells Angels were hired as security
• Killed one of the young people at the concert

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Woodstock

• And there we were all in one place
• A generation lost in space
• With no time left to start again

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Altamont

• "And as I watched him on the stageMy hands were
  clenched in fists of rageNo angel born in
  hellCould break that Satan's spell
• And as the flames climbed high into the nightTo
  light the sacrificial riteI saw Satan laughing
  with delight
• The day the music diedHe was singing..."

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The Pentagon Papers- 1971

• The New York Times was leaked secret Pentagon
  Papers that said the war was un-winnable and that
  the American people and Congress had been lied to
  for many years
• The secret war study, the Pentagon Papers, were
  published in the paper after a Supreme Court
  battle
• Public sentiments were stretched to the limits
• Two deep divisions developed
• The Hawks and the Doves

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The North Invades-1972

• North Vietnamese troops invaded South Vietnam in
  1972
• The U.S. responds by widespread bombing of North,
  including bombing of Hanoi and mining of Haiphong
  Harbor
• The largest bombing of North Vietnam occurred in
  December 17, 1972
• American B-52s begin largest bombing of war,
  losing 15

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Paris Peace Talks

• A Cease-fire Accord was achieved January 27,
  1973 in Paris
• All fighting was to stop and American prisoners
  of war were to be released by North Vietnam

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The Evacuation of Saigon

• North Vietnamese forces took the South Vietnamese
  capital city of Saigon April 30, 1975
• U.S. troops evacuated the American embassy as the
  South Vietnamese fled
• The Communist forces occupied the South, renaming
  Saigon Ho Chi Minh City
• The capital is still named this today

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The Boat People

• More than 1 million boat people fled Southeast
  Asia after the American troops pulled out in
  1974-75
• These refugees were seeking safe harbor from
  their war torn homelands
• At least one-third of the boat people died at sea
  by killing, storms, illness, and food shortage.

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The Boat People
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The Vietnam Wall

• An undergraduate at Yale University, Maya Lin
  designed the Memorial Wall on the Mall in
  Washington DC.

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A Place of Reflection and Sorrow

• There are 58,235 names listed on the Memorial
  Wall.
• About 1,200 are listed as missing (MIA's, POW's,
  and others).

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Sources

• Historyteacher.net
• Feldmeth, Greg D. "U.S. History
  Resourceshttp//home.earthlink.net/gfeldmeth/USH
  istory.html (31 March 1998).
• Wikipedia