Vietnam War

1
Vietnam War

• 1954-1975

2
Early American Involvement

• 1) Vietnamese Nationalism
• - ruled by China from 1800s-WWII
• - ruled by Japan during WWII
• - ruled by France after WWII-1954
• a. Ho Chi Minh
• - founded Indochinese Communist Party in 1930
• b. Vietminh
• - Nationalist group that united communists
  non-communists during WWII to expel the Japanese
• - Aided by U.S. during WWII

• 2) U.S. Supports France
• - Aug. 1945 Ho Chi Minh announces Vietnams
  Indpendence
• - 1949 France appeals to U.S. for aid
• a. U.S. Dilema
• 1. Opposed colonialism
• 2. Stop Communism
• b. Trumans Decision
• 1. Fall of China to communism
• 2. Korean War
• 3. Domino Theory belief that
• if Vietnam fell to communism
• so would other SE Asian
• nations

3
Vietminh Drive Out the French

• Guerrillas irregular troops who blend into
  civilian population and use hit and run tactics
• Defeat at Dien Biem Phu May 7, 1954
• - mountain village held by the French
• 2) Geneva Accords April 1954
• a. divided Vietnam at 17th parallel
• b. free elections to unite Vietnam by 1956
• c. Ho Chi Minh North Vietnam
• d. Ngo Dinh Diem South Vietnam
• result Civil War

4
American Involvement Deepens

• Vietcong communist guerrillas who fought in S.
  Vietnam
• 1) Kennedy Takes Office 1961
• - defeated Richard Nixon
• - increases military advisers between 1961-1963
• strategic hamlets special fortified villages
• 2) Diem Overthrown Nov. 1, 1963
• - discriminated against Buddhists
• - Henry Cabot Lodge persuades U.S. to support S.
  Vietnamese
• generals in overthrowing Diem
• - President Kennedy assassinated

5
Johnson and Vietnam

• 1) Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (Aug. 7, 1964)
  authorized President to take all necessary
  measures to repel any armed attack against the
  forces of the United States and to prevent
  further aggression.
• - handed over war powers to the President
• - Campaigning for Presidency
• 2) U.S. Sends Troops
• - Feb. 1965 attack at Pleiku kills 7
  Americans
• - Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965)
  sustained
• bombing campaign of N. Vietnam
• - first combat troops sent to Vietnam

6
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges

• End of 1965 180,000 troops in Vietnam
• 1966 number of troops doubles (6,700 troops
  killed - ? of war)
• 1) Frustrating War
• -guerrilla warfare hit and run tactics of
  Vietcong
• - inability to recognize and track enemy
• - Napalm jellied gasoline
• - Agent Orange chemical used to strip jungles
  of Vietnam
• 2) A Determined Enemy
• - supported by China and Soviet Union
• - Ho Chi Minh Trail Supply of the Vietcong
  that wound
• through Cambodia and Laos
• - U.S. fights a war of attrition defeat the
  enemy by wearing them
• down

7
The Nation Divides

• William Westmoreland US Commander in South
  Vietnam
• - 1967 tells American people that the enemys
  hopes are bankrupt
• Credibility Gap Americans found it hard to
  believe what the Johnson administration said
  about the war
• - television
• Feb. 1966 Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  held educational hearings to explain
  administrations war program

8
Antiwar Movement

• Teach-Ins an extended meeting held to discuss
  the Vietnam War
• - May 1965 National Teach-In
• The Draft an unfair system
• - members of low income families
• - 1967 20 of American combat deaths were
  African Americans
• - Martin Luther King Jr. advocate against
  Vietnam War
• - 500,000 draftees refused to go to Vietnam
• 26th Amendment 1971 gave all citizens age 18
  and older the right to vote in all state and
  federal elections
• Hawks- those who wanted to stay and fight in
  Vietnam
• Doves those who wanted to withdraw from Vietnam

9
1968 The Pivotal Year

• Tet Offensive (Jan. 30, 1968) Attacks by
  Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces on virtually
  all American airbases and South Vietnamese cities
  in South Vietnam
• - Westmoreland calls for another 209,000 troops
  (admission US could not win the war)
• - President Johnsons approval rating drops to
  35 (26 for handling of war)
• - March 31, 1968 Johnson drops out of
  Presidential Race
• - Robert Kennedy- Democratic dove candidate
  assassinated June 5,
• 1968 in California
• - Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in April
  1968
• Richard Nixon defeats Hubert Humphrey (D) and
  George Wallace (I) to become President

10
The War Winds Down

• Henry Kissinger appointed by Nixon as special
  assistant for national security affairs to use
  diplomacy to end the conflict
  Linkage improve relations with Soviet Union
  and China
• Vietnamization process of gradually withdrawing
  U.S. troops from Vietnam while South Vietnam
  assumed the fighting
• - June 8, 1969 25,000 troops withdraw from
  Vietnam
• - Increased air strikes on North Vietnam and
  Cambodia

11
Turmoil at Home

• My Lai Massacre Spring of 1968 American
  platoon under the command of Lieutenant William
  Calley killed more than 200 unarmed South
  Vietnamese
• - November 1969 report goes public
• April 1970 Nixon orders invasion of Cambodia
• - Kent State Incident (May 4, 1970) Ohio
  National Guard fire on demonstrators killing 4
  students and wounding 9
• - two days later 2 African American students
  killed at Jackson State College
• Pentagon Papers (1971) documents from Daniel
  Ellsberg that revealed many government officials
  during the Johnson administration privately
  questioned the war while publicly defending it,
  and how decisions were made without Congressional
  consent

12
U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam

• Nguyen Van Thieu (1972) South Vietnams
  president refuses to allow North Vietnamese
  troops in South Vietnam
• Christmas Bombings (Dec. 17, 1972) dropping of
  bombs by US B-52s on North Vietnamese targets
  for 11 straight days to get North Vietnam to
  resume negotiations
• Peace Agreement January 27, 1973
• Fall of Saigon April 30, 1975 renamed Ho Chi
  Minh City

13
Legacy of Vietnam

• Costs of War
• - 170 Billion
• - 58, 000 American deaths
• - 300,000 injured
• - more than 1 million North and South Vietnamese
  deaths
• - POWs and MIAs
• War Powers Act 1973 Required the President to
  inform Congress of any commitment of troops
  abroad within 48 hours and to withdraw them in
  60-90 days unless Congress approved the troop
  commitment