The Vietnam War: The End of the War

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The Vietnam WarThe End of the War

• Mr. Dodson

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The End of the War

• How did President Nixons policies lead to
  American withdrawal from Vietnam?
• Why did President Nixon lead a campaign promising
  to restore law and order?
• What happened in Vietnam after the withdrawal of
  American forces?
• What was the legacy of the Vietnam War?

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• The end of the Vietnam War involved slow-moving
  peace negotiations, the gradual withdrawal of
  American troops, and the fall of South Vietnam.

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Nixons Vietnam Policy

• Toward the end of his term as President, Johnson
  had reduced bombing of North Vietnam and called
  for peace negotiations to end the Vietnam War.
  However, the resulting Paris peace talks, which
  began in May 1968, failed to produce an
  agreement.
• President Nixon campaigned on the promise that he
  had a secret plan to end the war. In June 1969,
  he began the policy of Vietnamization, replacing
  American troops in Vietnam with South Vietnamese
  soldiers.

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Nixons Vietnam Policy

• Although Nixon wanted to end the war, he did not
  want to lose it. He began an aggressive campaign
  against North Vietnam including
• massive bombing raids on North Vietnam.
• Placing mines in the North Vietnamese harbor at
  Haiphong, and
• He launched secret bombing raids and expanded the
  war to Cambodia, (and eventually Laos, too.)
  hoping to destroy Viet Cong camps there.
• We take this action not for the purpose of
  expanding the war into Cambodia but for the
  purpose of ending the war in Vietnam and winning
  the just peace we all desire. We have made and we
  will continue to make every possible effort to
  end this war through negotiation at the
  conference table rather than through more
  fighting on the battlefield.
•  Richard Nixon 

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Nixons Vietnam Policy

• Nixon hoped his Cambodian attacks would help
  America in peace negotiations.
• Instead, the attacks resulted in both civil war
  in Cambodia and ignited more antiwar protests in
  the United States.
• Why do you think Nixon thought attacking Cambodia
  would help peace negotiations?

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Nixon Calls for Law and Order

• The Silent Majority
• Nixon had campaigned promising a return to law
  and order. As President, he strengthened this
  position, discouraging protest against the war.
• President Nixon recognized that student radicals,
  antiwar protesters, and the counterculture in
  general had never appealed to many Americans.
• Despite widespread discontent on college
  campuses, not all students agreed with the
  antiwar protesters. Some firmly supported
  American involvement in Vietnam. Others
  questioned the war but were troubled by the
  lawlessness and radicalism of many antiwar
  protests. These students did not receive the
  press coverage of their more outspoken
  classmates.

Why do YOU think that the less outspoken students
were not heard from?
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Nixon Calls for Law and Order

• The Silent Majority
• Likewise, many adults held student protesters
  responsible for rising crime, growing drug use,
  and permissive attitudes toward sex. Some of
  these Americans expressed their patriotism by
  putting flag decals on their car windows or by
  attaching bumper stickers that read My Country,
  Right or Wrong and Love It or Leave It.
• In a 1969 speech, Nixon appealed to those who, he
  felt, quietly supported his policies. He referred
  to this group of Americans as the silent
  majority.

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Nixon Calls for Law and Order

• Kent State
• When student antiwar protesters at Kent State
  University in Ohio reacted angrily to Nixons
  invasion of Cambodia, Nixon ordered the National
  Guard to Kent State. After students threw rocks
  at the guardsmen, the troops opened fire, killing
  and wounding both protesters and bystanders.

The famous photo of the shooting at Kent State
horrified the nation. Ironically, two of the four
students were innocent bystanders.
How do you think violence at Kent State affected
public Opinion?
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The Tragedy of Kent State
In May 1970, the National Guard opened fire on a
crowd of antiwar protesters at Kent State
University in Ohio and killed four students.
Reaction to the incident was strong but mixed.
Analyzing Viewpoints Compare the main arguments
made by these two women.

• Opposed to the National Guard's Actions Nixon
  acts as if the kids had it coming. But shooting
  into a crowd of students, that is violence. They
  say it could happen again if the Guard is
  threatened. They consider stones threat enough to
  kill children. I think the violence comes from
  the government. 
•  Mother of Jeffrey Glenn Miller, a student
  killed at Kent State,  quoted in Life magazine,
  May 15, 1970

• In Support of the National Guard's Actions He
  told me they didn't fire those shots to scare the
  students off. He told me they fired those shots
  because they knew the students were coming after
  them, coming for their guns. People are calling
  my husband a murderer my husband is not a
  murderer. He was afraid.
•   Wife of a member of the National Guard,
   quoted in Newsweek magazine, May 18, 1970

What do you believe?
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American Withdrawal

• In January 1973, the United States, South
  Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong signed
  a formal agreement in Paris. Among the provisions
  in the agreement were these
• The United States would withdraw all its forces
  from South Vietnam within 60 days.
• All prisoners of war would be released.
• All parties to the agreement would end military
  activities in Laos and Cambodia.
• The 17th parallel would continue to divide North
  and South Vietnam until the country could be
  reunited.

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Aftermath of the War in Asia

• South Vietnam Falls
• After American forces had withdrawn, North
  Vietnam attacked strategic cities in South
  Vietnam, ending with its capital, Saigon.
• Following a last-minute evacuation of both
  American soldiers and Vietnamese refugees, South
  Vietnam surrendered in April 1975, and Vietnam
  became unified under a Communist government.

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• One reason for American involvement in Vietnam
  was the belief in the domino theory. As you
  recall, this was the assumption that the entire
  region would collapse if the Communists won in
  Vietnam.
• With the North Vietnamese victory, two additional
  dominoes did toppleLaos and Cambodia. The rest
  of the region, however, did not fall.
• Does this prove or disprove the domino theory?
  Explain your answer.

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Aftermath of the War in Asia

• Southeast Asia After the War
• In April 1975, Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge,
  a Communist force led by Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge
  killed a quarter of the Cambodian population,
  claiming they were tainted with Western ways.
• Vietnams new leaders forced hundreds of
  thousands of Vietnamese into reeducation camps
  refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and newly
  Communist Laos fled their home countries.

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The Legacy of the War

• With a cost of at least 150 billion, and
  hundreds of thousands of American soldiers killed
  or wounded, the Vietnam War was the longest and
  least successful war in American history.
• Thousands of American soldiers who did not return
  home after the war were listed as POWs (prisoners
  of war) or MIAs (missing in action). Many remain
  unaccounted for today.
• In Vietnam, millions were dead or wounded, many
  of them civilians.
• Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and newly
  Communist Laos fled their home countries for the
  U.S.
• In 1994, the United States lifted its trade
  embargo against Vietnam in 1995, full diplomatic
  relations were restored.

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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

• Designed by 21-year old Maya Ying Lin and
  completed in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
  stands near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington,
  D.C.
• It consists of a long wall of black granite,
  listing the names of every American who died in
  the Vietnam War. Since its completion, visitors
  have added to the memorial by leaving personal
  tokens at the wall in memory of their loved ones.
• It serves as a way to help heal the wounds caused
  by the war.