The Cold War conflict in Vietnam led the United States int

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Exploring American History

• Unit IX- Post War America
• Chapter 29 Section 1
• Kennedy and Foreign Policy

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Kennedy and Foreign Policy

• The Big Idea
• The United States confronted Communist nations in
  Cold War conflicts around the world.
• Main Ideas
• President Kennedy confronted Communist threats
  around the world.
• The United States and the Soviet Union raced to
  send a person to the moon.
• The Cold War conflict in Vietnam led the United
  States into war.

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President John F. Kennedy

• 35th President - 1961-1963 Democrat
• Who was John F. Kennedy?- War Hero, Irish
  Catholic, Famous Political Father, Writer,
  Congressman and Senator . Youngest President
• Election of 1960
• Republican- Nixon
• Democrat- Kennedy
• Issues- Republican have a stagnate economy, no
  help to old, poor and minorities, Recession was
  imminent. Schools poor, Defense poor
• New Frontier
• The Great Debates a series of four one-hour
  debates on Television
• Large audience- the whole nation
• Kennedy looks good
• Outcome- Kennedy win cliffhanger

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Kennedy Takes Office
Inaugural Address

• Focused on change
• Strong anti-Communist tone
• Did not specify his domestic policy goals because
  so much division existed over domestic issues

Kennedys Advisors

• Gathered a group some called the best and the
  brightest as his advisors
• Most of Kennedys advisors were young.
• Closest advisor was his brother, Robert (Bobby)
  Kennedy
• Cabinet members had less influence than White
  House advisors.

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January 20, 1961 (0242) Ask not what your
country can do for you
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Main Idea 1 President Kennedy confronted
Communist threats around the world.

• President Kennedy was committed to stopping the
  spread of communism worldwide.
• Maintained strong military forces
• Expanded nations supply of nuclear weapons
• Through Alliance for Progress program, pledged
  20 billion in aid to Latin American countries
• Developed the Peace Corps, which in 1961 started
  sending volunteers to developing countries to
  help with projects such as digging wells and
  building schools

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The Peace Corps (0218)
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How did Kennedys foreign policy reflect his
views of the world?

• Believed in peace that did not have to be
  enforced with weapons of war
• Believed in peace for Americans and for all men
  and women around the world

Kennedys Foreign Policy

• Trained and sent volunteers to Africa, Asia, and
  Latin America to serve for two years
• Most volunteers were young college graduates
• Increased goodwill toward the United States

Peace Corps

• Offered billions of dollars in aid to Latin
  America to build schools, hospitals, roads, power
  plants, and low-cost housing
• Intended to counter communisms influence

Alliance for Progress
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Military Confrontations

• Bay of Pigs
• Cuban rebel Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban
  government and established a Communist state.
• Proximity of Cuba worried Americans.
• Kennedy approved CIA operation to remove Castro
  from power.
• April 17, 1961 About 1,500 Cuban exiles landed
  by boat at Cubas Bay of Pigs but the invasion
  failed.
• Kennedy faced criticism for the disastrous
  invasion.

• The Berlin Wall
• Many East Germans fled to democratic West
  Germany.
• Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev demanded that
  the border be closed and threatened war.
• August 13, 1961 East German government began
  building the Berlin Wall, a barrier of concrete
  and barbed wire between East and West Berlin.
• Wall became symbol of the Cold War.

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Castro and the Bay of Pigs - 50 sec.
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August 20, 1961 (0233) Berlin Wall
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The Cuban Missile Crisis

• In October 1962, American spy planes discovered
  Soviets installing nuclear missiles in Cuba.
• If launched, missiles could reach American cities
  in minutes.
• Kennedy demanded removal of the missiles.
• U.S. Navy formed a blockade around Cuba to
  prevent Soviet ships from bringing more weapons.
• Soviet ships turned back, ending the Cuban
  missile crisis.
• Effects
• Soviets later agreed to remove missiles from
  Cuba.
• Kennedy promised not to invade Cuba and to remove
  some missiles in Turkey and Italy.
• United States and Soviet Union set up a telephone
  hotline so leaders could talk directly to each
  other at a moments notice.
• United States and Soviet Union signed the Limited
  Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which banned the testing
  of new nuclear weapons aboveground.

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October 28, 1962 (0254)
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Main Idea 2 The United States and the Soviet
Union raced to send a person to the moon.

• The space race, competition between the United
  States and Soviet Union to explore space, heated
  up in the 1960s.
• April 1961 Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin became
  first person in space.
• May 1961 Alan Shepard Jr. became first U.S.
  astronaut in space.
• 1962 John Glenn became first American to orbit
  Earth.
• 1961 Kennedy outlined bold plan to Congress to
  land first man on the moon.
• Congress provided NASA with billions of dollars
  of funding.
• Began work on Project Apollo
• July 20, 1969 American astronauts Neil Armstrong
  and Edwin Buzz Aldrin became first people to
  walk on moon.

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Moon Landing (0217)
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Movie Clips Humans in Space 200
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Main Idea 3 The Cold War conflict in Vietnam
led the United States into war.

• Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh and the
  Vietminh fought the French for control of
  Vietnam.
• Presidents Truman and Eisenhower supported France
  with military aid
• Concerned that Vietminh victory would lead to
  spread of communism in Asia
• Feared domino theory that if one country became
  Communist, nearby countries would follow
• In July 1954, French and Vietnamese leaders
  agreed to Geneva Accords.
• Temporary division of Vietnam into North Vietnam
  and South Vietnam
• Called for democratic elections in July 1956 to
  unite the two countries under one government

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Southeast Asias Colonial History

• France gained control of Vietnam by 1883 despite
  fierce resistance from the Vietnamese.
• The French combined Vietnam with Laos and
  Cambodia to form French Indochina.
• Ho Chi Minh led a growing nationalist movement in
  Vietnam.
• During World War II, the Japanese army occupied
  French Indochina.
• A group called the League for the Independence of
  Vietnam, or the Vietminh, fought the Japanese.
• After World War II, the Vietminh declared
  independence, but the French quickly moved in to
  reclaim Vietnam.

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Colonial Vietnam

• Ho Chi Minh
• Real name is Nguyen That Thanh Ho Chi Minh means
  He Who Enlightens.
• Participated in tax revolts against the French.
• Joined the French Communist Party.
• Believed that a Communist revolution was a way
  Vietnam could be free of foreign rulers.

• World War II
• Japan occupied French Indochina.
• Ho Chi Minh organized the Vietminh to fight the
  Japanese.
• Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, and the
  Vietminh declared Vietnam to be independent.
• Ho Chi Minh hoped for U.S. support of their
  independence.
• The French reclaimed Vietnam after World War II.

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Vietnam after World War II

• The Domino Theory
• Domino theorythe belief that communism would
  spread to neighboring countries if Vietnam fell
  to communism
• To avoid this, the United States supported the
  French during the Vietnam War.
• By 1954 the United States was paying more than 75
  percent of the cost of the war.
• The French continued to lose battle after battle.
• Vietminh used guerrilla tactics effectively.

• France Defeated
• French soldiers made a last stand at Dien Bien
  Phu.
• French forces hoped for a U.S. rescue, but
  Eisenhower did not want to send U.S. soldiers to
  Asia so soon after Korea.
• The French surrendered on May 7, 1954.
• After eight years of fighting, the two sides had
  lost nearly 300,000 soldiers.
• The Vietminh had learned how to fight a guerilla
  war against an enemy with superior weapons and
  technology.

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The Geneva Conference
The goal of the Geneva Conference was to work out
a peace agreement and arrange for Indochinas
future.
According to the Geneva Accords, Vietnam was
temporarily divided at the 17th
parallel. Vietminh forces controlled the North
and the French would withdraw from the country.
General elections were to be held in July 1956
and would reunify the country under one
government. The United States never fully
supported the peace agreements fearing that Ho
Chi Minh and the Communists would win the
nationwide election.
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What policies did Presidents Truman and
Eisenhower pursue in Vietnam after WW II?

• Saw Vietnam in terms of the Cold War struggle
  against communism
• Supported France unwilling to back the Vietminh
  because many were Communists

Truman

• Communists seized China in 1949.
• Communist North Korea invaded South Korea in
  1950.
• Communist-led revolts in Indonesia, Malaya, and
  the Philippines

Events

• Believed in the domino theory
• Sent arms, ammunition, supplies, and money to the
  French forces in Vietnam.

Eisenhower
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North and South Vietnam

• North Vietnam
• Communist state led by Ho Chi Minh
• Introduced land redistribution plan and thousands
  killed and imprisoned during process
• Funded and supplied Communist guerilla forces,
  called the Vietcong, for South Vietnams NLF

• South Vietnam
• Western-style government led by Ngo Dinh Diem,
  supported by United States
• Poor leadership resulted in many problems.
• Growing numbers of South Vietnamese began to
  support Ho Chi Minh and Vietminh.
• Diem refused to allow South Vietnam to
  participate in elections.
• Diems opponents form National Liberation Front
  (NLF) and began fighting against Diems
  government in late 1950s.

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Growing Conflict in Vietnam

• Vietnams Leaders
• Ngo Dinh Diem became the president of South
  Vietnam in 1954.
• Diems government was corrupt, brutal, and
  unpopular from the start.
• He favored Catholics and the wealthy.
• Diem cancelled the 1956 election that would unify
  Vietnam under one government.
• Ho Chi Minhs leadership in North Vietnam was
  totalitarian and repressive.
• He gave land to peasants, which made him popular.

• A Civil War
• Diems opponents in South Vietnam began to
  revolt.
• North Vietnam supplied weapons to Vietminh rebels
  in South Vietnam.
• The Vietminh in South Vietnam formed the National
  Liberation Front and called their military forces
  the Vietcong.
• The Vietcong assassinated many South Vietnamese
  leaders and soon controlled much of the
  countryside.
• In 1960 Ho Chi Minh sent the North Vietnamese
  Army into the country to fight with the Vietcong.

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American Involvement in Vietnam

• Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy sent military
  advisers and special forces to South Vietnam.
• U.S. military accompanied South Vietnamese army
  on combat missions.
• By 1963 about 16,000 U.S. military personnel were
  serving in Vietnam.
• Diem became more and more unpopular
• Would not hold elections
• Ordered troops to fire on Buddhist demonstrators
• Opponents began to consider violence as only
  option.
• In November 1963 a group of South Vietnamese army
  offices seized power and killed Diem.

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U.S Involvement in French Indochina War- Truman

• President Harry Truman began covertly authorizing
  support for the French in their attempt to retake
  Indochina, giving money and supplies in an effort
  to suppress the rebellion, and in July 1950 he
  announced publicly that the U.S. was doing so.

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U.S Involvement in French Indochina War-
Eisenhower
Former General Dwight D. Eisenhower became
President of the United States and first advanced
the so-called domino theory, warning that if
America did not support France in stopping the
Communists in Indochina, all of the Eastern,
India and Southeastern Asia would fall to the
"Communist Bloc".

• 1950- U.S. begins to help the French with money
  and arms.
• 1953- Eisehower asks for 60 million in aid to
  French.
• 1954- The U.S. is paying for 80 of the war
  between the French and the Vietnamese communists.

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Kennedy and Indochina

• Laos and the coalition government (Pathet Lao)
• Problems in Vietnam
• 1956 National Elections- Geneva Accords
• Civil War
• President Diem
• Government Opposition- many groups, Buddhists,
  Communists all joined the NLF- National
  Liberation Front (Vietcong nicknamed by Diem)
• Overthrow of Diem- Coup, and military junta.
• Kennedy sending supplies, money and advisors
  (16,000 by 1963.)

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Increasing U.S. Involvement

• Diems Overthrow
• Diems government continued to grow more and more
  unpopular.
• He arrested and killed Buddhist protesters.
• U.S. leaders said they would withdraw support if
  Diem did not change his ways.
• Diem refused to change his stand against
  Buddhists, and the United States began to support
  a plot to overthrow Diem.
• In November 1963 the South Vietnamese plotters
  murdered Diem.

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• To increase the American military effort in
  Vietnam, Johnson needed to obtain authority from
  Congress.
• Johnson asked Congress for this authority
  claiming that the USS Maddox had been attacked by
  North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of
  Tonkin.
• Johnson claimed this attack was unprovoked, but
  really the Maddox had been on a spying mission
  and had fired first.
• The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed on August 7.

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America and the Vietnam War 526