Vietnam

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Vietnam

• The Johnson and Nixon Years

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Vietnam and Kennedy

• Kennedy Its their war. Theyre the ones who
  have to win it or lose it.
• 1961 2,000 troops as advisors
• 1963 16,000 troops (none were committed to
  battle) in S. Vietnam
• Coup détat against unpopular Diem
• Kennedy assassination puts Lyndon B. Johnson in
  White House

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Johnson the President

• War on poverty and Great Society programs The
  New New Deal
• Michael Harringtons The Other America (1962)
• Economic Opportunity Bill (1964)
• Medicare and Medicaid
• Housing and Urban Development Act (1965) 2.9
  billion
• Appalachian Regional Development Act (1966) 1.1
  billion
• Opposition from conservative Republicans and
  Democrats
• Vietnam

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This administration today, here and now,
declares unconditional war on poverty in America.
I call for a Great Society resting on abundance
and liberty for all. The Great Society demands an
end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we
are fully committed in our time.
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LBJ is the Santa Claus of the free lunch.
We are not about to send American boys nine or
ten thousand miles from home to do what Asian
boys ought to be doing for themselves.
Barry Goldwater, 1964 Republican presidential
candidate
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Vietnam and Johnson

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)
• 2 American destroyers attacked by N. Vietnam in
  Gulf of Tonkin
• Authorized Johnson to take all necessary
  measures to repel an armed attack against the
  forces of the United States and to prevent
  further aggression.
• Feb. 1965 Attack at Pleiku 8 U.S. dead
• Operation Rolling Thunder U.S. bombs N. Vietnam
• Dec. 1965 184,000 U.S. troops
• Dec. 1966 385,000 U.S. troops
• War of attrition involving helicopter gunships,
  chemical defoliants, and napalm

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Why are we in Vietnam? We are there because we
have a promise to keep. To leave Vietnam to its
fate would shake the confidence of all these
people in the value of American commitment.
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Johnsons Flawed Policy

• President maintained strict control over
  military.
• Johnson They cant even bomb an outhouse
  without my approval.
• Traditional military victory never possible.
• Sec. of Defense Clark Clifford We had no
  military plan to end the war.
• Americas goal not to win by capturing territory,
  but prevent the N. Vietnamese and Vietcong from
  winning.
• Maintain military presence as long as the enemy
  retained the will to fight.

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Waning Public Support

• 1960s student demonstrations
• First living room war nightly television
  coverage and casualties
• Anti-war media Time, Newsweek, Walter Cronkite.
• January 31, 1968 Tet Offensive surprise attack
  and devastating counteroffensive
• Johnsons slipping popularity rating 35

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Jane Fonda in North Vietnam
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The picture of the worlds greatest superpower
killing or injuring 1,000 noncombatants a week,
while trying to pound a tiny backward nation into
submission on an issue whose merits are hotly
disputed, is not a pretty one.
Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara
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You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill
of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose
and I will win.
Ho Chi Minh
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I have concluded that I should not permit the
Presidency to become involved in the partisan
divisions that are developing in this political
year. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will
not accept, the nomination of my party for
another term as your President.
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Vietnam and Nixon

• Nixon won with the support of the silent
  majority and promises to end Vietnam, a war
  without end.
• Nixon and Sec. of State Henry Kissinger, peace
  with honor.
• Paris stalemate with N. Vietnam, 1969
• U.S. leave Van Thieu Nguyen as Pres. N. Vietnam
  vacate S. Vietnam
• N. Vietnam U.S. withdrawal and permanent present
  of North in the South eventual reunification
• Vietnamize the conflict
• 1969 540,000 U.S. troops 1973 50,000 U.S.
  troops
• Expanded air war on Laos and Cambodia (trails)

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Continuing Divisions at Home

• Draft and Cambodia incursions
• My Lai massacre, 1968
• Lt. William Calley ordered killing of 200
  Vietnamese civilians at My Lai village
• 20 officers charged with complicity Calley
  convicted of murder
• Kent State University protest, 1970
• ROTC building burned 4 demonstrators killed by
  Ohio National Guard
• New York Times and Pentagon Papers
• Truth about Gulf of Tonkin incident

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Kent State shootings
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Ending the War Without End

• January 27, 1973 agreement signed with N.
  Vietnam to end the war and restore peace in
  Vietnam
• March 29, 1973 last American combat troop leaves
  S. Vietnam several thousand MIA left behind
• 1975 N. Vietnam invades the South Democratic
  Congress refuses to send aid
• Cambodia and Laos soon fall to Communism
• Americans vacate S. Vietnamese embassy, bringing
  several S. Vietnamese with them
• 58,000 American dead 150 billion spent