Vietnam War

1
Vietnam War

• By Debra Storbrauck

2
Abbreviations

• DRV- Democratic Republic of Vietnam
• NLF- National Liberation Front
• GVN- Government of the Republic of Vietnam

3
Locations

• Vietnam
• Laos
• Cambodia

4
Time Period

• Vietnam War followed after the First Indochina
  War
• From November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975

5
North Vs. South

• South Vietnam
• United States
• Other anti communist nations

• North Vietnam
• Communist allies

6
Strategies

• North Vietnam
• a. conventional warfare- no use of nuclear,
  biological, or chemical weapons

• South Vietnam
• a. air superiority
• b. heavy firepower
• c. at one point the U.S. considered the use of
  nuclear weapons

7
Casualties

• Both Vietnam Sides
• 3- 4 million
• Laotians and Cambodians
• 1.5- 2 million
• United States
• 58,159

8
Why The United States Entered

• Prevent communist takeover of South Vietnam
• Another strategy for containment

9
Background

• Before WWll, France controlled Vietnam
• During the war, Vietnam was taken by Germany and
  its ally, Japan
• When Germany was defeated, it went to Japan until
  they surrendered

10
Background

• Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Viet Minh, declared
  Vietnam free
• This angered the United Kingdom, United States,
  and the Soviet Union
• The countries stated that it still belonged to
  France

11
Background

• Since France did not have enough military
  resources at the time, Britain occupied the South
  while nationalist China took the North
• The Viet Ming was gaining political power in
  North Vietnam, so the French drove them out of
  the city of Hanoi on March 1946

12
Background

• This event angered the Viet Ming
• They soon began a guerrilla war against France
  and thus began the First Indochina War

13
Frances Defeat

• The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of the
  French in the Indochina War
• The Viet Minh defeated the French under the
  command of Vo Nguyen Giap
• France and Viet Minh settled a ceasefire
  agreement at the Geneva Conference
• Finally, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam were free

14
Moving Forward

• Eisenhowers administration helped create a new
  nation for South Vietnam
• One year later, Ngo Dinh Diem won the election
  and became president of the GVN (Government of
  the Republic of Vietnam)
• Diem learned news of an attack from the North
  Vietnam

15
Preparing For An Attack

• Got aid from the United states
• Diem passed a series of acts that made it legal
  to hold someone if they are suspected to be
  communist

16
Attacks on Diem

• Buddhist monks, nuns, students, business people,
  intellectuals, and peasants attacked Diems
  troops and secret police for his harsh actions
  towards the people
• Diem blamed communists

17
Overthrow of Diems Government

• Kennedys administration grew suspicious of how
  well Diems Government was working
• Later, they approved a plan to overthrow Diems
  government and liberate Vietnam

18
Nation Liberation Front

• Brought together Communists and Non- Communists
• Opposed Ngo Dinh Diem
• Wanted to unify Vietnam
• The NLF started violent attacks against the
  Saigon Regime
• U.S. feared a communist take over and developed a
  series of government White Papers

19
December 1961 White Paper

• Kennedy sent troops to Vietnam to report the
  conditions in the South and to assist for future
  aid requirements
• This was known as the December 1961 White Paper

20
December 1961 White Paper

• Argued to increase military technical, and
  economic aid
• Argued an introduction of large scale American
  advisors to help stabilize the Diem regime and
  crush NLF
• Kennedy agreed but refused to send large amounts
  of troops

21
Failing

• Their plan was failing as their were more reports
  of NLF victories
• They then tried to isolate NLF from villagers

22
Buddhist Monks

• Ngo Dinh Nhu raided Buddhist dwellings of South
  Vietnam
• They claimed they were communists and were
  causing the political instability
• This picture of monks on fire made world
  headlines and alarmed Washington

23
Overthrow

• Buddhist protests caused Kennedys administration
  to support a coup
• Diems own generals in the army planed with the
  American Embassy in Saigon to overthrow Diem
• November 1, 1963, Diem and his brother were
  captured and killed

24
Kennedy Assassination

• Three weeks after Diem and his brother were
  killed, President Kennedy was assassinated on the
  street of Dallas, Texas

25
Lyndon Johnson

• Political problems in Saigon convinced Johnson
  that more aggressive actions were needed

26
More Power for the President

• DRV raided two U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin
• This caused the Johnson administration to argue
  for expansion of war power for the president

27
Gulf of Tonkin

• DRV planed attacks on American and GVN in
  response for their act of spying along the coast
• Attacked Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox two
  American ships
• First attack was on August 2, 1964
• A second was said to have taken place August 4,
  1964, but some say it never took place

28
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Johnson used the second attack as a cover for the
  resolution to give the president more war powers

29
Debate for the Correct Strategy in Vietnam

• The Joint Chiefs of Staff wanted to expand the
  air war over the DRV and quickly stabilize the
  new Saigon regime

• The civilians in the Pentagon wanted to gradually
  pressure Communist Party with precise and
  selective bombings.

30
Operation Rolling Thunder

• The Pentagons strategy was selected
• Bombing missions
• Caused the Communist Party to develop their own
  war strategy

31
Communist Strategy

• It was to overwhelm the United States so it could
  not win
• The United States had no clearly defined
  objectives, so they thought they would eventually
  give up and demand a negotiation

32
Limited War

• Washington called for little mobilization of
  resources, material and humans, and cause little
  disruption in American life.

33
Effects on America

• Not enough volunteers so the government
  instituted a draft
• Protest on college campuses arose
• Later in August 1968 in Chicago, a huge protest
  broke out against the American involvement in the
  war and for the Democratic Party for continuing
  to prosecute the war

34
The Tet Offensive

• Things went from bad to worse for the Johnson
  administration
• DRV and NLF launched attacks against major cities
  in southern cities
• These attacks were known in the West as the Tet
  Offensive
• They were designed to force the U.S. to the
  bargaining table

35
Communist View

• The Communist Party believed even though American
  was gaining success in the country side, the
  communist party was gaining something as well
• Even though the Tet Offensive was a lose for the
  Communists it had its own psychological victory
• It reached them to their desired results

36
Communists Achievement

• President Johnson declared that he would not be
  running for the elections
• Communists thought that hinted towards the U.S.
  about to go to the bargaining table

37
Hubert Humphrey vs. Richard Nixon

• Johnson held secret negotiation in the spring of
  1968 in Paris between Americans and Vietnamese to
  discuss an end to the war
• Despite this progress, Democratic Party with its
  runner Hubert Humphrey could not win against
  Republican runner Richard Nixon, for he claimed
  he had a plan to end the war

38
Nixons Secret Plan

• He was planning to use Vietnamization the same
  plan Johnson used in his office
• Vietnamization implied that Vietnamese were not
  fighting and dying in the jungles of South Asia

39
Pros and Constowards Vietnamization

• Brought many troops home to America

• Expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia

40
They are Killing our babies in Vietnam and in
our own backyard

• Bombing campaigns in Cambodia sparked campus
  protests all across America
• Four students were killed by national guardsmen
  on a campus
• Another set of students were shot and killed at
  Jackson State Mississippi
• One mother stated They are killing our babies in
  Vietnam and in our own backyards.

41
No Peace

• Nixons Vietnamization expanded the air war and
  had to bring in more troops
• Many citizens grew angry
• U.S. secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and DRV
  representatives, Xuan Thuy and Le Duc Tho
  developed the preliminary peace draft but leaders
  in Saigon rejected the Kissinger- Tho peace draft.

42
Christmas Bombings

• Conflict increased in December 1972 when the
  Nixon administration unleashed a series of deadly
  bombing raids against the DRVs largest cities,
  Hanoi and Haiphong
• These attacks were known as the Christmas
  Bombings
• This forced the Nixon administration to
  reconsider their tactics and negotiation strategy

43
The Paris Peace Agreement

• In January 1973 the White House convinced the
  Thieu- Ky regime in Saigon that they would not
  abandon the GVN if they signed onto the peace
  accord
• On January 23, the final draft initialed ending
  open hostilities between the U.S. and the DVR

44
Disadvantage to the Peace Agreement

• It did not end the conflict in Vietnam

45
America Slowly Decreasing

• U.S. troops started slowly reducing
• Saigon received aid from the U.S.

46
Nearing the End

• Chaos broke out in Saigon
• Communists troops began attacking the city

47
Evacuation

• U.S. helicopters started evacuating U.S. and
  South Vietnamese officials, and civilians from
  Saigon on April 29, 1975

48
Fall of Saigon

• President Ford gave a speech on April 23,
  declaring the end to the Vietnam War and the end
  of U.S. aid
• On April 30, VPA troops overcame captured key
  buildings and installations in Saigon
• A tank crashed through the gates of the
  Presidential Palace and the NLF flag was raised
  above it
• President Duong Van Minh surrendered

49
Communist Victory

• The Communists had reached their goal by taken
  the Saigon regime
• But by the end, one Vietnamese in every ten had
  been a casualty of war

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Effect on America

• Many were doubting and questioning those in
  authority such as generals, military, and the
  Pentagon
• It left America in a large federal budget deficit
• Casualties were severe

51
Chemical Defoliation

• The U.S. military used chemical defoliations
  between 1961- 1971
• They were used to defoliate the countryside
• These chemicals were used to change the
  landscape, and to poison the food chain

52
Rainbow Herbicides

• They used the chemicals because enemies were
  hiding under plants and triple-canopy jungle
• It was also used to drive civilians into
  controlled RVN controlled areas
• They used Rainbow Herbicides like Agent Pink,
  Agent Purple, Agent Green, Agent Orange, etc.
• About 12 million gallons of Agent Orange was
  sprayed over Southeast Asia

53
Distribution of Chemicals

• The Kennedy Administration authorized the use of
  chemicals to destroy rice crops
• The Air Force sprayed 20 million herbicides over
  6 million acres of crops and trees

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Future Effects

• Most U.S. Veterans had prostate cancer,
  respiratory cancers, multiple myeloma, Type ll
  Diabetes, B-cell lymphomas, soft tissue sarcoma,
  chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, peripheral
  neuropathy, and spina bifida along with the
  children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange

55

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vmN7Xs9WVNBUfeature
  related
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vOU0qdbcHmpw
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vfhcflDSUMvc