The Start of the Vietnam War

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The Start of the Vietnam War

• 1963 to 1968
• Well finish the war under Nixon!

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Background of the War

• French colony
• Ho Chi Minh leads resistance against France
• Battle of Dien Bien Phu
• Geneva Conference (1954) 1956 unifying
  elections
• North Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh
• South Vietnam
• Ngo Dinh Diem
• Civil War begins in 1956

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Eisenhower and Kennedys Vietnam Policies

• U.S. supports Diems corrupt govt
• Vietcong and National Liberation Front (NLF) lead
  anti-U.S./South movement
• Kennedy increases military advisors from 652 to
  16,000 in 1963
• Diems government
• Self-immolation protests
• 11/1/63 Diems government overthrown and Diem
  killed
• U.S. supported overthrow
• Would JFK have remained or pulled out of Vietnam?

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Johnsons War

• Im not going to be the president who saw
  southeast Asia go the way China went.
• Robert McNamara (Sec. of Defense)
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• August 2 4, 1964 - U.S. destroyers attacked in
  international waters
• Congress passes resolution that allows LBJ to
  increase war efforts, without waiting for a
  declaration of war
• Johnson will escalate U.S. involvement without
  Congressional or popular support and despite no
  clear way to gain victory

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Johnsons War

• After G of T, U.S. begins bombing North Vietnam
• Feb. 1965 U.S. base at Pleiku attacked
• LBJ escalates war
• Operation Rolling Thunder
• Ho Chi Minh Trail
• 1965 184,000 troops 1968 538,0000
• Average cost 30 billion per year!

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Fighting the Vietnam War

• General William C. Westmoreland
• Air War
• Dropped more bombs than WWII
• Vietcong dug 30,000 miles of tunnels
• Ground War
• Difficult terrain
• Vietcong had support of many in the south
• Use of napalm and Agent Orange
• Tet Offensive
• Jan. 30, 1968

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1968
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Events of 1968

• January Tet Offensive
• March LBJ withdraws from Presidential Race
• April Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated
• June Robert Kennedy Assassinated
• August Democratic National Convention in
  Chicago
• November Nixon Elected President

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Democratic National Convention

• June 5 Robert Kennedy killed by Sirhan Sirhan
• Palestinian who disliked Kennedys support of
  Israel
• Hubert Humphrey wins nomination (LBJs
  vice-president)
• Anti-war activist clash with cops outside
  convention with the world watching on TV

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Election of 1968
Candidate Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey George C. Wallace
Party Republican Democrat American Independent
Votes 301 (31.7 mill.) 191 (31.2 mill.) 46 (10 mill.)
Platform - continue war until honorable peace - Southern Strategy - continue war - liberal policies - reduce govt - pro-segregation - bomb Vietnam back to the Stone Age
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