Transcript The Vietnam War - Waverly Schools | Home of the Scotties

Why Did the United States
Fight a War in Vietnam?
• Friends of the French
• Communist Vietnam-Truman
Doctrine (1947) “to help free
peoples to maintain their free
institutions and their national
integrity against … totalitarian
regimes.”
The Domino Theory
• One justification for the involvement.
“If South Vietnam falls to
the Communist, Laos,
Cambodia, Thailand, Burma,
India and Pakistan would also
fall like dominos. The Pacific
Islands and even Australia
could be at risk”.
The Geneva Peace Accords
• Geneva Accords– France & Vietnam- 1954
• Country divided at the 17th
parallel
• North- communist regime
under the leadership of Ho Chi
Minh.
• South- US supported
government
Buddhist Self-Immolations
• Southern government
– Against Buddhism
– Seen as weak
• Led Buddhist monks to self-immolation
in the streets
– Not good PR for the war
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• August 1964- USS Maddox engages
in conflict with Vietcong off the coast
of North Vietnam
– US government says ship was fired upon
– Other witnesses say the ship fired first
• Congress grants LBJ power to
do whatever is necessary to
defend Navy
• LBJ launches “Operation Rolling
Thunder”- fist attack on N.
Vietnam
Public Response & Escalation
• 1965– 65% in favor of Vietnam
to stop Communism
– Only 24% opposed
– 180,000 soldiers present
• By 1967- 500,000
soldiers present
Vietcong Tactics
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Hit and Run (Guerrilla Warfare)
Dug- In to terrain
Booby Traps
Land Mines
Hard to distinguish
the enemy
Finding The Enemy
• Battle for Hearts and Minds
– Win over current citizens
– They will then tell us who is
Vietcong
• Burn down the Jungle
– Napalm bombs
• Agent Orange
– Toxin put on ground and in
tunnels
• Search and Destroy
– Raid civilians
– Kill Them if ties are expected
The Tet Offensive
• 1968- War not going well
• North Vietnam launch coordinated attacks against major
southern cities
– Known as the Tet Offensive
– Designed to force the Johnson to the bargaining table
– Kills many American soldiers
The War in America
• Soldiers are coming back
changed men
• Economy sinks, inflation rises
• First “Living Room War”
– Live footage on television daily
• Credibility Gap
– Difference between what
Americans are hearing from
government and seeing on TV