Transcript 31.1 PPT - Vietnam War Unfolds

Today’s Schedule – 05/11/10
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31.1 Vocab and Timeline Check
31.1 PPT: Background of the Vietnam War
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HW: 31.2 Vocab and Timeline
Warm-Up: What comes to mind when you
hear the word Vietnam?
Domino Theory
• Fear that if one
Southeast Asian
country fell to
communism others
would follow
Background
• Vietnam was a French colony during the 1800s
• Ho Chi Minh was a communist rebel
– Headed the Vietminh political party which strived for
independence
– Used people’s sense of nationalism to gather support
• Republic of Vietnam
– Established by French in response to Ho Chi Minh
– Emperor was Bao Dai
• In May of 1954 the Vietminh defeated the French
Divided Vietnam
• Geneva Accords
– Meeting of major world powers and political leaders in
Vietnam after the French were defeated
– Decided to divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel
• North Vietnam
– Communist
– Led by Ho Chi Minh
• South Vietnam
– Led by Ngo Dinh Diem
US Involvement
• After WWII Truman had pledged to aid nations
threatened by communism
– Had sent money to support French efforts in Vietnam
– After French defeat continued to support South Vietnam
• Included sending military advisors
– Official start of involvement in Vietnam War
Fall of Diem
• Filling government posts with family members
• US financial aid being used corruptly
• Sent farmers off their land to separate from
communist influences
• Forced predominantly Buddhist country to adopt
Catholic practices
– Buddhist monks began to burn themselves in protest
• US made it known it would not object to an
overthrow of Diem
• November of 1963 Diem was assassinated
Communist Advancements
• New government in South
Vietnam was militant and
unpopular
– Unable to control army
effectively
• Communist guerrillas known
as the Viet Cong gained
loyalty of many South
Vietnamese
– Had the support of Ho Chi Minh
Johnson’s Foreign Policy on
Vietnam
• Three weeks after Diem was assassinated JFK was also
assassinated
• When Johnson took over he was concerned that if the
US did not continue to stay involved in Vietnam it turn
into another China
– He did not want to be the president under whose term this
happened
• Choices
– War: skeptical of success of full fledged war
– Withdraw: did not want to damage image of US global
authority
• Ultimately Johnson chooses to escalate the war
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
•
In August of 1964 Johnson claimed the North
Vietnamese torpedoed US destroyers in
international waters (Gulf of Tonkin)
–
Later shown that attacks did not occur