Transcript Vietnam War-Powerpoint 2 ((MM))

Vietnam War-Powerpoint
2
RULE
Diem
• Diem was viewed by many normal
Vietnamese as part of the best who had
helped the French rule Vietnam.
Summer of 1955
• Diem launched the “Denounce the
Communists” campaign.
• Diem instituted a policy of the death
penalty against any activity deemed
communist in August 1956.
1956
Insurgency in the
South
Sino-Soviet
• The Sino-Soviet split led to a decrease in
the influence of the PRC, which had
insisted in 1954 that the Viet Minh accept
a division of the country.
1957
• Violence steadily increased after four
hundred government officials were
assassinated.
January 1959
• The North’s Central Committee issued a
secret decision authorizing an “armed
struggle”.
– This authorized the southern communists to
begin large-scale operations the South
Vietnamese military.
December 12th, 1960
• Hanoi authorized the creation of the
National Liberation Front as a common
front controlled by the communist party in
the South.
1961-1963
During John F.
Kennedy’s
administration
1960
• When John F. Kennedy won the 1960
United States presidential election, one
major subject Kennedy raised was
whether the Soviet space and missile
programs had surpassed those of the U.S.
June 1961
• In June 1961, John F. Kennedy resentfully
disagreed with Soviet Nikita Khrushchev
when they met in Vienna over key United
States-Soviet issues. The Legacy of the
Korean War created the idea of a limited
war.
• Guerrilla tactics employed by special
forces such as the Green Berets would be
effective in a “brush fire” war in Vietnam.
1961
• The United States had 50,000 troops
based in Korea.
• Kennedy faced a three-part crisis:
– Failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
– The Construction of the Berlin Wall.
– A negotiated settlement between the proWestern government of Laos and the Pathet
Lao communist movement.
May 1961
• Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visited
Saigon and willingly declared Diem the
“Winston Churchill of Asia.”
ARVN
• Army of the Republic of Vietnam
– Corruption, bad leadership, and political
promotions all played a part in emasculating
the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
• Hanoi’s support for the NLF played a role,
South Vietnamese governmental
incompetence was at the core of the crisis.
April 1962
• In April 1962, John Kenneth Balbraith
warned Kennedy of the “danger we shall
replace the French as a majestic force in
the area and bleed as the French did.”
1963
• In 1963 there were more than 16,000
American military recruits in South
Vietnam.
July 23rd, 1962
• Fourteen nations, including the Peoples
Republic of China, South Vietnam, the
Soviet Union, North Vietnam and the U.S.,
all signed a treaty promising the
detachment of Laos.
Military
Coup
The Summer of 1963
• By the summer of 1963, the GVN (South
Vietnam) was on the verge of political
collapse.
• Diem’s brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, had raided
the Buddhist pagodas of South Vietnam.
– The Buddhist claimed that they had harbored
the communists that were creating the
political insercurity.
• The result of all this created huge protests
in Saigon the led Buddhist monks to selfimmolation.
– In September, the Buddhist protest had
created such a disruption in the south that the
Kennedy administration supported a coup.
• In 1963, a few of Diem’s own generals in
the ARVN approached the American
Embassy in Saigon with plans to
overthrow Diem.
November 2nd, 1963
• With Washington’s implicit approval, Diem
and his brother were captured and killed.
– 3 weeks later, John F. Kennedy was
assassinated.
• The continuing political problems in
Saigon persuaded Lyndon Baines
Johnson (the new president) that more
aggressive action was needed.