Transcript The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War
Lyndon Johnson and
Richard Nixon
Concerns about the
spread of communism
led the United States to
become increasingly
involved in Vietnam
Western imperialism in SE Asia was brief, but it left a problematic legacy.
The introduction by the colonials of Western-style bureaucracies, education
and capitalism led to the demise of older monarchical forms of authority and
the rise of Western-educated elites
A Brief History (Views of Vietnam)
• Truman: extension of the Cold War struggle
against the USSR (Containment)
• Eisenhower: if S. Vietnam falls, all Southeast
Asia will fall to communism (Domino Theory)
• Geneva Accords: general elections in July
1956 would reunify the country
– The U.S. never fully supported the peace
agreements fearing that Ho Chi Minh and the
Communists would win the nationwide election
– We supported Diem in the south first with
advisors then with troops and weapons
An illustration
of what
Eisenhower
called the
“Falling
Domino
Principle” in an
interview in
1954. The
“Domino
Theory”
justified
American
involvement in
Southeast Asia.
• Diem’s opponents in South Vietnam began
to revolt.
• North Vietnam supplied weapons to
Vietminh (communist) rebels in South
Vietnam.
–They formed the National Liberation Front and
called their military forces the Vietcong (VC).
• Diem is overthrown (1963)
• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is passed
after the USS Maddox is fired upon (1964)
– Allows LBJ “to take all necessary measures”
and the escalation begins
• Operation Rolling Thunder
to bomb roads, bridges,
bases and the Ho Chi Minh
Trail that supplied the Viet
Cong in South Vietnam
• Agent Orange—defoliant,
or chemical, that
destroys
vegetation
•Napalm—jellied
form of gasoline
used to create
firebombs
Opposition to the War in the U.S.
• TV news brings the war to living rooms (first news
reports were positive then negative)
• Escalating costs: $600 - $700 billion (total) and
500,000 soldiers (1,200 dying/month)
• Public opinion was divided
– Hawks believed in containment
– Doves believed the US action
immoral and futile
• Credibility Gap- difference between
the reality of the war and Johnson’s
portrayal of it (underscored with
the Pentagon Papers leak)
More Protests
• Opposition grew after the Tet Offensive and when
Americans learned about the My Lai massacre and the
Pentagon Papers.
– Tet (1968) was an unsuccessful offensive by the N. Vietnamese
that turned public opinion against the war even more
– Also in 1968, troops under Lt. William
Calley killed at least 450 men, women,
and children in the village of My Lai
while on a search-and-destroy mission.
• Campus violence at Kent State
University in May, 1970 (4 students
killed and 9 injured) and Jackson
State College in Mississippi (2 killed,
9 wounded)
• Remembering Kent State and Ohio
The Pentagon Papers
• In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, former Department
of Defense official leaked a top-secret study
known as the Pentagon Papers.
– This study revealed how previous administrations
deceived Congress and the public about Vietnam.
• Congress stopped the publication of
the papers but it was brought to
trial
• In New York Times Co. vs United
States free speech won and the
papers were published.
Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger
devised plans to end the war.
Vietnamization
Laos and Cambodia
• Turn over more of the
• However, Nixon was
secretly expanding the war
fighting to the S.Vietnamese
by bombing Cambodia
and bring U.S. forces home
along the Ho Chi Minh trail.
– Nixon Doctrine (the U.S. will
expect its Asian allies to tend • Concealed the air strikes
from the American people
to their own military defense)
and members of Congress
• Antiwar activists called for
an immediate not a gradual • Sent troops into Cambodia
and Laos to destroy North
reduction and end
Vietnamese army bases
(that’s what sparked KSU)
• Nixon hoped for “Peace
with Honor” with the
• Renewed bombing of
backing of the “silent
North Vietnam to force
majority”
them to seek peace.
• In 1972 Nixon stressed law and order at home and told
voters he would end the war.
• Henry Kissinger (Nat. Sec. Advisor)
announced a breakthrough in the peace
talks just weeks before the election.
• The announcement helped Nixon win
by a landslide.
Finally the End
• Officials from North
Vietnam, South
Vietnam, and the
United States finally
reached an agreement
in January 1973.
• The U.S. agreed to
withdraw all troops.
• All prisoners of war
were to be released
• Toll: 58,000 Americans
were killed; 600 were
held as POWs; 2,500
soldiers reported MIA;
300,000 wounded
• Two years after U.S. troops were withdrawn,
N. Vietnamese troops invaded S. Vietnam.
• After a short amount of fighting, South Vietnam
surrendered.
– The U.S. military
rushed to evacuate
Americans still
working in Saigon.
• After two decades of
“temporary” division,
Vietnam was reunited
under a Communist
government.
• In 1975, Communist forces called the Khmer
Rouge gained control of Cambodia.
The Legacy of Vietnam
• Veterans experienced a negative reception upon
return and had trouble readjusting to civilian life
– Some suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder
• Spent more than $600 billion on the war
• Changed how many Americans viewed government
• Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1973.
– The President can only send combat troops into battle or
into areas where ''imminent'' hostilities are likely, for 60
days without either a declaration of war by Congress or a
specific Congressional mandate.
– Avoids the problems of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which
allowed LBJ to escalate the American presence in Vietnam
without a formal declaration of war