Transcript Vietnam War - Waverly-Shell Rock School District

10th American History
Unit IX – Post War America
Chapter 29 – Section 3 – The End of the
War
Why are we in Vietnam?
• “Domino
Theory”Eisenhower
• Stop Aggression
• Protect our
reputation- our
“credibility”
The End of the War
The Big Idea
Growing antiwar feelings in the United States helped
convince the government to end U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam War.
Main Ideas
• Opinions about the Vietnam War divided American society
in the 1960s.
• The war under Nixon expanded from Vietnam to Laos and
Cambodia.
• The Vietnam War ended in 1973, but it had lasting effects
on Vietnam and the United States.
Main Idea 1:
Opinions about the Vietnam War divided
American society in the 1960s.
• Students for a Democratic Society
• Some young Americans developed a
counterculture– a culture with its own
values and ways of behaving.
–Members of this counterculture were called
hippies.
War Protests
• In 1970 Nixon announced that he had
ordered troops into Cambodia.
• More and more Americans began to
oppose the war when they learned about
the My Lai massacre and the Pentagon
Papers.
Increasing Protests
Campus Violence
• Kent State
University in Ohio
• Jackson State
College in
Mississippi
Antiwar Movement
Radical Protests
• The Weathermen
Anti-War Protests 1969
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In the United States the Cambodian incursion sparked renewed Anti-War
reactions. Demonstrations got louder and stronger.
Nixon appeals to the “Silent Majority” for support of the war.
June 1969- “Sense of the Senate” barred military operations in any
country without Congressional approval.
June 24, 1970- Senate repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
Kent State May 4, 1970
Protests against the Cambodian Incursion at Kent State University in Ohio caused the Governor to call out the National
Guard. A frightened guard unit opened fire at the unarmed protestors killing 4. More that 80 colleges and universities
suspended classes.
Election of 1968
• Richard M. Nixon.
Main Idea 2:
The war under Nixon expanded from Vietnam to
Laos and Cambodia.
Nixon’s Plan
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With his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, Nixon created a plan to
pull U.S. troops form Vietnam and have the South Vietnamese Army take over
all the fighting.
Strategy called Vietnamization
Cambodia and Laos
Nixon and Vietnamization
•
The plan was to encourage the South
Vietnamese to take more
responsibility for fighting the war.
•
It was hoped that this policy would
eventually enable the United States to
withdraw gradually all their soldiers
from Vietnam.
•
July 1969, the 540,000 US troops
were to be reduced by 25,000.
•
To increase the size of the ARVN
(Army of the Republic of Vietnam),
a mobilization law was passed in
South Vietnam that called up into the
army all men between seventeen and
forty-three years of age.
Ho Chi Minh Trail
•
The US could never stem the flow of
supplies to the Ho Chi Minh Trail
and this was crucial to keep the
guerrilla war going.
•
Communist forces had been using
what was then known as the Truong
Son Route since at least 1959 to
infiltrate men and materiel through
Laos into South Vietnam. Not only
was it a lifeline, it served as a basing
area and a sanctuary in Laos for
staging operations into South
Vietnam.
Nixon and Vietnamization 4:30 min.
•
Nixon secretly widened the war to force
the North Vietnamese to negotiate.
Secret bombing of North Vietnamese
and Cambodian bases in Cambodia
While enlarging the war Nixon also
began to withdraw troops.
In 1970, the communists in Cambodia
overthrew the leader Prince Sihanouk
and took over (Khmer Rouge). U.S.
and South Vietnamese leadership were
concerned with Vietcong and North
Vietnamese bases located in Cambodia
across the South Vietnam border
(Mekong River).
President Nixon gave the approval for
an April, 30, 1970 attack across the
border into Cambodia by the Allies and
U.S. Tanks- an incursion. This seemed
to be in direct conflict with
administration’s attempt to scale down
the war (Vietnamization)
Cambodian Incursion 1969-1970
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1972 Election
• Student protests erupted all over the nation.
• In June 1971 the Pentagon Papers were published.
– Revealed that for years, U.S. officials had been lying to the
American public about war’s progress
– Intensified antiwar feelings
• Twenty-sixth Amendment ratified in 1971
– Lowered voting age from 21 to 18
• Democratic candidate George McGovern tried to
appeal to young voters.
• Majority of voters over 21 supported Nixon.
• Richard Nixon won presidential election by a landslide.
Main Idea 3:
The Vietnam War ended in 1973, but it had lasting effects
on Vietnam and the United States.
• On January 27, 1973, the United States
signed a cease-fire called the Paris
Peace Accords.
• Despite the peace agreement, fighting
broke out between North and South
Vietnam in 1974.
Impact of Vietnam War
Southeast Asia
United States
• .
• War Powers Act passed in
1973, requiring president to
get Congressional approval
before committing U.S. troops
to armed struggle
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial
dedicated in 1982
War Powers Act - 1973
• To ensure that Congress and the President share in
making decisions that may get the U.S. involved in
hostilities.
• Requires the President to consult with Congress prior to
the start of any hostilities.
• Under the act, 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.
• The President can extend the time the troops are in the
combat area for 30 extra days, without Congressional
approval, for a total of 90 days.
The Vietnam War’s Legacy
• Two years after U.S. troops were withdrawn,
North Vietnamese troops invaded South Vietnam.
• After a short amount of fighting, South Vietnam
surrendered.
• 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..
Fall of Vietnam and Indochina- 1975
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Vietnam
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Cambodia
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Fall of Saigon Apr. 29, 1975- Ambassador
Graham Martin and 7100 U.S. and SV
personnel evacuated Apr. 30, 1975
Khmer Rouge
Laos
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Pathet Lao and Pol Pot
Victory of North Vietnam 1975
• Collapse of ARVN and South Vietnamese Government- The South
Vietnamese Army withdrew from the Central Highland, leaving Saigon
open to invasion from the North Vietnamese. The United States refused
to provide additional aid
• April 21, the South Vietnamese president resigned and fled
• Fall of Siagon- On April 30, 1975, Saigon fell to North Vietnamese tanks.
• The End-On April 30, just as the last U.S. helicopter was lifting off, the
North Vietnamese Army swept into Saigon
Cambodia and Khmer Rouge
Pol Pot
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The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed
close to 1.7 million people in the mid- to
late 1970s.
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Money, private property, education and
religion were abolished and Cambodia's
towns and cities were emptied as the
population was forced into massive,
unworkable agricultural collectives.
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In addition to death from work
starvation and exhaustion, the regime
killed anyone suspected with
connections with either the defeated
Khmer Republic government or the
previous Sihanouk government, as well
as intellectuals (Pol Pot defined anyone
who wore glasses as automatically an
intellectual), professionals, and also
ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams,
Laotians, and Thai.
Killing Fields
• Killing Fields- 1975
– cities emptied or people sent to the countryside. Phnom
Penh
– new rules- religion, money and private ownership were
all banned; communications with the outside world
elimated; family relationships dismantled. All previous
rights and responsibilities were thrown out the window.
– New People with education, doctor, teacher, lawyers, etc.
were killed. They chose to live in cities and were easy to
identify.
– The CIA estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000
people were executed by the Khmer Rouge, but
executions represented only a minority of the death toll,
which mostly came from starvation.
• Boat People- refuges.
• Dec. 28, 1978- Vietnamese invasion of CambodiaLiberators or Invaders? The end of the Khmer
Rouge
End of Laos 1975
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Years of bitter revolutionary struggle, ending
with Americas secret war between 1964 and
1973, left Laos the most bombed country in
the history of warfare.
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Fall of Laos- In 1975 the communist Pathet
Lao took control of the government.
Pathet Lao was a communist, nationalist
political movement and organization in Laos.
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Hmong rebels
CIA secret army- left behind