Transcript Vietnam War

Vietnam War
Pgs. 379-381
Many people thought the war
was unnecessary and wrong.
Vietnam after WWII
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Like Korea,
Vietnam was
divided into two
countries after
WWII.
• North Vietnam –
Communist
• South Vietnam Republic
Vietcong
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In the late 1950s Vietnamese
communists, called the Vietcong,
tried to take over the South
Vietnamese government.
Between 1956-1962 the United
States sent money, war supplies, and
soldiers to help South Vietnam fight
the Vietcong.
Why?
President Johnson - 1963
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By the time Lyndon Johnson became
President, the Vietcong were
winning the war against South
Vietnam.
In August 1964, it was reported that
a North Vietnamese gunboat had
attacked a U.S. Navy ship near
Vietnam.
President Johnson sent more soldiers
to South Vietnam to prevent another
attack.
Losing the War ?
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After sending extra troops, the U.S.
and the South Vietnamese troops
failed to defeat the Vietcong quickly.
The United States decided to send
planes to bomb North Vietnam.
President Johnson hoped the
bombing would stop the flow of
supplies from North Vietnam to the
Vietcong.
Military Build-Up
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By 1968 more than 500,000 United
States Soldiers were in Vietnam.
The Cost of War
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The Vietnam War was costing the United
States billions of dollars each year.
To pay for the Vietnam War, the
government had to borrow a lot of money.
This borrowing led to inflation – a time
when more and more money is needed to
buy the same goods and services.
As a result the economy began to suffer.