Transcript Vietnam Warx - United States History

Vietnam War
 1.
Explain how the Cold War and US
Cold War policies impacted and
responded to world events. Evaluate
the success of these policies.
 2. Apply to the case of Vietnam and
the influence of the war on domestic
and international politics
 3. Debate: Was the Gulf of Tonkin a
justifiable call to action in Vietnam?
Background
to the War
Vietnamese culture
Villages and rice
Buddhist
Historic tension with
Chinese
Laos, Vietnam and
Cambodia were
originally a French
colony (French
IndoChina) in the
late19th century
Imperialism
Background
to the War

Japan took control
during World War II

Opposed by
guerrilla force led
by Ho Chi Minh

1941
US backed Ho Chi
Minh’s to remove
Japan
Japanese Expansion
•1933
1941
•Control
Attacks
Background
to the War

At end of WW II,
Ho Chi Minh
declared Vietnam
an independent
nation
 President Truman
refused to
recognize Ho Chi
Minh and
Vietnam.
With U.S. aid,
France attempted
re-colonize
Vietnam

Background
to the War

Fighting between
France and Vietminh
began in 1946
 The French lost control
to Ho Chi Minh’s Viet
Minh forces at Dien Bien
Phu…. May 7, 1954
 France requested
US air support
 Nuclear if necessary
 President Eisenhower
declined to intervene on
behalf of France.
 French withdrew from
Indochina
French
defeat at
Dien Bien
Phu
Background to
the War
 International Conference at
Geneva in 1954
 Vietnam was divided at 17th parallel
Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist forces
controlled the North
Ngo Dinh Diem, a Frencheducated, Roman Catholic
claimed control of the South
Elections were to be held two
years later.
Background to
the War
A
date was set for
democratic
elections to
reunify Vietnam
 Diem
backed out
of the elections,
leading to military
conflict between
North and South
U.S. Military
Involvement
Begins
Repressive
dictatorial rule by Diem
 Diem’s
family holds all power
 Wealth is hoarded by the elite
 Buddhist majority persecuted
 Torture, lack of political freedom prevail
The
U.S. aided Diem’s government
 Ike
sent financial and military aid
 675 U.S. Army advisors sent by 1960.
Early Protests of
Diem’s Government
Self-Emulation by a Buddhist Monk protesting
against the brutality of Diem’s government
 April 1955—Pres. Eisenhower
agrees to advise South Vietnam
– Arrive to train only South Vietnam
troops.
 1959 -- North Vietnam increased
actions to unify North and South
”insurgents”
– US increased action to prevent a
North Vietnam victory
Troop
Levels:
South
243,000
Vietnamese
American
900
U.S. Troop
Deployments in
Vietnam
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
U.S. Troops
200,000
100,000
1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
0
U.S. Military
Involvement
Begins
 Kennedy
elected 1960
 Increases
military “advisors” to 16,000
 1963:
JFK supports a S. Vietnamese
military coup d’etat – sees Diem as a
liability. Diem and his brother are
murdered (Nov. 2)
 Kennedy
was assassinated just weeks
later (Nov. 22)

.
Kennedy Is Assassinated
• On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot while riding in
an open limousine through Dallas, Texas. He had traveled
to Texas to mobilize support for his upcoming reelection
campaign.
• Shots fired from the sixth-floor window of the empty Texas
School Book Depository mortally wounded Kennedy,
making Vice President Lyndon Johnson the new President.
• The prime suspect in Kennedy’s murder, Lee Harvey
Oswald, was murdered by a man named Jack Ruby two
days later, while being transferred from one jail to another.
• To investigate Kennedy’s murder, President Johnson
appointed The President’s Commission on the
Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, better known
as the Warren Commission, after its chairman, Supreme
Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.
• The Warren Commission determined that Oswald had
acted alone. However, theories that Oswald and Ruby had
belonged to a conspiracy persisted.
lbj sworn in
lbj sworn in
lbj sworn in
Lee Harvey Oswald, “the lone gunman”, killed
JFK……..Oswald murdered by Jack Ruby two days after
JFK’s murder…..
lbj sworn in
assassination3
assassination3
President Johnson and Communist Advances
• Shortly after Diem’s assassination in November 1963,
President Kennedy was assassinated, and Vice
President Johnson assumed the presidency.
• In South Vietnam, the military leaders who had taken
over the government were unsuccessful and
unpopular. As a result, Communist guerrillas in South
Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, made gains in both
territory and loyalty. The Viet Cong’s political wing
was known as the National Liberation Front.
• Wins re-election in 1964 in a landslide
victory.
U.S. Troop
Deployments in
Vietnam
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
U.S. Troops
200,000
100,000
1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
0
Lyndon Johnson,
1965 Speech at
Johns Hopkins
University, "Why are
we in South
Vietnam"
vietnam collage
•Why are we in South
Vietnam? We are there
because we have a promise
to keep. Since 1954 every
American President has
offered to support the people
of South Vietnam.
•We have helped to build and
we have helped to defend.
Thus, over many years, we
have made a national pledge
to help South Vietnam defend
its independence.
•I intend to keep our
promise. To dishonor that
pledge, to abandon this small
and brave nation to its enemy
and to the terror that must
follow would be an
unforgivable wrong.
Lyndon Johnson,
Speech at Johns
Hopkins University,
"Why are we in
South Vietnam"
vietnam collage
•We are there to strengthen
world order.
•Around the globe from Berlin
to Thailand are people whose
well-being rests, in part, on
the belief they can count on
us if they are attacked.
Lyndon Johnson,
Speech at Johns
Hopkins University,
"Why are we in
South Vietnam"
vietnam collage
•To leave Vietnam to its fate
would shake the confidence
of all these people in the
value of American
commitment. The result
would be increased unrest
and instability, or even war.
Background to War
French Indochina-WWII and the Japanese
 US backed Ho Chi Minh
 1952- Dien Bien Phu- French withdraw
 1954 Geneva Conference- divided 17th
parallel -Minh (North) and Diem (South)
 By 1955 Eisenhower sends advisors to
support Diem’s gov’t, provide training
 1961 JFK increases advisors to 16,000
 1963 US supports a coup d’ etat

Johnson Sends
Ground Forces
Remembers
Truman’s “loss”
of China --> Domino Theory
I’m not going to be the president who saw
Southeast Asia go the way China went.
What Johnson didn’t tell Congress:
+He had already written the resolution before the
“incident.”
+The U.S. naval vessels were aiding ARVN in
commando raids in North Vietnam at the time.
+He learned that the attack probably hadn’t
occurred.
+The U.S. navy was not on the “high seas” but in
N. Vietnam’s 12 mile territorial limit.
Expanding Presidential Power
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
What Inspired the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution?
What Was the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution?
What Additional Powers
Did It Give the President?
In August 1964, Johnson
announced that North
Vietnamese torpedo boats
had attacked American
destroyers in the Gulf of
Tonkin. However, some
people doubted that this
incident had happened and
believed it was only an
excuse for further U.S.
involvement in Vietnam.
The Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution, passed by
Congress in 1964, regarded
peace and security in
Southeast Asia as vital to
American national interest,
and it gave the President
additional powers to assist
any Southeast Asian
country “requesting
assistance in defense of its
freedoms.”
Under the resolution, the
President had authority to
“take all necessary
measures to repel any
armed attack against the
forces of the United States
and to prevent further
aggression.” - a virtual
“BLANK CHECK” The
resolution, therefore,
changed the balance of
power between Congress
and the President.
Debate
Was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution justified?
Consider the following:
1. Some have argued that the North Vietnamese were to blame for the
incident, while others maintained the US was at fault. What reasons could
be provided to justify one or the other?
2. Why did President Johnson go immediately to Congress and the
people, rather than waiting for a full investigation of the second attack.
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
• North Vietnamese
troops and supplies
entered South Vietnam
via the Ho Chi Minh
Trail, a route that
passed through Laos
and Cambodia.
Intensifying the War
• After the election of 1964, President Johnson began a
gradual escalation, or expansion of the war. The number of
American soldiers stationed in Vietnam rose from about
25,000 at the beginning of 1965 to nearly 536,000 by the end
of 1968.
• Originally, American soldiers had been sent to advise the
South Vietnamese; now their task was to prop up a failing
South Vietnamese government led by Nguyen Cao Ky.
• Despite the large buildup of American troops, between 1965
and 1967 the war was at a stalemate.
• Within the United States, debate raged between hawks,
those who supported the war, and doves, those who did
not.
U.S. Troop Deployments in
Vietnam
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
U.S. Troops
200,000
100,000
1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
0
The Air War
1965-1968

1965: Sustained bombing of North Vietnam begins
 Operation Rolling Thunder (March 2, 1965)



1966-68: Saturation bombing: Ongoing bombing of Hanoi
nonstop for 3 years. Esp. targets the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Downed Pilots: P.O.W.s
Carpet Bombing – napalm: jellylike substance which, when dropped
from planes splattered, and burned uncontrollably.
The Air and Ground Wars
Some Weapons Used in the Vietnam War
• Land Mines — Land mines, which can be set off by the pressure
of a footstep, are explosive devices planted in the ground. Viet
Cong landmines killed and wounded both American GIs and
Vietnamese civilians.
• Saturation Bombing — American B-52 bomber planes dropped
thousands of tons of explosives, resulting in saturation bombing of
North Vietnam.
• Fragmentation Bombs — Fragmentation bombs, dropped by
Americans over both North and South Vietnam, threw pieces of
their thick metal casings in all directions when they exploded. In
South Vietnam, fragmentation bombs killed and maimed countless
civilians.
The Air and Ground Wars
Some Weapons Used in the Vietnam War
• Agent Orange — American pilots dropped an herbicide
called Agent Orange over Vietnamese jungles, killing
vegetation and exposing Viet Cong hiding places.
Agent Orange was later discovered to cause health
problems in livestock and humans.
• Napalm — Another chemical weapon used in Vietnam
The Air War:
A Napalm Attack
Who Is the
Enemy?
The Vietcong consisted of a well
organized guerilla fighting force in
South Vietnam.
Their guerilla and jungle hit and
run tactics made them a menace
for American, South Vietnamese,
and other allied forces.
Who Is the
Enemy?
The Vietcong possessed
underground networks of tunnels
Passageways that contained hidden
caches weapons and supplies that
were difficult to locate and destroy.
vc
Who Is the
Enemy?
Who’s your enemy?
U.S. and South Vietnamese
forces found it extremely difficult
to fight the Vietcong’s hit and run
tactics.
Vietcong could easily blend into
a village where they could move
about freely since they did not
belong to a “standard” army.
Who Is the
Enemy?
Vietcong: founded in South Vietnam who
were communists—supported by N. Vietnam.
 Farmers by day; guerillas at night.
 Willing to accept many casualties.
 The US grossly underestimated their resolve
and their resourcefulness.
 “Charlies” to American Troops that will later
fight them.
The guerilla wins if he does not lose,
the conventional army loses if it does
not win.
-- Mao Zedong
The Ground War
1965-1968

General Westmoreland, late 1967: “We can
see the light at the end of the tunnel’”
•"a war of attrition"
•Wearing down to weaken or destroy
The Ground War
1965-1968
 No
territorial goals
 Body counts on TV every night
(first “living room” war)
 Viet
Cong supplies over the
Ho Chi Minh Trail
The Tet Offensive,
January 1968
N.
Vietnamese Army + Viet
Cong attack South
simultaneously
80,000
attack 100 cities, bases
and the US embassy in Saigon
Take every major southern city
U.S.
+ ARVN beat back the
offensive
Viet
Cong destroyed
N. Vietnamese army debilitated
The Tet Offensive: A Turning Point
• On January 30, 1968, the Viet Cong and North Vietnam launched a
major offensive. This series of attacks was called the Tet Offensive
since it occurred during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.
• During and after the Tet Offensive, both sides were guilty of brutal
atrocities. Communists slaughtered anyone they labeled an enemy;
Americans massacred hundreds of civilians at My Lai, a small village in
South Vietnam. A helicopter crew that stopped the massacre was later
rewarded, and the officer who had ordered it was imprisoned.
• Because Americans now knew that the Viet Cong could launch
massive attacks, and because no end to the war was in sight, the Tet
Offensive proved to be a major psychological victory for the Viet Cong
and a turning point in the war.
The Tet Offensive,
January 1968
Because of the Tet
Offensive, the US
media announced the
US was loosing the
war.
Walter Cronkite, part
of CBS news who
opposed the war after
Tet.
Impact of the
Tet Offensive
 Domestic
U.S. Reaction:
Disbelief, Anger, Distrust
of Johnson
Administration
Hey,
Hey LBJ! How
many kids did you
kill today?
Impact of the Tet Offensive
TET OFFENSIVE
NVA Invades South Vietnam
January 1968
PARIS
SOUTH
VIETNAM
USA
Peace talks begin
after Tet to
halt the bombing of
North Vietnam
City of Hue' destroyed
SVN retakes cities and
towns, but government
loses support
Johnson criticized by
Hawks and Doves
Johnson steps down
Americans want out of Vietnam
Talks make no progress
Increased bombing in
South Vietnam
Democratic Party splinters
Robert Kennedy assassinated
General Westmoreland
asks for more troops
Riots in Chicago during
Democratic Party
Convention
Nixon wins 1968
Presidential Election
Are We Becoming
the Enemy?
Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry
 My lai Massacre, 1968
 200-500 unarmed villagers
 Lt. William Calley,
Platoon Leader
The Vietnam War,
1964 to 1975
1964
Gulf of Tonkin
Incident
1965
First sustained
bombing of North
Vietnam
1966
U.S. air raids over
Hanoi, 1966 to 1968
1968
Tet Offensive,
Jan. 30 to Feb. 24
My Lai Massacre,
March 16
Student Activism
Student Activism in the 1960s
•
•
•
•
•
Generation Gap — Young Americans in the 1960s had many opportunities unknown to
previous generations; many also questioned the values of their parents. These factors
contributed to a wider generation gap between college-aged youths and their parents.
Students for a Democratic Society and the New Left — Organized in 1960, Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS) had a major impact on the New Left, a political movement that
advocated radical changes to deal with problems such as poverty and racism.
The Free Speech Movement — Student protests for free speech at the University of
California at Berkeley inspired similar movements elsewhere, including challenges to
social restrictions on campuses.
The Teach-in Movement — Begun at the University of Michigan in March 1965, teach-ins, or
special sessions at which issues concerning the war could be discussed, soon became a
popular means of expressing antiwar sentiment.
Continued Protests — Hundreds of demonstrations continued at colleges and universities
around the country. One of the most dramatic, at Columbia University in New York City,
linked the issues of civil rights and the war.
Draft Resistance
• To increase the available fighting force, the United States
invoked the Selective Service Act of 1951, drafting young
men between the ages of 18 and 26 into the armed forces.
• Most of those who refused to be drafted in the early 1960s
were conscientious objectors, people who opposed fighting
on moral or religious grounds.
• As the Vietnam War progressed, the draft-resistance
movement grew, with many young men burning their draft
cards or fleeing the country to avoid the draft. Called draft
dodgers.
•
At first, college students could receive a deferment, or
postponement of their call to serve. Deferments were eliminated in
1971 in response to complaints that they were unfair to those who
could not afford college.
Anti-War
Demonstrations
Columbia University, 1967
“Hanoi Jane”
•Hollywood opposed the war.
•Jane Fonda went to Hanoi to
visit with U.S. POW.
•She was used as propaganda
by North Vietnam.
•Recently, a Vietnam vet
“spit” on her and called her a
traitor.
Jane Fonda
Anti-War
Demonstrations
Anti-War
Demonstrations
May
4, 1970
4
students
shot dead.
11
students
wounded
Jackson
State University
May
Kent State University
2
10, 1970
dead; 12
wounded
Impact of the
Vietnam War
Johnson announces (March, 1968):

I do not believe that I
should devote an hour
or a day of my time to
any personal partisan
causes, or to any duties
other than the
awesome duties of this
office, the Presidency
of your country.
Accordingly, I shall not
seek, and I will not
accept, the nomination of
my party for another term
as your President.

Johnson’s Great Society




Legislative slate passed by Johnson after the
1964 election was comparable to FDR’s 100days.
Sweeping package of social reform and new
aid to the poor and down-trodden.
Continues the war on poverty
Created the Dept. of Transportation and
Housing and Urban Development.


Names the first Black cabinet secretary—
Robert Weaver
Creates national Endowment for the arts.
Legislative Landmarks

Four legislative achievements at heart of
Great Society:






Federal Aid to Education
Medicare for the Elderly/Medicaid for the Poor
Immigration Reform
Voting Rights Act
Medicare and Medicaid provide medical
insurance at governmental expense for elderly
and poor
Medicare and Medicaid join social security and
unemployment insurance as part of social safety
net.- Controversial reforms even today.
Voting Rights Act

In 1964 Voting Rights
becomes the main goal of
civil rights movement.




Freedom Summer of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Johnson sends in federal
officials to oversee voter
registration.
Over the next 25 years
totally transforms the south
because blacks are voting.
The Election of 1968
The Democratic Convention
• At the time of the Democratic
Convention in Chicago, Eugene
McCarthy was thought too far out
of the mainstream, and Robert
Kennedy had been assassinated.
• During the convention, police
attacked protesters, with much of
the violence taking place in front
of television cameras.
• Vice President Hubert Humphrey
won the Democratic nomination,
but the party had been further
torn apart by the convention’s
events.
The Nation Chooses Nixon
• Richard M. Nixon received the
Republican Party’s nomination
for President.
• Nixon soon took the lead in
national polls, allowing his
running mate Spiro Agnew to
make harsh accusations, while
Nixon stayed “above the fray.”
• Independent candidate George C.
Wallace drew many votes.
Additionally, many disillusioned
Democrats did not vote.
• In a close race, Nixon won the
presidency in the 1968 election.
Convention Chaos





Democratic convention in Chicago in chaos.
Democrats were bitter, divided and angry over the death of
Kennedy, the war, etc.
War protests, police.
Democrats came off looking like a disorganized mob.
Humphrey wins the nomination on the first ballot.
Richard Nixon

Republicans nominate
Richard Nixon who is
running as a conservativemoderate.
Return of the Dixiecrats



George Wallace
American
Independent Party.
Wallace ardently antiintegration

“Segregation Now,
Segregation tomorrow,
Segregation forever.”
Narrow Victory For Nixon

Nixon and Humphrey have similar policies on VN. No
real choice between the two.





As a result, many doves sat out the election because no
standard-bearer for their views.
Nixon wins by half a percentage point without carrying a
single major city and with no coat-tails.
Both houses of Congress remain Democratic.
Democrats win 95% of the black vote.
Nixon wins only 43% of the vote because Wallace had
siphoned off votes from both. No mandate.
Wallace wins 46 electoral votes from the deep south.
Largest third-party electoral vote in American history.
Foreign Policy Changes
Cold War
Containment
&
Brinkmanship
Flexible
Response &
Détente
Crusader &
Conciliator
Truman and
Eisenhower
JFK and Nixon
Reagan
Contain,
Coercion,
M.A.D., Arm
and Space race
manage rivalry
Arms control
treaties
Exploit
weaknesses of
Soviet union
Foreign Policy Changes


Foreign Policy: Cold War
Nixon’s Vietnamization called for a gradual pull
out & escalation of S. Vietnamese military efforts






Authorized bombing in Cambodia and Laos to destroy
Vietcong hideouts (Kent University)
When America discovers this fact, leads to increasing
cynicism and distrust of government
Last troops withdrawn in 1973
Two years later N. Vietnam united the country &
rules today: America avoided intervention
Vietnam War cost 58,000 American lives and 1.5
million Vietnamese
Korean War had cost 4 million lives and remains
divided
Richard Nixon


Arms Race: US, Soviets & Chinese
1972 Nixon first president to visit China since
Communist Revolution:



Negotiations with USSR: 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks (SALT)


opened more friendly relations leading to diplomatic recognition
of the People’s Republic of China
Position on UN Security Council
Sign a treaty limiting strategic weapons: missiles
Critics charged Détente provided false sense of security:
arms gap narrowing