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The Vietnam Conflict
Early Involvement
• French colony—1861-1940’s
• Natural resources
• Japan attempted to take over Vietnam from
the French
• Vietnamese people revolted with the
blessings of the United States
• Rebel leader was Ho Chi Minh
• Vietminh—communist
• Minh as politician
We hold these truths to be self evident…
Vietnam
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Japan is out
France returns
Minh fights France
The U.S. won’t fight
against their ally
Cold War Politics
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Truman Doctrine
Containment
Minh had lived in Russia
Vietnam became the “Berlin of Asia”
US Involvement in the War
• US aids the French
• 1954--$2 billion
• French surrender in 1954
at DienBienPhu
• Divides Vietnam in ½ at
the 17th parallel
• North—Communist
• South—Democratic
South Vietnam
• Diem
– 1955-61: $1billion in aid
– Trained the army
– Depended on U.S.
– Saigon
– Democratic
South Vietnam
Diem’s dictatorship
Shut down
newspapers
Jailed critics
No free elections
US was still there
as advisors
People began to
protest Diem
South Vietnam
• 1963—16,700 advisors
• 489 Americans killed
South Vietnam
• CIA and South Vietnamese troops
assassinated Diem
Lyndon B. Johnson
“I want to leave the
footprints of American
in Vietnam. I want them
to say, ‘This is what
Americans left—
schools and hospitals,
and dams”
LBJ
“I am not going to
lose Vietnam. I
am not going to
be the president
that saw
southeast Asia go
the way China
went”
LBJ
“Our boys won’t be doing the fighting for the
Asian boys”
Planned a buildup of forces
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• August 1964
• USS Maddox is fired
upon by a patrol boat
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Johnson’s “blank check” from Congress
"take all necessary measures to
repel any armed attack against
the forces of the United States
and to prevent further
aggression."
LBJ
Johnson begins the bombing of North
Vietnam immediately after he is elected
Operation Rolling Thunder
Dropped more bombs in Vietnam than
aircraft did in WWII
Fragmentation bombs
Napalm bombs
Bombs
Bombs
Agent Orange
Americanization
• Began bombing the North
• Sent more troops into the South
• Each American increase = Vietcong
increase
• Troop #s = 543,000 soldiers
Search and Destroy
“It became necessary to destroy the town to save it”
Quote from an American Officer in Vietnam
My Lai Massacre
US Forces—Lt. William Calley led him men
to destroy an entire village of unarmed
women and children after he lost several
men to a booby trap
Private Paul Meadlo
“We huddled them up. We made
them squat down…I poured about
four clips into the group…The
mothers were hugging their
children…well, we kept right on
firing. They was waving their arms
and begging…I still dream about
it. About the women and children
in my sleep. Some days…some
nights….I can’t even sleep
Problems within the Military
Race
Fragging
Drug usage
Opposition to the war
Senate Hearings--1966
TET Offensive
• Vietnamese New
Year
• Vietcong offensive all
over the South
• Lost territory; but
regained it
• TET offensive made
a huge impact on
public opinion
Johnson’s March 31st Speech
• Announced he would stop the bombing
and attempt to negotiate a peace
agreement
• Announced he would not seek reelection
to the presidency
Nixon
“The travail of the long war was etched on
the faces around me. They had no new
approaches to recommend to me. I
sensed that, despite the disappointment of
defeat, they were relieved to be able to
turn this morass over to someone else.”
Nixon on his meeting with Johnson and his advisors
Vietnamization
Began to withdraw troops very slowly
Handed the war over to the South
Vietnamese govt.
Security Advisor—Henry Kissinger
Jugular diplomacy
Attempted to pound them
into making
concessions
Little progress
Operation Phoenix
Cambodia
Christmas Bombings
The War Ends
Le Duc Tho---North Vietnamese
representative
Kissinger—US
January 27, 1973—Cease Fire was reached
US completely out by 1975
1975—Saigon becomes
Ho Chi Minh City
The War Ends
25 years
57,000 soldiers
$150 billion
“How could so many with so much seek so
little for so long against so few?”