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Discussion Questions
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What did Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh want?
How and with whom did he make his case?
What was President Truman’s response? Why?
Explain President Eisenhower’s Domino theory.
According to Ike, what is the strategic importance
of Indochina?
President Eisenhower's News Conference, April 7,
1954, Public Papers of the Presidents, 1954, p. 382
Southeast
Asia
Presidents Truman, Eisenhower,
Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon…
Nearly 20 years of involvement…
58,195 American deaths
300,000 Americans wounded…
2.4 million Vietnamese deaths…
$120 billion spent between 1965-1973…
Pervasive legacy that divided the
nation…
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
The Vietnam Conflict
Thinking Skill: State implications of US involvement
and the consequences of US escalation
Vietnam
Vietnam History in Brief
• 1887 French colonized Indochina
(Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia)
• 1945 Democratic Republic of Vietnam formed
after defeat of Japan in WWII
• 1947 Ho Chi Minh fled to the hills, led
Vietminh resistance against French (guerilla
warfare)
• 1954 France suffered great defeat at
Diembiemphou; withdrew despite US funding
80% of French war effort
• 1954 Geneva Accords temporarily divided N &
S;free elections promised for 1956.
• Ho Chi Minh (N) v. Ngo Dinh Diem (S)
Ho Chi Minh
Ngo Dinh Diem
Beginnings of US Involvement
• Promised countrywide elections never
held…
– Domino Effect
– Ho Chi Minh (communist) would win
Resistance Intensifies
• Vietminh/North Vietnamese “regulars”
• National Liberation Front (NLF)/Vietcong
(VC) blended into civilian populace
• JFK deploys 15,000 “advisors” & Green
Beret special forces
• Buddhist monks protest with selfimmolations
• Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated Nov. 1963
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
• Aug 2, 1964 USS Maddox was attacked by
North Vietnamese patrol boats
• Aug 4, 1964 2nd round of “attacks”
– LBJ authorizes retaliatory airstrikes
• LBJ uses outrage to press Congress to
pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
– granted extraordinary war-making powers
– “Blank Check” (House 416-0, Senate 88-2)
Dear America: Letters Home
From Vietnam (1987)
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Discussion Questions
How did the soldiers’ views change over the
course of the war?
What impact did the environment have on
US ability to successfully wage war?
What effect did the American media have
on the conflict?
What is the psychological impact of the
statement, “We own the day, Charlie owns
the night”?
Dear America: Letters Home
From Vietnam
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Discussion Questions
What was the significance of the Tet Offensive?
How did the constant threat of attack impact
morale?
Why did the US fail to achieve its military goals
in Vietnam? Who is ultimately responsible?
Did LBJ have any realistic alternative to
escalation?
Pleiku Attacks
• American military base attacked, Feb.
1965
• Effects:
– Gen. Westmoreland called for massive
retaliatory air strikes against N. Vietnam
• Operations Flaming Dart, Rolling Thunder
– US ground forces increased from 75,000 to
250,000; 1967- 485,000 and 1969- 543,000
– LBJ made Vietnam an “American War”
General William
Westmoreland
President Lyndon Johnson
Foot
Soldier’s War
A Typical
“Grunt”
Women in
Vietnam…
About 11,000
women served
from 19621973 (DoD)
Pontoon Boat
on patrol
US Air Power
Effective Bombing?
Chinook Helicopter
Huey
helicopter
Hitting the “LZ”
(landing zone)
On Patrol
Supplies
Jungle
Conditions…
Where is the
Enemy?
Khe Sahn military outpost
Waiting…
Victims
Who is the Enemy?
Vietnam Conflict – Part II
Thinking Skill: Examine information
from more than one point of view
Objective: Assess the goals of all sides
in the conflict through 1968
TET Offensive
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What was the significance of the
Vietnamese New Year in 1968?
N. Vietnamese and V.C. attack virtually all
cities in S. Vietnam
Shocks US military, who eventually win
Public in US is demoralized (TV)
V.C. are re-energized and fight escalates
Anti-war protests increase in US
South Vietnamese Soldier
shooting a VC prisoner
Napalm Attacks
My Lai Massacre –
March 16, 1968
•Lt. William Calley
•347 -504 victims
Student Protests
Continue…
LBJ: “How can we get out without losing face?”
Answer: “I’m afraid there are few acceptable alternatives…”
Soldiers become
disconnected from war
effort
Some turn
to drugs,
alcohol, and
await the
end of their
tour
Soldiers
Morale begins
to fade…
The
fight for
peace at
home…
Privileged
Or
Protestors
March 1968 – LBJ
Withdraws from Race
Nixon
Elected
1968
Plan to
exit
Vietnam?
The Pentagon Papers
Vietnamization Begins
Kent State 1970
“Ohio” Neil
Young
Tin Soldiers and
Nixon coming,
We’re finally on
our own.
This summer I
hear the
drumming,
Four dead in
Ohio…
May 4th, 1970: One of the bodies from Kent State
US troops begin to pull out of Vietnam…
Saigon falls in
1975. The Vietnam
War is over; the
Communist forces
have won. Will the
dominoes begin to
fall?
Vietnam and Korea -- Comparisons
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Cold War - Containment
US couldn’t claim total victory in either
war
Both undeclared wars – constitutional issue
Civilian control over the military an issue
in each
Fronts – different type of fighting
Maya Lin
TET Offensive
• Vietnamese New Year 1968 : Tet offensive
• N. Vietnamese and V.C. attack virtually all
cities in S. Vietnam
• shocks US military, who eventually win
• Public in US is demoralized (TV)
• V.C. are re-moralized and fight escalates
• Anti-war protests increase in US
Vietnam and Korea -- Comparisons
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Cold War - Containment
Proximity
US couldn’t claim total victory in either
war
Both undeclared wars – constitutional issue
Civilian control over the military an issue
in each
Fronts – different type of fighting
Letters Home from Vietnam
• LBJ
• Gulf of Tonkin
• Escalation of War
Questions:
– How do the opinions of soldiers change over
the course of the war?
– What do you think of the conditions of
Vietnam?
Letters Home cont’d
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Major Battles: Khe Sahn, Tet Offensive
War escalation
LBJ resigns
Nixon
Vietnamization
Atrocities
Questions:
– How do US soldier’s morale change?
– What were the psychological effects of war?
– How do they respond to events at home?