Download Reg PPT Vietnam

The Vietnam War
1954 - 1975
Chapter 17
Why It Matters
War caused bitter divisions within the U.S.:
* Supporters of the war: “Patriotism
demands that communism be halted!”
* Opponents: “Vietnam war is immoral!”
Many young people protested or dodged draft.
Victory was not achieved, although more than
58,000 American soldiers died.
After the war, the nation had many wounds to
heal.
American efforts to contain the spread of
communism led to U.S. involvement in the
affairs of Vietnam.
COMMUNISM
Early American Involvement in Vietnam
• American officials
felt Vietnam was
important in their
campaign to contain
the spread of
communism.
French Indochina
Background Information
• Early 1900s - nationalism was strong in
Vietnam.
• Vietnam was a French colony that wanted
independence.
• Several political parties
formed, including
communism.
• Ho Chi Minh, leader of the
Nationalists, had become a
communist.
• When WW II broke out, the French
abandoned Vietnam.
• By 1941, Japanese took control of Vietnam for
its rubber, rice, and minerals (needed for
Japan’s war effort).
• Ho Chi Minh organized
the Vietminh,
united
and nonCommunists
to force Japan out.
which
Communists
• At the end of WWII in 1945, Ho Chi Minh
declared Vietnam an independent nation.
• France sent in troops to
regain its colonial
empire; asked the U.S.
for help.
• American officials were
against France
controlling Vietnam, but
they did not want
Vietnam to be
Communist either
…….CONTAINMENT!
• The United States,
supported the French
against the Vietminh.
• Eisenhower defended
the U.S. policy in
Vietnam with the
domino theory – the
belief that if Vietnam
fell to communism,
other nations in
Southeast Asia would
also fall.
The Vietminh Drive Out the French
• Despite aid from the United States, the
French struggled against the Vietminh.
• The Vietminh often
used the tactics of
guerrillas.
• Hit-and-run and
ambush tactics.
• In 1954 the French commander ordered his
forces to occupy the mountain town of Dien
Bien Phu.
• A huge Vietminh
force surrounded
the town.
• French were
forced to make
peace and
withdraw from
Indochina.
• Negotiations to end the
conflict, called the
Geneva Accords,
divided Vietnam
between the Vietminh
(communists)
controlling North
Vietnam and a proWestern regime in
South Vietnam.
• The Accords also
recognized
Cambodia’s
independence.
• In 1956 elections were held to form a
single government.
• The U.S. protected the new
government in the South
led by Ngo Dinh Diem, a
pro-Westerner and
anti-Communist.
• Tension between North
and South Vietnam
escalated.
• The U.S. was caught in
the middle.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Eisenhower
presidency
1953-1961
American Involvement Deepens
• Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold national
elections.
• Ho Chi Minh and his followers created a new
guerrilla army known as the Vietcong.
• Their goal: reunify North
and South Vietnam under
communism.
• United States continued
send aid to South
Vietnam.
to
Vietcong fighter plants a land mine
• Many Vietnamese opposed Diem’s
government; Vietcong continued to grow.
• JFK supported South
Vietnam, agreeing that it
was important to
contain communism in
Southeast Asia.
JFK’s presidency
1961-1963
South Vietnam’s Pres. Diem was unpopular. Why?
* His government was corrupt.
* Catholic Diem discriminated against Buddhism.
• Diem was overthrown and later assassinated.
• This further weakened South Vietnam’s
government, forcing the U.S. to become more
involved. (so that communists wouldn’t take
over)
• After Kennedy’s assassination, President
Johnson inherited the problem of Vietnam,
which will ultimately drive him out of the
White House.
Lyndon B. Johnson
presidency 1963-1969
Johnson and Vietnam
• President Johnson was determined to prevent
South Vietnam from becoming Communist.
• Politically, Democrats
needed to keep South
Vietnam from becoming
Communist, or the GOP
would use it against
them.
• Aug 1964, LBJ
announced that North
Vietnamese torpedo
boats had fired on two
US destroyers in the Gulf
of Tonkin.
• Congress passed Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution;
authorized president to take
“all necessary
measures” to repel any
attack on U.S. forces.
• Congress had given its
war powers to the Pres.
• After Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed,
Vietcong began attacking bases where
American advisers were stationed in South
Vietnam.
• Johnson sent bombers to strike in North
Vietnam.
• Some dissenters in the White House warned
that if the United States became too involved,
it would be difficult to get out.
• But In March 1965,
Johnson sent
American ground
troops to fight
alongside the South
Vietnamese troops
against the
Vietcong.
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges
• By 1965, 180,000
American combat
troops were fighting
in Vietnam, with the
number doubling by
1966.
• Many
Americans
believed they
could win in
Vietnam.
• To take Vietcong’s hiding
places away, U.S. used:
* Napalm, a jellied
gasoline that explodes
on contact.
* Agent Orange, a
chemical that strips
leaves from trees and
shrubs.
• Farmlands and forests were
turned into wastelands.
• The US underestimated
Vietcong’s strength,
stamina, and morale.
• Johnson refused to order
a full invasion of North
Vietnam, fearing China
would get involved in the
war.
(* Remember the
Chinese army invading
against UN forces in
Korea?)
LBJ agonized over
what to do about
Vietnam
• Johnson also
refused to allow a fullscale attack on the
Vietcong’s supply line,
known as the Ho Chi
Minh Trail.
• Not cutting off the
Vietcong’s supplies
made winning difficult.
Why do you think
LBJ was against an
attack on the Trail?
• As U.S. casualties
increased, many US
citizens began
questioning American
involvement in the war.
Images seen on television news greatly
increased Americans’ opposition to the war.
The experience of Vietnam produced sharp
divisions between Americans who supported
the war and those who did not.
A Growing Credibility Gap
• Some Americans began to question the war
and the government.
• A credibility gap
had developed,
making it difficult
to believe what
Johnson and his
advisors said
about the war.
An Antiwar Movement Emerges
• As war casualties increased, Americans,
especially college students, began to publicly
protest the war.
• 1965 - University faculties and students
abandoned classes and formed teach-ins
where they informally
discussed the war
and why they
opposed it.
• Protestors felt the draft system was unfair.
• College students could delay draft until after
graduation.
• Low-income & limited education youth had to
serve.
• Result: poor people and minorities,
especially black Americans,
were called to fight the war.
• Many draftees refused to serve.
• Others moved to Canada and
other nations.
A lottery system was created to try to make the
draft more fair, but lower income Americans still
made up the greater percentage of young men
who fought the war.
• By 1968 the nation
seemed divided into two
camps – the doves and
the hawks.
• The doves wanted the
United States to
withdraw from the war.
• The hawks felt the
United States should
stay and fight.
1968: The Pivotal Year
• On January 30, 1968, during Tet, the
Vietnamese New Year, the Vietcong and
North Vietnamese launched a surprise attack
known as the Tet Offensive.
• Guerrilla fighters hit
American bases in
South Vietnam as
well as the South’s
major cities.
• Militarily, the Tet offensive was a disaster for
the Communists, but it was a political victory
that turned more Americans against the war.
• The President’s
approval rating
plummeted.
• Eugene McCarthy and
Robert Kennedy
entered the 1968
presidential race as
“dove” candidates for
the Democrat
nomination.
Eugene
McCarthy
Robert
Kennedy
• March 1968 - Johnson withdrew from the
presidential race.
"I will not seek,
and I will not
accept, the
nomination of my
party for another
term as your
president."
Four days later, Martin
Luther King was
assassinated.
• Two months
after that, in June
1968, Robert
Kennedy was
assassinated.
Washington, D.C.
-- one of many
cities that saw
race riots in
1968….the
“summer when
American cities
burned.”
• In August there was a
clash between protesters
and police at the
Democrat National
Convention.
• The nation seemed to
be in a state of chaos.
Democrat National
Convention Chicago, 1968
• The chaos benefited
the Republican
presidential candidate,
Richard Nixon.
Richard
Nixon
• Nixon promised to
regain order and end
the war in Vietnam.
• An Independent
candidate, Governor
George Wallace of
Alabama, split the
Democrat vote.
George
Wallace
• Democrat presidential
nominee Hubert
Humphrey lost by more
than 100 electoral votes.
• Richard Nixon became
President.
Richard Nixon
presidency
1969-1974
Hubert Humphrey
Nixon Moves to End the War
• President Nixon named Henry
Kissinger Special Assistant for
National Security Affairs, giving
him authority to find a way to
end the war.
• Kissinger used a policy he called linkage to
improve relations with the Soviets and China
which supplied aid to North Vietnam.
• He started up peace talks again with North
Vietnam.
• Nixon began a policy of Vietnamization –
gradual withdrawal of US troops in Vietnam.
• South Vietnam had to assume more of the
fighting.
Turmoil at Home Continues
• In 1969 Americans learned of an event that
further increased their feelings that this was
a senseless war.
• An American platoon led by
Lieutenant William Calley
killed more than 200
unarmed South
Vietnamese civilians in
the hamlet of My Lai.
• 1970 - American troops invaded Cambodia to
destroy Vietcong military bases.
• Americans viewed this as
an expansion of the war. A
wave of protests followed.
• Result: Congress
repealed the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution
that had given the
president near total
power in directing
the war.
¿
KENT STATE/Jackson State College
Kent State University, Ohio, May 4, 1970. Ohio National Guard soldiers
armed with tear gas and rifles fired on demonstrators, killing four students.
Two weeks later, 2 students were killed at Jackson State.
• 1971 - former Defense Department worker,
Daniel Ellsberg, leaked the Pentagon Papers
to the press.
• Secret document showed that
many government officials
had privately questioned the
war while publicly defending it.
• Also showed how the various
administrations had deceived
the public about Vietnam.
Americans: “Have we been lied to all along?"
The United States Pulls Out of Vietnam
• By 1971 nearly two-thirds of Americans
wanted us OUT of Vietnam.
• Nixon dropped the insistence that North
Vietnam withdraw from South Vietnam.
• A month before the 1972 presidential
election, Kissinger announced that peace
was near.
• Nixon won re-election in a landslide.
Richard Nixon
Republican
George McGovern
Democrat
The 1972 Presidential Election
• Peace talks broke down when South
Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Van Thieu,
refused any plan leaving N. Vietnamese
troops in S. Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Thieu
• U.S. began a bombing campaign that led to
the resumption of peace talks.
• On January 27, 1973, the sides agreed to
end the war and restore peace in Vietnam.
• After eight years at
war, the longest in
American history,
the United States
ended its direct
involvement in
Vietnam.
• March 1975 - the North Vietnamese army
launched a full-scale invasion of the
South.
• Thieu asked for U.S. help.
• Nixon had resigned after the
Watergate scandal; new
president, Gerald Ford,
asked Congress to supply
aid.
• Congress refused.
• On April 30, the North Vietnamese captured
Saigon, united Vietnam under Communist
rule, and renamed Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City.
The Legacy of Vietnam
• The war had cost over
$170 billion in direct
costs and had resulted in
58,000 deaths.
• Many soldiers who did
return home faced
psychological problems,
and some families were
left uncertain about
POWs and MIAs.
Roy Benavidez- Medal of Honor
•
Master Sergeant Raul (Roy) Perez
Benavidez was a member of the United
States Army Special Forces and
retired United States Army received
the Medal of Honor (1981) for his
valorous actions in combat near Lộc
Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968
•
Wounded 37 times during 6 hour battle
with North Vietnam soldiers. Credited
with saving 8 US Soldiers from capture or
death. Originally received Distinguished
Service Cross and 4 Purple Hearts.
Upgraded to Medal of Honor and award
by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
• The 1973 War Powers Act reestablished
limits on executive power.
• The Act required the president to inform
Congress of any commitment of troops
abroad within 48 hours and to withdraw them
in 60 to 90 days unless Congress approved.
• The Vietnam War increased Americans’
cynicism about their government and made
them question their leaders.
Click the Speaker button
to listen to the audio again.
Reviewing Key Terms
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on
the left.
__
H 1. policy of improving relations
with the Soviet Union and China
in hopes of persuading them to
cut back their aid to North
Vietnam
__
C 2. a jellied gasoline used for bombs
__
A 3. member of an armed band that
carried out surprise attacks and
sabotage rather then open
warfare
__
D 4. lack of trust or believability
__
G 5. someone who believed the
United States should continue
its military efforts in Vietnam
A.
guerrilla
B.
Vietcong
C.
napalm
D.
credibility gap
E.
teach-in
F.
dove
G.
hawk
H.
linkage
I.
Vietnamization
Reviewing Key Terms (cont.)
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on
the left.
__
E 6. an extended meeting or class
held to discuss a social or
political issue
__
B 7. the guerrilla soldiers of the
Communist faction in
Vietnam, also known as the
National Liberation Front
__
I 8. the process of making South
Vietnam assume more of the
war effort by slowly
withdrawing American troops
from Vietnam
A.
guerrilla
B.
Vietcong
C.
napalm
D.
credibility gap
E.
teach-in
F.
dove
G.
hawk
H.
linkage
I.
Vietnamization
Reviewing Key Terms (cont.)
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on
the left.
__
F 10. a person in favor of the United
States withdrawing from the
Vietnam War
A.
guerrilla
B.
Vietcong
C.
napalm
D.
credibility gap
E.
teach-in
F.
dove
G.
hawk
H.
linkage
I.
Vietnamization