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The Vietnam War
American History
Harrison Career Center
Mr. Leasure
Early American Involvement in Vietnam
Early American Involvement in Vietnam
• Although little was known about Vietnam in
the late 1940s and early 1950s, American
officials felt Vietnam was important in their
campaign to stop the spread of communism.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• During the early 1900s, nationalism was
strong in Vietnam.
• As the Vietnamese sought independence or
reform of the French colonial government,
several political parties formed.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• One of the leaders of the nationalist
movement was Ho Chi Minh who, during his
travels to the Soviet Union, had become an
advocate of communism.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• In 1930 Ho Chi Minh helped form the
Indochinese Communist Party and worked to
overthrow the French.
• Ho Chi Minh was exiled to the Soviet Union
and China.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• Upon his return to Vietnam in 1941, Japan had
control of the country.
• He organized the nationalist group, Vietminh,
which united Communists and nonCommunists to force Japan out.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• With the Allies’ victory over Japan in 1945, Ho
Chi Minh and his forces declared Vietnam an
independent nation.
• France sent in troops to regain its colonial
empire.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• France asked the United States for help.
American officials were against France
controlling Vietnam, but they did not want
Vietnam to be Communist either.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• The United States, under the Truman and
Eisenhower administrations, supported the
French military and their campaign against the
Vietminh.
Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)
• Eisenhower defended the United States policy
in Vietnam with the domino theory —the
belief that if Vietnam fell to communism,
other nations in Southeast Asia would do the
same.
The Vietminh Drive Out the French
The Vietminh Drive Out the French
• Despite aid from the United States, the French
struggled against the Vietminh.
• The Vietminh frequently used the tactics of
guerrillas, or irregular troops who usually
blend into civilian population and are difficult
for regular armies to fight.
• They used hit-and-run and ambush tactics.
The Vietminh Drive Out the French (Cont.)
• In 1954 the French commander ordered his
forces to occupy the mountain town of Dien
Bien Phu. A huge Vietminh force surrounded
the town.
• The defeated French were forced to make
peace and withdraw from Indochina.
The Vietminh Drive Out the French (Cont.)
• Negotiations to end the conflict, called the
Geneva Accords, divided Vietnam between
the Vietminh controlling North Vietnam and a
pro-Western regime in South Vietnam.
• The Accords also recognized Cambodia’s
independence.
The Vietminh Drive Out the French (Cont.)
• In 1956 elections were held to form a single
government. The United States stepped in to
protect the new government in the South led
by Ngo Dinh Diem, a pro-Westerner and antiCommunist.
• The tension between North and South
Vietnam escalated with the United States
caught in the middle.
American Involvement Deepens
American Involvement Deepens
• After 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 was to reunify North and South
Vietnam.
American Involvement Deepens (Cont.)
• The United States continued to send aid to
South Vietnam. The Vietcong’s power,
however, continued to grow because many
Vietnamese opposed Diem’s government.
American Involvement Deepens (Cont.)
• President Kennedy continued the nation’s
policy of support for South Vietnam, agreeing
with past presidents that Southeast Asia was
important in the battle against communism.
American Involvement Deepens (Cont.)
• The unpopularity of South Vietnam’s
President Diem increased because his
government was corrupt, he created strategic
hamlets, and he discriminated against
Buddhism, one of the country’s most widely
practiced religions.
American Involvement Deepens (Cont.)
• Diem was overthrown and later executed. This
further weakened South Vietnam’s
government, forcing the United States to
become more involved.
• After Kennedy’s assassination, President
Lyndon Johnson inherited the problem of
Vietnam.
Johnson and Vietnam
Johnson and Vietnam
• At first, President Johnson was cautious
regarding Vietnam, yet he was determined to
prevent South Vietnam from becoming
Communist.
• Politically, Democrats needed to keep South
Vietnam from becoming Communist, or
Republicans would use it against them.
Johnson and Vietnam (Cont.)
• On August 2, 1964, President Johnson
announced that North Vietnamese torpedo
boats fired on two American destroyers in the
Gulf of Tonkin.
• A similar attack reportedly occurred two days
later.
Johnson and Vietnam (Cont.)
• The Senate and the House passed the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964,
authorizing the president to take all necessary
measures to repel any armed attack on U.S.
forces.
• Congress had given its war powers to the
president.
Johnson and Vietnam (Cont.)
• While the polls showed that Johnson’s
approval rating had increased, some
dissenters in the White House warned that if
the United States became too involved, it
would be difficult to get out.
Johnson and Vietnam (Cont.)
• In March 1965, however, Johnson increased
American involvement, and American soldiers
were fighting alongside the South Vietnamese
troops against the Vietcong.
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges
• By 1965 some 180,000 American combat
troops were fighting in Vietnam, with the
number doubling by 1966.
• Many Americans believed they could win in
Vietnam.
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges (Cont.)
• To take Vietcong’s hiding places away,
American planes dropped napalm, a jellied
gasoline that explodes on contact, and Agent
Orange, a chemical that strips leaves from
trees and shrubs.
• Farmlands and forests were turned into
wastelands.
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges (Cont.)
• Americans underestimated the Vietcong’s
strength, stamina, and morale.
• Johnson refused to order a full invasion of
North Vietnam, fearing China would get
involved in the war.
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges (Cont.)
• President Johnson also refused to allow a fullscale attack on the Vietcong’s supply line,
known as the Ho Chi Minh trail.
• This made winning the war very difficult.
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges (Cont.)
• As American casualties increased, many
American citizens began questioning the
United States' involvement in the war.
A Growing Credibility Gap
A Growing Credibility Gap
• When American troops first entered the
Vietnam War, many Americans supported the
military effort.
A Growing Credibility Gap (Cont.)
• As the war in Vietnam continued to drag on,
public support decreased.
• Americans began to question the government
and believed a credibility gap had developed,
making it difficult to believe what the Johnson
administration said about the war.
An Antiwar Movement Emerges
An Antiwar Movement Emerges
• As the casualties increased, Americans,
especially college students, began to publicly
protest the war.
An Antiwar Movement Emerges (Cont.)
• In March 1965, faculty and students at the
University of Michigan abandoned their
classes and formed a teach-in where they
informally discussed issues of the war and
why they opposed it.
• This triggered teach-ins at many college
campuses.
An Antiwar Movement Emerges (Cont.)
• Young protestors focused their attention on
what they felt was an unfair draft system.
• While college students could delay military
service until graduation, those with low
income and limited education were called to
serve.
An Antiwar Movement Emerges (Cont.)
• As a result, minorities, especially African
Americans, were called to war. Many draftees
refused to serve.
• Others moved to Canada and other nations.
An Antiwar Movement Emerges (Cont.)
• 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, and the hawks felt the
United States should stay and fight.
1968: The Pivotal Year
1968: The Pivotal Year
• On January 30, 1968, during Tet, the
Vietnamese New Year, the Vietcong and North
Vietnamese launched a surprised attack
known as the Tet offensive.
• In the attack, guerrilla fighters hit American
airbases in South Vietnam as well as the
South’s major cities and provincial capitals.
1968: The Pivotal Year (Cont.)
• Militarily, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for
the Communists, but it was a political victory
that shocked Americans.
• As a result, the approval rating for the
president plummeted.
1968: The Pivotal Year (Cont.)
• Eugene McCarthy and Senator Robert
Kennedy entered the 1968 presidential race as
“dove” candidates for the Democratic
nomination.
• Johnson withdrew from the presidential race,
announcing his decision in an address to the
nation on March 31, 1968.
1968: The Pivotal Year (Cont.)
• In April Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was
assassinated. Two months later, Robert
Kennedy was also assassinated.
• This violence, coupled with a clash between
protesters and police at the Democratic
National Convention in Chicago in August, left
the nation in a state of chaos.
1968: The Pivotal Year (Cont.)
• The chaos benefited the Republican
presidential candidate, Richard Nixon, and an
independent, Governor George Wallace of
Alabama.
• Nixon promised to regain order and end the
war in Vietnam.
1968: The Pivotal Year (Cont.)
• Although Johnson attempted to help the
Democratic campaign with a cease-fire,
Democratic presidential nominee Hubert
Humphrey lost by more than 100 electoral
votes as well as the popular vote by a slim
margin.
• Richard Nixon became president.
Nixon Moves to End the War
Nixon Moves to End the War
• President Nixon chose Harvard professor
Henry Kissinger to be special assistant for
national security affairs, giving him authority
to find a way to end the war in Vietnam.
Nixon Moves to End the War (Cont.)
• Kissinger used a policy he called linkage to
improve relations with the Soviet Union and
China—the suppliers of aid to North Vietnam.
• He started up peace talks again with North
Vietnam.
Nixon Moves to End the War (Cont.)
• At the same time, Nixon began
Vietnamization—the gradual withdrawal of
American troops in Vietnam, allowing South
Vietnam to assume more of the fighting.
• As peace negotiations were underway, Nixon
increased air strikes against North Vietnam to
maintain American strength.
Turmoil at Home Continues
Turmoil at Home Continues
• The Vietnam War continued to stir up protests
and violence in the United States.
Turmoil at Home Continues (Cont.)
• In 1969 Americans learned of a 1968 event
that further increased their feelings that this
was a senseless war.
Turmoil at Home Continues (Cont.)
• An American platoon under the command of
Lieutenant William Calley had massacred
more than 200 unarmed South Vietnamese
civilians in the hamlet of My Lai.
• Most of the victims were old men, women,
and children.
Turmoil at Home Continues (Cont.)
• In April 1970, Nixon announced that American
troops had invaded Cambodia to destroy
Vietcong military bases.
• Americans viewed this as an expansion of the
war, and a wave of protests followed.
Turmoil at Home Continues (Cont.)
• In 1970 Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution that had given the president near
complete power in directing the war.
Turmoil at Home Continues (Cont.)
• In 1971 a former Defense Department worker,
Daniel Ellsberg, leaked what became known as
the Pentagon Papers to the press.
• The secret document showed that many
government officials had privately questioned
the war while publicly defending it.
Turmoil at Home Continues (Cont.)
• The document also showed how the various
administrations deceived the public about
Vietnam.
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam
• By 1971 nearly two-thirds of Americans
wanted the Vietnam War to end.
• President Nixon dropped the insistence that
North Vietnam had to withdraw from South
Vietnam before a peace treaty could be
signed.
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam (Cont.)
• A month before the presidential election,
Henry Kissinger announced that peace was at
hand.
• Nixon won re-election in a landslide.
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam (Cont.)
• Peace negotiations broke down when South
Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Van Thieu,
refused any plan that left North Vietnamese
troops in South Vietnam.
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam (Cont.)
• The United States began a bombing campaign
that eventually led to the resumption of peace
talks.
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam (Cont.)
• 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
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam (Cont.)
• In March 1975, the North Vietnamese army
launched a full-scale invasion of the South.
• Thieu asked for United States assistance.
Nixon had resigned after the Watergate
scandal, and the new president, Gerald Ford,
asked Congress to supply aid. Congress
refused.
The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam (Cont.)
• 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 Legacy of Vietnam
• The Vietnam War had a lasting impact on the
United States. 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.
The Legacy of Vietnam (Cont.)
• In 1973 Congress passed the War Powers Act
to reestablish 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 troop
commitment.
The Legacy of Vietnam (Cont.)
• The Vietnam War increased Americans’
cynicism about their government and made
them question their leaders.