Download Moving Toward Conflict

Moving Toward Conflict
Mr. White’s US History 2
Main Ideas and Objectives
• Main idea – To stop the spread of communism in Southeast
Asia, the United States used its military to support South
Vietnam
• We should be able to:
– Summarize Vietnam’s history as a French colony and its struggle for
independence
– Examine how the United States became involved in the Vietnam
conflict
– Describe the expansion of the U.S. military involvement under
President Johnson
French Rule in Vietnam
• From the late 1800s until World War II, France
ruled most of Indochina, which included
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia – used peasant
land to grow rice and rubber
• Resistance against the French by Vietnamese
peasants began to grow
• French rulers dealt with this harshly,
restricting freedom of speech and jailing
Vietnamese nationalists – opposition
continued to grow
Ho Chi Minh
• The Indochinese Communist
Party, founded in 1930, staged
revolts under the leadership of
Ho Chi Minh
• French condemned Ho Chi Minh,
but he was able to coordinate
the growing Vietnamese
independence movement from
the Soviet Union and China
Japanese Control
• In 1940, the Japanese took control of Vietnam
in World War II
• Ho Chi Minh came back to Vietnam and
formed the Vietminh to win Vietnam’s
independence from foreign rule
• When the U.S. forced Japan to leave Vietnam
after WWII, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam
independent
France Disagrees
• French troops returned to Vietnam after WWII
to reclaim the country
• Ho Chi Minh vowed to fight the French
• United States began sending military aid to
France, even though the U.S. had once been
allied with Ho Chi Minh against the Japanese
The Domino Theory
• Eisenhower continued the policy of supplying aid to the
French
• Many Americans were afraid of the domino theory – if one
country became communist, many others would topple soon
after, like dominoes
• French were unable to hold Vietnam, and lost in May of 1954
• The Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam between a
communist north and anticommunist south
U.S. Steps In
• Eisenhower and Kennedy
administrations continued to
provide economic and military
aid
• Ngo Dinh Diem – president of
South Vietnam, supported by
the United States
• United States and Diem cancel
elections, in return for Diem’s
promise that he would set up a
stable reform-based government
Diem’s Regime
• Diem doesn’t hold up his end of the bargain
– Government is corrupt
– Opposition of any kind was suppressed
– Little or no land redistribution
• Group opposed to Diem, the Vietcong, forms in South
Vietnam (communist group)
• Ho Chi Minh supports the Vietcong, and starts to supply them
by the Ho Chi Minh trail, in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
Kennedy and Vietnam
•
•
•
•
Kennedy was accused of being “soft”
on communism, so he increases
financial aid to Diem’s regime
Kennedy also sends thousands of
military advisors to South Vietnam
Diem’s popularity begins to decline
– Starts moving villagers from their
villagers to camps
– Diem, a Catholic, also starts to
attack Buddhism
– Several Buddhist monks set
themselves on fire publicly
United States steps in and topples
Diem’s regime
Johnson and Vietnam
• Kennedy had announced his plans to
withdraw U.S. forces from South Vietnam
• After Diem is assassinated, a string of military
leaders tries to lead the country, fails
• Vietcong’s influence grows
• Johnson also doesn’t want to be perceived as
soft on communism, so he commits the U.S. to
staying in Vietnam
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• August 2, 1964 – North Vietnamese patrol boat fires a
torpedo at an American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin –
torpedo misses, U.S. destroyer inflicts heavy damage on the
patrol boat
• Two days later, destroyers reported torpedoes again, and
opened fire on patrol boats
• Johnson launches bombing strikes against North Vietnam
• Asks Congress for a resolution to give U.S. forces right to repel
any armed attack – not a declaration of war, but gives broad
military powers
• Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Tonkin’s Results
• Johnson didn’t tell Congress that U.S. had already been
raiding North Vietnam
• Destroyer that was fired on had been in the Gulf to collect
information for these raids
• Johnson’s Tonkin resolution had been prepared months
beforehand, but he was waiting for the time to propose it to
Congress
• Johnson uses his newly granted powers to launch, “Operation
Rolling Thunder,” bombings of North Vietnam
• U.S. combat troops start arriving in March of 1965
U.S. Involvement and Escalation
Mr. White Jr’s US History 2
Main Ideas and Objectives
• Main idea – The United States sent troops to fight in
Vietnam, but the war quickly turned into a
stalemate.
• We want to be able to:
– Explain the reasons for the escalation of the U.S.
involvement in Vietnam
– Describe the military tactics and weapons used by U.S.
forces and the Vietcong
– Explain the impact of the war on American society
Containment
• Lyndon Johnson was determined to contain
communism in Vietnam
• At first, Johnson wasn’t enthusiastic about
sending American troops into Vietnam
• Working with Secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
Johnson began sending U.S. soldiers to
Vietnam
Disagreement and Support
• Some Americans saw what Johnson was doing
as a contradiction of what he said before
• Many others felt he was carrying on a
tradition of confronting communism wherever
it came up
• About 61% of Americans supported what
Johnson was doing
Troop Buildup
• By the end of 1965, over 180,000 American troops
were in Vietnam
• General William Westmoreland, in command of U.S.
forces in Vietnam, kept asking for more troops
• Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) – army of
South Vietnam, were not fighting very well,
Westmoreland didn’t trust their ability
• By the end of 1967, about 500,000 U.S. troops were
in Vietnam
Jungle Fighting
• U.S. believed superior weaponry and tactics
would lead to victory over the Vietcong
• Vietcong, largely in the jungles, used hit-andrun and ambush tactics
– Hit-and-run – attack important, vulnerable points,
cause damage, then disappear
– Ambush – wait in a location good for a surprise
attack, allow U.S. forces to enter, attack and cause
maximum damage, then disappear
Irregular Tactics
• Vietcong also blended in with civilian population
• Difficult for U.S. troops to tell friend from enemy
• Vietcong used tunnel systems in the jungle to hide
and move around the jungle
• Booby traps and land mines also used
• Vietnam’s jungles – sweltering heat, leeches, insects,
etc.
Tunnel Systems
Tunnel Systems, Part 2
War of Attrition
• Westmoreland wanted to destroy Vietnamese
morale through a war of attrition – wearing down an
enemy by continuous attack and harassment
• Body count – tracking Vietcong killed during a battle
as a measurement of success
• Vietcong were prepared to take massive casualties to
fight the U.S. – saw it as a struggle for existence
“Hearts and Minds”
• Another part of American strategy was to keep the
Vietcong from winning support in South Vietnam
• Guerillas – (not gorillas) irregular fighters who do not
wear uniforms to blend in with the civilian
population
• Guerillas would hide among the people – if you win
the people over, guerillas have nowhere to hide
• U.S. wanted to win over Vietnamese “hearts and
minds”
Problems with “Hearts and Minds”
• U.S. planes dropped napalm, a gasoline-based
burning jelly that set fires to villages, as well as the
jungle
• U.S. also used Agent Orange – defoliant (kills leaves)
that was also a toxic chemical
• U.S. soldiers used search-and-destroy missions,
investigating, arresting, and sometimes killing
civilians with suspected ties to the Vietcong – also
killed livestock, burned villages
Napalm
Sinking Morale
• Frustrations of guerilla warfare, jungle
conditions, failure to make large successes
took toll on U.S. troop morale
• Many soldiers had been drafted and felt
forced into the war, so morale dropped
– Some turned to alcohol, marijuana, and other
drug use
– As the U.S. was planning to pull out, morale and
fighting spirit dropped, as well
Soldiers and Duty
• Many Americans still felt
that they were fulfilling a
patriotic duty, and still took
pride and fought well
• Some ended up as
prisoners of war, and
endured hardships in
North Vietnamese prison
camps – John McCain
The Great Society Suffers
• The Great Society suffered because of the war
in Vietnam
– Inflation rate climbed
– Johnson asked for a tax increase
– Money was taken from Johnson’s domestic
programs
• One of the main reasons the Great Society did
not succeed more was because of the money
it lost to Vietnam
The Living-room War
• Vietnam became U.S.’s first living-room war
• United States government was giving
Americans a generally positive picture of what
was happening in Vietnam
• Combat footage from Vietnam showed a
different, more horrific picture
Brutality of War
Body Count and Credibility Gap
• Westmoreland use the numbers of Vietcong killed in
battle to encourage the American public
• However, U.S. soldiers were dying at high rates, as
well – over 16,000 between 1961 and 1967
• Credibility gap – difference between what the
government was saying and what was really
happening
• By 1967, many Americans were evenly split over
their support for the Vietnam war
A Nation Divided
Mr. White’s US History 2
Main Idea and Objectives
• Main idea – An antiwar movement in the U.S. pitted
supporters of the government’s war policy against
those who opposed it.
• We should be able to:
– Explain the draft policies that led to the Vietnam war
becoming a working-class war
– Trace the roots of opposition to the war
– Describe the antiwar movement and the growing divisions
in U.S. public opinion about the war
The Draft
• Most soldiers in the Vietnam war were called
up using the Selective Service Act – draft
• All males had to register with their local draft
boards when they turned 18 – still today
• Men could be called to serve from the ages of
18 to 26
Manipulation of the Draft
• Many young men looked for ways to avoid the
draft, which was very easy to manipulate
– Sympathetic doctors – would grant medical
exemptions
– Some changed where they lived to go to a
different, more lenient draft board
– Some joined National Guard or Coast Guard
College Deferment
• If a young man was enrolled in a university or
college, they could put off their military
service
• University students in the 1960s tended to be
white and financially well-off
• Many of the men who fought in Vietnam were
those who couldn’t afford college – lower
class whites and blacks
African-Americans in Vietnam
• Served in much larger numbers than most groups as
ground combat troops – most hazardous place to be
• Blacks accounted for over 20% of U.S. combat
deaths, even though they were only 10% of the U.S.
population
• Martin Luther King spoke out against the injustice of
blacks fighting for freedom in another country, when
theirs did not grant them freedom
• Racism in military units led to lower troop morale
Women in the Military
• Women were still not allowed to serve in
combat roles
• Over 10,000 women did serve, mostly as
nurses
• Also served in the USO and Red Cross
– USO – provided hospitality and entertainment
– Red Cross
Roots of Opposition – New Left
• In the 1960s, there was a growing youth movement
known as the New Left
• Followers demanded sweeping changes in American
society
• Students for a Democratic Society
– Charged that corporations and government had taken over
America
– Wanted more “participatory government” and greater
freedom
• Free Speech Movement – focused criticism on the
American “machine” – business and government
Campus Activism
• SDS and FSM ideas spread
across campuses of
colleges and universities
– Protested dress codes
– Curfews
– Campus issues
• Students started joining
together in protest against
these issues, but would
later protest the Vietnam
War
The Protest Movement Emerges
• April, 1965 – SDS helped
organize a march on
Washington, D.C., by 20,000
protesters, other marches
followed
• Johnson changed college
deferment rules, requiring
students to be in good
academic standing
• Protests erupted after this –
SDS calls for civil
disobedience at campuses
Opposition to the War
• Youths opposed the war for many different reasons:
– Most common belief was that the war in Vietnam was a
civil war, and the U.S. had no business there
– Some said Diem’s South Vietnamese government wasn’t
any better than North Vietnam
– Some thought war was draining America’s strength
– Some just saw the war as morally unjust
The Movement Grows
• Movement grew
beyond college
campuses
– Returning veterans
– Folk singers
• “Eve of Destruction,” a
protest song by Barry
McGuire, talked about
the wrongs of the
Vietnam war
Protest to Resistance
• 1967 – antiwar movement
had intensified
• Spring of 1967 – protesters
marched on New York City’s
Central Park - many people
burned their draft cards
• Draft resistance continued up
until President Nixon phased
it out in the early 1970s
• Some Americans had fled to
Canada to avoid the draft
March on the Pentagon
• In October of 1967, a
demonstration at the Lincoln
Memorial drew 75,000
protesters
• About 30,000 demonstrators
marched on the Pentagon to
“disrupt the center of the
American war machine.”
• Protesters were turned back
with tear gas and clubs –
about 700 arrested
War Divides the Nation
• Americans were increasingly divided into two
camps:
– Doves – those who were opposed to the war and
thought it should end
– Hawks – felt America should use its military might
to win the war
• Some believed that the protests were acts of
disloyalty
Johnson Remains Determined
• Johnson remained firm
– Doves attacked him for continuing the war
– Hawks attacked him for not increasing military
power
• Johnson continued his policy of slow
escalation
• Johnson’s own administration started to doubt
the war – Robert McNamara resigns
1968: A Really Messed Up Year
Mr. White’s US History 2
Main Idea and Objectives
• Main Idea – An enemy attack in Vietnam, two
assassinations, and a chaotic political convention
made 1968 an explosive year
• We should be able to:
– Describe the Tet offensive and its effect on the American
public
– Explain the domestic turbulence of 1968
– Describe the 1968 presidential election
The Tet Offensive
• January 30 was the Vietnamese equivalent of
New Year’s eve, known as Tet
• A week-long truce had been proclaimed for
Tet
• At the same time, funerals were being held for
war victims – coffins came into major cities in
Vietnam
The Surprise
• The coffins were filled with weapons, and many of
the people coming into the cities were Vietcong
agents
• On the night of Tet, the Vietcong launched an attack
on over 100 towns and cities, as well as 12 U.S. air
bases
• Attacked U.S. embassy in Saigon, killing five
Americans
• This went on for about a month before U.S. and
South Vietnamese forces regained control of the
cities
The Tet Offensive (Map)
Growing Credibility Gap
• Westmoreland declared
the attacks a victory for the
U.S. and a defeat for the
Vietcong
– 32,000 Vietcong dead
– Only 3,000 American and
South Vietnamese dead
• But, the Tet offensive
shook the confidence of
the American public –
Johnson’s credibility gap
widened
Public Opinion
• Tet did more to change public opinion than any
protests did
– 28 percent of Americans were “doves” before Tet, 56
percent were “hawks”
– After Tet, both sides were at 40 percent
• Mainstream media now openly criticized the war –
Walter Cronkite, a very respected one, was one critic
• Even Johnson’s new defense secretary, Clark Clifford,
felt that the war was almost unwinnable
Johnson’s Administration
• Johnson’s popularity
plummeted
• War weariness began to
set in, and Johnson
recognized the change
• Johnson said about Walter
Cronkite criticizing the war,
“If I’ve lost Walter, then it’s
over. I’ve lost Mr. Average
Citizen.”
Johnson Withdraws
• Anti-war coalition had been forming in the
Democratic party, Johnson’s party
• Robert Kennedy, JFK’s brother, turned down the
nomination from this section of the party
• November of 1967 - Eugene McCarthy says that he
will run against Johnson on an anti-war platform
Johnson Withdraws (Part 2)
• As McCarthy gained
support in his
presidential campaign,
Johnson began losing it
• Robert F. Kennedy
announces that he will
run for president for
the Democrats
Johnson Withdraws (Part 3)
• March 31, 1968 – Johnson
gives a televised address
– U.S. will seek negotiations to
end the war
– Bombings will cease, as well
– South Vietnamese will take
over more of the war
• Johnson then shocked the
nation by saying that he
was no longer running for
president
Violence and Protest
• April 4 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated – race
riots followed
• June 5 – Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated
• Nation’s college campuses continued to protest –
some students even took over university buildings
for days, like at Columbia University in New York City
1968 Democratic National Convention
• Democratic presidential primary was Eugene
McCarthy against Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s VP –
Humphrey was going to be nominated
• Nearly 10,000 protesters arrived in Chicago during
the convention – wanted Democrats to adopt an
anti-war platform
• Mayor Richard Daley calls up 12,000 Chicago police
to keep order
Riots
•
•
•
•
•
On August 28, protesters gathered
in a park to march on the
convention
Policed moved in to disperse the
crowd, using mace and nightsticks
Some protesters ran, some fought
back
Inside the convention, Democrats
were fiercely debating
World was watching on television
– Democrats seemed like a party
of disorder
Nixon
• Republican candidate for
president was Richard
Nixon
• Nixon campaigned on a
promise to restore law and
order – appealed to people
who were tired of protests
and riots
• Also promised to end the
war in Vietnam
Wallace
• Governor George Wallace, who had blocked school
integration in Alabama, entered as a third-party
• American Independent Party – Wallace supported:
– School segregation
– States’ rights
• Wallace’s third party splits the Democratic party and
weakens it – Nixon wins pretty easily
The End of the War and Its
Legacy
Mr. White’s US History 2
Main Idea and Objectives
• President Nixon instituted the Vietnamization policy,
and America’s longest war finally came to an end
• We should be able to:
– Describe Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization
– Explain the public’s reaction to the Vietnam War during
Nixon’s presidency
– Describe the end of the U.S. involvement and the final
outcome in Vietnam
– Examine the war’s painful legacy in the United States and
Southeast Asia
President Nixon and
Vietnamization
• 1969 – Nixon says that the United States had
to withdraw its troops from Vietnam
• But as Nixon pulled out the troops, he
continued the war against North Vietnam
• Some people felt that this prolonged the war
Pullout Begins
• Negotiations to end the war were going nowhere
• The U.S. and South Vietnam wanted North
Vietnamese forces to withdraw from the South, and
the South Vietnamese government to stay in power
• Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s National Security Advisor,
suggested Vietnamization – for South Vietnamese to
take over a more active combat role
Peace With Honor
• Nixon wanted to maintain U.S. dignity as the U.S.
withdrew from the war
• Also wanted to keep power in negotiations
• Nixon began ordering bombing against North
Vietnamese targets
• Nixon also had Laos and Cambodia attacked, as some
Vietcong sanctuaries were there
Trouble Continues on the Home
Front
• Nixon continued to appeal to what he called
the “silent majority” – moderate, mainstream
Americans who still supported the war
• Many Americans did support him, but the
events of the war still divided the country
My Lai Massacre
• November, 1969 – Seymour Hersh reported that on
March 16, 1968, a U.S. platoon had massacred
innocent civilians in the village of My Lai
• Lieutenant William Calley, Jr., was searching for
Vietcong, but found no evidence
• Troops rounded up 200 men, women, and children
and shot them all
• Soldiers claimed that they were only following
Calley’s orders
Invasion of Cambodia
• By 1970, country’s mood was
less explosive, it seemed – it
seemed the war was finally
winding down
• April 30, 1970 – Nixon
announced that U.S. troops had
invaded Cambodia to clear out
North Vietnamese and Vietcong
supply centers
• College students across the
country began to protest again –
more than 1.5 million students
closed down some 1,200
campuses
Violence on Campus
• Massive student protest at
Kent University led to the
burning of the ROTC
building
• Local mayor called out the
National Guard
• May 4, 1970 – National
Guard fired live
ammunition into a crowd
of protesters who were
hurling rocks at them –
nine wounded, four killed
Violence on Campus (Part 2)
• At Jackson State in Mississippi, National Guardsmen
fired on a crowd of protesters after several bottles
were thrown at them – 12 wounded, 2 killed
• Country hotly debated the campus shootings
– Some supported National Guard – students got what they
were asking for
• New group called “hardhats”, construction workers
and other blue-collar Americans who supported the
government’s war policies, emerged
Pentagon Papers
• President had bombed, then invaded Cambodia
without notifying Congress, so he lost support from
them
• Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Pentagon Papers – document that showed that the
government was making plans to invade Vietnam
even as President Johnson said he would not send
American troops
• Pentagon Papers confirmed the belief that the
government had not been honest about its war
intentions
America’s Longest War Ends
• March, 1972 – North Vietnamese launched
their largest attack on South Vietnam since
the Tet Offensive
• Nixon responded with a massive bombing
campaign
• Also laid mines in Haiphong harbor so that
Soviet and Chinese ships could no longer bring
in supplies
“Peace is at Hand”
• Nixon administration
began to change its
negotiation policy
• Kissinger was negotiating
with Vietnam’s chief
negotiator, Le Duc Tho
• Kissinger drops his
insistences that North
Vietnam remove all North
Vietnamese troops from
the South
The Final Push
• Nixon wins reelection in 1972
• Thieu, leader of Vietnam, rejects Kissinger’s plan to
pull out without removing North Vietnamese troops
• Nixon sends another bombing attack on the North –
11 straight days of bombing
• January 27, 1973, U.S. signed a peace agreement –
Nixon promised to respond “with full force” if the
peace agreement was violated
The Fall of Saigon
• Within months of U.S.
departure, cease-fire
agreement between North
and South ended
• March, 1975 – North
Vietnamese launched fullscale invasion of the South
• South Vietnam asked for help
– President Gerald Ford sent
economic aid, but no troops
• On April 30, 1975, South
Vietnam surrendered to
North Vietnam
The War Leaves a Painful Legacy
• War had cost 58,000 dead Americans, 303,000
wounded
• North and South Vietnamese deaths topped 2 million
• Southeast Asia was now very unstable, and led to
further war in Cambodia
• Americans would take a more cautious outlook on
foreign affairs and a more cynical attitude toward
government
American Veterans Cope Back
Home
• Nation as a whole gave a cold reception to returning
veterans
• Veterans faced indifference or hostility from people –
sometimes called names, ridiculed
• About 15% of returning soldiers suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, others headaches, memory
lapses
• Some veterans fell into drug abuse or alcohol
• Some chose suicide
Further Turmoil in Southeast Asia
• North Vietnamese at first told South Vietnamese that
they had conquered that they had “nothing to fear.”
• Communists soon imprisoned more than 400,000
South Vietnamese in “reeducation” camps – labor
camps
• Nearly 1.5 million people fled Vietnam – people that
had supported U.S., business owners, others
Civil War in Cambodia
• U.S. invasion of Cambodia unleashed a civil war in
Cambodia
• Communist group known as the Khmer Rouge, led by
Pol Pot, seized power in 1975
• Pol Pot wanted to make Cambodia a peasant country,
executed almost 1 million Cambodians:
–
–
–
–
Professors
Educated
People with foreign relations
Even people with glasses
Legacy of Vietnam – Hawks of
Doves
• Hawks:
– Continued to insist that the war could have been won if
the U.S. had used more military power
– Blamed the antiwar movement for morale drop
• Doves:
– Said that the North Vietnamese had shown such resilience
that it would have taken a huge effort to defeat them
– Might have prompted a military reaction from China or
Soviet Union
Legacy of Vietnam, continued
• Government abolished the draft
• November, 1973 – Congress passed the War Powers
Act
– President must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending
forces into a hostile area without a declaration of war
– Troops could only remain there 90 days unless Congress
approves President’s actions or declares war
• Nixon vetoes the War Powers Act, but Congress
overrides his veto
Legacy of Vietnam, continued
• Vietnam war significantly altered America’s views on
foreign policy
– Vietnam syndrome – Americans consider possible risks to
their own interest before intervening in the affairs of other
nations
• War contributed to overall cynicism (distrust) about
government and political leaders – still exists today
• Americans felt less enthusiasm for government than
they had felt in Eisenhower and Kennedy years