Download Cold War

Vietnam, SALT
and the
Collapse of
Communism
Cold War
The Cold War made foreign policy a major issue
in every presidential election between 1948 and
1992.
The heavy military expenditures throughout the
Cold War benefited Virginia’s economy
proportionately more than that of any other
state.
Hampton Roads – Northern Virginia
National defense spending especially helped the
economies of:
• Hampton Roads - Naval , army and air force bases
• Northern Virginia – the pentagon, military bases
and private companies who did business with the
Dept of Defense
John F. Kennedy
Inaugurated as president in 1961
In his inaugural address , Kennedy said that the United States would:
“pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of
liberty.”
In the same address, Kennedy also said,
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do
for your country.”
American Leadership
• Kennedy’s words meant to show the determination
of leadership to challenge the Soviet Union and
communist beliefs during the Cold War
• Both political parties supported the policy of
containment
• Events in Southeast Asia would soon test
containment policy
Vietnam
After World War II, Vietnamese nationalists in the Indochina
fought for independence from France.
Vietnamese independence movement was led by a
communist named Ho Chi Minh.
Because of Ho Chi Minh’s communist beliefs, the United
States supported France’s attempt to keep Indochina as a
colony after the war.
American
involvement in
Vietnam reflected
the Cold War policy
of containment of
communism.
Vietnam
After Ho Chi Minh’s forces defeated the French army, France
withdrew from Indochina
At a 1954 Geneva Accords, Indochina (Vietnam) divided into two
parts
• communist North Vietnam to be ruled by Viet Minh
•(US does not sign the Geneva Accords for fear of communist election
victory)
•non-communist South Vietnam
Also, reunification elections were scheduled for the mid-1950s,
**These were cancelled because the Eisenhower administration
feared Ho Chi Minh would win and all of Vietnam would become
communist.
Vietnam
Beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the early
1960s, the communist government of North Vietnam
attempted to install through force a communist
government in South Vietnam.
The North Vietnamese received support from the
Vietcong were South Vietnamese communists who
formed the National Liberation Front and fought for the
reunification of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh’s rule.
Eisenhower and Kennedy
• To counter North Vietnam’s efforts in the
south, the Eisenhower administration –
following containment policy sent massive
amounts of economic and military aid to
the South Vietnamese government.
• The American military buildup in Vietnam
began under President John F. Kennedy.
The Kennedy administration increased the
number of American military personnel in
South Vietnam from 1,500 to 16,000.
Vietnam
President Kennedy, a World War II
veteran, was assassinated in 1963
in Dallas, Texas. This event shook
the nation’s confidence and began
a period of internal strife (conflict
within America) and divisiveness,
especially spurred by divisions
over U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson
succeeded Kennedy as president.
Vietnam after Kennedy
In 1965 President Johnson
greatly escalated (increased)
the American military buildup
in Vietnam from about
20,000 troops to almost
200,000 at year’s end. The
scale of combat in Vietnam
grew larger over the course of
the 1960s and by 1968 there
were 540,000 American
soldiers in Vietnam.
Limited War
American military forces repeatedly defeated the North
Vietnamese forces in the field
They could not force an end to the war on favorable
terms by Why?
“Limited war” was the American government’s decision
to avoid military action which might widen the war to
include the Soviet Union or communist China on North
Vietnam’s side.
While the United States was following the policy of
containment in South Vietnam, it also wanted to avoid
either a nuclear conflict or a third world war. This was
justified as following containment policy.
Vietnam
By 1968 the American people became bitterly divided on
the issue of American involvement in Vietnam. While
many Americans supported the American military and
the Johnson administration’s conduct of the war, many
other Americans opposed the war. Active opposition to
American involvement in Vietnam mounted (increased),
especially on college campuses.
Nixon
After President Johnson declined to seek re-election,
the Republican candidate Richard Nixon won the
1968 presidential election. President Nixon was
elected on a pledge to bring the war to an honorable
end. He used the slogan “Peace with Honor.”
Vietnamizatin
“Vietnamization” was the Nixon administration’s policy
of building up South Vietnamese forces while gradually
withdrawing American troops.
President Nixon hoped to thereby contain communism
and achieve his promised “Peace with Honor”
Ultimately , “Vietnamization”
failed, when South Vietnamese
troops proved unable to resist
invasion by the Soviet-Union
supplied North Vietnamese
Army.
Watergate
The Watergate scandal forced President Richard Nixon to resign from
office in 1974.
The Watergate scandal was the public exposure of a burglary and its
cover-up by the Nixon administration that eventually led to Nixon’s
resignation in 1974.
In Spring of 1975, while Gerald Ford was serving as president, North
Vietnamese troops easily overran South Vietnam and both North and
South Vietnam were merged under communist rule.
This is the Watergate office complex where a
burglary of Democratic National Committee
offices occurred and was later covered up.
Containment?
Although post WWII containment policy had
failed to prevent the spread of communism to
South Vietnam, the US continued to follow
this policy in other parts of the world.
Vietnam Veterans
Vietnam veterans returned
often to face indifference or
outright hostility, unlike
veterans of World War II, who
returned to a grateful and
supportive nation.
Initially, Vietnam veterans
received respect from
Americans who had opposed
the war. Over time, treatment of
Vietnam veterans improved and
they were recognized and
honored for their service and
sacrifices.
Nixon and China
While the Vietnam War was raging (going on) in Southeast
Asia, the Nixon administration added a new wrinkle to the
containment policy.
President Nixon and his Secretary of State, Henry
Kissinger, recognized that instead of being strong allies the
communist nations of China and the Soviet Union had
become rivals for territory and diplomatic influence.
By negotiating with each side,
Nixon and Kissinger hoped to
play the two communist giants
off against each other.
In 1972 President Nixon began
to establish formal diplomatic
relations with communist China
and met with Mao Zedong in
the Chinese capital of Beijing.
Mao Zedong and Richard Nixon
Nixon and the USSR
Later that same year (1972) he traveled to the
Soviet Union to meet with Leonid Brezhnev in
Moscow. Nixon and Brezhnev signed a treaty under
which the two superpowers agreed to limit the
production of nuclear weapons. This treaty grew
out of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
The SALT talks were the SovietAmerican discussions begun in
1969 to establish limits on the
number of strategic nuclear
weapons held by both sides. The
SALT Treaty was a crucial first
step toward ending the nuclear
arms race between the United
States and the Soviet Union