Transcript Given that Johnson had participated as an early advisor to

In France, December 26, 1920 You all have known that French
imperialism entered Indochina half a century ago. In its selfish
interests, it conquered our country with bayonets. Since then we
have not only been oppressed and exploited shamelessly, but also
tortured and poisoned pitilessly. Plainly speaking, we have been
poisoned with opium, alcohol, etc. I cannot, in some minutes, reveal
all the atrocities inflicted on Indochina. Prisons outnumber schools
and are always overcrowded with detainees. Natives are arrested
and sometimes murdered without trial. Vietnamese are
discriminated against. We have neither freedom of press nor
freedom of speech. Even freedom of assembly and freedom of
association do not exist. We have no right to live in other countries
or to go abroad as tourists. We are forced to live in utter ignorance
and obscurity because we have no right to study. In Indochina the
colonialists find all ways and means to force us to smoke opium and
drink alcohol to poison and beset us. Thousands of Vietnamese
have been led to a slow death or massacred to protect other
people's interests. Such is the treatment inflicted upon more that 20
million Vietnamese, that is more then half the population of France.
And they are said to be under French protection!
What Document Contains These
Words?
"All men are created equal; they are
endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights; among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
Both the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Vietnam’s.
The U.S. makes the decision to
support the French colonialists in
order to contain the spread of
Communism into Southeast Asia.
are plenty of people
Dulles’ “There
in Asia, and we can train
fight well. I don’t
Responsethemseetoany
reason for
American ground troops to
be committed in Indochina.”
Assured Senate
that under no
circumstances
would the United
States be
required to put
down an internal
uprising or get
involved in a civil
war.
Domino Theory
Holding up the Dominoes
in SE Asia
• After Diem refused to hold free elections in 1956
the Vietminh in the South grew restive.
• The National Liberation Front formed to fight
politically for a unified country
• U.S. believed the war in Vietnam was sponsored
by Hanoi, which in turn was acting as the agent
of Peking (China)
• If one country fell to communism the rest would
fall like dominoes
“In the councils of government, we must guard
against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the
disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and
will persist.”
How might the increasing power of the Military-industrial complex
influence political decisions on our involvement in Vietnam?
Kennedy Takes Over the Problem
• 1961 kennedy
sends advisers to
South Vietnam to
report to him on the
situation
– Lyndon B. Johnson
– “Fortress America”
• “We must decide
whether to help
these countries to
best of our ability or
throw in the towel in
the area and pull
back our defenses to
San Francisco.”
Kennedy sends
Rostow and
Taylor
• Advise to send
military advisers
to support and
train
counterinsurgent
methods to the
ARVN (South
Vietnamese)
forces
1960
A Few Hundred Advisers
1961
1,364 Advisers
1962
10,000 Advisers
1963
15,000 Advisers
Ngo Diem
• Diem, Leader of
South Vietnam
attempted to
destroy all
Communists
though he
couldn’t often tell
the difference
Diem faces Pressure and Protests
In November 1963, ARVN, acting
with the knowledge and approval of
the CIA, overthrew then killed Diem
“He was corrupt and he ought to be killed.
So we killed him.
We all got together and got a goddam
bunch of thugs and we went in and assassinated him.
Now, we've really had no political stability since then.”
- LBJ
That Fatal Day Changed Everything
Given that Johnson had participated as
an early advisor to Kennedy on the
situation in Vietnam what policy would
he administer after becoming
president?
• "If American lives must end, and American
treasure be spilled, in countries we barely know,
that is the price that change has demanded of
conviction and of our enduring covenant."
President Lyndon B. Johnson, Inaugural
Address, 20 January 1965
• “The United States shall continue to furnish you
and your people with the fullest measure of
support…. We shall maintain in Vietnam
American personnel and material as needed to
assist you achieving victory.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson, New Year’s
Day 1964
1964
21,000 “Advisors”
• 1964 – American Policy
in Vietnam was that
“enough was being
done.”
• Our troops played a
limited role allowing the
ARVN (South
Vietnamese troops) to
lead the fight
– Public unwillingness to
pay a high cost for the
war
– Fear of Chinese
intervention
– Consistent
underestimation of the
enemy
Goldwater presses government to end
the war by any means necessary, even
nuclear weapons.
LBJ responds to the increased
pressure, “We are not going to
send American boys nine or ten
thousand miles away from home
to do what Asian boys ought to be
doing for themselves.”
“Open
Aggression on
the High Seas”
OR
“Those dumb
stupid sailors
were just shooting
at flying fish."
• 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin Incident
– The USS Maddox fired on nearby North
Vietnamese torpedo boats thinking they were
being attacked
– LBJ uses incident to request more materials
and soldiers
Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution
• Johnson asked for
“Blank Check”
allowing him to
expand the war as
he saw fit.
• Congress authorized
– Authority to use “all
necessary measures
to repel any armed
attack.”
– Power to prevent
further aggression
and take all
necessary steps to
protect any nation
covered by SEATO
that might request
aid “in defense of its
freedom.”
LBJ Wins the
1964 Election
What Policy Should
He Choose?
1. Kennedy’s
Advisors-Only
2. Negotiate with
Hanoi
3. Introduce
American Troops
into Combat
Hint: ARVN troops were failing
because of their lack of a will to
fight, for there was nothing to fight
for.
“OUCH WARFARE”
• Strategic-Air-power advocates recommended a
massive bombing campaign
• Claimed could convince Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh to
surrender in a month
• Believed would improve ARVN morale
• Would win the war by expending money and
material, and avoid manpower losses
Despite One
last
investigation
into the
situation of
South Vietnam,
LBJ had his
answer when
on February 7,
1965 North Viet
Cong troops
stormed the
U.S. base at
Pleiku
Let the Bombing Begin,
But Within Reason
• Criteria for
Bombing:
LBJ met at lunchtime with Walt Rostow, Robert
McNamara, George McBundy, and Dean Rusk to
determine targets.
– Military
advantage of
target
– Risk to American
aircraft
– Danger of
drawing other
countries into war
– Danger of heavy
civilian casualties
Rolling Thunder
• Longest US bombing campaign, 1965-68
• Achieved little strategic result
• B/C missions were designed to demoralize not
destroy, the enemy often had time to recover
and infiltrate the South
Pressed to Negotiate
by NATO Allies
“We will not be defeated.
We will not grow tired. We
will not withdraw, either
openly or under the cloak of
a meaningless agreement.”
The central lesson of the 20th century, he proclaimed, was
that “the appetite of aggression is never satisfied.” Thus,
there would be no appeasement in South Vietnam toward
the Communists as long as he was president.
1965
125,000 Soldiers
Johnson was following the policies
of Containment examples of
Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy,
but “times they are a changin’.”
The people of the fifties did not oppose
“Well, I know we oughtn't to be there, but I can't get out.
policies
ofI just
containment,
mostly because it
can't be the architect of surrender.
And don't
[you]the
see ...death
I'm tryingof
every
way in the world
did not
entail
thousands
of
I can to find a way to ...”
American boys or the
squandering of
- LBJ
billions of dollars.
America’s Commitment Mounted
Men Sent to War
35
600000
30
500000
25
400000
20
Series2
15
# of Men
Money in billions per year
Money Spent on War
300000
200000
10
100000
5
0
0
Series2
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1
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3
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The Sixties 1965-1972
Walter Lippman
“America can exert its
greatest influence in the
outer world by
demonstrating at home
that the largest and most
complex modern society
can solve the problems
of modernity. …
Example, and not
intervention and
firepower, has been the
historic instrument of
American influence on
mankind.”
Senate “Doves” Protest War
“If we don’t stop the Reds in
South Vietnam, tomorrow they
will be in Hawaii, and next
week they will be in San
Francisco.”
Senator Eugene McCarthy
Winning the War of Attrition
• LBJ used carefully gathered
statistics to show that we were
wearing down the enemy
• He argued, the overwhelming
application of American power was
having a cumulative effect that
would, in time, bring Hanoi and the
VC to their knees
• Brought General Westmoreland to
the Senate to Explain:
– “I am absolutely certain that whereas in
1965 the enemy was winning, today he
is certainly losing.” He predicted victory
within two years.
“Military victory was
the only way out.”
Throughout 1967 and into 1968,
“President Johnson and his advisors
had so defined our national purposes
and so conducted the war that a
compromise political settlement would
be tantamount to a resounding defeat
for U.S. policy and prestige.” (Townsend
Hoopes)
Proving Westmoreland Wrong The TET OFFENSIVE of 1968
• In January of 1968, The VC launched a surprise attack on all
American positions.
• This displayed that the VC and Hanoi were vital and nowhere near
surrender.
• This also changed how many people and soldiers viewed the war.
“You Say You Want a Revolution”
Students at Columbia University protest Against
the College’s Connection to the War’s ThinkTanks and the Racist Actions of the College in
destroying a park in Harlem to build a new
building. The students protests led to the taking
over of 5 University buildings.
Anti-War Protestors Led by SDS are
beaten by Police outside the Chicago
Democratic Convention in 1968
On May 17, 1968,
nine men and
women entered the
Selective Service Offices
in Catonsville, Maryland,
removed several hundred draft records, and burned
them with homemade napalm in protest against the war
in Vietnam. The nine were arrested and, in a highly
publicized trial, sentenced to jail.
The Most Trusted News Anchor in
the Country Travels to Vietnam and
returns with the opinion that we
cannot win this war.
"That's
"it
seemsit.now
If I've
more
lostcertain
Cronkite,
than I've
everlost
thatmiddle
the bloody
experience -ofPresident
America.”
Vietnam is
Lyndon
to endB.inJohnson
a stalemate."
Walter Cronkite – CBS News
On Sunday evening, March 31, 1968,
Johnson announced on national
television that he was stopping the
bombing in North Vietnam. To
everyone’s astonishment, he then
withdrew from the presidential race.
RFK Dies,
And Hope Dies With Him!
For many members of the Counter-Culture, Anti-War
Movement, & the Civil Rights Movement the death of
Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 symbolized the end of hopes
for change. Many did not turn out to vote in the ’68
election.
3rd Party George Wallace
demands “We’ll bomb
them back to the
stoneage.”
Democrats’
Hubert Humphrey
Won’t break from
Johnson’s Plans
Nixon
announces
“secret plan
to end the
war.”
What will
Nixon do?
• Be a hero and end the war bringing
troops home
• Continue Johnson’s policy of all-out
war in the South, hands-off the North
• Let the South Vietnamese fight using
American supplies
• Extend the war into the North with
bombings, ground troops
• Use Nuclear Wepons
Vietnamization: One of the Worst
Decisions of the Cold War
• Nixon would gradually remove American
troops from Vietnam and increase military
supplies to the ARVN
– Prolonged war by 4 years
– Double-digit inflation
– Increased bitterness, division and dissension
amongst American people
– Disregard of the Constitution as he extended
war into Cambodia and Laos
– Eventual Loss of war
My Lai Massacre
• Following Tet, Soldiers were ordered to destroy the village of My Lai as it
was seen as a location where the VC hid amongst the civilians.
• The soldiers found no insurgents in the village on the morning of March 16,
1968. The soldiers, one platoon of which was led by Lt. William Calley, killed
hundreds of civilians – primarily old men, women, children, and babies.
Some were tortured or raped. Dozens were herded into a ditch and executed
with automatic firearms. At one stage, Calley expressed his intent to throw
hand grenades into a trench filled with villagers.
The Court Martial
of Lt. William Calley
"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio."
• Secretary of State Robert McNamara
made attempts in 1968 to convince LBJ to
stop the bombing in North Vietnam.
• He then ordered a study of American
involvement in Vietnam to be conducted.
New York Times v.
United States
Daniel Ellsberg
Facts: Pentagon Papers were to be released by the
NY Times. The Nixon administration attempted
to censor the paper stopping them from printing
these damaging reports. Nixon argued that prior
restraint was necessary to protect national
security.
Issue: Did the Nixon administration's efforts to
prevent the publication of what it termed
"classified information" violate the First
Amendment (Freedom of Speech)?
Decision: since publication would not cause an
inevitable, direct, and immediate event
imperiling the safety of American forces, prior
restraint was unjustified.
“Peace is at Hand”
• The Christmas Bombing 1972
– Operation Linebacker was a massive air attack especially
against northern cities
– Threatened with impeachment if he continued bombing
– Advisors abandoned support of Nixon
– Nixon later stated, “his greatest failure was to not bring Vietnam
to a decisive end.”
Why would Nixon, who won the 1968
election on a campaign to end the war,
support a horrific bombing of Hanoi and
Haiphong in 1972?
The war transformed America's moral
sensibility; the war deadened it.
This Path to Peace with Honor
Failed
Reigning in Presidential Power
• 1973
• President has to report to Congress within 48 hours of
the commitment of US troops or substantially increasing
troops in foreign conflicts
• Congressional approval is needed for any military
commitment of troops for more than 90 days
• Requirement was enacted by Congress over Nixon’s
veto