Transcript Vietnam - Rochester City School District

Bellwork
1. Who is represented in
the cartoon?
2. Why is nuclear war
portrayed as a
monster?
3. What historical event is
this representative of?
Vietnam
Two Vietnams
• North Vietnam = Communist
• Leader: Ho Chi Minh
• South Vietnam = Non-communist
• Leader: Ngo Dinh Diem
• Vietcong = Communist group within S. Vietnam
Aggression
1950-1963:
• N. Vietnamese + Vietcong tried to take over S.
Vietnamese government
1963:
• N. Vietnamese overthrow and execute
President Diem
• China & Russia help to invade
S. Vietnam
US Involvement
• US worried about spread of communism in Asia
• N. Vietnamese battleships fired on USS Maddox in
Tonkin Gulf
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – gave President Johnson
authorization to use “conventional military force”
• President did not need Congress to declare war to
take action
Above:
Pictures taken from the USS Maddox
of N. Vietnamese battleships
Right:
A N. Vietnamese ship engaging the
USS Maddox
“War” in Vietnam
• Over 536,000 US soldiers sent to S. Vietnam
• 58,220 US killed
• 303,600 wounded
• WAR NEVER DECLARED BY CONGRESS!
• Johnson and Nixon faced a great deal of
opposition to the “war” in the US
• Many Vietnamese citizens also opposed the war
New Weapons in Vietnam
• Napalm—a jellied petroleum/gasoline that was used as an
anti-personal weapon; often used in flame throwers
• It would stick to human skin, and could seep into foxholes and
trenches where enemy combatants were hiding
• Agent Orange—herbicide that was sprayed to kill the plant life
in North Vietnam and drive out the people/potential
supporters of North Vietnam.
• Highly toxic, killed some people immediately, many others from
long term effects, and many children were born with birth
defects.
• Has since been proven toxic to the American Military personal
who were using it.
Picture Analysis
• In order to prepare for your journal entry, for each of
the following pictures, record your thoughts,
feelings, perspectives on what was happening and
why it mattered.
• Remember, your journal prompt is:
• It is 1970 and you are a soldier that has been drafted into the Army and
sent to Vietnam.
• In your journal entry, describe what you are seeing as you are fighting.
Explain how you feel about the conflict.
US riverboat using napalm in Vietnam -
Passers-by stop to watch as flames envelope a young Buddhist monk, Saigon, October
5th, 1963
Wet going - Marine Private First Class J.L. Collins keeps a battery pack dry as
he wades through a muddy hole while on a search mission with "I" Company,
3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 12 miles south-southwest of DaNang
Vietnam
Soldiers of the U.S. First Air Cavalry Division point their weapons at
villagers whom they flushed from the brush along the riverbank.
An ammunition dump struck by a shell explodes in front of U.S.
Marines. This picture was on the cover of Newsweek on March 18, 1968.
Bombing of Viet Cong structures along a canal in South Vietnam. (1965)
My Lai Massacre: On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of
Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, entered the village of My Lai. "This is
what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it,"
said their superior officers. A short time later, the killing began.
My Lai Massacre Among the hundreds of unarmed civilians massacred by U.S. soldiers on March
16th, 1968.
"Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief."
- Vietnam, 1968.
American
soldiers in
Vietnam
Their stories…
• They were there
• Who they were