Transcript Slide 1
Vietnam Background
Ho Chi Minh
Viet Minh
Domino Theory
Geneva Accords
Ngo Dinh Diem
Viet Cong
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
In the beginning….
French missionaries went to Indochina in 19th
cen.
Vietnamese persecuted those French
Catholics
French sent in troops and eventually took over
the country
“Uncle Ho”
1924 - Ho Chi Minh led
a movement to oust the
French
Helped to create the
Indochinese
Communist Party
Worked for a free and
independent Vietnam
WWII
1940 French troops left to defend the
homeland
Japanese took over Vietnam
Ho helped to fight Japanese
1945- Free and independent Vietnam
But…French wanted the country back
F. took control of the South
Ho took control of the north
First Vietnam War
War between French and Communist
Commies were led by Ho
US sided w/ France
Truman sent $15 million in aid to France
By 1954, $1billion had gone to help France in
Vietnam
Ike continued Truman’s policy
Domino Theory
Why support this war?
Domino theory
Ike said that the
countries of SE Asia
were like dominos;
If one fell to
communism, they all
would.
French were forced to
surrender at Dien Bien
Phu
Geneva Accords
Viet Minh & South Vietnam anticommunist
nationals
Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th
parallel
Elections were to be held
Demilitarized Zone
(1954)
Saigon
Elections
Diem felt that Ho would
win the election
because of his
immense popularity and
cancelled the elections
US supported Diem
despite his corrupt gov’t
Restricted religion to
only Catholicism
Buddhists were
persecuted
More Fighting
1957- Former Viet Minh living in South began
to attack Diem’s gov’t
Diem gave this group a nickname
Viet Cong = “Commie”
Ho supported VC by Ho Chi Minh trail
Supplies sent along the border of Laos and
Cambodia-around the DMZ
US gets involved
Ike showed some
support for Diem
Sent in military advisors
to help the South
Vietnamese Army fight
the VC and the NVA
JFK showed some
support for Diem
1963-16,000 military
advisors to S. Vietnam
Diem became more
corrupt & cruel
More US
Diem instituted the Strategic Hamlet program
Corralled people into controlled villages
Controlled by Diem
Idea was to deprive VC of support
Actually increased support
VC were fighting using guerilla warfare tactics
Men and women fought
Diem is out
US decided that Diem had to go
Nov. 1, 1963 US led ousting of Diem
Diem was assassinated
Death of Diem made the country even more
unstable
Kennedy was prepared to withdraw troops
Deteriorated into a Civil War
JFK died and Lyndon B. Johnson took over
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
USS Maddox fired upon by N.V. patrol boat
Gulf of Tonkin Incident Aug. 2, 1964
Torpedo missed
Maddox returned fire
Two days later Maddox reported being fired
upon
No one saw any gunfire
Gulf of Tonkin cont.
Johnson asked Congress for
$$ and support to retaliate
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Gave LBJ power to “take all
necessary measures to repel
any armed attack against the
forces of the U.S. and to
prevent further aggression”
Passed Aug. 7, 1964
Vietnam War
LBJ forgot to tell the people
or Congress that the US had
been conducting raids on
North Vietnam
Feb. 1965 “Operation Rolling
Thunder”
Bombing mission of N.
Vietnam
Troops began showing
up in Vietnam in March
By June, 50,000 troops in
South Vietnam fighting
the VC