Transcript Slide 1

WAR
IN
VIETNAM
Mr. Jerry Judd
2005
Geographic Setting
Vietnam is
an S shaped
country that
hugs the
coast of
Southeast
Asia.
For much of Vietnam’s 2,000year existence, it was
dominated by foreign powers
such as China, France,
and Japan.
History of Vietnam
Inheriting a Conflict
1946-1964
War for Independence
In the 20thcentury, a Vietnamese
nationalist named Ho Chi Minh
formed a Communist party
dedicated to Vietnamese
independence. From 1945 to
1954, Ho’s forces fought the
French.
Ho Chi Minh
Geneva Accords
In 1954, Ho’s forces
defeated the French
at Dien Bien Phu. The
peace agreement, called
the Geneva Accords,
temporarily divided
Vietnam along the 17th
parallel. Ho Chi Minh
and the Communists
controlled the north.
The anti-communists
and their leader, Ngo
Dinh Diem, controlled
the south.
Diem’s Demise
A Buddhist monk
sets himself on
fire in a busy
Saigon intersection in 1963
as a protest
against the Diem
regime.
The United States Steps In
In the wake of Diem’s
unpopularity, the U.S.
took a more active
role in halting the
spread of communism
in Vietnam. Eisenhower
and Kennedy, both
subscribers to the
“domino theory”,
waded deeper and
deeper into the affairs
of the country.
ESCALATING
INVOLVEMENT
1964-1967
Kim Phuc Phan Thi
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The alleged attack
on the USS Maddox
prompted President
Johnson to announce
the Tonkin Gulf
Resolution. The
resolution gave the
president power to
take “all necessary
measures to repel any
armed attack against
the forces of the U.S.
and to prevent
further aggression.”
USS Maddox
Lyndon Johnson
Troop Buildup
The first American
combat units
arrived in Vietnam
in 1965. By the end of
the year, the U.S.
Government had
sent more than
180,000 men to
Vietnam. The
commander of U.S.
troops was Gen.
William Westmoreland.
Air War
In 1965, President Johnson launched Operation RollingThunder,
a campaign against military targets in North Vietnam.
Ground War
U.S soldiers conducted search-and-destroy missions, uprooting
civilians with suspected ties to the Vietcong, killing their livestock,
and burning villages.
Vietcong
The U.S. superiority in
weaponry was negated
by the enemies mastery
of the jungle terrain
and guerrilla war tactics.
Moving secretly in and
out of the general population,
the Vietcong (South
Vietnamese supporters of
communism) used ambush
tactics to help turn
the war into a frustrating
stalemate.
“It will be a war between an elephant
and a tiger. But the tiger will not
stand still. He will leap upon the back
of the elephant, tearing huge chunks
from his side, and then he will leap
back into the dark jungle. Slowly
the elephant will bleed to death.”
Ho Chi Minh
The Draft
Under the Selective
Service System, or
draft, all males
between the ages of
18 and 26 could be
called into military
service. As Americans’
doubts about the war
grew, thousands of
men attempted to
find ways around
the draft.
The Turning Point
1968
Tet Offensive
The year 1968 began with a daring attack by the Vietcong
and the North Vietnamese army on numerous cities. The
simultaneous strikes, while ending in military defeat for
the communists, stunned the American public. Many
people with moderate views began to turn against the war.
My Lai
In
In March,
March, 1968,
1968, aa U.S.
U.S. platoon
platoon under
under the
the command
command of
of Lt.
Lt.
William
William Calley,
Calley, killed
killed more
more than
than 200
200 Vietnamese-mostly
Vietnamese-mostly
women,
women, children,
children, and
and elderly
elderly men
men in
in the
the small
small village
village of
of My
My Lai.
Lai.
Johnson Withdraws
The Vietnam War and the divisiveness it
caused took its toll on President Johnson. In
March, 1968, Johnson announced he would
not seek re-election.
Antiwar Movement
A variety of pacifist, religious, civil rights, and student groups
shaped the antiwar movement. The Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS) called for an immediate pullout of U.S. forces
and an end to the draft.
Nixon’s
Vietnamization
1969-1970
“Peace with Honor”
Part of Nixon’s endthe-war plan was
called Vietnamization.
It involved turning over
the fighting to the South
Vietnamese as U.S.
troops were gradually
pulled out. This strategy,
said Nixon, would bring
“peace with honor.”
Nixon hoped to maintain
U.S. dignity in the face
of its withdrawal from
war.
Invasion of Cambodia
Publicly, Nixon emphasized Vietnamization: secretly, however,
he planned to widen the war--into Cambodia. For years, North
Vietnamese troops had attacked South Vietnam, then retreated
to the safety of camps in neutral Cambodia. Early in 1969, Nixon
decided to conduct a secret campaign to bomb these positions.
Violence on Campus
News of the bombing and invasion of
Cambodia provoked
outrage in the U.S.,
particularly on college campuses. On May 4, 1970, four people
were killed at a Kent State University demonstration.
Pentagon Papers
In 1971, another
incident sparked the
antiwar movement.
The New York Times
began publishing a
collection of secret
government documents
relating to the war.
Known as the Pentagon
Papers, they showed
that the government
had frequently misled
the American people
about the course of the
war.
Daniel Ellsberg
No More Will To
Fight
1971-1975
Lost Cause
Throughout the war,
American soldiers had
fought well. But as the
U.S. presence fell to
140,000, few wanted to
die for a cause that
seemed to have lost its
meaning. By the end of
1971, four times as many
Americans soldiers
required treatment for
serious drug abuse as
required medical
attention for combat
wounds.
A Cease-Fire At Last
On January 27, 1973,
a peace agreement
was signed. The last
U.S. ground forces
were withdrawn on
March 29. And soon
after, Congress
passed a bill blocking
any further U.S.
military activity in
Indochina.
POW’S
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Stirm, a returning POW, receives
a warm welcome from his family in 1973. The longest-held
Vietnam POW was Lieutenant Everett Alvarez, Jr., of
California. He was imprisoned for more than eight years.
On April 30, 1975, full
columns of NVA soldiers
entered Saigon. As the last
Americans in Vietnam
scrambled aboard any aircraft they could claw their
way onto, the Communists
that the U.S. spent
two decades
fighting finally
succeeded in
freeing Vietnam
of foreigners
Fall of Saigon
The Legacy of Vietnam
*More than 58,000 killed,
300,000 wounded and 2,300
missing and presumed dead
*More cautious outlook on
foreign affairs– Vietnam
Syndrome
*More cynical about the
government
*Anti-war demonstrations
resulted in violence and
even death
*Policy changes were made,
such as the War Powers Act
and abolition of the draft