Transcript The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War
1954-1975
I. The War Unfolds
• Remember Containment?
– Resist Soviet attempts at spreading Communism
• President Eisenhower explains a reason to uphold
containment:
• The Domino Theory- If one country falls to
Communism, then others will fall, as well.
– A Communist takeover of Vietnam could lead to
Communist takeovers of Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and
Thailand because of their close proximity
A. Background to the War
• Vietnam had spent much of its 2,000 year history
resisting attacks from China
• Ho Chi Minh was head of the League for the
Independence of Vietnam (aka the Vietminh)
– Communist who fought for independence and aroused
nationalism against French control
• In 1954, the Vietminh defeated the French after a
long siege at a fortress in Dien Bien Phu
1. A Divided Vietnam
• The Geneva Accords was a peace treaty signed at a
meeting in Geneva, Switzerland that divided
Vietnam into 2 separate nations in July 1954. (Set
near the 17th parallel)
• Ho Chi Minh became president of the new
Communist-dominated North and Ngo Dinh Diem
became president of the anti-Communist South (he
was an exile living in the U.S.) with its capital in
Saigon
– The South refused to hold elections claiming that the
North didn’t hold fair, free elections (also fear of losing)
2. United States Involvement
• By 1950, U.S. provided economic aid to the
French to support containment
• After the French defeat, economic aid went to the
anti-Communist South
• President Eisenhower pledged his support to
South Vietnam’s Diem
– By 1960, 675 U.S. military advisors were in South
Vietnam to assist
B. Kennedy’s Vietnam Policy
• Determined to prevent the spread of Communism
(strengthen and protect South Vietnam)
• JFK sent LBJ to assess the situation
– Diem told Johnson that South Vietnam needed more aid
if it were to survive
– Kennedy sent 16,000 military advisors in response
• Diem lacked support of his own citizens. He was a
corrupt official who imprisoned people who
criticized his government and filled the government
with his family members
1. Diem’s Downfall
• Diem’s “Strategic Hamlets” program was extremely
unpopular as it called for relocating peasants to
government-run farm communities
– Wanted to keep Communist ideas from spreading to
South Vietnam’s farmers
• Also, Diem was Catholic in a largely Buddhist
region and he expected his citizens to follow
Catholic laws
– A Buddhist monk burnt himself to death to protest
• JFK allowed South Vietnam to stage a military coup
– Diem tried to flee but was assassinated
2. McNamara’s Role
• Robert McNamara, JFK’s Secretary of Defense,
played a large role in creating the Kennedy
Administration’s policy toward Vietnam
• Applied his business background by cutting costs
while still modernizing the armed forces
– Used the “flexible response” policy
• Under LBJ, McNamara pushed for direct
involvement in the war, yet still questioned whether
a complete withdraw might be better (1963)
C. Johnson Commits to Containment
• The Viet Cong, Communist guerillas in the south,
and their political arm called the National
Liberation Front gained control of great amounts
of South territory and earned the support of many in
South Vietnam
– Ho Chi Minh aided the Viet Cong throughout the war
• LBJ, after being informed of his tough decisions to
make about Vietnam by Henry Cabot Lodge,
“I am not going to lose Vietnam. I am not going to
be the President who saw Southeast Asia go the way
China went.”
1. Expanding Presidential Power
• 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked
U.S. destroyers in international waters of the Gulf
of Tonkin (30 miles from North Vietnam)
– Details were sketchy, some doubted it occurred
– LBJ used the incident to build U.S. support
• Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
416-0, 88-2 giving LBJ complete control over what
the U.S. did in Vietnam, even without an official
declaration of war from Congress
II. Fighting the War
• Nearly 3 million Americans served in the
Vietnam War
• Vietnam was thousands of miles away and
the conditions were extremely different than
at home
A. Battlefield Conditions
• American forces had superior arms and supplies
• The Viet Cong, however, was familiar with the
swamps and jungles and used Guerilla war tactics to
strike and retreat (often across the border into
Cambodia or Laos)
– The local population often helped the Viet Cong
– The American soldiers were trying to protect the freedom
of the South Vietnamese, but the residents seemed
indifferent
– American soldiers never knew what to expect or who to
trust
1. The Ground War
• The Viet Cong lacked the sophisticated equipment
of the U.S. troops so they avoided head-on clashes
• Guerilla Warfare- working in small groups to launch
sneak attacks and practice sabotage
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They were able to hide in elaborate underground tunnels
They used booby traps such as:
punji trap-camouflaged pit filled with razor sharp stakes
land mines
grenades
2. The Air War
• The U.S. used the B-52 Bomber to smash roads and
heavy bridges in N. Vietnam
– Saturation Bombing was dropping thousands of tons of
explosives over large connected areas
– Fragment Bombs threw pieces of metal casings in all
directions when they exploded
– These bombs killed and maimed countless civilians
• Chemical weapons were also used by the U.S.
– Agent Orange was a herbicide used on dense jungle
landscapes to expose Viet Cong hiding places
– Napalm was a jelly-like substance that splattered and
burned uncontrollably. It burnt off flesh.
B. The Course of the War, 1965-1968
• LBJ started a gradual escalation (expansion)
of the war soon after being elected in 1964
– Devoted money and military personnel
– Initially, just advisors
– Eventually, took on the task of propping up the
South Vietnamese government led by Nguyen
Cao Ky
1. Intensifying the War
• By 1965, the Viet Cong were steadily expanding
within South Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh Trail- Allowed North Vietnamese
troops and supplies to pour into the South
– A supply route that passed through Laos and Cambodia
• LBJ raised American involvement from 25k to 184k
in the year 1965 and began bombing North Vietnam
– The war remained a stalemate from 1965-67
– Operation Rolling Thunder- relentless bombing
campaign that continued almost 3 years destroying much
land but not the enemy
C. The Tet Offensive: A Turning Point
• Nguyen Van Thieu succeeded Ky as president of
South Vietnam
– Both more effective than Diem but still authoritarian
• U.S. kept increasing troop involvement. 536k by ‘68
• Tet= Vietnamese New Year
• Tet Offensive- The Viet Cong and North
Vietnamese launched this major offensive in 1968
that included surprise attacks on major cities and
towns and American bases throughout the South
– Attacked the American Embassy in Saigon
1. Communist Brutality
• Communists were uncommonly brutal during the
Tet Offensive
– Slaughtering anyone labeled an enemy
• In Hue, anyone who worked for Americans were
ordered to report to special locations
– 3,000 of 5,000 were killed and placed in a mass grave
2. Massacre at My Lai
• American Soldiers also committed atrocities
• My Lai- a small village in South Vietnam
– The town was supposedly sheltering 250 Viet Cong so a
U.S. infantry division moved in to clear out the village
– Found women, kids, and old men instead
– Rounded them up and killed more than 400 Vietnamese
– Even more if a helicopter crew didn’t step in to stop it
• The massacre was ordered by William Caulley, Jr.
– He was sentenced to life in Prison
– Nixon reduced his sentence to 20 years
– He eventually only served 3 years before getting out for
good behavior
3. Television’s Role
• The Tet Offensive showed the North Vietnamese and
Viet Cong could launch a massive attack in South
Vietnam
• Images of fighting flooded the television screens of
Americans who began doubting and protesting the
war
– Many Americans actually supported a tougher policy
toward Vietnam than Johnson’s, despite all of the
protesters of the time
III. Political Divisions
• As Vietnam unfolded, many patriotic
Americans favored increasing the war effort
to bring home a military victory
• Others believed that the war was morally
wrong and urged immediate withdrawal of
U.S. troops
– Opposing viewpoints created deep divisions
A. Student Activism
• College enrollment swelled as the Baby Boom
children began to graduate high school… in large
part because of the prosperity of the 50’s
• Teens were not satisfied with the values of their
parents and the early 60’s saw a widening of the
generation gap
– Rock n’ Roll, Beatniks, etc. of the 1950’s set the scene
1. Students for a Democratic Society
• The Civil Rights Movement also became a
steppingstone to other movements for change
• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)organized by several civil rights activists in 1960
– Wanted change on issues that students felt were
important such as civil rights, education, and politics
• The New Left was a political movement that
believed that problems such as poverty and racism
called for radical change
– SDS members often supported the New Left
2. The Free Speech Movement
• University of California Berkeley 1964- Students
became angry when the administration refused to
allow them to distribute civil rights leaflets outside
the main gates of the campus
– Argued their rights to free speech was being challenged
– Students resisted, police came to arrest, and students
surrounded the police car to prevent it from moving
– The University Board decided to press charges so
thousands of angry students took over the administration
board
– More than 700 students were arrested, others went on
strike and student activism spread
3. The Teach-in Movement
• Students were among the first to oppose the Vietnam
War feeling it was imperialistic or just a Civil War
that we should stay out of
• Teach-ins began to protest the war
– University of Michigan 1965… 50-60 professors showed
up to teach/discuss the issues of the Vietnam War.
– Several thousand students showed up to the night session
and made the evening a huge success. Both sides were
represented, but antiwar voices soon dominated
4. Draft Resistance
• The Draft was in place since 1951, but relatively
few were actually drafted in the early 1960’s.
– Most were Conscientious Objectors (refused to fight on
moral or religious grounds)
• LBJ, however, rapidly increased the # of draftees
• College students had deferment which meant they
could postpone their service
– Most lower and some middle class students could not
afford college and claimed that the draft was not fair
– Draft resistance swept the country starting in 1967
5. Continued Protests
• More than 200 major demonstrations
erupted at colleges and universities in the
first 6 months of 1968
• The University of Columbia combined Civil
Rights issues and War issues in the same
protest and several places followed
B. Johnson Decides Not to Run
• Continuing protests and a growing list of American
casualties had steadily increased public opposition
to Johnson’s handling of the war
– LBJ ignored McNamara’s request to turn the fighting
over to the S. Vietnamese
– A majority of Americans opposed the war after the Tet
Offensive (realized the role of TV)
• Antiwar candidates began gaining popular support
– Including Robert Kennedy
– LBJ gave a dramatic speech on television in March of
1968 that he would not be running for President
C. The Election of 1968
• A split was dividing the Democratic party
on issues even before Lyndon Johnson
decided to not seek re-election.
1. Democratic Convention
• The Democratic party was in shreds by time the
Convention to nominate the President actually took
place
– The expected winner, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated
in June
– The other candidates were either too radical or supported
the war in Vietnam which made them less attractive in
the polls
• There was a major protest outside the Convention
when it was announced LBJ’s VP would get the
nomination
– Police violently broke up the protesters on live TV
2. The Republicans and the
Nation Choose Nixon
• Nixon was chosen to again represent the
Republicans at the convention in August
– Nixon backed law and order and boasted of a secret plan
to end the war in Vietnam
– George Wallace, a lifelong Democrat, ran as a third party
candidate and took 9.9 million votes which mostly would
have been Democrat
• The Republicans had gained the White House and
would keep in w/ 1 interruption for the next 20 years
– Middle America began to look again for stability
IV. The End of the War
• Nixon gave a speech to the nation often
known as the “Silent Majority” speech
where he told how he believed he should
end U.S. involvement in Vietnam
• He believed in a gradual, periodic removal
of troops as opposed to a one-time gigantic
withdrawal
A. Nixon’s Vietnam Policy
• Paris Peace Talks began in 1968 under LBJ but the
talks failed to produce an agreement
• Nixon claimed he had a secret plan to end the war in
Vietnam and it helped him win the Presidency in ‘68
1. Withdrawing Troops
• President Nixon announced a new plan known as
Vietnamization in 1969
– Removing American forces and replacing them with
South Vietnamese soldiers.
– By 1972, American troops numbered only 24,000
compared to 536,000 in 1968.
• Nixon still didn’t want to lose the war
– He ordered secret bombing raids on major targets
throughout Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia including
along the Ho Chi Minh Trail
2. The War Spreads to Cambodia
• Nixon widened the war beyond the borders
of Vietnam
– April 1970, Nixon publicly announced that the
U.S. was moving into neighboring country
Cambodia
– Wanted to clear out communist camps that were
being used to aid the Viet Cong
• Started a new wave of protests in the U.S.
B. Nixon Calls for Law and Order
• Campaigned to restore “law and order” in
the country
– SDS had turned violent in 1969… a subgroup
known as the Weathermen- named after a line
in Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”
– Armed violence with pipes, rocks, clubs,
chains, etc. against police officers in Chicago
1. The Silent Majority
• Nixon recognized that student radicals, antiwar
protesters, and the counterculture never appealed to
many Americans
– These people just did not receive any press
• Nixon referred to the large group of non-protesting
Americans as the “silent majority”
– Gave a speech that called for the Silent Majority to “not
allow the vocal minority to prevail over the reason and
the will of the majority”
2. Kent State
• U.S. invasion of Cambodia in 1970 spurred more
protests around the nation
• At Kent State, students responded by breaking
windows of businesses, burning the ROTC building
(which was a hated symbol during the war)
– In response, the governor ordered the National Guard to
Kent State and tension mounted
– Students threw rocks at them and guardsmen loaded their
guns and put on gas masks… They hurled tear gas at the
students, retreated to another position, then suddenly
turned and fired upon the students
– 4 students died (2 bystanders, 2 protesters), 9 injuries
C. American Withdrawal
• After extensive bombing of North Vietnam, a major
offensive by North Vietnam, and Nixon’s reelection,
the U.S., North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the
Viet Cong signed a peace agreement in Paris
– U.S. to withdraw forces within 60 days
– All prisoners of war would be released
– All parties would end military activities in Cambodia and
Laos
– The 17th parallel would continue to divide North and
South Vietnam until the country could be reunited
D. Aftermath of the War in Asia
• American involvement came to an end in 1973,
but the fighting between North and South
Vietnam continued for 2 more years
• Vietnam proved Americans wrong
– Americans believed they could defend the world from
Communism anywhere, any time, and that superior
weapons and technology would always win out
1. South Vietnam Falls
• South Vietnamese soldiers steadily lost ground to
their North Vietnamese enemies
– The North launched several attacks against major cities
• The Fall of Saigon was the final part of the plan
– The U.S. forces and CIA tried to launch a last-ditch
evacuation using helicopters to get Americans and South
Vietnamese to aircraft carriers waiting offshore
– The Saigon government officially surrendered after 2
days of destroying the city and taking over the American
Embassy and the Presidential Palace
– Vietnam was a single nation under a Communist Govt.
2. Southeast Asia After the War
• Remember the Domino Theory
• Well… Cambodia and Laos did become Communist,
as well
• The treatment of the non-communists in these
countries was brutal
– There were approximately 1.5 million murders in
Cambodia alone
– There were forced “re-education camps”
– Hundreds of thousands of refugees came to the U.S.
E. The Legacy of the War
• More than 58,000 American deaths
• More than 300,000 wounded
• More than 2,500 POWs (Prisoners of War)
and MIAs (Missing in Action)
• When soldiers returned home, their return
was not a large celebration
– Many veterans complained of not being
appreciated for their sacrifices
1. Counting the Costs
• Vietnam was the longest and the least successful
war in American history
– U.S. spent $150 billion, at least
– More bombs were used on Vietnam than on the Axis
powers in WWII
– Millions of Vietnamese died with countless civilian
casualties
– The U.S. had a trade embargo on Vietnam until 1994
2. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
• A long, black granite wall cut down into the
ground with the name of every American who
died in the war
– It was erected in Washington, D.C. and completed in
1982 and ever since, Americans have left personal
items at the wall adding to it
– The design came from a 21 year-old college student
named Maya Lin who entered a contest that was
designed to create the memorial