Transcript The Vietnam War: 1954-1975 The War Unfolds

The Vietnam War: 1954-1975
The War Unfolds
VIETNAM - Beginnings
• The United States entered the Vietnam
War to defeat Communist forces
threatening South Vietnam.
• “You have a row of dominoes set up,
you knock over the first one, and what
will happen to the last one is the
certainty that will go over very
quickly.”
– President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1954)
What events led to the war between
North Vietnam and South Vietnam?
• End of World War II Japanese occupation of
Vietnam ended
• French Indochina - A
French colony that
France tried to regain
control of after WWII
• Nationalist uprising
against the French in the
North (led by
Nationalist Communists
under Ho Chi Minh and
General Giap)
• French defeated at Dien
Bien Phu - 1954
What events led to the war between
North Vietnam and South Vietnam?
• Geneva Accords 1954 divided Vietnam along
the 17th parallel
• North led by Ho Chi
Minh
• South led by antiCommunist Ngo Dinh
Diem
• Elections set for 1956
refused by South
Vietnam - feared
Communist unfairness
and victory
The Vietnam War, 1954–1975
Although neighboring Laos
and Cambodia were
officially neutral, both
aided the North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong
by providing access to
bases and the Ho Chi Minh
Trail, a vital supply route
from North to South
What events led to the
war between North
Vietnam and South
Vietnam?
• By 1960, President
Eisenhower had pledged
American support to
Diem in the South
• US had 675 military
‘advisors’ there
• US presence justified by
the “domino theory” - if
one country falls to
communism, the rest
will eventually fall too.
What were the Vietnam
policies of President
Kennedy and Robert
McNamara?
• JFK - determined to
stop spread of
communism
• McNamara (Sec. of
Defense) developed
‘flexible response’
• Continued support
of the South
Vietnamese struggle
against the North
The United States continued to
support the unpopular South
Vietnamese government under
Diem.
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•
South Vietnamese leader Diem
- very unpopular, dictatorial
– Led to protests in the
South by Buddhists
Strategic hamlets - relocated
Vietnamese farmers
National Liberation Front
formed in 1960 - a.k.a Viet
Cong (VC) = guerillas in the
South - supported by North
Vietnamese Army (NVA)
supplies
Events in November 1963
dramatically changed
United States ambitions
in Vietnam.
• Diem assassinated Nov.
1, 1963 in a military
coup
• JFK assassinated Nov.
22, 1963
• Lyndon B. Johnson
(VP) became president
• LBJ continued Vietnam
policies of JFK
How did President Lyndon
Johnson change the course of
the Vietnam War?
• Johnson feared Vietnam going
Communist
• August 5, 1964: Tonkin Gulf
Incident
• Congress passed Tonkin Gulf
Resolution - Gave LBJ broad
executive powers to wage war
The Vietnam War: 1954-1975
Fighting the War: 1965-1968…
At home and abroad.
“And it’s one, two, three,
What are we fightin’ for?…”
-Country Joe and the Fish
VIETNAM - Escalation and
Fighting
• The violence and brutality of the
Vietnam War affected civilians as well
as soldiers.
Escalation of American involvement began in
1965 and continued through 1968.
• Beginning of 1965 - 25,000
troops
• End of 1968 - 500,000 troops
How did battlefield
conditions in Vietnam affect
American soldiers?
• The Vietnam war was
characterized by small
engagements (fights)
that involved guerillatype warfare.
• For US soldiers, it was
difficult to know the
difference between
friend (ARVN [South
Vietnamese regular
army]) and foe (VC
[Viet Cong])
Battlefield conditions in Vietnam
•
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•
American tactics consisted of “search and
destroy” missions and massive bombing
of VC targets.
“Operation Rolling Thunder” - intensive
bombing campaign from 1965-1968
Americans had absolute mastery of the
air throughout the course of the war.
Bombing during Vietnam inflicted heavy
damage on the landscape and thousands
of military and civilian casualties.
• Americans used ‘saturation bombing’
and fragmentation bombs
• Americans also used chemicals to
defoliate the landscape
– Napalm
– Agent Orange
US casualties
increased.
• Casualties began to mount
and TV networks broadcast
scenes from the battlefield
• Weekly body counts became
standard TV fare for nightly
news.
America’s first ‘TV’ War
• People’s
perceptions
of the war
were more
and more
influenced by
television
news reports
“Hawks” and
“Doves”
• Hawks - supported the
war
• Doves - opposed the
war
• Although the majority
of Americans still
supported the Vietnam
War, there was
increasing
disagreement in both
government and the
public mind over US
Vietnam policy.
A Growing Antiwar
Movement
• More and more people saw the
Vietnam war as a waste of
federal tax money that could
have been applied to LBJ’s Great
Society domestic social
programs.
LBJ attempted to rally support
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•
•
•
War faced growing
protest and unpopularity
at home.
LBJ continued to
promote the war in order
to maintain support for
GREAT SOCIETY
programs in the USA.
Escalation continued.
A growing ‘credibility
gap’.
•A coordinated set of
attacks by Viet Cong
and North
Vietnamese during
Tet (Vietnamese
New Year)
•US tactical victory inflicted heavy losses
on the VC and North
Vietnamese
•North Vietnamese
strategic advantage American public
support of war
dropped
The Tet Offensive: 1968
The impact of the Tet Offensive on
American Public Opinion
Public Opinion of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
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ТDo you approve or disapprove of the way
President Johnson is handling the situation in Vietnam?У
Approve
Disapprove
No opinion
December 1965
56%
26%
18%
May1966
41%
37%
22%
April 1967
43%
42%
15%
July 1967
33%
52%
15%
December 1967
39%
49%
12%
Februar y 1968*
35%
50%
15%
•
•
ТIn view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you
think the United States made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam?У
Yes, Made a mi stake
No, did not
No opinion
May1966
36%
49%
15%
April 1967
37%
50%
13%
July 1967
41%
48%
11%
Februar y 1968**
49%
41%
10%
*During the Tet Offensive
**After the Tet Offensive
Source: The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1935Ρ 1971, by Ge orge H. Ga llup
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After the Tet Offensive in JanFeb of 1968, public opinion
turned more sharply against
continuing the war.
Vocal anti-war protests
increased
Many Americans felt that:
– US soldiers were not given a
chance to win
– US didn’t have a clear
objective in Vietnam for
victory
LBJ made surprise
announcement he wouldn’t seek
re-election in 1968
Tet Illustrated Communist (VC) brutality and
the brutality of the war in general
• In recapturing Hue
(Vietnamese city), VC
murdered 5000 civilians
before surrendering.
• Suicide bombers hit civilian
targets as well.
• South Vietnamese responded
in anger and brutality as well.
My Lai Massacre- 1968
• US soldiers under Lt.
William Calley murdered
Vietnamese civilians at My
Lai (village) [250+]
• US helicopter crew stopped
the slaughter
• Story with pictures
published in LIFE
magazine in 1971
• American public horrified.
• An isolated incident but
shocking that American
soldiers could or would
commit such atrocities
Review Questions - answer these
questions on a separate sheet of paper
• Describe how the battlefield conditions
affected the following people in Vietnam:
– US Soldiers
– Vietnamese civilians
• Explain why the initial military action
resulted in a stalemate.
• Describe the Tet Offensive of 1968. Explain
how and why it proved to be a turning point
in the Vietnam War.
• Choose a position either for (hawk) or against
(dove) the war. Write a brief letter to the
editor from that position.
The Vietnam War: 1954-1975
The End of the War: 1968-1975
Seeking Peace with Honor
The Paris Peace Talks and
the Election of 1968.
• Begun May 5, 1968.
• No results.
• Nixon campaign
message claimed he had
a secret plan to end the
war.
• LBJ - not seeking reelection
• Democratic race
included:
– VP Hubert H. Humphrey
– Sen. Robert F. Kennedy
– Sen. Eugene McCarthy
Republican Richard Nixon
won in 1968 - a political
comeback.
• Robert Kennedy
assassinated in June.
• McCarthy outspoken anti-war
candidate.
• Democratic National
Convention - Chicago
riot
• Nixon defeated
Humphrey.
• Promised to end the
war and sought
“peace with honor”.
“Vietnamization” and Peace
with Honor
• Plan of removing
American troops and
replacing them with
South Vietnamese
soldiers.
• US continued heavy
bombing of Vietnam
• US troop strength
dropped from
500,000 in 1969 to
24,000 by 1972
Widening the war into
Cambodia… to end it.
• Nixon ordered secret
bombing of Viet Cong
sanctuaries insided
Cambodia (1970)
• US and South
Vietnamese troops also
invaded Cambodia
• Nixon hoped to win
concessions at the
bargaining table.
Operation Linebacker
B-52s to bomb Cambodia
Kent State (Akron, Ohio) 1970
• News of Cambodian
invasion set off a new
round of campus anti-war
protests (May 1970)
• Jackson State (MS), 2
killed, 11 wounded
• Kent State - Ohio National
Guard confronted
hundreds of protesters -- 4
students killed, 9 wounded
• Hundreds of campuses shut
down early due to unrest.
Nixon calls for law and order
• Nixon appealed to
the great “silent
majority” of
Americans.
• “If a vocal minority,
however fervent its
cause, prevails over
reason and the will of
the majoirty, this nation
has no future as a free
society.”
“Hard Hat” riots in New York
City in support of Nixon
• Over 100,000
construction
workers
marched.
• Angry at the
student antiwar protestors
1972 - “Peace is at Hand”
• Paris Peace talks stalled
since 1968. Renewed
periodically.
• National Security Advisor
Henry Kissinger claimed
peace was at hand - just
before 1972 election.
• December 1972, new
round of bombing “Christmas bombings”
(Nixon - a “mad
bomber”)
• Bombed Hanoi, North
Vietnam
1973 - Paris Peace Accords
• The United States would
withdraw all its forces from
South Vietnam within 60 days.
• All prisoners of war would be
released.
• All parties to the agreement
would end military activities in
Laos and Cambodia.
• The 17th parallel would
continue to divide North and
South Vietnam until the country
could be reunited.
South Vietnam falls
• North continued its assault on the South
• Saigon (capital of South) fell to
communists in April, 1975
• US evacuates 1,000 remaining
Americans and 6,000 Vietnamese to
aircraft carriers
• Vietnam united under communist rule
Saigon - 1975: the final days
Southeast Asia after the war.
• “Dominoes” of Laos
and Cambodia fell to
communism - no
other SE Asian
countries
• Cambodian Khmer
Rouge government
seized control under
Pol Pot.
• Vietnam - 100,000s of
South Vietnamese
civilians, soldiers, civil
servants, professionals
forced into ‘reeducation’ camps.
• 1.5 million Vietnamese
fled the country
(100,000s of
Cambodians and
Laotians also) to the
United States.
Scenes of post-1975 SE Asia
Legacy of the War
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58,000 Americans dead
300,000 wounded
2,500 POWs
$150 billion
More bomb tonnage than
in all Axis countries of
WWII - combined
• Millions of Vietnamese
soldiers and civilians killed
• 1994 - end of US embargo
• 1995 - formal US
recognition of Vietnam
The Vietnam Memorial - The Wall…