The War in Vietnam

The War in Vietnam

Geneva Accords 1954 • U.S., Britain, China,

U.S.S.R., France, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, all meet to negotiate a solution for Southeast Asia

• Divide Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel (North = Communist led by Ho Chi Minh & South = Capitalist w/ Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister)

Tensions Mount …• In 1956, Diem refuses to participate in

elections outlined in Geneva (U.S. supports Diem)

• Diem, a Roman Catholic in a primarily Buddhist country, ignores social problems in favor or security concerns Peasants turn to the communist Vietcong who promise land reform

• In North Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh trail & mandatory conscription in the army begun

U.S. Involvement• 1961 – JFK sends Green Berets to train

Vietnamese against Vietcong insurgents• 1962 – JFK signs the Foreign Assistance Act which

provides "...military assistance to countries which are on the rim of the Communist world and under direct attack."

• 1963 – U.S. supports a coup of Diem after Diem refused to let Buddhist monks celebrate Buddha’s birthday Diem is assassinated

• By the end of 1963, U.S. gave $500 million to S. Vietnam & over 16,000 military advisors are there

U.S. Involvement deepens• 1964 – President Johnson told Congress that

N. Vietnamese patrol boats attacked 2 American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin

• Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution put forward by the White House allowing the President "to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force" to prevent further attacks against U.S. forces

• By 1965, over 185,000 American troops were fighting on Vietnamese soil

• By 1968, more than 500,000 were there

American Difficulties

• First – fighting a guerrilla war in unfamiliar jungle terrain

• Second – the South Vietnamese government they were defending was becoming steadily unpopular & support for the Vietcong was growing

• Ho Chi Minh was supporting the Vietcong with troops & munitions, as was the Soviet Union and China

Central Park Protest

Vietnam War Out Now Protest

Vietnam An Unpopular War• 1967 – over 585 protesters were arrested in New

York• Media reports leak regarding citizen casualties –

entire villages• Robert Kennedy announces candidacy for

President & becomes more popular than Johnson quickly

• 1968 – 200,000 students refuse to attend classes in NY as protest

• 1968 – Robert Kennedy shot • 1968 – 10,000 protesters at DNC in Chicago

beaten by police (caught on film)• By August 1968 – 221 different student protests at

101 colleges

The Results• By the end of 1968, 30,000 Americans were

killed• Nixon is narrowly elected & begins

withdrawing troops in 1969 (plan called Vietnamization)

• Gradual withdrawal of troops ends in 1973• April 30, 1975 – Communist forces take over

S. Vietnam & rename Saigon “Ho Chi Minh City”

• 1.5 million Vietnamese & 58,226 American casualties