Cold War – Pt 2• Content Standard – 5.3 – Cite specific textural

and visual evidence to analyze the series of events and long term foreign and domestic consequences of the US military involvement in Vietnam, including the Domino Theory, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the Tet Offensive, Presidential Election of 1968, University Student Protest, TV Coverage, War Powers Act and the 26th Amendment.

The Domino Theory was that if North Vietnam won the war then Cambodia, Laos, and the rest of Asia will turn communist. America and South Vietnam did not want to be communist and let it spread throughout Asia.

U.S. Military Involvement Begins

U.S. Military Involvement Begins

z Kennedy elected 1960z Increases military

“advisors” to 16,000z 1963: JFK supports a

Vietnamese military coup d’etat – Diem and his brother are murdered (Nov. 2)

z Kennedy was assassinated just weeks later (Nov. 22)

Johnson Sends Ground ForcesJohnson Sends Ground Forces

z Tonkin Gulf ResolutionP “The Blank Check” *P was a joint resolution which the

United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in response to a sea battle between the North Vietnamese Navy's Torpedo Squadron 135 and the destroyer USS Maddox

Who Is the Enemy?Who Is the Enemy?z Vietcong:

P Farmers by day; guerillas at night.

P Very patient people willing to accept many casualties.

P The US grossly underestimated their resolve and their resourcefulness.The guerilla wins if he does not lose,

the conventional army loses if it does not win. -- Mao Zedong

Anti-War Demonstrations

Anti-War Demonstrations

z May 4, 1970

z 4 students shot dead.

z 11 students wounded

Kent State University

z Jackson StateUniversity

z May 10, 1970

z 2 dead; 12 wounded

The Tet Offensive, January 1968The Tet Offensive, January 1968z N. Vietnamese Army + Viet

Cong attack South simultaneously (67,000 attack 100 cities, bases, and the US embassy in Saigon)

z Take every major southern city

z Viet Cong destroyedz N. Vietnamese army

debilitatedz BUT…it’s seen as an

American defeat by the media

Nixon on VietnamNixon on Vietnamz Nixon’s 1968 Campaign promised

an end to the war: Peace with HonorP Appealed to the great

“Silent Majority”

z Vietnamizationz Expansion of the

conflict The “Secret War”P CambodiaP Laos

z Agent Orange(chemical defoliant)

The Ceasefire, 1973The Ceasefire, 1973z Conditions:

1.U.S. to remove all troops2.North Vietnam could leave

troops already in S.V.3.North Vietnam would resume

war4.No provision for POWs or

MIAsz Last American troops left South

Vietnam on March 29, 1973z 1975: North Vietnam defeats South

Vietnamz Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City

Impact of the War• War Powers Act – Congress

takes back some of the presidents power to engage in military conflict without their consent – Response to Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• 26th Amendment – Makes it legal for 18 yr olds to vote. If you can die for your country you should be able to vote.

• Media Coverage – Changes Americans view of War – They can see it everyday!

Thawing the Cold War• China – Nixon makes first trip to China and opens communications for the first time in 25 years. •Détente – Brezhnev invites Nixon to visit Moscow and begins thawing out of relations – carries over into the 80’s.•SALT I•Gorbachev – Peristrokia and Glasnost

Fall of the Soviet Union• Broke – USSR can’t keep up with the spending

rate of the US and maintain control of their satellite countries. – Reagan – “Tear Down this Wall” speech (Berlin)– East Germans escape (West takes them in)– Poland – Solidarity Campaign– 1991 – Boris Yelstin leads revolution in Moscow and

Communism falls apart. • US and NATO – left to pick up pieces of these

countries trying to get back on their feet.• US no longer has an enemy!