•  Play Buffalo Springfield: Something Happening Here

Aim: How did the U.S. get increasingly involved in Vietnam in the 1960s? Do Now: Listen to: Buffalo Springfield: Something Happening Here

p. 54-55

The Cold War in Africa and Asia

Examples:

- In Africa, the U.S. supported Somalia while the Soviets supported Ethiopia.

· The United States and Soviet Union supported their allies worldwide, turning small conflicts into international wars.

- In Asia, Pakistan became an ally of the U.S., while India accepted assistance from both the U.S. and the Soviets. Also, the U.S. supported democratic forces in Indochina while the Soviets supported the communists.

- (Note: today, Indochina consists of the nations of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.)

The Two Vietnams

· Vietnam, a former French colony, was divided into two sections in 1954.

· South Vietnam, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, was democratic and backed by the U.S.

· North Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh, was communist and backed by the Soviet Union.

· Many South Vietnamese distrusted Diem and joined the Vietcong, a communist guerilla group supported by North Vietnam.

Early Protests of Diem’s Government

Self-Emolation by a Buddhist Monk

Growing American Involvement

· The U.S. believed that if South Vietnam fell to the communists, the rest of the nations in Southeast Asia would as well in a theory called the domino theory.

U.S. Troop Deployments

in Vietnam

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968

U.S. Troops

U.S. Military Involvement Begins z  Kennedy elected 1960 z  Increases military “advisors” to

16,000 z  Kennedy’s advisors were clearly

fighting a covert war by 1963.

z  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)

South Vietnamese paratroopers jump from U.S. Air Force transports in an air assault against the Viet Cong, March 1963

LBJ inaugurated after Kennedy’s Assassination

•  What were the common catalysts of U.S. involvement in the Spanish American War and World War I?

Video: Defense Secretary Robert McNamara speaks about the attack that precipitated our involvement in the Vietnam War

On Aug. 4, 1964, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara reported to Pres. Johnson that an American destroyer in the region was under torpedo attack by the North Vietnamese. That brief conversation was the tipping point for the entire Vietnam War.

· In August 1964, U.S. military officials reported that the North Vietnamese had torpedoed an American ship in the Gulf of Tonkin.

· In response, the U.S. passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed the U.S. to begin bombing enemy targets within North and South Vietnam.

What he did not tell Congress: •  He had already written the resolution before

the “incident.” •  The U.S. naval vessels were aiding ARVN in

commando raids in North Vietnam at the time. •  He learned that the attack probably hadn’t

occurred. •  The U.S. navy was not on the “high seas”

but in N. Vietnam’s 12 mile territorial limit.

•  President Johnson campaigned in the 1964 election with the promise not to escalate the war.

•  "We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves," he said.

Daisy Campaign Ad

•  The attack ad was designed to capitalize on comments made by Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater about the possibility of using nuclear weapons in Vietnam.

Johnson Sends Ground Forces

z  In February 1965, Viet Cong units

operating autonomously attacked a South Vietnamese garrison near Pleiku, killing eight Americans.

I’m not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went.

· As the fighting escalated, the U.S. relied on the draft for raising troops.

· By 1968, over half a million Americans were fighting in the Vietnam War.

The Ground War: 1965-1968 z  No territorial goals z  Body counts on TV every night (first “living

room” war)

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/tet-offensive#arriving-in-vietnam

Arriving in Vietnam (2:25) Many soldiers couldn't even find Vietnam on the map before they were sent over to fight there. And having never experienced battle before, they were in for a number of big surprises.

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/remembering-vietnam-in-transit?m=512538c9db12e

· In addition, it was very difficult to identify which South Vietnamese were our allies and which were supporting the Vietcong.

· Jungle warfare was difficult, and it was hard to locate the enemy.

Video Clip: Platoon The Uncertain Enemy

Ex Vietcong showing secret tunnels, November 7, 2004

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

http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=17617

One man’s point of view… you may find him insensitive…

ank crewman Russell Tingle, Jr. tells of his experience fighting women and children in Vietnam. He never knew who might be a combatant, like the Vietnamese women he was forced to shoot who opened fire on him.

Cu Chi Tunnels: Deconstructed (1:29) Find out more about the elaborate network of underground tunnels used as hideouts, living quarters and supply routes for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/tet-offensive#cu-chi-tunnels-deconstructed

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/deconstructing-history-cu-chi-tunnels?m=5159eb0c7438d

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/tet-offensive#daily-life

Daily Life (3:03) War is often recounted as one dramatic battle after another. The daily reality for soldiers on the ground is very different, as they perform daily patrols or occupy themselves while awaiting orders.

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/remembering-vietnam-ambush?m=512538c9db12e

On Patrol (4:14) In the field, many soldiers spent their time on patrol, seeking out communist forces, and avoiding lethal booby traps.

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/tet-offensive#on-patrol

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/tet-offensive#on-patrol

On Patrol (4:14) In the field, many soldiers spent their time on patrol, seeking out communist forces, and avoiding lethal booby traps.

Ran out of time

•  Use to build up to public reaction

The Air War 1965-1968

z  1965: Sustained bombing of North Vietnam

z  Operation Rolling Thunder (March 2, 1965) 1966-68: Ongoing bombing of Hanoi nonstop for 3 years! Esp. targets the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

z  Downed Pilots: P.O.W.s z  Carpet Bombing – napalm

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a complex web of different jungle paths that enabled communist troops to travel from North Vietnam to areas close to Saigon. It has been estimated that the National Liberation Front received sixty tons of aid per day from this route. Most of this was carried by porters. Occasionally bicycles and ponies would also be used. At regular intervals along the route the NLF built base camps. As well as providing a place for them to rest, the base camps provided medical treatment for those who had been injured or had fallen ill on the journey. In the early days of the war it took six months to travel from North Vietnam to Saigon on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. But the more people who travelled along the route the easier it became. By 1970, fit and experienced soldiers could make the journey in six weeks. From the air the Ho Chi Minh Trail was impossible to identify and although the United States Air Force tried to destroy this vital supply line by heavy bombing, they were unable to stop the constant flow of men and supplies. The main danger to the people who travelled on the Ho Chi Minh Trail was not American bombs but diseases like malaria. In the early days, as many as 10 per cent of the porters travelling down the trail died of disease. The North Vietnamese also used the Ho Chi Minh Trail to send soldiers to the south. At times, as many as 20,000 soldiers a month came from Hanoi in this way. In an attempt to stop this traffic, it was suggested that a barrier of barbed wire and minefields called the McNamara Line should be built. This plan was abandoned in 1967 after repeated attacks by the NLF on those involved in constructing this barrier.

Warning: Disturbing Image

The Air War: A Napalm Attack

The Tet Offensive, January 1968 z  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  U.S. + ARVN beat back the offensive

z  Viet Cong nearly destroyed z  N. Vietnamese army

debilitated z  BUT…

•  This audacious operation took America and its South Vietnamese allies entirely by surprise.

•  Not only did the attack violate the two-day truce both sides had pledged to observe around Tet – the Vietnamese Lunar New Year – but just a few weeks earlier, the commander of American military operations General Westmoreland had smugly declared the Communists were

•  “unable to mount a major offensive” and dared them to “try something, because we are looking for a fight.”

•  In the ensuing days, Americans turned on their televisions to find scenes of chaos and carnage. – and when Brigadier General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan raised his pistol, extended his arm and fired a bullet through the head of his Vietcong prisoner, NBC cameraman and photographer Eddie Adams captured the harrowing moment which was subsequently splashed across 50 million tv screens.

•  Americans could not believe what they were seeing.

Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan (11 December 1930[1] – 14 July 1998) was South Vietnam's chief of National Police. Loan gained international attention when he executed handcuffed prisoner Nguyễn Văn Lém, a Việt Cộng member. The photograph was taken on 1 February 1968 in front of Võ Sửu, a cameraman for NBC, and Eddie Adams, an Associated Press photographer. The photo (captioned "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon") and film would become two of the most iconic images in contemporary American journalism.

http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in-hd/videos/tet-offensive#tet-offensive

Tet Offensive (4:53) This massive North Vietnamese surprise attack during the 1968 Tet holiday was a crucial turning point in the war.

Video: if time

http://www.awesomestories.com/assets/vietnam-war-fighting-in-hue-city-1968

During the Tet Offensive, in early 1968, U.S. Marines fought a hard battle in Hue City. The fighting was vicious and casualties were heavy. Walter Cronkite, then (and later) considered to be the most-respected journalist in America, reported on events. 8:07