THE VIETNAM WAR

Background• Vietnam was originally

ruled by China.• Around 1000 A.D. the

area became independent

• By 1600, France had taken this area as a colony and called it French Indochina

• 1890: Ho Chi Minh was born• In the 1920s, he became a

Communist and had a goal of overthrowing the French and making his homeland free.

• He led a group whose purpose was to overthrow the French. They were called the Vietminh.

• During WWII, the Japanese controlled the area and the Vietminh started fighting against the Japanese.

• After WWII, the US refused to recognize the government of Ho Chi Minh because of its communist leanings

• The US urged the French to regain their colony and from 1946 to 1954 the US funded 80% of the civil war.

• After the loss of Dienbienphu, the French pulled out of Vietnam.

• The United Nations brokered a peace that called for Vietnam to be temporarily divided at the 17th Parallel.

• Ho Chi Minh would lead a Communist government in the northern section.

• Ngo Dinh Diem would lead a republic in the southern section.

• After two years, an election would be held throughout both sections of Vietnam to determine who would lead a united Vietnam

• Ngo Dinh Diem was supported by anticommunists, Catholics, and urban Vietnamese.

• Unfortunately, many of the inhabitants of his section favored Ho Chi Minh, since he had led the fight for freedom against foreigners for decades.

• US intelligence feared that Ho Chi Minh would win an overwhelming victory in the upcoming elections.

• As a result, the US cancelled the elections.

• A permanent division of Vietnam was the result.

• From 1955 to 1961, the US government gave over $1 billion in military and economic aid to South Vietnam in an effort to build a stable anti- communist state.

• President Eisenhower defended this action as necessary because of the Domino Theory.

Vietnam and JFK Administration

• Kennedy’s need to appear strong against communism

• Sent “advisors” to Vietnam

• Continued protests by Buddhist monks

• Diem removed from office, November 1963

• CIA??

Tonkin Gulf Resolution• August 1964: North

Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fired upon US warships in the Gulf of Tonkin.

• Johnson then used this information to persuade congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

• This act gave the President a “ blank check” to do what is necessary to protect US interests in Vietnam.

Escalation under Johnson• Tonkin Gulf Incident

and Resolution, August 1964– USS Maddox

• Operation Rolling Thunder, 1965– reliance on air power

• Americanization of the war– Over 100,000 US

troops by 1965

Goals of the War

• Robert S. McNamara (Secretary of Defense)

• Limit war to Vietnam• Stop Vietcong• Prop up Saigon • Separate civilians from

combatants• Convince South of U.S.

goals• Maintain 1954 Geneva

Accord boundaries

The Beginning of War

• Operation Rolling Thunder: A prolonged air attack using B-52 bombers against targets in North Vietnam.

• In April,1965, LBJ decided to use US combat troops in Vietnam.

•By the end of 1965, there were over 184,000 troops in South Vietnam.

Escalation to Quagmire: 1965-1968• Guerilla Warfare

– Ho Chi Minh Trail– Jungle terrain

US Plan– Limit ground war to South

Vietnam– Destroy Viet Cong

insurgency through attrition

• The Television War– Nightly news– Casualty reports

An Impossible War….• 1965-1968 escalated U.S.

troops to 550,000• Search & destroy missions• Carpet Bombing• Body count• VC initiated 90% of

firefights• “Destroy the village to save

it” – Supposedly uttered by an

anonymous US Army Officer (likely never happened)

• Strategic Hamlets

Supporters of the War• The supporters of the war were known as “hawks”.

•“Hawks” thought the war to be an act of Soviet- backed Communist aggression.

•“Hawks” also thought that conquering South Vietnam was only a small part in the Soviet plan to conquer all of Southeast Asia.

Protestors of the War

•Those who opposed the war were known as the “doves”.

•They thought that the conflict in Vietnam was a civil war that should be a war between the Vietnamese nationalists and some communists.

Turning Point: Tet Offensive, 1968• Tet Offensive, began

January 1968– U.S. embassy in Saigon

attacked– Intense battle at Hue– Militarily, U.S. won

• Political impacts in U.S.– LBJ withdraws from

reelection battle– Public opinion turns

against the war

Tet Offensive•January 1968: On the Lunar New Year Holiday (Tet), the Vietcong launched an all-out surprise attack on almost every provincial capital and American base in South Vietnam.

• The destruction caused by the Tet Offensive was seen on TV by many Americans. This demoralized the American public, and it also gave people the perception that the government had been lying to the American public about the war.

1968 Election

The 1968 Democratic Convention

•. •At the Democratic Convention, Hubert Humphrey got

the Democratic nomination. While this was occurring, violence broke out in the streets as antiwar protestors were being arrested. This was seen on TV as almost a “police riot.”

1968 Election

• The Republican Party nominated Richard Nixon.

• Governor George Wallace ran as an independent.

Election of 1968

• Nixon won by a close popular vote, but by a substantial majority of electoral votes (301-191).

•

Nixon and Vietnam• “Vietnamization”

– 156,000 U.S. troops by 1971• Invasion of Cambodia, 1970• Killing of students at Kent

State, May 4, 1970• Invasion of Laos, 1971• Pentagon Papers, 1971

– Daniel Ellsberg• In 1972 bombing raids on

strategic targets in North Vietnam – Also mined harbors in North

Vietnam. – Nixon’s goal to secure a peace

agreement with the North Vietnamese.

• “Christmas Bombing” of Cambodia, 1972

Protests

•In April of 1970, protests against the decision to invade Cambodia resulted in four students at Kent State University and two students at Jackson State University being killed.

The Horrors of War• Atrocities, torture

committed by both sides.• My Lai massacre, March

1968 (not publicized until late 1969) →– Lt. William Calley

End of the Vietnam War• On January 23, 1973 Nixon

announced that he had reached an accord with the North Vietnamese. This agreement:– 1. Set up a cease fire for

Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.– 2. Stated that the U.S. would

withdraw from Vietnam.– 3. Stated that North Vietnam

would release all American prisoners of war.

– 4. Recognized the South Vietnamese government while also recognizing that North Vietnamese troops could stay in the South.

End of the War & Lessons• U.S. “Defeat” – Why?

– Lack of support for war in U.S.– Jungle warfare– Determined enemy

• Costs in Lives and Money– 1 million Vietnamese

combatants killed – 4 million Vietnamese civilians

killed – 58,000 U.S. soldiers killed.

• Veterans– Post-Traumatic Stress

Disorder (PTSD)– Agent Orange defoliant

• dioxin