The Vietnam

War

Friday, May 18, 12

1. Background

• 938 - 1885 - Independent nation

• 1885-1940 - Colonized and rule by France

Ho Chi Minh

• 1940-1945 - Vietnam Conquered by Japan

• 1945 - Japan defeated. Viet Minh (under the Leadership of Ho Chi Minh) proclaim Vietnamese independence

Friday, May 18, 12

Declaration of September 2, 1945

All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free. . . .Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice.In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty.They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center, and the South of Viet-Nam in order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being united . . .

For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, solemnly declare to the world that:Viet-Nam has the right to be a free and independent country—and in fact it is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.

Friday, May 18, 12

Ho Chi Minh

Friday, May 18, 12

1. Background

• 1954 - French defeated at Dienbienphu

• 1954 - Geneva peace conference

• Vietnam divided

• Election scheduled for 1956

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1. Background

US Supports No Dinh Diem to be the South Vietnamese President. Diem was:

• Catholic

• Closely tied with the French colonial government

• Corrupt

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2. Kennedy and Vietnam• Continued Support

of Diem through 1963

• Sent 16,000 “advisors” to Vietnam

• Approved a CIA sponsored coup to replace Diem in November, 1963

• By JFK’s assassination, South Vietnam was less stable than ever

Friday, May 18, 12

3. Lyndon Johnson and escalation of US involvement

in Vietnam• The Tonkin Gulf incident and Resolution, - August

1964

• Operation Rolling Thunder - March 1965

• Escalation of US Role in Vietnam:

1963 - 16,000

1966 - 275,000

1969 - 543,000

Lyndon Johnson Press conference July 28, 1965 explains the reasons the US was in Vietnam.

How does Johnson see this conflict?

What is Johnson missing about the conflict?

How does this relate to the Cold War mindset discussed in class?

Mekong River

0

0 100 200 Kilometers

100 200 Miles

C H I N A

N O R T HV I E T N A M

SOUTHVIETNAMC A M B O D I A

BURMA

T H A I L A N D

L A O S U.S. Seventh Fleetoperations during the war

GULF OFTONKIN

SOUTHCHINASEA

GULFOF

THAILAND

TonleSap

Prey Veng

Battambang KompongCham

Angkor Wat

Dien Bien PhuHaiphongHanoi

Lao CaiThan Uyen

Yen Bai

Da Lat

My Lai

Vinh Linh

Dong Hoi

Vinh

Hue

Pak Seng

Luang PrabangBan Ban

Vang Vang

Vientiane

Bangkok

PhnomPenh Saigon

Maddoxincident, 1964

Quang TriProvinceUdon Thani

NakhonPhanom

Tahkli

Don MuangNakhonRatchasima

Sattahip

FriendshipHighway Ubon

Ratchathani

Communist-KhmerRouge victory,

1975

Vietcong-NorthVietnamese victoryand U.S.withdrawal, 1975

Harbormined,1972

Ca Mau

Bu Dop

Bien HoaLong Binh

Tan SonNhut

Can ThoVinh Long

Chau Duc

Cholon

Vung Tau

Phan RangCamRanhBay

Nha Trang

Tuy Hoa

Ban Me Thuot

Pleiku

AnkheQuinhon

KontumDak To

Quang Ngai

Kham Duc

Khe Sanh

Quang Tri

DanangChu Lai

DemilitarizedZone

Communist-Pathet Laovictory, 1975

MekongDelta

HAINAN

Ia DrangValley

Ca Mau Peninsula

Red River

Mekong Rive

r

Mekong River

Chao P

raya

U.S. basesMajor battles of the TetOffensive, January 1968U.S. and South Vietnameseinvasion of CambodiaHo Chi Minh Trail

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

T102

Map 29-1 The War in VietnamFriday, May 18, 12

• The US relied on a strategy termed “Search and Destroy”

• American soldiers fought against guerrilla insurgents - not generally a regular army

• This led to incredible stress on American soldiers and horrendous civilian casualties such as the Mai Lai Massacre in 1968

The challenge of

fighting in Vietnam

Friday, May 18, 12

1967-68• In 1967 the military

claimed that we were winning the war and that the enemy was defeated

• "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing." General William Westmoreland, Commander of military operations in Vietnam, November 21, 1967

Friday, May 18, 12

The Tet offensive

Three months after Westmoreland’s assessment, the Tet offensive demonstrated that the enemy was not defeated

Mekong River

0

0 100 200 Kilometers

100 200 Miles

C H I N A

N O R T HV I E T N A M

SOUTHVIETNAMC A M B O D I A

BURMA

T H A I L A N D

L A O S U.S. Seventh Fleetoperations during the war

GULF OFTONKIN

SOUTHCHINASEA

GULFOF

THAILAND

TonleSap

Prey Veng

Battambang KompongCham

Angkor Wat

Dien Bien PhuHaiphongHanoi

Lao CaiThan Uyen

Yen Bai

Da Lat

My Lai

Vinh Linh

Dong Hoi

Vinh

Hue

Pak Seng

Luang PrabangBan Ban

Vang Vang

Vientiane

Bangkok

PhnomPenh Saigon

Maddoxincident, 1964

Quang TriProvinceUdon Thani

NakhonPhanom

Tahkli

Don MuangNakhonRatchasima

Sattahip

FriendshipHighway Ubon

Ratchathani

Communist-KhmerRouge victory,

1975

Vietcong-NorthVietnamese victoryand U.S.withdrawal, 1975

Harbormined,1972

Ca Mau

Bu Dop

Bien HoaLong Binh

Tan SonNhut

Can ThoVinh Long

Chau Duc

Cholon

Vung Tau

Phan RangCamRanhBay

Nha Trang

Tuy Hoa

Ban Me Thuot

Pleiku

AnkheQuinhon

KontumDak To

Quang Ngai

Kham Duc

Khe Sanh

Quang Tri

DanangChu Lai

DemilitarizedZone

Communist-Pathet Laovictory, 1975

MekongDelta

HAINAN

Ia DrangValley

Ca Mau Peninsula

Red River

Mekong Rive

r

Mekong River

Chao P

raya

U.S. basesMajor battles of the TetOffensive, January 1968U.S. and South Vietnameseinvasion of CambodiaHo Chi Minh Trail

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

T102

Map 29-1 The War in VietnamFriday, May 18, 12

The Tet offensiveTet turned many more people against the war including the influential CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite

“We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. . . .For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.” February 27, 1968

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Following the Tet offensive, Lyndon Johnson decides not to seek a second term in 1968.

“If I have lost Cronkite, I have lost the nation.”

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4. Nixon and Vietnam, 1969-1973

•The Secret Plan

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• Increased Bombing

• Increased civilian casualties

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4. Nixon and Vietnam, 1969-1973

Increasingly Americans turned against the War

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4. Nixon and Vietnam, 1969-1973

• Vietnamization

• By 1972, only 90,000 US troops remained in Vietnam

• All US Troops withdrawn by 1973

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South Vietnam falls to a North Vietnamese invasion, 1975

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