Vietnam: America's Longest War

Vietnam: America's Longest War• The Wall• The Place• 1st Indochinese War• Phase 1 (1945 –

1954)• Phase 2 (1954 –

1961)• Phase 3 (1961 –

1963)• Phase 4 (1963 –

1968)• Phase 5 (1968)• Phase 6 (1969 –

1970)• Phase 7 (1971 -

1973)

The PlaceWhere

What

Who

WhereSoutheast AsiaBordered by:• China• Myanmar (Burma)• Thailand (Siam)

WhatIndochinaFrench colonySeveral ethnic groups• Viet• Khmer• Lao

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/seasia/indochina1907large.gif

“Dog”Khmer = JakayLao = maVietic = chó

LaoLao

Race

Ethnicity Ethnicity

Ethnicity

Race Inherited(examples: hair, skin, body)

Ethnicity Acquired(examples: language, religion, dress, food, traditions, customs)

WhoHo Chi MinhVietnameseNationalistwanted __ to govern __educated in Europestudied Karl Marx

• Love of…• ethnic group

• Desire for…• homogenous nation

• Achieved by…• self-determination

Nationalism

Marxist: “History” is the result of class

struggle

Communist: class struggle is bad & could

be eliminated in a communist society

Leninist: A small group of undemocratic, professional

revolutionaries must establish communism – locally

Trotskyist: A small group of undemocratic, professional

revolutionaries must establish communism – globally

America’s Cold War Perception of Communism

Communism: a godless, classless ideology … orchestrated by the Soviet Union …

dedicated to overthrowing the

United States.

…Some were OK with French rule…

…Some were not…

Ho Chi Minh(Viet Minh)

Ngo Dinh Diem

Dien Bien Phu

1st Indochinese War, 1946 - 1954

1863 - 19421942 - 19451946 - 3:40

1950

1954?

Saigon

Hanoi

WWII

Comm.

Contain

Nat.

Home

Geneva Conference, 1954• French defeat at Dien Bien Phu• Chart the future for French Indochina

• Khmer – Nation (Cambodia)• Lao – Nation (Laos)• Viet

• disengagement, separation, election, nation

Home

Geneva Conference , 1954

• Laos• Cambodia• North Vietnam

• Ho Chi Minh

• South Vietnam • Ngo Dinh Diem

• Future Plan• Free elections• Unified Vietnam

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg





Containment I 1948 - 1949

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/20c-govt.htm

Containment II 1949 -

last

Phase 1: Support The French (1945 – 1954)

• Dien Bien Phu• French Loss• Geneva Peace Conference • (1 colony = 4 nations)

ASSESSMENT

Monetary and Military Material Aid for France

STRATEGY ContainmentOBJECTIVE

Communist ConspiracyDomino Principle

HYPOTHESIS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Incident

Phase 2: Eisenhower and Vietnam (1954 – 1961)

Diem: not popular … may need more helpVietcong: South Vietnamese Communists

ASSESSMENT

Nation Building• N/S election cancelled• Build a Pro-American South VietnamMonetary and Military Aid to South Vietnam• Ngo Dinh Diem• Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)



HYPOTHESIS


Phase 3: Kennedy and Vietnam (1961 – 1963)

Diem: murderedASSESSMENT

Nation Building• Build a Pro-American South VietnamMilitary Advisors to South Vietnam• Military Aid & Advisory Group –

Vietnam• MAAG–V ARVN VC _?_• 1963 ≈ 16,000 MAAG –V in S. Vietnam



HYPOTHESIS


Phase 4: Johnson and Vietnam (1963 – 1968)

Metric: body count & kill ratio > taking groundReports: We are winning!!

ASSESSMENT

1964: Air Power • Operation “Rolling Thunder”• to stop NVA from supplying VC• to devastate the Ho Chi Minh Trail 1965: Ground Forces• led by General W. Westmoreland • “search & destroy” VC / NVA


Communist ConspiracyDomino Principle VC North Vietnam Army (NVA)

HYPOTHESIS


Phase 5: Tet offensive (1968)

Metric: body count & kill ratio > taking groundReports: We are winning!!

ASSESSMENT

1964: Air Power • Operation “Rolling Thunder”• to stop NVA from supplying VC• to devastate the Ho Chi Minh Trail 1965: Ground Forces• led by General W. Westmoreland • “search & destroy” VC / NVA



HYPOTHESIS


Phase 6: Nixon and Vietnam (1969 – 1970)

ASSESSMENT

Publically: “Vietnamization”

Privately: Cambodia



HYPOTHESIS

PUBLIC

Public dissatisfaction, anger, mistrustRenewed anti-war activity on college campuses(Kent State)Move to Détente strategy


Phase 7: The Conclusion (1971 - 1973)

ASSESSMENT

“Linkage”Negotiate a settlement with North VietnamUSA • remove troops & return POWs

North Vietnam • shut down Ho Chi Minh Trail & return

POWs



HYPOTHESIS Detente: Peaceful coexistence with the Communist world

1973: USA out (a promise … if not a victory…)1975: NVA invades South Vietnam


VC

MAAG-V

1963 ≈ 16,000

Ho Chi Minh Trail

1965 ≈ 75,000

Gen. William Westmoreland

Defoliation: Agent Orange

“Search and Destroy”

Tet Offensive

• What• Vietcong attack • Simultaneous• Multiple • Thought-To-Be Secure Areas

• Results• There: Vietcong repulsed • Here: Credibility Gap

• “… I ’ve lost Cronkite …”• Election Year – Nixon in 1968

NVANorth Vietnamese Army

“To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.”

Walter Cronkite, February 1968

Detente

Rapprochement SALT

chart

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/02/03/arts/music/1248069607526/nixon-back-in-china.html

Thursday, April 30 President Nixon announces the invasion of Cambodia, triggering massive protests on many of the nation's campuses.

Saturday, May 2 Ohio National Guardsmen are sent to Kent State after the University's Army R.O.T.C. building is burned down.

Sunday, May 3 Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes appears on campus and promises to use “every force possible” to maintain order.

Monday, May 4Four students are killed and nine others are wounded when a contingent of Guardsmen suddenly opens fire during a noontime demonstration.

Kent State

• Nixon announces the invasion of Cambodia, triggering massive protests on many of the nation's campuses.

• May 2 Ohio National Guardsmen are sent to Kent State after the University's Army R.O.T.C. building is burned down.

• May 3 Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes personally appears on campus and promises to use "every force possible" to maintain order. Rhodes denounces the protesters as worse than brownshirts and vows to keep the Guard in Kent "until we get rid of them."

• May 4 Four students are killed and nine others are wounded when a contingent of Guardsmen suddenly opens fire during a noontime demonstration.

• Viet Cong (VC)• AKA: National Liberation Front (NLF)• Anti-Diem• Anti-Foreigner• Pro-Minh• Insurgency• Guerillas• Terrorists !?• Freedom Fighters!?• NVA supplied• Successful


struggle







America’s Cold War Perception of Communism

Communism: a godless, classless ideology … orchestrated by the Soviet Union …

dedicated to overthrowing the

United States.


struggle







Agenda

• Review Sheet (10)• Pages

1- schedule2- 50s Foreign Policy3- 50s Econ./Tech./Pol.4- 60s: JFK5- 60s: LBJ6- Civil Rights (a)7- Civil Rights (b)8- quiz9- Vietnam (a)10- Vietnam (b)

• Johnson’s War• Looking Ahead

• Next Week: The 1970s• Next Week: Afterschool Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday • Exam …. MC = Next Thursday & DBQ Next Friday

Tet Offensive

• What• Vietcong attack • Simultaneous• Multiple • Thought-To-Be Secure Areas

• Results• There: Vietcong repulsed • Here: Credibility Gap

• “… I ’ve lost Cronkite …”• Election Year – Nixon in 1968

Documents

Vietnam: America's Longest War