Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh•Ho Chi Minh was born in Vietnam in 1890. His father, Nguyen Sinh Huy was a teacher employed by the French.

•His birth name was Nguyen Tat Thanh. He changed it to Ho Chi Minh which means “he who enlightens.”

•Neither he nor his father chose to learn French, the language of the government of Indochina. This was in opposition to French rule there.

•The French had ruled Indochina since the late 1800s. Many Vietnamese were unhappy with this arrangement and wanted Vietnam to be independent. These people were Nationalists.

•He traveled widely in his youth and read Karl Marx and was inspired by the Russian Revolution.

Ho Chi Minh•Ho went to live for a time in China and organized the Nationalists of Vietnam while living there.

•The Germans invaded France in 1940 so the French decided to give in to the Japanese in Vietnam not long after. The Japanese had invaded Vietnam earlier.

•At this time, the Vietnamese Nationalists decided this was a good opportunity to return to Vietnam and fight the Japanese using guerilla warfare tactics. This group was now called the Vietminh.

•The Vietminh received help at this time not only from the U.S. but the Soviet Union as well. In addition they received weapons and learned to fight against a larger enemy.

Vietnam•In 1945 after the defeat of the Japanese, Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh were in a good position to take over Vietnam. He even declared its independence on Sept. 2, 1945.

•Earlier at the Potsdam Conference following World War II in Berlin, the Allies decided to partition Vietnam. China would get the northern half while Britain would control the southern half.

•In Jan. 1946 Britain left Vietnam and China agreed to give up its rights to it as long as France didn’t try to regain its Colonial control.

•France refused to recognize the government of the Nationalists and fighting broke out.

Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap

•Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap led the Vietminh against the French but had difficulty with their superior weapons and fighting.

•By 1953 the French controlled large areas of South Vietnam and installed former Emperor Bao Dai as Chief of State. The Vietminh controlled much of the north.

•It quickly became clear that the war would be a long one and the French tried to offer the Vietminh peace terms. The Vietminh didn’t trust them and continued to fight.

•In Dec. 1953, Gen. Navarre of France decided to get Gen. Giap to surrender at Dien Bien Phu.

•The tables were turned, Giap surrounded the French and had 70,000 men, many more than the French.

•Navarre tried to get help from the U.S. but help did not come. Giap starts his own offensive on March 13, 1954.

Bao Dai, former emperor

The Geneva Accords•May 7, 1954, the French surrendered after Dien Bien Phu fell to the Vietminh. The following day the French agreed to leave Vietnam.

•A meeting was held in Geneva to see if peaceful solutions could be worked out in both Korea and Vietnam. The U.S., France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union attended.

•After much negotiation the following was agreed:

•(1) Vietnam would be divided at the 17th parallel.

•(2) North Vietnam would be ruled by Ho Chi Minh.

•(3) South Vietnam would be ruled by Ngo Dinh Diem, a strong opponent of communism.

•(4) French troops would withdraw from Vietnam.

•(5) the Vietminh would withdraw from South Vietnam.

•(6) the Vietnamese could freely choose to live in the North or the South.

•(7) a General Election for the whole of Vietnam would be held before July, 1956, under the supervision of an international commission.

Ngo Dinh Diem•The U.S. was worried that if the elections were held right away that 80% of the Vietnamese would vote for Communism.

•The Vietminh was worried that the elections might never happen as promised.

•Ngo Dinh Diem is installed as the new leader of South Vietnam.

•He is a Catholic. He had been a provincial governor during French rule. The French and the Vietminh considered him “not only incapable but mad.”

•There is an election in South Vietnam between Diem and Bao Dai. It is fixed and Diem receives over 98% of the vote. Those supporting Bao Dai were roughed up and threatened.

•Diem refuses to allow the national elections to move forward. Over 100,000 people are imprisoned. Some start to form armed groups that leave South Vietnam.

Ngo Dinh Diem•Roman Catholics make up 10% of the population of Vietnam then. Buddhists were about 70%. The Catholic Church held a privileged position in Vietnam under French rule.

•There had been anti-Buddhist laws in Vietnam under the French. Diem refused to repeal those laws.

•In May of 1963 thousands of Buddhists came to Saigon to celebrate Buddha’s 2527th birthday. The Diem government wanted to disperse the crowds so fired on them. One woman and 8 children were killed.

•In protest in June of that year, a Buddhist Monk named Thich Quang Due set himself on fire. Several others eventually did the same thing.

•The government’s response was to round up Buddhist monks and many of them were never heard from again.

•Pres. Kennedy had always supported Diem but lost interest in him after these events. He got the CIA to stage a coup and overthrew Diem who was assassinated in Nov. 1963.

Nguyen Van Thieu

•He is the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of South Vietnam. He replaces Diem as leader.

•He was a Buddhist but converted to Catholicism when he got married.

•Thieu remained in power until South Vietnam fell to the Communists in 1975.

•He received support from the U.S. until Ford became president and then the U.S. was no longer interested in supporting this war.

•Thieu lived for a time in England, Taiwan and the U.S. He died in Boston on Sept. 29, 2001.

National Liberation Front•The purpose of this organization was to supply the South Vietnamese with weapons to fight against both Diem and Thieu.

•It was formed in 1960 and made up of a dozen different political and religious groups.

•This group was known as the Vietcong to the U.S.

•The NLF promised to give back the land of the rich French to the peasants. The Diem government wanted the peasants to pay for it and they were not able to do that.

•They used guerrilla tactics learned from Chairman Mao and the Chinese Communists. They also brought supplies through Laos and Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

•The Strategic Hamlet Program was introduced by the Diem government in 1962. It placed peasants in protected camps so that they wouldn’t be influenced by the NLF.

•Vietnamese peasants had often accepted their lot in life since they felt they were being punished for the crimes of their ancestors.

National Liberation Front•The NLF promised land to the peasants if they would provide them with information on the whereabouts of South Vietnamese, and provide food and shelter for them when they needed it.

•The peasants were motivated mostly by fear and gratitude.

•When the U.S. Marines came and took over a village, or if the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) came, the peasants would be punished by the NLF later by having their land confiscated, being beaten or tortured.

•The NLF was not to go into combat. It was to avoid it unless it definitely outnumbered the enemy.

•At first the NLF had spears, daggers and swords. By 1964, 90% of its weapons were taken from the U.S. or ARVN.

National Liberation Front•The NLF used a variety of mines to catch the enemy, both for individuals and tanks.

•Most of the explosives used by the NLF were from unexploded bombs dropped on Vietnam. It is estimated that 800 tons of bombs dropped on Vietnam every month failed to explode.

•It was difficult for the U.S.soldiers there to determine who was VC (NLF) and who was a friend. Gen. Westmoreland demanded a “search and destroy” mission. Find and kill VC.

•The VC built tunnels to move their supplies and since the Americans were much bigger it was difficult to infiltrate them.

•The VC wanted to involve the enemy in a long, drawn out war to wear down the enemy.

JFK and LBJ•Many believe that JFK wanted to get out of Vietnam. He died before he had a chance to make that happen.

•LBJ escalates the war and asks Congress for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

•Aug. 2, 1964 a destroyer named the USS Maddox was patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin of the coast of North Vietnam. It was fired on by a torpedo. We returned fire and inflicted heavy damage on it.

•Two days later the Maddox reports more torpedoes although the crew heard nothing.

•LBJ asks Congress to allow him powers to repel any further attacks on the U.S.

•Aug. 7, 1964 Congress adopts the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which gave the president broad military powers in Vietnam.

LBJ•LBJ didn’t tell Congress that the U.S. had been leading secret raids against North Vietnam and that the USS Maddox was on a spy mission.

•Johnson had prepared the resolution months in advance and waited for the right opportunity to send it to Congress.

•After 8 Americans were killed, LBJ issues “Operation Rolling Thunder.” This allows him to have bombing raids over Vietnam.

•By June 1965, more than 50,000 American troops are in Vietnam.

•Along with his Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and his Secretary of State Dean Rusk, he sends more troops to Vietnam. By 1967 there are 500,000 American troops there. Gen. William Westmoreland continued to ask for more troops. He felt that America should fight a “War of Attrition.”

•The U.S. policy became to win over the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people. This way the Communist guerrillas would have no place to hide.

Instruments of War

                                            

                                                                  

Napalm and Agent Orange

Selective Service and the Draft

•The Selective Service was put into effect in 1940.

•From 1948 until 1973 there has been a draft.

•Some people are exempt due to illness or disability while others during Vietnam could be temporarily exempt while attending college.

•Registration for the Selective Service was suspended in 1975 but brought back by Pres. Carter in 1980 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. It is now an all volunteer military

Vietnam War protests

Martin Luther King, Jr.and the Vietnam War

•Martin Luther King, Jr. at first felt that he shouldn’t speak out against the war. He thought it would take away from the Civil Rights struggle.

•In 1967 he spoke out saying that it was ironic that Black men were dying for a country that didn’t give them the same rights as whites.

•Blacks make up 10% of the population here but 20% of the deaths in Vietnam were black.

Tet Offensive

•Tet means New Year in Vietnamese. There was to be a truce for a week during Jan. 30, 1968.

•Vietnamese people could bury their dead which usually was accompanied by firecrackers.

•Many VC used this time to put weapons in coffins and attack various spots in S. Vietnam including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.

•32,000 VC die while 3000 ARVN die.

•People start to doubt LBJ and whether we’re winning. Prior to this he told the U.S. that victory was imminent.

1968, a terrible year…

Politics

Pres. Johnson

Sen. Eugene McCarthy

Richard M. Nixon

V.P. Hubert HumphreyGov. George Wallace

The beginning of the end…•Vietnamization: Removing troops from Vietnam and letting the South Vietnamese take over control of the war. In three years the number drops from 500,000 to under 25,000 starting in 1969.

•Peace with Honor: Nixon hopes to leave Vietnam honorably but at the same time he is ordering bombs be dropped on Laos and Cambodia which are VC strongholds. He wants them to believe he is capable of anything.

•Silent Majority: Nixon hopes to appeal to the people who don’t speak up but support the war. More and more people are not supporting the war at this time.

•My Lai Massacre: Lt. William Calley orders his men to fire on and kill anything that breathes in the northern part of S. Vietnam. About 200 innocent civilians were killed. Only Calley was convicted and imprisoned. The rest claimed to have only followed orders.

•April 30, 1970 Nixon announces the invasion of Cambodia to clear out VC. This brought college students out in protest.

•Kent State University: Students protested there were fired on by the National Guard. Nine were injured and four were killed.

The End…

•Pentagon Papers: Daniel Ellsberg leaked to the press that LBJ and the government planned to go into Vietnam even when they said they weren’t going to. It also showed that there was never any plan to end the war as long as the North persisted.

•Even into 1972 the U.S. is dropping more bombs on Vietnam while the Nixon Administration is promising peace.

•In 1973 the U.S. signed an agreement to send the rest of our troops home.

•Saigon fell to the Communists in 1975 and the few Americans left there had to escape from the embassy.