Vietnam

Inheriting a Conflict (1946-1964)

• 1945 Ho Chi Minh leader of Vietnam declared Vietnam’s independence from French rule– Quoted from the American

Declaration of Independence• As Cold War increased US saw Ho Chi

Minh more and more as a communist– Really more of a nationalist

• French appealed to US to for help to keep their profitable colony– Played upon communist fears

• China “falls” to communism Truman agrees to help

• Ho Chi Minh and his forces defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu

• In the Geneva Accords Vietnam is1. Divided in half at the 17th parallel2. Elections will be held in 1956

• French leave Vietnam in US hands• Eisenhower increased the number of

advisers to South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem

• Diem, realizing he will loss the elections so with US backing cancels them

• Kennedy increases aid to Diem

• Sends in military “advisors”– Green Beret– By the time of his

assassination the number was over 16,000

– Many were engaged in armed combat against the Communist Vietcong• South Vietnamese

peasants who supported Ho chi Minh

• Lyndon B. Johnson tells American people

that on August 4, 1964 the USS Maddox on a route patrol in the Gulf of Tokin was fired upon– Later it was learned that it was a provoked

attack• Emotions sweep the nation• Congress passed the Gulf of Tokin

Resolution– Gives the president “all necessary measures

to repel any armed attack”• The war is on!

Escalating Involvement

• “a war between an elephant and tiger. But the tiger will not stand still. He will leap upon the back of the elephant tearing huge chunks from his side and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. Slowly, the elephant will bleed to death.”– Ho Chi Minh

• 1965 the US forces begin to assemble it troops in Vietnam– Under the command of William

Westmoreland • At home LBJ steps up the draft– Move to Canada– Go to college– Join the national guard

• By the following year there are 500,000 troops in Vietnam

• Operation Rolling Thunder– Curtis LeMay

• By using the latest technology, North Vietnam could be blasted “back into the stone age.”

• Carpet bombings took place on a regular basis• Goal– Break the economy of the North– Force the North to stop the VC fighters in the South

• Bombing only hardened the North’s will to fight• Operation was to only last for 8 months – lasted for the

next three years

• In South Vietnam the VC fight1. A war of attrition– Not going to give up and go

away – no place to go2. Guerrilla warfare– Hit and run3. Gain support of the peasants– Follow a strict code of

behavior

• Supported by the Ho Chi Minh Trail– Supply line running

through Laos and Camobodia to supply the VC in the South

• Live in underground tunnel network

• US use “search and destroy” mission to find the VC– Fighting a hidden and

illusive enemy– If they weren’t VC when we

arrived they were VC when we left”

• Used Agent Orange and Napalm to expose VC hiding places

The Turning Tide (1968)

• Tet Offensives– Vietnamese Lunar New Year– Break the cease fire agreement– Rise up out of the jungle and took

the cities• Americans had been told we were

winning the war• How could they launch such a large

offensive• Turning pt of the war• We cannot win

• TV bring the honor of the war into the American living room

• Vietnam was called the “Living room war”

• Giving the “body count” and saying “surrender was imminent” contradicted what Americans were seeing on their TV

• There began a “credibility gap”

• The War takes two casualties– 1. The Great

Society– 2. LBJ presidency

and his legacy

Nixon’s Vietnamization

• when he took office America was already losing the war

• He announced an “honorable” end

• 1969 began Vietnamization– Forcing South Vietnam troops

to fight their own war• At the same time started

secret bombings against North Vietnam Army safe heaven in Cambodia

• Protest movement begins to grow on campus across the nation– “teach ins” and “sit ins” to protest the war

• Rally in Washington DC takes place• War divided the nation into “Hawks” and

“Doves”

• Upon hearing about the secret raids into Cambodia 100s of college campus across the nation exploded into riots

• At Kent State University in Ohio National Guardsmen fired upon protesting students, killing four

No More Will To Fight

• Soldier began to question and few wanted to fight and possibly die for a cause that seemed to have lost its meaning

• By the end of 1971 four times as many soldiers required treatment for drug abuse then for medical treatment

• Several incidents of “fragging” took place• In Jan 1973 a peace agreement was signed• US forces begin to withdraw in March• Congress passes a bill blocking any further US military

involvement in Vietnam

• On April 30, 1975 the NVA enter Saigon, South Vietnam

• Vietnam is a united country free of foreigners

War is Over

Aftermath

• First war America lost• Some POWs return home some MIA• American remains divided• Distrust of American government• Rethink policy of containment– Rest of Southeast doesn’t fall

• Wars Powers Act is passed• The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is

built