Vietnam War

Objectives:

• To understand the concern over the spread of communism in Southeast Asia

• To describe and evaluate the development of US involvement in Vietnam.

• To analyze the effects of the war on future generations….

• During WWII, the Japanese controlled Vietnam. Before that, it had been the French, before that, the Chinese. The Vietnamese people had only ruled themselves for a couple of years during their entire existence.

• During WWII, Ho Chi Minh led a Vietnamese independence movement.

• US feared the spread of communism in SE Asia (North Korea, China, etc.)

• After WWII, the French regained control of Vietnam.

• Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh took over Northern Vietnam and fought back.

• We paid 80% of the French budget ..to help them control Vietnam. Why?

• The French treated the people harshly and with little respect.

• Ho Chi Minh, “If ever the tiger pauses, the elephant will impale him on his mighty tusks. But the tiger will not pause, and the elephant will die of exhaustion and loss of blood.”

• 1954, French defeated at Dien Bien Phu.

• 1954, Geneva Accords – major countries agreement to split Vietnam at the 17th parallel and hold elections in 2 years.

• North Vietnam – Communist – Hanoi (capital)– Ho Chi Minh - industrial

• South Vietnam – Democratic – Saigon (capital) – Diem - agricultural

• Domino Theory – (Eisenhower) if one country falls to communism, those around it will fall.

• We used Special Forces to covertly help the South. (US Green Berets)

• They used guerrilla warfare and organized resistance behind enemy lines.

• Diem – devout Catholic, persecuted Buddhists and his enemies.

• In 1956, there was no election, Diem would have probably lost.

Vietnamese Buddhist Monks

• 1963, Buddhists revolted. Diem declared martial law. Buddhists knew they had to get the attention of the US , so they burned themselves in public.

• It worked.

• Nov. 1, 1963, Diem was assassinated, JFK a few days later.

• Vietcong – South Vietnamese who supported Ho Chi Minh using terrorist type attacks on people in the South.

• In other words, they lived among the South Vietnamese.

• Gen. Westmoreland was US commander in Vietnam.

• Aug. 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin - report that NV gunboat fired on US destroyer; the excuse LBJ wanted to go to war. He failed to tell Americans that we were in NV waters spying and that we had been actively helping the SV., nor did he say that the attacks had not been verified.

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution = Congress gave Pres. broad powers to do whatever he thought was “necessary” for protecting the US.

• We escalated our advisors and trainers….

• 1965, “Operation Rolling Thunder” – bombing of North Vietnam.

• We bombed from 1965-68, losing lots of pilots…

• 1965 – US troops openly fight…

• We are only fighting a defensive war, not offensive.

The Armies

• South Vietnamese Army is ARVN – used air raids and “search and destroy” missions.

• North Vietnamese is NVA – used mostly guerrilla tactics and terrorism, “hit and run”.

• Selective Service System – draft for 18 to 26 year old males. It was a lottery system.

• Ways to “dodge the draft” …college, national guard, medical reasons,…

• Lower class couldn’t dodge the draft, 80% of soldiers were from lower economic levels.

The soldier:

• We got lots of aid from our allies, esp. the Australians and the South Koreans.

• US Soldier – average age 19, typical tour of duty 12 months.

• Women did join, but couldn’t serve in combat.

• In the early stages of the war, Americans supported the soldiers…

GrenadeLauncher

Reconnaissance mission….

Armored PersonnelCarriers

There were not many trenches or fronts….

Rice paddies….

Navy Chopper…

Chinook

Agent Orange

Christmas Day….

• The Vietcong used elaborate tunnel systems to store food and ammunition as well as housing medical and combat facilities. The largest tunnel systems in South Vietnam (some under US bases) could be as vast as 200 kilometers (125 miles) long and were built to withstand bombings, explosions, poison gas etc. Many of the systems were built using forced labor from surrounding villages.

Special US soldiers called tunnel rats would crawl through the systems to find the enemy.

• Textbook, p. 738

Tunnel system….

Vietnamese tunnel

Cambodians, never knew whose sidethey were on…

Surveillance of the farmers….

Destroying aVietcong ricestash…

Vietcong family found hiding in the grass….

Captured Vietcong

Civilians in the middle….

• Guerrilla warfare turned the war into a stalemate.

• Vietcong were especially a thorn in our sides.

• Soldiers became very angry and frustrated with the nature of the war…

• Didn’t know who was friend or enemy.

• Led to de-humanization of the enemy.

• Led to low morale, alcohol, drugs, etc became a problem.

• “Fragging” occurred – killing of officers by own men. (1971 – 333 cases)

• The war collided with the Civil Rights movement. Blacks had a more difficult time avoiding the draft.

• Blacks made up 13% of the US population, but 20% of the deaths.

• MLK attacked this and things improved…

• Desertion rate was high. (550,000)

• US measured success with the concept of “body count”, or the tracking of enemies killed in battle.

• This is called “war of attrition” – wear down the enemy by raising body count.

• Sec. of State Dean Rusk and Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara (under LBJ) stressed escalation in Vietnam.

• We saw this as a military war, but the Vietnamese saw it as a battle for their very existence.

• We tried to win the “hearts and minds” of the SV people, but we destroyed their homes, etc.

• As the US body count rose, Westmoreland continued to say we were winning, but public support began to decline.

• “Living Room War”- television brought the war to the public. (repeated images of body bags told a different story…)

• Credibility gap – gov’t reports didn’t match what the people were seeing.

Role of the CIA:

• In the 1960’s, the duty of the CIA was to destroy the VC infrastructure.

• One infamous euphemism for the CIA was “terminate with extreme prejudice”.

• CIA illegally backed a war in neutral Laos. Pilots were sent on missions over Laos and Cambodia.

Prisoners of War:• Many pilots became POW’s.• Infamous prisons called “Hanoi Hilton”,

“The Zoo”, “Camp Hope”, “Alcatraz”, ….• Hanoi Hilton – most well known prison. • Torture was common. (beatings,

shacklings, psychological torture, no food, no baths, brainwashing,no communication, etc.)

• Jeremiah Denton – Alabama POW

Protest Movement:

• Hawks – people who supported the war.

• Doves – people who wanted to withdraw. (youth led)

• Growing youth movement of the 1960’s became known as the New Left. It did not preach socialism, but demanded sweeping changes.

• JFK had said, “The torch has been passed to a new generation…”, his death cast a shadow on the hope of the youth.

• They QUESTIONED EVERYTHING, DEMANDED CHANGE, AND RESORTED TO VIOLENCE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) – Tom Hayden and Al Haber founded; called for more participatory democracy and greater individual freedoms.

• Free Speech Movement, University of Calif. at Berkeley – Focused on the Government Machine and the

nation’s powerful businesses.– Questioned the Establishment, its values,

traditions and views. (Anti-establishment)

– What is the Establishment?

• College students addressed curfews, dress codes, dormitory restrictions, etc. and mandatory ROTC (Reserved Officer Training Corps) programs.

• The Vietnam War was the unifying issue.

• “Teach-ins” set up to protest the war.

• 1965, SDS organized huge protest march on Washington, DC.

• 1966, LBJ changed college deferments to require students to be in “good academic standing” to keep their deferments.

• SDS called for “civil disobedience” at draft centers, counseled students to flee the country….

• Rallies, sit-ins, marches, music, etc. – were forms of protest.

• Music is that unifying factor that brought people together for the cause. Music developed a “social conscience”. They believed music could change the world.

• Bob Dylan

• Peter, Paul, and Mary

• John Prine

• Country Joe McDonald

Joan Baez

• Why students opposed the war:– it was a Civil War– SV gov’t was not good– we were draining men and money away from

more imp. places– it was morally unjust!

• Some Vietnam Veterans protest the war.

• The movement moved from peaceful protests to active resistance. – burned draft cards– burned ROTC buildings– dodged the draft– went to jail to keep from going to war– marched on the Pentagon– staged sit-ins

• Abbie Hoffman (Berkeley) -most well known activist.

• He helped form the Yippie Movement – Youth International Party, it combined the hippie movement with the anti-war movement.

• (held a nude-in in Chicago, nominated a pig for Pres.,etc.)

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

• Daniel and Philip Berrigan were Catholic priests who radically opposed the war.

• Most churches kept quiet about the war.

Philip Berrigan was first priest to go to prison for Civil Disobedience.

Jane Fonda opposed the war….

Supporters of the war:

• Page 746 – Read the quote at the bottom of the page.

• Many people believed that war protesters were disloyal to their country.

• Feelings were extremely bitter toward those who protested, while our soldiers were coming home in body bags.

Support for the war remained high in the South.

Country music remained loyal to the cause

(“The Ballad of the Green Berets”)

PAGE 746

• Draft resistance was ended in the early 1970’s when Nixon ended the draft.