VietnamDeepening American

Involvement Angela Brown

Chapter 20 Section 1

Bellringer

• List your associations with the term Vietnam

Witness History CD:Hope for IndependenceWhat does Ho Chi Minh suggest that

the people of Vietnam have in common with other peoples who want independence?

Background of the War

• Vietnam resisted attempts by China to swallow up the small country.

• 1800s France established colonial power in Vietnam.

http://fcserver.nvnet.org/~scanlan_l/01C3A68D-000F4EEE.0/France-Map-1%20wflag.jpg

Divided

• After WWII Ho Chi Minh – communist led independence movement to expel French

• U.S. saw as enemy• Geneva

Conference July 1954 Vietnam was divided into two separate nations

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Ho Chi Minh

• Ho Chi Minh controlled Northern Vietnam

• Ngo Dinh Diem became premier of South Vietnam – had lived in exile in U.S. – gained backing

• Diem became president in 1955 and declared South Vietnam a republic

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Eisenhower and Diem

• U.S. involvement began/lasted from 1955-1975

• fought to protect South Vietnam from being taken over by communist

• Geneva agreement provided for elections in 1956 to unify country

• South Vietnam refused – election never took place

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Kennedy’s Vietnam Policy

• Eisenhower pledged support to Diem’s S. Vietnamese government in 1960 sent 675 U.S. military advisers.

• Kennedy took office in 1961 determined to stop spread of communist at all costs.http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesHistory/BreakerPatrol/JFKMapBriefing.jpg

Lyndon B. Johnson

• Kennedy sent VP Johnson to Vietnam to assess situation.

• Diem said they needed more support to survive.

• By end of 1963 – 16,000 advisors sent to Vietnam

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Diem lacked support in own country

• Imprisoned people who criticized government

• Government positions to family members – Nepotism

• Used U.S. money earmarked for economic reform for military and corrupt official

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Protest

• Catholic in a Buddhist nation

• insisted citizens obey Catholic laws

• June 1963 Buddhist monk burned himself to death in protest, on front page of newspaper

• other monks followed

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Diem Assassinated

JFK realized could not win under Diem’s rule

told South Vietnamese leaders would not object to Diem’s overthrow

military leaders staged a coup in Nov 1963

seized control of government and assassinated Diem. http://www.theforbiddenknowledge

.com/hardtruth/viet33.jpg

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

• On November 1, 1963, with only the palace guard remaining to defend President Diệm and his younger brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, the generals called the palace offering Diệm safe exile out of the country if they surrendered.

• But that evening, they snuck out of the palace through an underground passage to Cholon, where they were captured the following morning, November 2.

• The brothers were executed in the back of an armored personnel carrier that was taking them to Vietnamese Joint General Staff headquarters.

• Diem was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery next to the house of the US ambassador, Lodge.

• The United States publicly expressed shock and disappointment that Diệm had been killed.

Robert McNamera

• Secretary of Defense to JFK

• University of California at Berkley grad degree at Harvard Business School 1939

• Pres. Ford Motor Company 1960

• JFK offered him a cabinet position one month later.

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• McNamara turned Pentagon’s thinking away from reliance on nuclear bombs to development of “flexible response” to military crises.

• In 1963 questioned if complete withdraw would not be better.

• Troops trained all they could be• JFK argued withdrawal best.

Johnson’s War

JFK assassinated three weeks after Diem

The new military government in Vietnam was already in trouble.

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The Viet Cong

• Communist guerrillas in the South backed by Ho Chi Minh and North.

• Viet Cong gained more and more territory.

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Henry Cabot Lodge

• LBJ determined not to lose Vietnam like China to communist.

• Johnson decided he would do whatever necessary despite warnings of ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge.http://metaboston.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/1101600926_400.jpg

1964 campaign LBJ stated would not send U.S. boys to do what Asian boys should.

called Goldwater an extremist who would lead U.S. into nuclear war

Viet Cong attacked airfield outside Saigon killing four Americans LBJ did not retaliate.

http://www.mishalov.com/nytimes_4_29_75.html

Intensifying the War

• Aug 1964 during campaign North Vietnam torpedoed boats attacked U.S. destroyers in international waters of Gulf of Tonkin 30 miles from North Vietnam

• This changed the course of the war. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/skunks-p5.jpg

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• At LBJ’s request Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• It gave President Complete control of U.S. in Vietnam without official declaration of war from Congress.

• After election began gradual escalation of war with U.S. money and personnel.http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/CRASH/TWA/ww263.jpg

• U.S. soldiers task of propping up South Vietnamese government

• leaders 1965 Nguyan Cao Ky and in 1967 Nguyen Van Thieu more effective than Diem but authoritarian and unable to put together an army to defend country

• 1965 Viet Cong expanding troops and supplies into South via Ho Chi Minh Trail – route through Laos and Cambodia – Communist close to victory

Ho Chi Minh Trail

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Da Nang, Vietnam

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Numbers

• February 1965 Viet Cong attacked Pleiku in South Vietnam killed eight American and wounded 126

• LBJ authorized bombing of North Vietnam

• General Westmoreland requested more soldiers to protect airfield at Da Nang.

• 1965 25,000 U.S. troops, by the end of the year 184,000

• 1966 385,000; 1967 485,000; 1968 536,000• Despite advanced weaponry and new

tactics failed to drive out Viet Cong – masters at jungle warfare

The Tet Offensive

• Tet = Vietnamese New Year

• Tet Offensive 1968 – Viet Cong and North Vietnam surprise attacked on major cities with American military bases in South Vietnam

• Saigon attacked American Embassy and Presidential Palace.

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http://www.vietnamwar.com/tetoffensive.jpg

• Even though turned Viet Cong won psychological victory.

• demonstrated Viet Cong ability to attack massive targets throughout South Vietnam

• Images on TV – people expressed reservations – believed troops had not been allowed to win war

• LBJ’s popularity plunged

Despair

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