Vietnam War and Domestic Conflict, 1964-1975

Social Change in America

• Civil Rights Movement and Desegregation

• Power Movements• Assassination of JFK 1963; Malcolm X

1968; MLK 1968• Cold War and Anti-Communism• Economic growth and consumerism• Great Society and War on Poverty

_______________________________and

_______________________________

• JFK and Lyndon Johnson• Programs to help the ___________• Access to education and employment• Poverty is a personal failure• No discussion of institutional problems• Liberal and superficial • Cold War political environment

Continued

• Head Start (Preschool)– Program designed to help disadvantaged students

arrive at Kin. Ready to learn.• Upward Bound

– Disadvantaged and “troubled” youth• Job Corps

– Provide valuable vocational training. • _________________ (Volunteers In Service to America)

– “Domestic Peace Corps”…help American regions who were impoverished receive help to attack unemployment and illiteracy

More Programs/changes to Gov.

• Aid to Families with Dependent Children• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)• Clean Air Act (1963)• 1971- _____________ Amendment lowers the

voting age to 18• ___________________________________(1964)

– (provided the president congressional support for conducting acts of war if necessary) –Nixon abused this!

• Wilderness Act (1964)– Saved 9.1 million acres of forest land from industrial development.

Unintended “Great Society” Consequences

• Some people receiving government ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• “Feel-Good” and “Do Nothing” began to come in.

Johnson’s Great Society

• Medicare: 1965 step towards national health care system for the elderly.

• Medicaid: 1966 step to help the poor with welfare assistance, employment access

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 major funding for public schools

• Housing and ____________________________,– help provide funds to construct low-income housing

• Department of Transportation

The _____________ War

1950-1975• The Cold War(war on communism)

• ContainmentPrevent spread of Communism)

• _____________________(President Truman's policy of providing

economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism)

• Eisenhower’s “Domino Theory”

– (Contest in Vietnam is part of a wider pattern of aggressive purpose)

• Vietnam was the first domino

• _______________________– (Empower and equip the Vietnamese

army)

Significance of the War

• Over $200 billion spent• 60,000 U.S. dead• 3 million dead in Indo-China• Destroyed presidency of LBJ• Destroyed Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia• Ruined U.S. _______________________• Ruined trust of U.S. public

Historical Background

• Foreign occupation• Chinese • French colonialism• ___________________• Dien Bien Phu, 1954• French expelled• Peasant Warfare

U.S. Involvement

• Rejected Ho-Chi Minh• $2 billion to French• Divided Vietnam in half• Democratic Elections• U.S. rejected them• Ngo Din Diem “Ziem”• 1955-63

Growing Civil War

• U.S. supported anti-communist, catholic, pro-western elitist Diem

• No support in Vietnam• No free speech, reform• Pushed people to support Ho Chi Minh• Rebellion in south

North South

• North Vietnamese Army (NVA)

• ____________________• Expel foreign powers• “Viet-Cong” • Repopulation of military

forces

• Propped up Diem, people were unhappy with Diem, since he was Catholic, not Buddhist.

• Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)

• CIA and counter-insurgency• National Liberation Front (NLF)• Peasants supported Ho Chi

Minh

Protest in Vietnam • In June 1963, a Buddhist monk

named Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire while seated in a meditation position in the middle of a Saigon intersection. The photo of Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation became one of the most iconic images of the 20th century.

A Wider War, 1963-1968• Diem Assassinated• Chaos in ________• ___________________

________________________________, 1964

– (provided power to president congressional support for conducting acts of war if necessary.)

• Da Nang, 1965• 100,000 troops• Gen. William

Westmoreland

Goals of the War

• Robert S. McNamara (DOD)– “Tells Americans we are winning”

• Limit war to Vietnam• Stop Vietcong• Prop up Saigon • Separate civilians from

combatants• Convince south of U.S. goals

Reactions to the War

• ______________________________________

• Free Speech Movement

• Buddhist Monks• Forced southern

civilians to support NLF and HO

An Impossible War….

• 1965 - 1968 escalated troops to 550,000

• Search & destroy missions• Carpet Bombing• Body count• VC initiated 90% of firefights• “Destroy the village to save it” • Strategic Hamlets

U.S. Vietcong

• Largest military in world history

• Herbicides & defoliants• Napalm• 100 million pounds onto 6

million acres• Agent Orange • $2 bill per month

• 1967, 97,000 worked daily to repair roads, bridges

• 500,000 workers • 30,000 miles of tunnel• VC initiated battles• Integrated into civilian

population• Total war

____________________________

• January 31, 1968 a ____________________________by the Vietcong and N. Vietnamese of all American Airbases in S. Vietnam and major cities

• Entered American Embassy• Media criticized the military efforts, and Media

indicated that US couldn’t win the war• Lasted about a month• Johnson announced he wouldn’t run for re-election,

after his approval rating fell drastically

____________________________, 1968

• Lt. William Calley, platoon of soldiers• “Clearing out” a small village• Killed over 300

Vietnamese___________________• U.S. helicopter forced them to stop,

evacuated the Vietnamese survivors• U.S. government cover-up• Shocked America, helped anti-war

movement

My Lai Massacre

Reactions to the War

• Chicago, 1968• MLK killed• _________________

____________, 1970• Draft Resistance• Canada• Conscientious

Objector status

Anti-War Movement

• “Teach-Ins” • Occupations• Chicano War

Moratorium• Vietnam Veterans

Against the WarPicture-> to show that

some soldiers were in _________________________________________________________

Peace symbols for Nonviolent means of Vietnam war

________________- those who wanted US to WITHDRAW from Vietnam War.

HAWKS- those who wanted US to _________________Vietnam War.

Vietnam Veterans Against the War

More Protests….

Extensive TV coverage of the Vietnam War was directly contributed to WIDESPREAD PROTEST _______________________________________________________________IN THE US….ultimately tearing up the country apart and dividing the country.

Chicago, 1970

Nixon’s “Secret Plan”

• Vietnam killed LBJ’s presidency and Great Society

• Nixon won election with a “Secret Plan” to end the war

• “________________________________”

Nixon’s Vietnam

• Cambodia/Laos (1969-79)– _________________________________________– Hope to find Ho Chi Minh Trail & VC HQ (and

stop their advancement in N. Vietnam) • Carpet bombings (___________________bombing)

– Violated national sovereignty and neutrality– Breakfast, Lunch, Snack– More bombs than all of World War Two

• Lied to American public– Secret and unauthorized by Congress

End of War

• ________________________________________

• Last Americans out of Embassy in 1975

• Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize

• Vietnamese counterpart refused it

Fall of __________________• April 25th 1975, N. Vietnamese were closing in on Saigon, which forced

president G. Ford to order immediate evacuation.• U.S. marine and Air Force were stationed by secret codes

“_______________________________________” which broadcasted the morning of 4/29th and remaining Citizens, refugees and officials were to “high-tail” to landing zones. In 18 hours more than 1,000 Americans and 7,000 S. Vietnamese refugees were flown out of Saigon (where the embassy was).

• On the morning of April 30th, 1975 N. Vietnamese communist forces captured the presidential palace in Saigon, concluding the Fall Of Saigon and conclusion of U.S. influence in Vietnam.

Significance of the War

• Cost more than $200 billion• Ruined the Great Society• 60,000 dead• Over 600,000 wounded• 3 million served• Agent Orange, PTSD, addictions, ruined families• Ruined U.S. foreign policy• Cynicism of American politicians• Corruption in government

Significance of the War

• For Southeast Asia• Ruined Vietnamese economy and culture

for 20 years or more• Agent Orange and chemicals destroyed

crops and polluted environment• Extreme Communism and dictatorship• Persecution of Catholic and French

Vietnamese

Continued

• 3 million dead in Southeast Asia• Cambodia, Laos, China, U.S.S.R• NLF/NVA nearly 500,000 dead• 9,000 out of 15,000 hamlets destroyed• 25 million acres of farmland destroyed• 12 million acres of forest ruined• 900,000 orphans• 181,000 disabled persons• Vietnamese “boat people” and 1.5 million who fled

the country

“Lessons” from Vietnam (DOD)

• Kissinger discredits the Domino theory • Saigon regime was a puppet government • American efforts doomed from the start• North Vietnamese had superior leadership, access to the

people, and historical legitimacy in their fight against outside powers

• Comprehensive and integrated warfare• Vietnamese manipulated Soviets and Chinese • Did not understand Vietnamese History & Culture• Vietnam had no real

___________________________________________

__________________ Movement

• Farm worker struggles• Cesar Chavez & Delores Huerta• School walk-outs• __________________________

__________________________beginning in 1960s. Artist used the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools and churches to depict Mexican-American Cultures

Chicano Movement

Murals __________________________________________of the rich Mexican heritage of Mexican Americans

Chicano Activist

Lyndon Baines Johnson

The Hoover School that sparked the case: Mendez, etal. vs. Westminster School District

American GI Forum founded 1948

Pvt. Felix Longoria died fighting for his country but was refused burial in a Vets cemetery

Other Issues in The US-___________________

In 1973 to ____________________________________, Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) decided to cut production by 25% until Israel withdrew armistice from 1949 to protest U.S. military and Dutch political support to Israel.

**Happened again in 1980s and then in 2006**

Conclusions from the Era• __________________________________________- law now

required the president to inform congress of any troop commitment within 48 hours and to withdraw the troops in 60 days unless Congress approved the troop commitment.

• Reactions against injustice at home and U.S. foreign policy• ___________________________________& free speech• Radicalization as reaction to growing oppression • Power movements as source of pride, political empowerment

and challenge to inequality• Mistrust of the government