Vietnam War

Vietnam

French Colony

• Communist Resistance – Ho Chi Minh (North)

• Communist Leader

• Dienbienphu falls 1954• Geneva Conference

– Geneva Conference– Split at 17th parallel– Elections in 2 years (never happened)– Ngo Dinh Diem (South)– Eisenhower promised economic and military aid

Why Should US Get Involved?

• Domino theory– If Vietnam falls to

Communists, so will the rest of Asia.

– Potential of becoming a force in western Hemisphere

JFK Steps In

• Communist get stronger

• 1961 JFK sends more “military advisors”

- Soldiers that are to help train and organize troops in a foreign nation. They are not to participate or lead in combat– Over 15,000

Gulf of Tonkin Incident• August 1964

– Attack on US Navy by N. Vietnamese ships reported

– Tonkin Gulf Resolution

• Gave President power “for all necessary action to protect our Armed Forces” and allies in Southeast Asia

“Escalation”

• President Johnson• Belief that increasing

manpower and the level of war would force N. Vietnam to peace table

Escalation

• March 1965 Operation Rolling Thunder

• Dec. 1965: 180,000 troops

• Dec. 1967: 500,000 troops

• $30 Billion/ year

The War

• Heart and Minds– The strategy that if the US

troops helped and befriended the Vietnamese, then they would help resist communism.

– Increased bitterness as soldiers did not know who to trust

• Body Count– Could not judge success

by taking land.– Caused war to become

especially bloody

• A soldier in Vietnam was called a Grunt

• Draft– College/ essential skill

exempt– African-Americans/

poor most affected

• Average age of a US soldier in Vietnam:– 19

Frustration takes its toll

• Tour of Duty:– Time spent in Vietnam– Rotation system

• Soldiers are placed in units as individuals

• Guerilla Warfare– Hit and run tactics. No definable

enemy.• Difficult to see• Civilians could be the enemy• “booby traps” common

• Disillusionment (0-2:15)

– Some troops becoming disenfranchised with war. Concentration on friends and themselves surviving, not “winning”

– Turns to anger and frustration at times

1967: Siege of Khe SanhConstant attack for 77 straight days

Tet Offensive• January 1968

• Attack on Vietnamese New Year– 27 cities– US embassy in Saigon

• Effects:– Public opinion turned sharply against the war– 200,000 more troops requested– March 31 LBJ announces a freeze and that

he will not run for re-election• Status Quo

My Lai Massacre• March 1968• 28 ambushes or booby trap

incidents causing 5 deaths in one month– No direct contact

• Frustration overcomes army unit

• About 347 killed– Mostly women and children

• 26 soldiers charged– Lt. serves 3 years of life

sentence

• 3 soldiers tried to stop it & were vilified

• Highly publicized

Counterculture• Reaction to social norms of

the 50’s and 60’s– Civil Rights– Anti-war protest

• Hippies– Opposed traditional values that

got America in trouble in the first place: restraint, conformity, sense of right and wrong

– Aimed to live free of these values as demonstrated through fashion, music, and open behavior

• Reflected in:– Drugs– Rock and Roll– Sexual Revolution– Women’s Rights

Places To Be

• Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco– Center for the counterculture– Many young people went

there to live in communes and be free of “traditional” values.

• Woodstock– 3 young entrepreneurs

promise “3 Days of Peace and Music”

– Top music Acts: Jimmie Hendrix, CCR, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin

– Soon went of control when 500,000 showed up

Anti-War Protests

1968 Democratic Convention

• Hubert Humphrey (Dem) Johnson– Pro-war

• Eugene McCarthy (Dem)– Anti-war– “clean for Gene”

• Robert Kennedy– Anti-war– Killed June 5, 1968

• Humphrey wins nomination loses to Nixon in Election

• “The Whole Nation is Watching”

(0-1:00)

Bombing Cambodia

• April 1970• Congress not

consulted• Invaded Cambodia• Fierce protests

– Kent State• 4 dead/ 9 wounded• 100,000 protest in

Washington, DC

• June 29, 1970 Nixon calls back forces

President Nixon Asks for Help

• Asks the “Silent Majority” to make themselves heard in order to counter the protests– Believed that most Americans agreed with the

war but were not as vocal as the minority

• Vietnamization– Nixons plan reduce troops and have S.

Vietnamese stand on their own, militarily.

The Collapse of S. Vietnam

• N. Vietnam invades• Massive evacuation

April 1973• 140,000 South

Vietnamese

Effects

• 55,000 US Soldiers Dead

• Economy Falls– Inflation

• People mistrust the government