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VIETNAM WAR
Chapters 51-53
How it started
• Part of French Indochina
• Ho Chi Minh
• Communist leader
• Viet Minh
• Members of the independence movement
• French refused to accept Vietnamese
independence
• First Indochina War
• French vs. Viet Minh
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Truman
• Supported the French to stop the spread
of communism
• Military aid
• $100 million in 1951
• By 1954 the U.S. was paying 80% of the war
• Even with U.S. support the war dragged on
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Eisenhower
• Domino theory
• If Vietnam becomes communist the rest of Asia will
fall too
• The U.S. public was not ready to fight another war
(just after Korean War)
• Geneva Accords = peace agreement (1954)
• Fighting stops, Vietnam split along 17th parallel.
Viet Minh in north, French in south
• Reunification elections in 1956
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Eisenhower
• U.S. wanted to set-up a strong anticommunist
government in the south
• Ngo Dinh Diem = leader the U.S. picked for the
south
• Military advisers – 350 noncombat specialists
sent to train and equip Diem’s army
• Reunification elections – looked like Ho Chi Minh
would win
• Ngo Dinh Diem - blocked the elections in the
south, and became a brutal leader
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Kennedy
• Viet Cong = Vietnamese communists
• Overwhelming the South Vietnamese army
• Sent more military advisers, weapons and equipment
• Diem – corrupt, brutal, discriminated against
Buddhists
• South Vietnamese generals assassinated Diem with
U.S. approval
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Johnson
• “I don’t think it’s worth fighting for, and I don’t think we can get out”
• Gulf of Tonkin
• Ho Chi Minh Trail – supply route for soldiers and weapons
from North to South Vietnam
• South Vietnamese army could not compete
• US sponsored covert missions to destroy radar sites in
North Vietnam
• North Vietnam fired machine guns and torpedoes at a U.S.
destroyer in the Gulf conducting surveillance
• U.S. said another attack would have “grave consequences”
• 2 days later in a storm U.S. soldiers thought they were
attacked again
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Johnson
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Based on the false belief that the U.S. destroyer
had been fired on twice
• Allowed Johnson to take all “necessary measures”
• Not a declaration of war, but allowed the U.S. to
expand involvement
• Feb. 1965
• Viet Cong attacked a U.S. airbase in the South
• U.S. responded by bombing barracks in the North
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Johnson
• Operation Rolling Thunder
• Series of massive air attacks on Ho Chi Minh Trail and
staging areas in the north
• Not successful, men and supplies continued to flow into
the south
• Debate Involvement
• Hawks: People who favored involvement in the war
• Defense of South Vietnam was crucial to containing
communism, need to defend the U.S. credibility
• Doves: People who advocated peace
• Escalating war did not guarantee victory, not in the best
interest of the U.S., China might also get involved
Getting involved in Vietnam
• Johnson
• Sided with the Hawks, increased troop #s
• Sent combat troops, not just advisors
• By 1967 almost 500,000 Americans were serving in
Vietnam
• War was never technically declared
• Vietnam Conflict
• Troops sent based on the Gulf on Tonkin Resolution
• North suffered more casualties, but soldiers
kept coming
Frustration in Vietnam
• “We are the unwilling working for the unqualified to do the
unnecessary for the ungrateful”
• Difficult Conditions:
• Climate – Hot, humid, monsoon rains
• Topography – rugged jungle mountains
soggy lowland rice paddies
• Herbicides – Agent Orange; killed plants but
also toxic for soldiers
Frustration in Vietnam
• Elusive Enemy
• Guerrilla warfare – attack and disappear back into the jungle
• Tunnels – hide from U.S. troops, and serve as base camps
• Hide in Plain Sight – South Vietnamese that fought for North
Frustration in Vietnam
• Limited War = Ineffective
• Using less than a nation’s total resources
• We had hoped that we could kill enough North
Vietnamese soldiers, but too many
• U.S. was seen as another colonial power – so
the Vietnamese were determined
• U.S. public not as committed to the fight
Frustration in Vietnam
• South Vietnam Divided
• Countryside – supported Viet Cong
• City – backed South government
• MOST – remained neutral
• Pacification – policy to promote security and stability in
South Vietnam
• Economic development = food, build schools, bridges, etc.
• Undermine Communism = remove Viet Cong and their
sympathizers from villages
• Not a very successful program
• Lack of security made it hard to build roads, schools, etc.
Frustration in Vietnam
• Viet Cong Maintain Support
• U.S. search and destroy missions did not win friends in
villages
• Napalm – a jellied gas bomb that would set fire to
everyone/everything when it hit the ground
• Viet Cong – used intimidation, kidnapping,
assassination to ensure support
Opposition to the War
• TV
• Senate hearings that criticized the war
• Night after night war footage (violence, suffering, destruction)
into homes
• Costs
• By 1968 over 1,200 soldiers a month were being killed in action
• Huge financial expense lead to increased inflation and higher
taxes
• General public asking more – “Why are we
fighting in Vietnam?”
• No longer just student protesters and radicals questioning the
war
Opposition to the War
• Draft
• College students exempt = stay in school longer
• Poor Americans and Minorities were left to be drafted
• Most very were young 18-21 years old
58,286
Names of soldiers
killed between 1959-1975
300,000 wounded
1968
• Tet Offensive
• North Vietnamese military attack on U.S.
embassy in Saigon and many other cities,
villages, and bases
• Many Viet Cong killed – not a successful
military campaign
• BUT – it was a psychological defeat for the U.S.
• Made many Americans question the war
leadership – LBJ polls showed only 25%
support
1968
• Johnson decides not to run for reelection
• Supports his vice-president Hubert Humphrey
• Republican Richard Nixon
• Promised “Peace with Honor” in Vietnam
• Nixon won
Getting out of the War
• Peace with Honor
• Peace talks in Paris
• U.S. suggests we stop bombing
the North
• both side withdraw troops
• South Vietnam remains independent
• North said NO
• Vietnamization = plan to turn control of the war
over to South leaders
• We supply ships, planes, weapons, etc.
• Attack Cambodia and Laos – to cut off supplies and
eliminate safe havens
Getting out of the War
• Demonstration
• Vietnam Moratorium Day – protesters
encouraged all Americans to take the day off
work, and reflect on the war
• 2+ million people, all ages, all races, all incomes
• Kent State Shootings – student peace rally,
after days of violent unrest
•
•
•
•
National Guard called out
Students began chanting and throwing rocks
Troops opened fire
4 students killed
Getting out of the War
• Not getting out fast enough
• Congress get involved
• After invasion of Cambodia
• 1970 - repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• 1971 – passed legislation forbidding troops from
operating outside South Vietnam
• 1973 – War Powers Resolution; strict limits on
Presidents power to use armed forces without
congressional approval
Getting out of the War
• Peace talks were moving too slowly
• Nixon orders HEAVY bombing of North Vietnam
• The North goes back to the peace talks
• Paris Peace Accords – 1973
• Cease-fire
• 17th parallel dividing line
• Withdrawal of all U.S. troops
• Release of U.S. prisoners of war
Getting out of the War
• March 1973 – all combat forces home
• Vets were not greeted as heroes
• Cease-fire did not last long
• The U.S. did not send support as the South
struggled
• April 1970 troops from the North take Saigon,
capital of South Vietnam
• Cambodia and Laos also fell to communism