VIETNAM REVIEW! CHAPTER 17

WHY DID WE GET INVOLVED? FRANCE DID NOT INTEND TO LOSE CONTROL OF THEIR COLONIES AND WENT BACK TO VIETNAM IN 1945, WHICH DROVE THE VIETMINH INTO HIDING AS FIGHTING WORSENED BETWEEN THE VIETMINH AND THE FRENCH, FRANCE APPEALED TO THE U.S. FOR HELP THE U.S. FELT STUCK BECAUSE THEY DID NOT SUPPORT COLONIALISM, BUT THEY ALSO DID NOT WANT VIETNAM TO BECOME COMMUNIST

DOMINO THEORY IF VIETNAM FALLS TO COMMUNISM….OTHERS WILL FOLLOW!

GENEVA ACCORDS NEGOTIATIONS TO END THE WAR WERE HELD IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND THEY PROVIDED A TEMPORARY DIVISION OF VIETNAM ALONG THE 17TH PARALLEL HO CHI MINH AND THE VIETMINH CONTROLLED NORTH VIETNAM, AND A PRO- WESTERN REGIME LED BY NGO DINH DIEM HELD THE SOUTH THE ACCORDS CALLED FOR ELECTIONS TO BE HELD IN 1956 TO REUNITE THE COUNTRY AS A SINGLE GOVERNMENT DIEM REFUSED TO PERMIT THE ELECTIONS BECAUSE HE THOUGHT HO CHI MINH WOULD WIN

PRESIDENTIAL POWER JOHNSON REPORTED SEVERAL NORTH VIETNAMESE ATTACKS ON U.S. DESTROYERS AND SAID THEY WERE UNPROVOKED—HE THEN ORDERED AMERICAN AIRCRAFT TO ATTACK NORTH VIETNAMESE SHIPS AND NAVAL FACILITIES JOHNSON ASKED CONGRESS FOR THE AUTHORITY TO DEFEND AMERICAN FORCES AND ALLIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA—THEY AGREED THE GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION GAVE THE PRESIDENT AUTHORITY TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY MEASURES TO REPEL ANY ARMED ATTACK AGAINST THE FORCES OF THE U.S. AND TO PREVENT FURTHER AGGRESSION

TACTICS BY THE END OF 1965, MORE THAN 180,000 U.S. TROOPS WERE FIGHTING IN VIETNAM— WHICH DOUBLED THE NEXT YEAR THE VIETCONG LACKED THE RESOURCES THE U.S. DID AND USED GUERRILLA TACTICS THAT COULD BE VERY DESTRUCTIVE (AMBUSHES, BOOBY TRAPS, AMONG OTHERS) IT WAS DIFFICULT TO KNOW WHO OR WHERE THE ENEMY WAS

NO SURRENDER! AMERICAN MILITARY LEADERS THOUGHT THEY COULD WEAR DOWN THE VIETCONG AND FORCE THEM TO SURRENDER—THE VIETCONG HAD NO INTENTION OF SURRENDERING AND WOULD ACCEPT HUGE LOSSES TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS

HO CHI MINH TRAIL NORTH VIETNAM BEGAN SENDING ARMS AND SUPPLIES SOUTH BY WAY OF A NETWORK OF JUNGLE PATHS KNOWN AS THE HO CHI MINH TRAIL THIS TRAIL WOUND THROUGH CAMBODIA AND LAOS, AND BYPASSED THE BORDER BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH VIETNAM NORTH VIETNAM WAS RECEIVING WEAPONS FROM THE SOVIET UNION AS WELL AS CHINA

THE HOMEFRONT WHEN TROOPS WERE FIRST SENT TO VIETNAM, 66% OF AMERICANS APPROVED OF THIS AS THE WAR CONTINUED TO DRAG ON, THOUGH, MORE AND MORE PEOPLE BEGAN TO BE AGAINST IT VIETNAM WAS THE FIRST “TELEVISED” WAR WHICH DID NOT HELP IT’S POPULARITY AMONG THE PEOPLE AS THEY WERE ABLE TO SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING WITH THEIR OWN EYES

DRAFT THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PROTESTS AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM MANY PROTESTORS FOCUSED ON THE DRAFT SYSTEM, AS THEY CONSIDERED IT UNFAIR DRAFTEES WERE MOST LIKELY TO BE ASSIGNED TO COMBAT UNITS, AND THEY COMMONLY MADE UP MORE THAN HALF OF THE CASUALTIES HOWEVER, MOST THAT SERVED ENLISTED VOLUNTARILY AN ESTIMATED 500,000 DRAFTEES REFUSED TO GO TO WAR—THEY WOULD BURN THEIR DRAFT CARDS, NOT SHOW UP FOR INDUCTION, OR FLEE THE COUNTRY OFFICIALS PROSECUTED OVER 3,000 AMERICANS WHO REFUSED TO SERVE

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS! MANY DRAFTEES ARGUED THAT IF THEY WERE OLD ENOUGH O FIGHT, THEY WERE OLD ENOUGH TO VOTE IN 1971, THE 26 TH AMENDMENT WAS RATIFIED GIVING ALL CITIZENS AGE 18 AND OLDER THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN ALL STATE AND FEDERAL ELECTIONS

TET OFFENSIVE JANUARY 30, 1968 TET—VIETNAMESE NEW YEAR THE VIETCONG AND NORTH VIETNAMESE LAUNCHED A MASSIVE SURPRISE ATTACK ON MOST AMERICAN AIRBASES IN SOUTH VIETNAM AND MOST OF THE SOUTH’S MAJOR CITIES AS WELL AS THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN SAIGON AMERICANS WERE SHOCKED THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO LAUNCH SUCH A LARGE- SCALE ATTACK WHEN IT SEEMED THEY WERE CLOSE TO DEFEAT

VIETNAMIZATION PROCESS OF GRADUALLY WITHDRAWING U.S. TROOPS AND GIVING THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE MORE CONTROL OF THE FIGHTING

LOVE NOT WAR NIXON ANNOUNCED THAT AMERICAN TROOPS HAD INVADED CAMBODIA TO DESTROY VIETCONG BASES THERE—MANY THOUGHT THIS WAS EXPANDING THE WAR AND MORE PROTESTS RESULTED ON MAY 4, 1970 FOUR STUDENT PROTESTORS WERE KILLED AT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY WHEN NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS WERE SENT TO DEAL WITH THE SITUATION

END OF THE WAR… NEGOTIATIONS RESUMED AND THEY DECIDED TO WITHDRAW U.S. TROOPS AND BOTH SIDES AGREED TO EXCHANGE PRISONERS OF WAR IN JANUARY 1975, CAMBODIA FELL UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE COMMUNIST GROUP THE KHMER ROUGE IN MARCH 1975, NORTH VIETNAMESE TROOPS INVADED SOUTH VIETNAM NIXON HAD RESIGNED IN 1974 BECAUSE OF THE WATERGATE SCANDAL CONGRESS REFUSED THE NEW PRESIDENT, FORD, FUNDS TO AID SOUTH VIETNAM AFTER THE INVASION ON APRIL 30, THE NORTH VIETNAMESE CAPTURED SAIGON, SOUTH VIETNAM’S CAPITAL, AND RENAMED IT HO CHI MINH CITY COMMUNISTS ALSO TOOK OVER IN LAOS AFTER THE FALL OF SAIGON THE DOMINO EFFECT PLAYED OUT AS PREDICTED

EFFECTS AMERICA SPENT ABOUT $173 BILLION IN DIRECT COSTS ON THE WAR ABOUT 58,000 YOUNG AMERICAN DIED 300,000 WERE INJURED AN ESTIMATED 1 MILLION VIETNAMESE SOLDIERS DIED AND MILLIONS MORE CIVILIANS SOLDIERS HAD A VERY HARD TIME READJUSTING WHEN SENT HOME THE WAR WAS UNRESOLVED FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES WHOSE RELATIVES AND FRIENDS WERE CLASSIFIED AS PRISONERS OF WAR OR MISSING IN ACTION

WAR POWERS ACT IN 1973 CONGRESS PASSED THE WAR POWERS ACT TO REESTABLISH SOME LIMITS ON EXECUTIVE POWER PRESIDENT HAD TO INFORM CONGRESS OF ANY COMMITMENT OF TROOPS ABROAD WITHIN 48 HOURS MUST WITHDRAW THEM IN DAYS, UNLESS CONGRESS APPROVED THE TROOP COMMITMENT NO PRESIDENT HAS RECOGNIZED THIS LIMITATION, HOWEVER, AND THE COURTS HAVE TENDED TO AVOID THE ISSUE