 Background French control –> Japanese control -> French control Freedom?  Ho Chi Minh establishes the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945  Quandary: anti-colonialism versus anti-communism

 US aid to the French to oppose Ho Chi Mihn  By 1953, $1 billion a year  Domino Theory justification

Laos and Cambodia Neutral Vietnam divided at the 17th Parallel with a DMZ  Ngo Dihn Diem US trained authoritarian Rejects united Vietnam in 1956 elections Unpopular with the people

 When JFK became President there were about 780 American military advisors in S. Vietnam  By the time of his death there were over 17,000 advisors in Vietnam supporting the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem 1. He desperately wanted to save face after the Bay of Pigs, Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis 2. “monolithic communism” 3. He supported “limited brushfire wars” in the age of a nuclear threat

 Diem’s rule disapproved of by the US  US decides to not stand in the way of a coup  Nov. 1, 1963, Diem murdered, military insurgents take over South Vietnam

August 2 and August 4,1964 President Johnson called these attacks “as devious as Pearl Harbor” and “open aggression on the high seas.” Gulf of Tonkin Resolution “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” Passes 88-2 in Senate and in the House Congress continued to appropriate

 5 regime changes in S.V. by 1965  Rolling Thunder Jan. 1965: saturation bombings of North Vietnam Intent: stop flow of forces from North to South  success = 10-1 body count  General Westmoreland requests troops to defend military airbases and installations By late 1967, the US had 650,000 ground troops in S. Vietnam

 Vietnamization  Cambodia Invasion of a “neutral” country Khmer Rouge  Pentagon Papers 1971 unofficial release of a secret study of the war. published in the New York Times on July 1  War Powers Act  Paris Peace Agreement – 1973  Unification in 1975

 Before the Vietnam War there had been a general consensus about the United States as a champion of freedom against communism  The results of the Vietnam War exposed the foolishness of the argument that the U.S. could defend freedom everywhere in the world  The Vietnam War shattered the long-held belief that American money and American technology could accomplish just about anything  The Credibility Gap and the Tet Offensive

 VVAW Troops at home and abroad openly defy  Intense response Bomb threats at colleges Kent State

 “fortunate sons”  Resisters Conscientious objectors, disabled, failure to report, students, AWOL 206,000 delinquent reporters Pardoned by Carter  The Lottery

 Failures Lost on the home front Politicians set unrealistic limits on Pentagon Victory = devastation of NV (bring China in) Human cost outweighed gain  “No more Vietnams” Clear and compelling political objectives Sustained public support Realistic means to accomplish goal Advance national interest

 Robert McNamara 1. we misjudged Soviet threat 2. Vietnam was a civil war 3. we used military tactics appropriate for Western Europe Vets of WWII feared a late response LEARN LESSONS FROM THE PAST!!!

 Agent Orange 20 million gallons of chemicals  Leaked into soil and water supply Continues to cause chromosomal diseases  Rashes, stomach disease, birth defects, lung disease, 14 others  Compensation in 1991

 Powder mixed with gas = gelatinous mixture  Sticks to surfaces  Results in extreme burns and suffocation

 Alcohol, marijuana, heroin  2 viewpoints War hawks – scapegoat for failure Antiwar – conspiracy btwn CIA and Asian drug traffickers  Kuzmarov Nixon’s excuse for the War on Drugs