Vietnam Chapter 30

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 7, 1964 Congress grants to the president 1.Any amount of troops 2.Anywhere 3.For any length of time To protect American lives Gives Pres. ability to make war without Congress This is the Vietnam War

Escalation Feb 65: Routine bombing of NV Mar 65: First combat troops land Early 66: 190,000 troops End 66: 265,000 End 67: 500,000 As each troop level fails to get the job done more troops are needed.

Limited War Theory Question: Why didn’t we just nuke them? Not able to, which means the US is limiting its actions, therefore Limited War Goal = # of troops + Equipment Need to know the goal to make formula work Problem: no defined goal In WWII every soldier knew why were fighting In Vietnam the soldiers did not know why they were fighting Escalation leads to the Draft

The Draft As the years wore on more opposition to the war emerged College students were exempt from the draft which left poor whites and blacks to fight But as the college students graduated they were then eligible for the draft and the protests would begin

Student Movement Origins Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) U. C. Berkley 1966 Wanted a say in the decisions made by college about student life Caught on at other colleges Students also disillusioned by hypocrisy of US gov. not living up to the ideals set forth in Declaration of Independence and Constitution regarding civil rights

Tet Offensive Feb 1968 Tet, the Lunar New Year NV/VC attack every major city in SV Takes US/SV by surprise capturing cities and the US Embassy in Saigon All are retaken, so militarily it was a failure. However...

Damage From Tet Psychologically Tet was devestating Walter Cronkite, most trusted news anchorman tells America the war is unwinnable We cannot tell friend from foe We don’t understand the language, culture, religion, customs

LBJ “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America” After Tet LBJ withdraws from the election of

April 4,1968 While working on a sanitation strike in Memphis, Tenn Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated James Earl Ray admits to the killing

Riots Racial tensions erupt across the country in reaction to the news Almost every city North and South experiences a race riot Nation is dividing

Election of 1968 Democratic primary Three man race VP Hubert Humphrey Sen. Eugene McCarthy Sen. Robert Kennedy

Hubert Humphrey Vice President Civil Rights Stay in Vietnam

Eugene McCarthy Senator (Minn) Anti-war candidate Appealed to the emerging hippie movement content/uploads/2010/04/EugeneMccarthy.gif ges-graphics-cu-clean4gene10.jpg

Bobby Kennedy Former Attorney General Anti-war, Pro civil rights Wins the California primary in June ‘68 Many believe he has the inside track for the nomination Until...

Assassination After victory speech led out through kitchen Shot by Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian who is angered over RFK’s support of Israel sirhan-sirhan-seeks-freedom-today-at-parole-hearing.html

Conspiracy Theories Wounds suggest shots came from different direction Pruszynski Recording, newsman’s audio tape proves more than one gun was used As in Dallas another botched investigation

Same Question Why? Same Answer Killed because he wanted to remove US from Vietnam Aftermath: McCarthy drops out of the race.

DNC Chicago 1968 Democratic National Convention Officially nominate the Humphrey for president 10,000 anti-war protestors arrive 12,000 police meet them Protestors angered that DNC does not include an anti-war plank in their platform

Police Riot Protestors chant “The world is watching” Humphrey wins nomination in chaos

Republicans Richard Nixon Law and Order Peace with honor in Vietnam IIXAF5HOE/Sn0VpjKAeXI/AAAAAAAAGaI/QJ08 MWsHrrA/s1600-h/0808nixon68B.jpg

George Wallace American Party First modern 3 rd party candidate Law and order Segregationist “Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever.” e_C_Wallace_(Alabama_Governor).png/200px- George_C_Wallace_(Alabama_Governor).png

Results Nixon wins Popular vote close Electoral not Nixon/Wallace win majority of states Shows much of nation wants a return to normalcy w/P2Dgmh85spE/s320/1968+electoral+map.png

My Lai Massacre US patrols had been ambushed repeatedly near village of My Lai Village believed to be a VC stronghold Ordered to burn it to the ground What followed was a massacre of South Vietnamese citizens

No Stronghold Was Found US military slaughters people

Who is responsible? The only person held accountable for the massacre of My Lai was 1st Lt. William Calley. He was only following orders.

Nixon Peace With Honor in Vietnam How? Vietnamization: Policy of returning responsibility for South Vietnam back to the South Vietnamese This will allow us military to return home

Ho Chi Minh Trail How does one defeat an enemy that is constantly being resupplied? Destroy the supply line Problem: Its not in Vietnam

Extending the War to Cambodia Since we don’t know where the exit points are we can’t destroy them Logically, if we can’t destroy the exits, then we have to destroy the trail To do this we have to begin bombing Cambodia

Kent State Massacre When students discover Cambodia is being bombed they protest Burn down the ROTC building National Guard called out 4 students died

Aftermath Nixon blames the students Public agrees ***Proves country had grown tired of protests.***

Henry Kissinger Nixon’s Secretary of State Opens negotiations with North Vietnam We are removing troops but still committed

Paris Peace Accords 1973 U.S. military personnel withdraw All nations will respect the sovereignty of South Vietnam Exchange of prisoners –U.S. receive 500 POW’s, more than a thousand not returned –Since war’s end over 99% of confirmed POW’s have been resolved

Fall of Saigon US military involvement ends Vietnam is now a civil war 1975 Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese –Renamed: Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam war is finally over The result: Communist win and therefore Vietnam is an independent Communist nation, just like they wanted in 1946, 54, 56 and every year after that

South Vietnamese storm the US embassy trying to escape. The US abandons hundreds of allies to torture and death at the hands of the North Vietnamese

Totals US 58,000 Dead 153,000 Seriously Wounded 1,700 POW/MIA 220 Billion spent $1,363,192,247, (2010)

Vietnam South Vietnam More than 250,000 Dead Military North Vietnam 1,100,000 NV/VC Dead 150,000 From Diseases Estimates as high as 2,000,000 Vietnamese civilians died

Long Term Costs, US National prestige plummets Divided Nation National pride plummets Cost of war pushes nation into an economic recession

Why was Vietnam Different? Lack of civilian sacrifice led to lack of unity The nature of the Draft and eligibility or deferment led to divisions No international mandate as in Korea Television: first time public saw war images on a nightly basis without government or military censorship led to credibility gap Too many “incidents”: Tet, My Lai, Pentagon Papers Duration Nation was divided along too many lines