Harold Winkler Middle School The Cold War – Part III Mr. Wells Harold Winkler Middle School

Vietnam Formerly French Indochina Occupied by Japan during WWII After WWII: Ho Chi Minh declares independence for Vietnam (Communist) U.S. aids France (Containment) but also “Domino Theory”… belief that if one country falls to Communism, others will fall

Vietnam French lost Indochina War at Battle of Dien Bien Phu Vietnam divided at the 17th parallel North – Communist (Ho Chi Minh) South - Nationalist (Ngo Dinh Diem) U.S. aids South but Diem corrupt (much like Chiang Kai-shek (China) 1960 – JFK sends military “advisors” to train S. Vietnam army Many S. Vietnamese protested Diem’s government and sided with the North (known as Vietcong)

Early Protest of Diem’s Government Self-Emolation by a Buddhist Monk

Vietnam Kennedy assassinated in 1963… Lyndon B. Johnson takes over Johnson escalates the war (Gulf of Tonkin Incident) By 1968, U.S. troops over 500,000 U.S. uses napalm & agent orange in fighting enemy Operation Rolling Thunder – taking out supply line (Ho Chi Minh Trail) from N.V.

A Napalm Attack

Operation Rolling Thunder

Vietnam 1968: Americans come home in body bags War becomes very unpopular with Americans Slogan… “Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Men avoided draft… sought medical exemptions, went to college My Lai Massacre 1968 Anti-War Demonstrations

End of Vietnam War 1968 – Richard Nixon elected president Vietnamization: gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops in Vietnam By 1973, a ceasefire was signed 1975: N. Vietnam overruns S. Vietnam 58,000 U.S. killed… 2,583 POWs/MIA unaccounted for Total Cost - $150 Billion!

U.S. Evacuates Embassy in Saigon 1975 Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City!

And in the End… If we have to fight, we will fight. You will kill ten of our men and we will kill one of yours, and in the end it will be you who tires of it.

Cold War in the 1970s U.S. foreign policy: détente – negotiating with Communists SALT I Treaty with the Soviets limits ICBM’s (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) President Nixon visits China & Soviet Union to ease tensions

Cold War in the 1970s 1975: President Ford continues negotiations with China & Soviet Union Helsinki Accords (Finland) – Cooperation between Western & Eastern Europe Panmunjon (DMZ – N/S Korea) – North Korea attacks and kills 2 U.S. Officers President Fords sends in B-52 bombers… North Korea backs down

Cold War in the 1970s 1979: Soviets invaded Afghanistan… their Vietnam! (They didn’t win!) As a result of invasion, President Jimmy Carter refuses to sign SALT II Treaty 1980: U.S. boycotts Olympic Games held in Moscow U.S. secretly arms Afghan rebels to fight Soviets (Osama Bin Laden!)

Cold War in the 1980s President Ronald Reagan rejected the idea of containment and détente He wanted to destroy Communism! U.S. greatly increased military spending and nuclear weapons Reagan wanted to created SDI – Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars)… a space based defense system that would shoot down missiles  Didn’t Work!

Video: End of the Cold War

The End of the Cold War 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev leads Soviet Union USSR going bankrupt trying to keep up with U.S. in arms race Gorbachev initiates drastic reforms such as: “Glastnost” or Openness… allowing the Soviet people to criticize the government and Perestroika… restructuring the Soviet Politburo (government), holding free elections in satellite nations and withdrawing from Afghanistan

The End of the Cold War Nov. 9, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall Many Eastern Bloc countries declare independence from USSR 1991: Gorbachev forced to resign Boris Yeltsin, new leader of the Soviet Union, announces the end of the Cold War!

Communist China 1989: Chinese students call for democracy Hold demonstrations at Tiananmen Square Hundreds killed when tanks were sent in and open fired President George H.W. Bush announces an arms embargo on China