The Vietnam War

Where is Vietnam?

Why was Vietnam important? The Domino Theory

What do we know about the governments of China and North Korea What do we know about the governments of China and North Korea? If Vietnam fell to Communism, it might lead to Communist advances throughout Southeast Asia and threaten Democracy in the Asian world and beyond. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP9QDRDLw6c&feature=PlayList&p=C5BA68BFB06CE7CD&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=13

How did the United States get involved in Vietnam? Vietnam had been a French colony since the late 1880’s. During World War II, Japan had occupied Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh led Vietnamese rebels (Viet Minh) against the Japanese. When Japan surrendered in WWII on September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh announced Vietnam’s independence. His Communist government controlled the country from the northern city of Hanoi.

The French denied the Vietnamese their independence and began an attempt to recapture the country by landing troops in southern Vietnam in Saigon. The wars would last for eight years (First Indochina War) without much progress.

By 1951, the US was in the midst of competition with Communism and the policies of “Containment” (stop the spread of Communism) and the Truman Doctrine (assist countries battling Communism) had been established. Between 1950 and 1953 the US had intervened in the Korean War, and now looked to further stop the spread of Communism in Vietnam.

By 1954 the US was assisting the funding of France’s war in Vietnam with more than $100 million a year. In March, 1954, the Viet Minh had surrounded 12,000 French forces at Dien Bien Phu in Northern Vietnam, and claimed victory on May 7, 1954.

In the peace negotiations of July 1955, the Viet Minh were given the northern territories of Vietnam above the 17th parallel, while France maintained control in the south below the parallel. Elections were to be held in 1956 to completely remove the French and allow Vietnam to become independent.

As France began pulling out of South Vietnam, the US backed the election of Ngo Dinh Diem as president of South Vietnam in 1955. The election of a unified presidency never occurred with the North. Communists in South Vietnam, with support of the North and Minh, rebelled against this action and Diem.

Diem referred to the rebels as “Viet Cong”, slang for Vietnamese Communists. With the threat of North Vietnam overthrowing the “democratically” “elected” “president” of South Vietnam, the United States began to question its role in the insurgency (rebellion) in Vietnam.

In 1961 Kennedy sent an inspection team to South Vietnam to evaluate the situation and the conflict. By 1963 they concluded that Diem was corrupt and that the South could not win. With US support, South Vietnamese generals staged a coup and assassinated Diem. Kennedy was assassinated weeks later and the issue of Vietnam fell to Johnson. What do we do now?

Johnson refused to send troops into Vietnam at this time, instead choosing to monitor the war from offshore US Navy warships. Johnson knew that North Vietnam was supplying its southern army using the Ho Chi Minh trail, and decided that if the US were to help, he’d have to supply the South Vietnamese with intelligence information.

Since the Ho Chi Minh Trail networked through Laos and Cambodia, the US could never fully stop the flow of weapons and supplies to Communist troops in Vietnam because the war was declared against Vietnam and the US could not enter those countries.

On August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese boats fired on a US Naval surveillance ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although it did no damage, the firing on an American ship was a sign of aggression. Despite warnings from the US, North Vietnam reportedly fired on a second ship on August 4, 1964.

What Really Happened? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXmxfCvO7lA&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HODxnUrFX6k&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx8-ffiYyzA

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution As a result of the second “attack”, Johnson and Congress passed a resolution giving the President broad authority in dealing with Vietnam (though no declaration of war yet). Johnson ordered massive airstrikes against North Vietnam through February of 1965, called Operation Rolling Thunder. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFBZb-B3Vo&feature=fvw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgXl9FqgUHQ