Panama Canal and Vietnam War

The Need for a Panama Canal After the Spanish American War, Teddy Roosevelt needed a short cut

Speak Softly, But Carry a Big Stick! Use Naval force to protect American Interest

T.R. and the Panama Canal Teddy Roosevelt," I took Panama!” U.S. makes a deal with Panama to build and control the canal

The Canal was Built at a Huge Cost Challenges: volcanic soil, disease (malaria and yellow fever), dangerous conditions Over 43, 000 workers employed 5,600 die during construction (accidents + disease) Cost U.S. about $380 million U.S. paid Columbia $25 million for lost land

Constable of the World

Handover of the Canal In 1977, president Carter signed two treaties, agreeing to return the Canal to Panamanians in 1999

Vietnam War As Cold War intensified, the key to stopping the spread of Communism was Vietnam
France gave up its control in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in what was called French Indochina

Containment Policy/Domino Theory North Vietnam Communist leader Ho Chi Minh led a war of independence to unify the partitioned Vietnam Eisenhower saw the danger and made his Domino Theory speech in 1954 and laid the foundation for US involvement in Vietnam

Tonkin Bay Incident In 1964, after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, where two American destroyers were apparently fired upon by the North Vietnamese, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions and gave president Johnson the power “to defend Vietnam at any cost.”

The War Intensified LBJ started sending troops to Vietnam in 1965 By 1968, more than half a million US troops were fighting in Vietnam After the “Tet Offensive”, a surprise attack by the North Vietnam army in 1968, the US public began to doubt the government and its claim of winning the war

My Lai massacre, the use of napalm, public execution of suspects gradually turned the US opinion against the war

Nixon won the Whitehouse in 1968 and began his Vietnamization policy Nixon and his advisor Henry Kissinger wanted to gradually withdraw U.S. troops & replace them with South Vietnamese soldiers But he instead increased bombing Hanoi and ordered an invasion of Cambodia

Protests Continued/ Draft Dodgers /Kent State Massacre

The Fall of Saigon In a series of peace talks, the US finally got out of Vietnam in 1973 after all parties signed a ceasefire In 1975, North Vietnamese violated the ceasefire, toppled the South Vietnamese government and unified the country