1959-1975 The Vietnam War

Draw Vietnam Label the following: North Vietnam (communist) Hanoi South Vietnam (anti-communist) Saigon Laos Cambodia

The Sides United States: Supports South Vietnam’s anti-Communist government VS. North Vietnamese communists (Vietminh) and Vietcong (Southern rebel group)

Know these terms Ho Chi Minh – Communist leader of North Vietnam Vietminh – North Vietnamese gov’t & army that opposed the U.S. in the Vietnam War (Earlier - fought for independence from France) Vietcong (aka. Charlie) – South Vietnamese political organization and army in South Vietnam that fought the U.S. and South Vietnamese government during the war ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) – South Vietnamese Army – US ally

Why did the U.S. Get involved in Vietnam? To understand this, we have to examine what happened to Vietnam after WWII Discuss these review Qs with your partner: 1. What other country got involved in Vietnam first? What happened? 2. How and why did the U.S. become involved?

Vietnam’s Declaration of INdependence Read aloud What is the main point of the Declaration? What does it sound like? Why is it ironic that the U.S. decided to support the French?

Kennedy, LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin Into the Vietnam War Kennedy, LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin

French Battle The French did very poorly against the Vietnamese 100,000 dead, missing or wounded Dien Bien Phu defeat was the last straw This 1954 defeat ensured the French wanted out

U.S. Interest Why is Vietnam important to the U.S.? What is domino theory? How does it help explain why the U.S. got involved in Vietnam?

Geneva Conference Vietnam temporarily divided at the 17th parallel Ho Chi Minh’s Communist forces controlled the North Ngo Dinh Diem, a dictator, controlled the South

Meanwhile, in South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem A Catholic leader in a primarily Buddhist country When he insisted Buddhists obey Catholic religious laws, people began to protest

Protests of Diem Self-Emolation by a Buddhist monk drew attention to those who were against this leader

Monks Other monks followed this example Diem refused to change

Change is coming… Finally, JFK authorized the overthrow of Diem Why is this significant?

War U.S. didn’t authorize war until August 7, 1964 Before that, the U.S. was simply sending advisors to support South Vietnam

We will do a photo investigation… Was America really at war in Vietnam before August 7, 1964? Answer: 1. Was America really at war before that date? Or not? 2. What’s your evidence? Be able to back up your stance with two pieces of evidence.

Covert war By 1963, Kennedy was fighting what is technically called a covert war in Vietnam

WWKD? McNamara claimed that if he’d lived, Kennedy would have pulled troops out of Vietnam But…we’ll never know In November of 1963, Kennedy was assassinated

Day 2

President Johnson Johnson escalates troops to 500,000 Johnson: “The communists want to rule the world, and if we don’t stand up to them, they will do it. And we’ll be slaves. Now I’m not one of those folks seeing Communists under every bed. But I do know about the principles of power, and when one side is weak, the other steps in.”

Gulf of Tonkin Incident August of 1964 Johnson announced that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked U.S. destroyers in international waters This was the “Gulf of Tonkin incident”

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution President asked Congress for a resolution giving him authority to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack” Passed 416-0 in House, 88-2 in Senate Johnson said privately that this “covered everything”

But…Did the Gulf of Tonkin attack really happen?

Directions Read and record info about the following documents: Do not do Doc C or Doc F yet