The Vietnam War Ends Ch 17.4

Tuesday, May 29, 2012 Daily goal: Identify the difference between hawks and doves. Understand how the My Lai Massacre and Pentagon Papers affected the War’s popularity.

Hawks vs Doves

Think About it… America is still at war today, are you a Hawk or a Dove? Why?

Hawks and Doves Hawks supported the War, while Doves opposed it.

7 My Lai Massacre March 16, 1968 My Lai was in an area of South Vietnam that was entrenched with communists. On March 16, 1968 the Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, under the command of Lieutenant William Calley, entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. Numerous members of Charlie Company had been maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. The company engaged in a search and destroy mission, and over 300 apparently unarmed civilians, including women, children, and the elderly were massacred. Lieutenant Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of opposing fire. According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the U.S. political establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American public. Army First Lieutenant William Calley, Jr

8 My Lai was used by the anti-war movement The anti-war movement attempted to use this event to prove that the U.S. had no right to be involved in the Vietnam conflict. However, they were applying an unfortunate double standard. North Vietnamese atrocities, such as the slaughter of South Vietnamese civilians in Cai Be and Dak Son in 1967 and the massive live burial of innocents in Hue in 1968 were virtually ignored in the United States. After the Tet Offensive the NVA and VC murdered as many as 5,000 South Vietnamese civilians including doctors, teachers, lawyers, businessmen. The most widespread atrocities happened in the city of Hue. There alone the Communists killed over 3,000 South Vietnamese. This was not widely reported by the press, and routinely either ignored by the anti-war movement. The United States Army punished its soldiers for wartime atrocities. The North Vietnamese gave medals to those who buried thousands alive at Hue.

9 My Lai Today: monument to the Massacre

My Lai Massacre Americans learned that a platoon had massacred a village of possibly more than 200 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians.

Think About it… How do you think news of the My Lai Massacre affected support of the Vietnam War?

Pentagon Papers Leaked documents revealed that the gov’t had been lying about the Vietnam War. The Pentagon Papers hurt public support for the war.

15 Examples of Vietnamization

The War of Public Opinion By 1971, over 65% of the Public wanted to leave Vietnam as soon as possible. Nixon reacted by starting the process of Vietnamization, or transferring defense responsibilities to the South Vietnamese Army as American troops began to return home.

The War Ends Nixon sent Henry Kissenger to negotiate a peace with North Vietnamese, but the US promised to return if South Vietnam was ever attacked.

Think About it… What do you think the North Vietnamese did when America finally left Vietnam?

Saigon falls and Containment fails In 1975 the North Vietnamese rolled into South Vietnam and defeated them. The country was unified under Communist control and the US never returned.

So what? By the time Vietnam ended… Over 58,000 Americans had died. Over 300,000 came back severely wounded. The war cost billions of dollars. Between 5-8 Million Vietnamese died.