A Brief History of the Vietnam War

The Geneva Peace Accords (G.P.A.) France controls Viet Nam after WWII. Vietnam has revolution to kick out France. France loses (“Vietnam is unwinnable”) G.P.A., signed by France and Vietnam in the summer of 1954 Vietnam agreed to the temporary partition of their nation at the seventeenth parallel to allow France a face-saving defeat.

The United States had other ideas. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles thought the Geneva Accords granted too much power to the Communist Party of Vietnam. Dulles and President Dwight D. Eisenhower supported the creation of a counter-revolution south of the seventeenth parallel. The United States also helped create the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), to get around the Geneva Accords Using SEATO for political cover, the Eisenhower administration helped create a new nation from dust in southern Vietnam.

South Vietnam Beginnings In 1955, with the help of massive amounts of American military, political, and economic aid, the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN or South Vietnam) was born. Ngo Dinh Diem, a staunchly anti-Communist figure from the South, won a rigged election that made him president of the GVN.

South Vietnam Under Ngo Dinh Diem He used the American Central Intelligence Agency to identify those who were against his government and arrested them. Diem passed a repressive series of acts that made it legal to hold someone in jail if s/he was a suspected Communist without bringing formal charges.

Protests against Diem Government The outcry against Diem's harsh and oppressive actions was immediate. Buddhist monks and nuns were joined by students, business people, intellectuals, and peasants in opposition to the corrupt rule of Ngo Dinh Diem

The Kennedy Administration reaction to Diem Some Kennedy advisers believed Diem was not a good leader of Viet Nam. Others argued that Diem was the "best of a bad lot." We help overthrow Diem

Communists in Viet Nam Southern Communists want to adopt more violent tactics to guarantee Diem's downfall. In January 1959, the Communist Party finally approved the use of revolutionary violence to overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem's government and liberate Vietnam south of the seventeenth parallel.

December 1961 White Paper Kennedy advisors argued for an increase in military, technical, and economic aid, and the introduction of large-scale American "advisers" to help stabilize the Diem regime and crush the communists. Kennedy decided that we would increase the level of military involvement in South Vietnam through more machinery and advisers, but would not intervene by sending troops.

Overthrow of Diem’s government By late September of 1963, the Kennedy administration supported a coup. Diem's own generals approached the American Embassy in Saigon with plans to overthrow Diem. With Washington‘s approval, on November 1, 1963, Diem and his brother were captured and later killed by Vietnamese Generals. Three weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated on the streets of Dallas.

President Johnson Escalates the War Continuing political problems in Saigon convinced new president, Lyndon Johnson, that more aggressive action was needed. After a raid on two U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, the Johnson administration argued for expansive war powers for the president.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Gave the president broad war powers. The resolution passed both the House and Senate with only two dissenting votes. The Resolution was followed by limited reprisal air attacks against the DRV (Communists). We never declare war in Vietnam

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER Johnson ordered the sustained bombing missions over the DRV that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had long advocated. In March 1965, Johnson sent the first combat troops to Vietnam.

The War in America The Johnson administration wanted to fight this war in "cold blood." America would go to war in Vietnam with the precision of a surgeon with little noticeable impact on domestic culture. A limited war called for limited mobilization of and was supposed to cause little disruption in everyday life in America. The Vietnam War did have a major impact on everyday life in America the Johnson administration was forced to consider domestic consequences of its decisions every day.

Protests at Home Protests erupted on college campuses and in major cities at first. By 1968 every corner of the country seemed to have felt the war's impact. Chicago, 1968 Democratic National Convention. Hundreds of thousands of people came to Chicago in August 1968 to protest American intervention in Vietnam and the leaders of the Democratic Party who continued to prosecute the war.

1968 The Tet Offensive: attacks against the major southern cities by the Communists. They force the Johnson Administration to the bargaining table. The Tet Offensive was a military defeat, but a psychological victory for the Communists. Public now believes that the war was unwinnable. “If I’ve lost Cronkie, I’ve lost the war.” Johnson, 68. News anchor Walter Cronkite concluded a special broadcast on the recent Tet Offensive with a rare, brief, and potent editorial suggesting that America cease fighting the Vietnam War. Johnson elects not to run for President.

History of the Anti-War Movement 1959 Students for a Democratic Society is founded 1965 First draft riots occur on college campuses 1967 Johnson authorizes CIA to investigate antiwar activists 35,000 protesters demonstrate outside the Pentagon 1968 Protest outside Democratic National Convention turns violent 1970 National Guard kills four protesters at Kent State University

Kent State 4 Dead in Ohio

The Nixon Years Secret negotiations began in the spring of 1968 to end the war in Paris Nixon starts negotiations as he is running for President. Word leaks out and it makes Johnson’s job harder Nixon approved secret bombing Laos and Cambodia as he was negotiating peace with Vietnam.

Compare the two pictures discuss the difference Veterans felt when returning home WWII Veterans Returning Home Vietnam Veterans Returning Home

My Lai Massacre Charlie Company received word that VC guerrillas had taken control of Son My. They were sent to the village on a search-and-destroy mission. “all who were found in Son My could be considered VC or active VC sympathizers” and could be killed. They rounded up and murdered hundreds of civilians–mostly women, children and old men–in an extremely brutal fashion, including rape and torture.

Vietnamization Nixon’s push to end the war was called Vietnamization: Gradually let South Vietnamese take control over the war effort and America’s role fades into the background. March 29, 1973, last troops and Embassy workers leave Vietnam. The war changed America in numerous ways South Vietnam falls to communism.