Election of 1960 John Kennedy –Democrat Richard Nixon –Republican 1 st Televised Presidential Debate

“Camelot” the “best and the brightest” “New Frontier” –NASA and the Moon Project –cuts taxes, raises min. wage –increases defense spending –Peace Corps –proposes some civil rights reforms Ended with his assassination in Nov. of 1963 –VP Lyndon Baines Johnson

Important Cold War Events Berlin Wall Cuba –Castro’s Revolution –Bay of Pigs –Cuban Missile Crisis Test Ban Treaty-1962 –“hotline” American involvement in Vietnam

The Origins of the Vietnam War Cold War Continued

The Vietnam War Memorial Ryan McFarland and direct a link to

Conclusion 58,000 US dead 300,000 wounded $150 billion 8 million tons of bombs (64 Hiroshimas) 2+million Vietnamese dead America’s 1 st “lost war” deep divisions in the cultural life of the country

The Vietnam War The 1 st Indochina War A national war of liberation caught in the context of the Cold War French Indochina 1945

The 1 st Indochina War French –colonial power Vietnamese –independence

France fights to keep its colony. “First Indochina War”—8 years.

Vietnam has a long history of resistance to foreign occupiers Chinese French Japanese

Viet Minh nationalist movement seeking independence for Viet Nam Sept. 2, 1945 –Ho Chi Minh declares independence

Because of the Cold War… Truman decides to aid the French “containment” $2.6 billion US pays 80% by 1954 US actions

French are defeated at Dien Bien Phu 1954 outcome

Geneva Accords Viet Minh France China Cambodia Laos USSR US UK temporary division of Vietnam at the 17 th parallel –Ho and the Viet Minh in North –US/French-backed government in the South elections scheduled for 1956 to reunite

US Response Eisenhower’s “Domino Theory” Second Indochina War US supplies money, materiel and military advisors

After French defeat, US supported the South’s Ngo Dinh Diem aristocrat rejected land reform cronyism Catholic cancels national election, rigs local referendum

National Liberation Front resists the Diem regime “Viet Cong” Communists and members of Viet Minh in the South insurgency against US-supported government in the South

Monks protest Diem June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion. While burning Thich Quang Duc never moved a muscle

JFK continues “containment” strengthened South’s army “ARVN” pressured Diem for reform By 1962 – 9,000 military advisers Nov coup d’etat against Diem assassination of JFK

Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) keeps Kennedy’s advisors needs to appear tough on Communism election needs political cause to escalate war

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution NVN torpedo boats fire on US destroyers “unprovoked” president can “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against US forces and to protect against further aggression” “like grandma’s nightshirt—it covers everything”

Operation Rolling Thunder March 1965-October year bombing campaign against NVN –military targets –then all economic targets –Ho Chi Minh Trail

1 st regular ground combat troops troops arrive in Da Nang (major US air base) 3,500 arrive March, 1965

In spite of dropping more bombs, by 1967, than we had used in all WWII, the Vietnamese fight on. Americans are failing to defeat their enemy. Why?

General William Westmoreland

US objective “war of attrition” destroy VietCong resistance negotiate a political settlement therefore, “body counts” Ho: “You can kill 10 of us for every 1 of you, but you will lose and we will win”

US tactics aerial bombardment napalm herbicides (Agent Orange) “search and destroy patrols” “pacification program” – we had to destroy the village in order to save it