Vietnam War

Considered a police action and not a war, there is no actual starting point of Vietnam like in most wars, it basically went from 1950 to 1975.

In 1950 Harry Truman sent over soldiers to help the French, who had control of Indochina (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam). North Vietnam took French Indochina.

vs. 1952 Election Adlai Stevenson Dwight D. Eisenhower Democrat Republican Truman decides not to rerun for President and Stevenson was his replacement. The republican nomination was, war hero, Dwight Eisenhower. He won in a landslide. Eisenhower finished the Korean Conflict and was in on the beginning of the Vietnam Conflict.

vs. 1960 Election John Fitzgerald Kennedy Richard Millhouse Nixon Democrat Richard Millhouse Nixon Republican Kennedy won a very close election. Nixon said he would never run again (Farve) but did and won in 1969.

In 1954 the Vietminh, AKA Viet Cong, AKA VC, AKA Victor Charlie (communist led) defeated the French and North and South Vietnam were created (The US disapproved). In 1961 John F. Kennedy secretly sent over 400 special operation soldiers to teach the South Vietnam to fight against the North Vietminh.

Assassinations The US had placed Ngo Dinh Diem as leader of S. Vietnam, because of his abuse and cruelty he was assassinated 3 Weeks later JFK was assassinated

1964 Election VS. Lyndon Baines Johnson Democrat Barry Goldwater (AuH20) Republican Johnson rode on the coattails of JFK’s popularity. The election was the fifth largest margin of victory in presidential history due in part that many felt that Goldwater was going to declare war on North Vietnam. Johnson won and we still had war??

Tonkin Resolution In 1964 after Kennedy’s assassination Lyndon B. Johnson secured from Congress a functional not actual declaration of war, (police action) called the Tonkin Resolution. In 1965 3,500 marines and bombing on the 17th parallel was sustained on North Vietnamese targets.

The multiple starting dates for the war complicate efforts to describe the causes of U.S. entry. The United States became involved in the war for a number of reasons, and these evolved and shifted over time. 1. Primarily, every American president regarded the enemy in Vietnam--the Vietminh; its 1960s successor, the National Liberation Front (NLF); and the government of North Vietnam, led by *Ho Chi Minh--as agents of global communism. U.S. policymakers, and most Americans, regarded communism as the antithesis of all they held dear. 2. Communists scorned democracy, violated human rights, pursued military aggression, and created closed state economies that barely traded with capitalist countries. Americans compared communism to a contagious disease. If it took hold in one nation, U.S. policymakers expected contiguous nations to fall to communism, too, as if nations were dominoes lined up on end (domino effect). 3. In 1949, when the Communist Party came to power in China, Washington feared that Vietnam would become the next Asian domino. That was one reason for Truman's 1950 decision to give aid to the French who were fighting the Vietminh.

Viet Cong (VC) National Liberation Front (NLF) Code Name: Victor Charlie The political organization and army of South Vietnamese communists who fought against the United States in the Vietnam Action. Many South Vietnamese were Communist despite South Vietnam being Democratic. They were recruited to fight for the Vietminh.

Ho Chi Minh Trail The Ho Chi Minh trail was a system trails that ran from the North Vietnam to the South Vietnam through the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia.

Ho Chi Minh Started Communist freedom from Japan and France as early as WW 2 In the battle of Dienbienphu, the Vietminh defeated France under his leadership

Ngo Dinh Diem After the Geneva Convention the US put it’s faith in Ngo Dinh Diem to lead South Vietnam. Diem was a Catholic and gave jobs in Catholic favor. Buddhist monks protested and Diem responded with force. He destroyed 2,000 Buddhist temples and killed dozens of Buddhists.

Buddhist execution

Diem Protest

Instruments of the Vietnam War Attrition Instruments of the Vietnam War Agent Orange Napalm

Guerilla Warfare Tunnels

Tunnels Cont.

Protest at Home

1968 LBJ Pulls Out wins 1968 election Nixon goes back in to Cambodia Finally get out in 1972, last soldiers in 1975 Henry Kissinger Richard Nixon wins 1968 election Nixon’s National Security Advisor

Key Dates 1954 North Vietnam conquers South Vietnam 1961 Kennedy sends over US troops to train (secret) 1964 Kennedy assasinated 1965 Johnson signs Tonkin Resolutions Sends over troops for police action