September 20, 2011

Vietnam Note location of Hanoi and Saigon Note infiltration routes from North to South via Laos and Cambodia War in mountains and forests vs. war in rice paddies

Guerrilla War Combatants try to blend into population. Large-scale battles avoided until end of war. War of attrition via: sabotage assassination sniper attacks hit-and-run warfare

Key Events in the U.S. Intervention in Vietnam defeat of the French in the Battle of Dien Bien PhuBattle of Dien Bien Phu Geneva AccordsGeneva Accords JFK supports a coup d’etat against Ngo Dinh Diem and increases U.S. military commitment to S. VietnamNgo Dinh Diem LBJ decides to increase U.S. troops in Vietnam to 160,000

Ho Chi Minh Leader of the Vietnamese nationalists in their struggle against the reassertion of French colonial power after World War II.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) LBJ assumed the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in LBJ decided to greatly increase the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam. He was never able to explain this decision adequately to the U.S. public.

Key Events (Continued) The Tet Offensive (1968) The Tet Offensive LBJ decides not to run for reelection RFK assassinated, Nixon wins in 1968 Nixon “Vietnamizes” the war, major antiwar protests begin Christmas bombing of Hanoi (1972) Paris Peace Accords (1973) Paris Peace Accords Saigon falls, war ends (1975)

Nixon Vietnamizes the War In 1969, Richard Nixon announced that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam and replacing them with Vietnamese fighters. He claimed he was seeking “peace with honor.”

Student Shot at Kent State

On Television: Murder of Suspected Viet Cong

End of the War, 1975 Pictures show helicopters leaving U.S. Embassy in Saigon; and Vietnamese allies trying to get inside the embassy gate.

Francis Ford Coppola: Selected Filmography The Godfather (1972) The Conversation (1974) Apocalypse Now (1979) The Cotton Club (1984) Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)