US Support and the Turning Point of Vietnam Chapter 19, Section 2 & 3

The War in the Air Bombing Campaign of North Vietnam – Operation Rolling Thunder- March 1965 – Attacked bases, airfields, bridges, roads, train tracks, power plants, factories – Major Target: Ho Chi Minh Trail Way to get supplies to Vietcong

Destroying the Trail – Most of the trail was through the jungles and forests of Laos and Cambodia US started spraying the trees to kill the plants so they could see the ground Other Air Weapons – Napalm – Cluster Bombs – Carpet Bombing Having no target

This didn’t work – Supplies continued to get to the Vietcong – Soviet Union and China helping the North – Bombing increased in the North, Laos, Cambodia, and South This caused South Vietnamese to join the Vietcong

War on the Ground The US Fight – William Westmoreland Commander of the US ground troops in South Vietnam Ordered search and destroy missions – Pacification “win the hearts and minds” of the South Relocate people and burn the village

US Forces on the Move The Draft – Only about 45% of registered men were called to duty 25%- Bad Health 30%- Deferments Poorer families sent troops – Picked by B-Day – Ended in 1973

Not Everyone Fought – Many Americans were engineers, doctors, transportation – Just because they didn’t have to fight doesn’t mean they were safe – Women were there too

Public Opinion Changes Media Coverage – Reporters and Photographers followed troops This brought the war into the living room – Government thought TV coverage would help show that the US was doing good Showed Vietnamese villages being burned

Hawks and Doves – Doves opposed the war – Hawks supported the war – Both groups criticized LBJ’s approach to war Anti-War Movement – Student protest People fought against the draft and ROTC programs Students for a Democratic Society – Opponents rallied for war

The Tet Offensive It Gets Started – Vietcong attacked the US Embassy – Next, US notice more movement on the trail – Attack on Khe Sanh by the NVA and Vietcong 77-Day siege Americans still had the base

The Main Attack – January 30 th, 1968 was the beginning of Tet Vietnamese New Year In the past, there had been a cease-fire so the Vietnamese could go home and celebrate – No Celebration This Year 84,000 North Vietnamese troops attack 12 different US bases and 100 Southern Cities – US fought back

Effects of the Tet Offensive People Were Upset – Communism wasn’t as weak as the government told everyone – Walter Cronkite went on TV and gave his opinion – More and more media were showing doubts – Robert S McNamara, Sec. of Defense, was discouraged

Problem with the Party – Election of 1968, who was going to be the democratic nominee 3 out of 4 opposed Johnson’s Vietnam policies – Eugene McCarthy was very against Johnson and ran – So did Bobby Kennedy – With all the people against him, Johnson decided not to run

Johnson Seeks a Solution Westmoreland wanted to send more troops – 206,000 more – Americans found out and were mad – Johnson said no – Delegates from the US and North Vietnam met in Paris to talk about peace

Election of 1968 With Johnson out of the race, his VP Hubert Humphrey ran – Against McCarthy and Kennedy – People were afraid things were going to get ugly

The Democratic Primary – Kennedy wins major primaries early on Everyone was pretty sure that he was going to be the nominee They were days away from the DNC – Another Kennedy was shot Sirhan Sirhan was a Jordanian mad over Kennedy’s support of Israel

1968 DNC – Delegates met to debate over McCarthy and Humphrey – Neither were amazing choices – Protests outside over the war Became very violent TV coverage showed police brutality

The Race Was On! – Nixon- Republican Easily won the nomination He had a secret plan to end the war – Humphrey- Democrat – George Wallace- Independent Very conservative Against civil rights movement Nixon won! – Close popular vote

Get Out Your Books Turn to page 619 – Into groups of four or five – Do either Critical Thinking or Focus on Speaking in the Section 3 Assessment – Work together on this and pick ONE person to come and present your graphic organizer or news report