Moving Toward Conflict

The French controlled most of what was known as Indochina from the 1800’s until the 1950’s – Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese communist, led the resistance against the French He founded an organization called the Vietminh, who fought against the French – In the 1940’s and 1950’s, the French were losing their hold on Vietnam and the US began helping Eisenhower believed in the domino theory, in which if one country went communist, the neighboring countries would become communist – The French surrendered their control of Vietnam in 1954 In the Geneva Accords the country was divided at the 17 th parallel into a nationalist South and a communist North – An election was supposed to be held in 1956 to unify the country

Primary Source Guiding Question: What did LBJ think about going to war in Vietnam? Highlight or underline anything in the primary source that can help you answer the guiding question Write a word summary of what the source has to say about the guiding question

Creating Timelines Read “The United States Steps In” and “President Johnson Expands the Conflict” on pages Make a timeline showing at least seven events that led up to increased US involvement in Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem, the president of South Vietnam, refuses to participate in elections in 1956 – The US supports his decision because communists were expected to win

The Vietcong, a communist opposition group in the South, begins fighting in 1957 – They were supported by Ho Chi Minh and used both terrorism and guerilla warfare tactics

Kennedy comes into office in 1961 and supports Diem – Provides money and 16,000 military personnel as “advisers”

In 1963, Buddhist monks begin using self- immolation as a form of protest against Diem’s persecution of Buddhism

The US helps overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem on November 1, 1963

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution is adopted by Congress on August 7, 1964 – Gave Johnson authority over military action in Vietnam – Given in response to an “attack” on a US Navy destroyer off the North Korean coast

LBJ launches Operation Rolling Thunder and increases US involvement in 1965 – Rolling Thunder was a bombing campaign in North Vietnam – 50,000 troops were in Vietnam by June

SCR Practice Guiding Question: How did the US get into a war in Vietnam? Come up with three main ideas that would help answer the guiding question – Main ideas should be connected with the question and represent your own thinking and analysis – Include detailed evidence to prove each of your main ideas