Chapter 22 Vietnam Pages

Terms to Know Containment Domino Theory Pacification Tonkin Gulf Resolution Vietnamization Ho Chi Minh Trail War Powers Act

Asia

Indochina

Vietnam Was an independent Kingdom By the 1880’s a French colony During WWII The French went home to defend France Americans and Vietnamese, led by Ho Chi Minh, fought the Japanese

Ho Chi Minh Was a popular leader and a valuable ally BUT he was communist The U.S. supported the French after the war when they wanted to reestablish themselves in Vietnam

The First Indochinese War By 1953 the U.S. was paying for 80% of the French war in Vietnam Please remember…the U.S. supported the French…why?

Containment Also…the Domino Theory The belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, the other countries would fall as well …like dominos

1953 Dien Bien Phu The French gave up The Geneva Accords ended it: Vietnam would be divided at the 17 th parallel The North occupied by the soviets and led by HO Chi Minh The South occupied by the U.S. and led by Ngo Dinh Diem Elections slated for 1960

Ngo refused to hold elections The Second Indochinese War Vietnam War… The U.S. sent only advisors while Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy were Presidents Ngo was corrupt and persecuted Buddhist monks. Was assassinated 1963

Vietnam and LBJ President Johnson supported a government under General Van Theiu…corrupt but left the monks alone and was not a communist Pacification: Johnson’s philosophy in Vietnam To win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people through democracy Vam Theiu’s government was NOT democratic!

Johnson had been told By U.S. generals that the war could be quickly ended with American troops So he went to congress and said that 2 American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin had been sunk by the North Vietnamese…an unprovoked act of war! A lie.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Congress gave the President the authority to send in troops By 1967 there were 568,000 American troops in Vietnam and we still were not winning Why not?

Who were we fighting? The Vietminh: The Army of North Vietnam NLF: National Liberation Front The Vietcong: Ho Chi Minh’s supporters in South Vietnam Guerilla warfare, snipers, fragging Different than in WWII Drugs

The New Left Aka…the counterculture College students were against the war Draft Dodgers Deferments: mainly for college attendance Later, to keep the deferments, students had to keep up their grades Some professors handed out A’s like candy

The SDS Students for a Democratic Society Tom Hayden and the Port Huron Statement Civil Rights groups were also against the war But until 1968 mainstream Americans supported the government

1968 The Year from Hell The My Lai Massacre The Tet offensive: Brought the war into our living rooms The television coverage turned most Americans against the war We could not win and Johnson knew it

Vietnam Took the money meant for the war on poverty We could not quit…too many had died Total: 58,000 Americans We could not escallate without dragging China into the war

Nixon and Vietnam Vietnamization: his secret plan to stop the war Gradually withdraw U.S. troops while training South Vietnamese to defend themselves Began to bomb Cambodia to get to the Ho Chi Minh Trail (The enemy’s supply lines)

The First Student Strike Was caused by what the students called the illegal bombing of Cambodia Nixon considered the college students to be the biggest obstacle in the war May the shootings at Kent State University

The Pentagon Papers Secret State Department documents about the Johnson years in Vietnam The truth about the Gulf of Tonkin came out We were fighting a war based on a lie Congress reacted quickly

The War Powers Act Restricted Presidential Power The President had to account for his actions within 90 days of sending American troops to foreign wars

The Paris Accords Ended it The U.S. would withdraw from Vietnam The Northern army would withdraw from the South POW exchange Nixon: Peace with Honor (we lost)

Nixon’s resignation Gerald Ford 1974…North Vietnam invaded the South Ford notified congress No action taken by the U.S. Vietnam fell to communism…so did Cambodia