The Vietnam War Part 2: Increased U.S Involvement ( ) What was John F. Kennedy’s stance on U.S. involvement in Vietnam? How did the Johnson Administration escalate American involvement?

JFK and Vietnam ( ) 17 th Parallel Vietnam was the 17 th Parallel North = Ho Chi Minh (communist) South= Ngo Dinh Diem (pro-West) Ngo Dinh Diem 1956= refused a nationwide election…feared that it would be “fixed” Ho Chi Minh and Vietcong = angry, start to arm themselves. CIVIL WAR Kennedy = sends 15,000 military advisors to train South Vietnamese army

JFK and Vietnam ( ) Kennedy = Strategic Hamlets: troops armed villages where peasants were moved.

Ho Chi Minh Ngo Dinh Diem

JFK and Vietnam ( ) Ngo Dinh Diem = not a popular leader 1963 = He’s Catholic, he outlaws Buddhism

JFK and Vietnam ( ) Nov. 1, 1963 USA aids in the assassination of Diem Generals launched a military coup and seized power Nov. 22, 1963 JFK is assassinated!

Johnson and Vietnam still part 2…we’re still getting more and more involved in the Vietnam conflict…

Do we go to Vietnam to contain Communism?? The Truman Doctrine (1947) = Containment Policy “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” Biggest Decision for Johnson

Johnson and Vietnam ( ) 1963: Lyndon B. Johnson = President LBJ has to decide: Do we go to Vietnam? Or Withdraw Troops? Johnson decides to go to war = afraid it would look like U.S. gave up, “soft on communism” 1964 Re-Election Year!  Event  U.S. Ship is attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin (truth? Propaganda?)

Gulf of Tonkin – August 2, 1964 –LBJ announces that North Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on 2 American destroyers –Orders American aircraft to attack North Vietnamese ships and naval facilities Did not reveal that American ships were helping South Vietnam conduct spying and commando raids again North Vietnam Johnson and Vietnam ( )

2.) Johnson and Vietnam But, War was never Declared? Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) Congress gave power of war to the President “take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack” 1965: LBJ sends 50,000 combat troops Operation Rolling Thunder = bomb N. Vietnam 1968: 500,000 US troops fighting with S. Vietnam troops Johnson and Vietnam ( )

Feelings towards involvement in Vietnam Some advisors worried that if we got too involved, it would be hard to get out Most of LBJ’s advisors believed the duty of the US was to stop communism in Vietnam –Maintain stability in Southeast Asia –Ensure the US’s continuing power and prestige Johnson and Vietnam ( )

Warfare in Vietnam Vietcong = lacked firepower; used guerilla tactics, ambushes, and booby traps; blended into villages and disappeared US = “search and destroy” missions ( Bomb positions, destroy supply lines, force out into open for combat) –Destroy landscape so Vietcong can’t hide in jungles –Napalm: jellied gasoline that explodes on contact –Agent Orange: chemical that strips leaves and turns farmland & forest into wasteland Johnson and Vietnam ( )

Agent Orange Between 1962 and 1971 the US sprayed nearly 20,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange (herbicide/defoliant) in Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia –Part of aerial defoliation program known as Operation Ranch Hand