1. Vietnam: The Air War

2. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Key Passages
Joint Resolution
To promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia …
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression. …
The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the maintenance of international peace and security in Southeast Asia.

3. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
What was the significance of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?

4. Timeline 16 Oct 64 China explodes its first nuclear weapon I Nov 64
VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base
• First attack on Americans; five Gis killed
3 Nov 64
Lyndon Johnson elected to presidency by landslide

5. Attacks on US Airfields
I Nov 64
VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigom
• First attack on Americans; five Gis killed
6 Feb 65
VC attack US base at Pleiku (central Highlands)
• Eight Americans killed, ten aircraft destroyed
7 Feb 65
President orders air strikes against North Vietnam
• Operation Flaming Dart continues to 24 Feb 65
7 Mar 65
President authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder
• Progressively escalating air attack against North Vietnam
• Dual military and political objectives
• Ran until 2 Nov 68

6. Operation Rolling Thunder Battlefield Vietnam – Part 10
( 58:16)
( Intro – 5:05 )

7. Operation Rolling Thunder - Enemy Defenses
Battlefield Vietnam – Part 10
( 5:52-11:42)
( 5:51 )

8. Battlefield Vietnam – Part 10
Air War in the South
Battlefield Vietnam – Part 10
( 11:52 – 15:24 )
( 5:51 )

9. Operation Arc Light
B-52D Stratofortress
“The Buff”

10. B-52D “Big Belly” Mod

11. Andersen AFB, Guam
Main Arc Light Base

12. B-52D Bomb Loading

13. B-52D Bomb Rack

14. Arc Light Strike
Video (no sound)

15. FACs provided bomb damage assessments (BDA) for Arc Light missions
Arc Light Results
FACs provided bomb damage assessments (BDA) for Arc Light missions

16. Vietnam: The In-Country Air War
The FAC’s War

17. Defoliation Spray Missions
The Vietnam War
Operation Ranch Hand
Defoliation Spray Missions

18. Battlefield Vietnam – Part 9
Operation Ranch Hand
Defoliation Operations
Battlefield Vietnam – Part 9
( 7:36-9:02 )
( 1:26 )

19. Support for Buildup
“Even in the aftermath of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, as the Johnson administration began increasing troop levels in Southeast Asia,
… 45 percent of Americans wanted to stay the course in Vietnam,”
… 36 percent wanted to 'step up the war by carrying the fight to North Vietnam,' for example, through more air strikes against communist territory,
… while only 19 percent supported pulling out. In short, by a large margin, Americans demanded victory of their leaders ... A
Lyndon Johnson, then, was acting with the full faith and support of his electorate.
Joshua Zeitz
" The Year the Sixties Began"
American Heritage, October 2006
Source

20. Buildup In Vietnam Why was our buildup in Vietnam so slow?
Gulf War: Aug Jan-Mar 1991
Gradual escalation?
Fear of Soviet or Chinese intervention?
Lack of infrastructure?
Probably a little of each!

21. LBJ’s Dilemma “In later years [Johnson] lamented:
'I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved.
If I left the woman I really loved, the Great Society, in order to get involved in that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, I would lose everything at home. All my programs.
... But if I left that war and let the communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser, and we would both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.’”
Joshua Zeitz
" The Year the Sixties Began"
American Heritage, October 2006
Source

22. The Great Society

23. LBJ’s Dilemma
Escalate or Withdraw?

24. Discussions on Escalation
Feb 65 – Jul 65
Part 1
Feb-Mar 64
Part 2
May64
Part 3
Jun-Aug64
Part 4
Feb-Jun65
Part 5
Jun-Jul65

25. End

26. Defoliation Spray Missions
The Vietnam War
Operation Ranch Hand
Defoliation Spray Missions
More

27. Battlefield Vietnam – Air War
Operation Ranch Hand
Battlefield Vietnam – Air War
( 7:56– 9:22)

28. End

29. Link Images
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