1. Vietnam Chapter 30

2. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 7, 1964 Congress grants to the president 1.Any amount of troops 2.Anywhere 3.For any length of time To protect American lives Gives Pres. ability to make war without Congress This is the Vietnam War

3. Escalation Feb 65: Routine bombing of NV Mar 65: First combat troops land Early 66: 190,000 troops End 66: 265,000 End 67: 500,000 As each troop level fails to get the job done more troops are needed.

4. Limited War Theory Question: Why didn’t we just nuke them? Not able to, which means the US is limiting its actions, therefore Limited War Goal = # of troops + Equipment Need to know the goal to make formula work Problem: no defined goal In WWII every soldier knew why were fighting In Vietnam the soldiers did not know why they were fighting Escalation leads to the Draft

5. The Draft As the years wore on more opposition to the war emerged College students were exempt from the draft which left poor whites and blacks to fight But as the college students graduated they were then eligible for the draft and the protests would begin

6. Student Movement Origins Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) U. C. Berkley 1966 Wanted a say in the decisions made by college about student life Caught on at other colleges Students also disillusioned by hypocrisy of US gov. not living up to the ideals set forth in Declaration of Independence and Constitution regarding civil rights

7. Tet Offensive Feb 1968 Tet, the Lunar New Year NV/VC attack every major city in SV Takes US/SV by surprise capturing cities and the US Embassy in Saigon All are retaken, so militarily it was a failure. However...

8. Damage From Tet Psychologically Tet was devestating Walter Cronkite, most trusted news anchorman tells America the war is unwinnable We cannot tell friend from foe We don’t understand the language, culture, religion, customs

9. LBJ “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America” After Tet LBJ withdraws from the election of 1968 http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=731

10. April 4,1968 While working on a sanitation strike in Memphis, Tenn Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated James Earl Ray admits to the killing http://www.minoritynews.net/king_s_progress_setback_

11. Riots Racial tensions erupt across the country in reaction to the news Almost every city North and South experiences a race riot Nation is dividing

12. Election of 1968 Democratic primary Three man race VP Hubert Humphrey Sen. Eugene McCarthy Sen. Robert Kennedy

13. Hubert Humphrey Vice President Civil Rights Stay in Vietnam http://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/GALLERY/2458_13_07_09_7_29_10.jpg

14. Eugene McCarthy Senator (Minn) Anti-war candidate Appealed to the emerging hippie movement http://www.bobmccaughey.com/post1865/wp- content/uploads/2010/04/EugeneMccarthy.gif http://media4.teenormous.com/items/www.retrocampaigns.com/ima ges-graphics-cu-clean4gene10.jpg

15. Bobby Kennedy Former Attorney General Anti-war, Pro civil rights Wins the California primary in June ‘68 Many believe he has the inside track for the nomination Until... http://justiceforkennedy.blogspot.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-rfk.html

16. Assassination After victory speech led out through kitchen Shot by Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian who is angered over RFK’s support of Israel http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/rfk-assassin- sirhan-sirhan-seeks-freedom-today-at-parole-hearing.html

17. Conspiracy Theories Wounds suggest shots came from different direction Pruszynski Recording, newsman’s audio tape proves more than one gun was used As in Dallas another botched investigation

18. Same Question Why? Same Answer Killed because he wanted to remove US from Vietnam Aftermath: McCarthy drops out of the race.

19. DNC Chicago 1968 Democratic National Convention Officially nominate the Humphrey for president 10,000 anti-war protestors arrive 12,000 police meet them Protestors angered that DNC does not include an anti-war plank in their platform

20. Police Riot Protestors chant “The world is watching” Humphrey wins nomination in chaos http://www.shelleytherepublican.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/68-chicago.jpg

21. Republicans Richard Nixon Law and Order Peace with honor in Vietnam http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6- IIXAF5HOE/Sn0VpjKAeXI/AAAAAAAAGaI/QJ08 MWsHrrA/s1600-h/0808nixon68B.jpg

22. George Wallace American Party First modern 3 rd party candidate Law and order Segregationist “Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever.” http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Georg e_C_Wallace_(Alabama_Governor).png/200px- George_C_Wallace_(Alabama_Governor).png

23. Results Nixon wins Popular vote close Electoral not Nixon/Wallace win majority of states Shows much of nation wants a return to normalcy http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tDa2GiIRoyY/SqAEXC1Ob7I/AAAAAAAAAH w/P2Dgmh85spE/s320/1968+electoral+map.png

24. My Lai Massacre US patrols had been ambushed repeatedly near village of My Lai Village believed to be a VC stronghold Ordered to burn it to the ground What followed was a massacre of South Vietnamese citizens

25. No Stronghold Was Found US military slaughters 150-400 people

26. Who is responsible? The only person held accountable for the massacre of My Lai was 1st Lt. William Calley. He was only following orders.

27. Nixon Peace With Honor in Vietnam How? Vietnamization: Policy of returning responsibility for South Vietnam back to the South Vietnamese This will allow us military to return home

28. Ho Chi Minh Trail How does one defeat an enemy that is constantly being resupplied? Destroy the supply line Problem: Its not in Vietnam

29. Extending the War to Cambodia Since we don’t know where the exit points are we can’t destroy them Logically, if we can’t destroy the exits, then we have to destroy the trail To do this we have to begin bombing Cambodia

30. Kent State Massacre When students discover Cambodia is being bombed they protest Burn down the ROTC building National Guard called out 4 students died

31. Aftermath Nixon blames the students Public agrees ***Proves country had grown tired of protests.***

32. Henry Kissinger Nixon’s Secretary of State Opens negotiations with North Vietnam We are removing troops but still committed http://americanhistoryquotes.com/kissinger_henry.htm

33. Paris Peace Accords 1973 U.S. military personnel withdraw All nations will respect the sovereignty of South Vietnam Exchange of prisoners –U.S. receive 500 POW’s, more than a thousand not returned –Since war’s end over 99% of confirmed POW’s have been resolved

34. Fall of Saigon US military involvement ends Vietnam is now a civil war 1975 Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese –Renamed: Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam war is finally over The result: Communist win and therefore Vietnam is an independent Communist nation, just like they wanted in 1946, 54, 56 and every year after that

35. South Vietnamese storm the US embassy trying to escape. The US abandons hundreds of allies to torture and death at the hands of the North Vietnamese http://www.susanbkason.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Fall-of-Saigon.jpg

36. Totals US 58,000 Dead 153,000 Seriously Wounded 1,700 POW/MIA 220 Billion spent $1,363,192,247,637.71 (2010)

37. Vietnam South Vietnam More than 250,000 Dead Military North Vietnam 1,100,000 NV/VC Dead 150,000 From Diseases Estimates as high as 2,000,000 Vietnamese civilians died

38. Long Term Costs, US National prestige plummets Divided Nation National pride plummets Cost of war pushes nation into an economic recession

39. Why was Vietnam Different? Lack of civilian sacrifice led to lack of unity The nature of the Draft and eligibility or deferment led to divisions No international mandate as in Korea Television: first time public saw war images on a nightly basis without government or military censorship led to credibility gap Too many “incidents”: Tet, My Lai, Pentagon Papers Duration Nation was divided along too many lines