1. Causes of the Vietnam War Warm-Up Pg. 45
Read pages
As you read:
List the causes of conflict, including how the United States became involved in this conflict.

2.
The Vietnam War – 1975

3. Vietnam Timeline/Bar Graph
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
50,000
10,000
War Powers Act
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Fall of Saigon
Tet Offensive
Vietnamization

4. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1964 – 16,000 troops in Vietnam
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
US INVOLVED IN VIETAM
President Johnson announces North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. (TRUE?)
President Johnson asked Congress for a resolution giving him the authority to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression”
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – giving Johnson a BLANK CHECK.

5. ESCALATION OF TROOPS
1965 – 186, – 389, – 486, – 537, 000

6. Who Is the Enemy? Vietcong: Farmers by day; guerillas at night.
Very patient people willing to accept many casualties.
The US grossly underestimated their resolve and their resourcefulness.

7. The Air War 1965-1968 1965: Sustained bombing of North Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder (March 2, 1965)
: Ongoing bombing of Hanoi nonstop for 3 years! Especially targeted the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Carpet Bombing – Napalm and Agent Orange

8. 1968 - THE TET OFFENSIVE: A TURNING POINT
Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launch major offensive. (67,000 attack 100 cities, bases, and the US embassy in Saigon)
Took every major southern city
COMMUNIST BRUTAILITY
MASSACRE at My Lai
Viet Cong turned back w/heavy losses after a month

9. Tet Offensive - “Psychological victory”
Hey, Hey LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?
Viet Cong could launch massive attack
1st televised war and horrible images were creating reservations about American involvement.

10. Massacre at My Lai

11. Surrounded by brutality and under extreme distress, American Soldiers also sometimes Committed atrocities. Such brutality came in to sharp focus at My Lai, a small village in South Vietnam. In response to word that My Lai was sheltering 250 members of the Viet Cong, a United States infantry company moved in to clear out the village in March Rather than enemy soldiers, the company found women, children, and old men. Lt. Calley was in charge. First he ordered, “Round up everybody.” Then he gave the command for prisoners to be killed. Private Paul Meadlo later described what happened to one group of Vietnamese: “We huddled them up. We made them squat down…….I poured about four clips(about 68 shots) into the group….Well, we kept right on firing….I still dream about it….Some nights, I can’t even sleep. I just lay there thinking about it.” Probably more than 400 Vietnamese died in My Lai massacre. Even more would have perished without the heroic actions of a helicopter crew which stepped in to halt the slaughter. At great risk to himself and his crew, pilot Hugh Thompson landed the helicopter between the soldiers and the fleeing Vietnamese. He ordered his door gunner, 18 year old Lawrence Colburn, to fire his machine gun at the American troops if they began shooting the villagers. Thompson got out, confronted the leader of the soldiers, and the arranged to evacuate the civilians. Thompson’s crew chief, Glenn Andreotta, pulled a child from a ditch full of dead bodies.

13. VIETNAMIZATION
In June 1969 President Nixon announces a new policy to remove U.S. forces.
GOALs:
withdraw US ground troops
shifting the military operations
to the South Vietnamese Army.
This would shift the burden of fighting
to the Vietnamese people and South
Vietnam would learn to defend itself.
BY 1972 AMERICAN TROOP STENGTH DROPPED TO 24,000

14. 1973 – WAR POWERS ACT Limits Presidents war making powers
Requires the President to :
Notify Congress within 48 hours of committing American troops to combat
End the combat within 90 days unless Congress authorizes a longer period.
In addition: Congress can end the combat
at any time by passing a resolution.
Executive
Vs.
Legislative
Last American troops left South Vietnam on March 1973

15. 1975 – FALL OF SAIGON MARKS END OF VIETNAM WAR
Americans abandon Embassy
South Vietnamese attempt to flee the country.
North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam.

16. The Costs 3,000,000 Vietnamese killed
58,000 Americans killed; 300,000 wounded
2,583 American POWs / MIAs still unaccounted for today
$173,000,000,000 in U.S. spending
Underfunding for Great Society Programs
U.S. morale, self-confidence and trust of government was damaged
No welcome home (shamed and ashamed), high unemployment, alcohol & drug abuse; poor care of disabled vets: underfunded vets hospitals, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; Agent Orange health problems, birth defects in vets’ children.
Agent Orange

17. Roy Benavidez From Cuero, Texas
Saved at least 8 soldiers during a rescued mission in Vietnam
he ran through enemy fire to rescue soldiers and get them to a helicopter
the helicopter was shot down and Benavidez was gravely injured as he fought off Vietnamese soldiers in hand to hand combat
He was not expected to live and so was given the Distinguished Service Cross
When he recovered from his injuries and the story was published, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by Reagan

18. The Vietnam War Memorial, Washington D. C.

19. Memorial to Servicemen and Nurses in Vietnam