1. Vietnam

3. JFK Foreign Policy Bay of Pigs, Cuba April 1961
Berlin Wall, August 1961
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

4. Vietnam History of fighting against colonial rule dating to 1930s
Independence in sight after Dien Bien Phu, May 1954
Geneva Accords divide country at 17th parallel

5. U.S. involvement in Vietnam
Why Vietnam?
U.S. supported government in the South led by Ngo Dinh Diem and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and the National Liberation Front (NLF)
Kennedy increased the number of military advisors from 800 to 17,000
Diem assassinated in 1963 by dissenting generals in his army

6. Johnson’s War Kennedy assassinated November 1963
August 1964, Gulf of Tonkin incident and resolution
First American combat troops in Vietnam, March 1965
War of Attrition

7. Why the U.S. lost? Political nature of the guerrilla war in the South
Popularity of Ho Chi Minh
Underestimated the Vietnamese and reasons for fighting
Issue of morale
U.S. strategy of attrition
Demoralized U.S. ally
Unpopularity of War in the U.S.

8. The U.S. Soldier GIs were predominately poor/working class
70% White, disproportionate number of Latino, Black, and Native American
Soldiers lacked a clear battlefront & strategy
Unknown enemy with so many supporting NLF
Drug abuse and racial conflict an issue
The U.S. Soldier

9. 1968: The Turning Point Tet Offensive, January 1968 My Lai, March 1968
Johnson announces U.S. withdrawal and decision not to run for re-election

10. Nixon & “Vietnamization”
What is Vietnamization?
Nixon wants to preserve U.S. credibility
Bombing invasions of Cambodia and Laos
Paris Peace Accord, January 1973
Fall of Saigon, April 1975

11. Vietnam Key terms: Kennedy – Nixon debate, Cuban Missile Crisis,
Viet Minh, Ngo Dinh Diem, Ho Chi Minh, Gulf of Tonkin,
War of Attrition, Tet Offensive, My Lai incident, “Vietnamization”,
Fall of Saigon