1. Tonkin Gulf Incident
1964
USS Maddox attacked off coast of North Vietnam
2nd alleged incident

2. Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Congress gave President Johnson a “blank check”…
…not an official declaration of war

3. Causes of the War Long Term Short Term
Failed French effort to recolonize Vietnam after World War II, supported by U.S. aid
Division of Vietnam at 17th parallel under the Geneva Conference
American Cold War policy of containment and the “domino theory”
Short Term
Tonkin Gulf Incident: Congressional resolution gave the president a “blank check”

4. Fighting the War

5. vs. Combatants Army of the Republic of South Vietnam (ARVN)
United States (US)
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Viet Cong (VC)

6. Strategies U.S. & South Vietnam North Vietnam & Viet Cong
Limited war: bombing, then escalation
“Pacification” of South Vietnamese countryside to eliminate Viet Cong
Aid to South Vietnamese Army (ARVN)
North Vietnam & Viet Cong
Defensive guerilla war of attrition
Supply Viet Cong using the Ho Chi Minh trail inside Laos & Cambodia

7. Operation Rolling Thunder

8. Escalation

9. Guerilla Warfare

10. Ho Chi Minh Trail -Weapons -Troops -Escape Routes

11. Vietcong

12. Counter-Insurgency Warfare

13. Counter-Insurgency Warfare
“It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”

14. VC/NVA Atrocities

15. VC/NVA Atrocities

16. “Limited War”

17. Helicopters

18. Cluster Bombs

19. Napalm

20. Agent Orange

21. 1968: The Turning Point

22. Gen. William Westmoreland
“Light at the end of the tunnel”

23. Tet Offensive
New Year 1968
Surprise NVA/VC attacks in South Vietnam

24. LBJ’s Approval Rating

25. LBJ Steps Aside

26. 1968 Election

27. Richard Nixon: “Silent Majority”