1. Chapter 22 The Vietnam War years
State Standards
11.9.3,

2. Moving Toward Conflict
From late 1800s until WWII, France ruled most of Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia)
Many revolutionaries fled to China
1940 WWII Japanese take control of Vietnam
1941, Vietminh created by Ho Chi Minh
Organization whose goal was to win independence from foreign rule
1945, French regain southern half

3. America supports French in French Indochina War (1950)
Provided French with economic & military support ($15 million)
Vietnamese peasants protest harsh treatment by French
President Eisenhower continued supplying French aid (nearly $1 billion)

4. LBJ’s Domino Theory – idea that if a nation falls under communist control, nearby nations will also fall
1954, French forced to surrender at Dien Bien Phu
France, Great Britain, Soviet Union, U.S., China, Laos and Cambobia met in Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Accords – peace agreement that temporary divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel.

5. Election to unite Vietnam
Postponed by Ngo Dinh Diem with support from U.S.
North Vietnam (Communist)
Ho Chi Minh
South Vietnam (Anti-Communist)
Ngo Dinh Diem
Supported by Eisenhower’s administration
However, was corrupt and did not redistribute land to peasants, and prohibited Buddhism

6. Supported by Ho Chi Minh
1957 Vietcong (National Liberation Front) communist opposition group in South began attacks on Diem Gov.
Supported by Ho Chi Minh
Supplied troops and arms along a network of paths called the Ho Chi Minh trail
Outside the borders of Vietnam

7. Diem attacked Buddhist killing hundreds U.S. urges Diem to stop!
November 1, 1963 U.S. supported coup topples Diem’s regimes
Diem assassinated against Kennedy’s will
South Vietnam brought under more chaos as a string of military leaders attempt to lead the country
More unstable than previous goverment.
(Kennedy dies few weeks later…)

8. August 2, 1964 – North Vietnamese patrol boat fires torpedo at two American destroyers
LBJ escalates conflict
Asked Congress for powers to take “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the U.S. and to prevent further aggression”

9. Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Granted Johnson broad military powers
Johnson send additional soldiers to Vietnam
NOT a declaration of war!
LBJ uses his new powers on February 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder
First sustained bombing of North Vietnam
June, 50,000+ U.S. troops in Vietnam
End of 1965, 180,000 Americans in Vietnam
,000 Americans in Vietnam

10. General William Westmoreland
Commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) – South Vietnamese Army
Plan – destroy their morale through war of attrition – gradual wearing down of the enemy by continuous harassment.
Track body count of Vietcong

11. elusive enemy with surprise attacks
U.S. underestimated Vietcong
Believed war was military struggle
Vietcong believed war was a battle for their existence
Vietcong used Guerrilla warfare
elusive enemy with surprise attacks
Tunnels in jungle
Civilians in village
Booby traps and mines
U.S, tried to expose Vietcong tunnels

12. Military Strategies Napalm – gasoline-based bomb set fire to jungles
Agent Orange – leaf-killing toxic chemical
Search and Destroy missions – uprooting civilians with suspected ties to Vietcong
Killed their livestock, & burned villages
War of attrition – gradual wearing down of the enemy by continuous harassment
“Communist guerillas hide among the people, if you win the people over to your side, the communist have no place to hide”
U.S. most advanced weaponry

25. LBJ’s Great Society suffers
$6 billion reduction in funding to support the war
Economy begins to suffer
Inflation rate tripled by 1969
Becomes living-room war
1967, Americans split over support
LBJ’s administration started to quote “body counts”
Hoped to persuade Americans that Vietcong were going to surrender.
Critics concerned with “credibility gap”

27. Chapter 22 The Vietnam War years
State Standards
11.9.3,

28. Fulbright Hearings (1966-1971) – U.S. Senate hearings on Vietnam
"The war is not going well. The situation is worse than reported in the press and worse, I believe, than indicated in intelligence reports."
"If there is a God, and he is very kind to us, and given a million men, and five years, and a miracle in making the South Vietnamese people like us, we stand an outside chance of a stalemate."
Added to Americans dislike of the Vietnam War

29. Draft
18 to 26 called up to military service
Exemption
Medical reasons
College deferment
Draft lottery system (1969)
Women in Vietnam
10,000 women served (mostly as nurse)
Others volunteered for Red Cross or USO

30. African Americans in Vietnam
20% of combat deaths (only 10% of troops)
MLK called war “cruel irony, black Americans dying for a country that still treated them as second-class citizens”
Racial tensions in platoons led to low troop morale

31. Opposition to war New Left – youth movement, demanded changes
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) – called for restoration of “participatory democracy” & greater individual freedom
Free Speech Movement (FSM) – focused criticism on “American Machine” the faceless & powerful business and government institutions.
Led to campus Activism

32. Teach-ins
1965, March on Washington by 20,000 protestors
LBJ changes student deferment
Required to be in good academic standing
Led to protest
Youth oppose war because
War was a Vietnamese civil war
South Vietnamese government no better than Communist
Can’t police world – war draining U.S.
War unjust

33. Draft resistance
200,000 accused of draft offenses
4,000 imprisoned
10,000 Americans fled country (Canada)
Doves – strongly opposed to war
Hawks – strongly supported war
1967, Robert McNamara resigns as Defense Secretary

44. 2 assassinations (JFK & MLK), urban riots, campus protests
A Tumultuous Year
2 assassinations (JFK & MLK), urban riots, campus protests
1968- Numerous Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army attacks
Stunned Americans-led them to turn against the war
Tet Offensive
January 30 –week long truce
(Vietnamese equivalent of New Year’s Eve)
Beginning of the lunar new year festivities known as Tet
Celebrations and funerals held (firecrackers, flutes, coffins)
Vietcong sneak weapons in coffins and launch attack on South cities and American airbases (100+ towns)
Month of fighting before U.S. and South regained control
Vietcong lost 32,000
Americans and ARVN lost 3,000
Americans shaken – enemy close to defeat?

46. Tet changes public opinion
Poll prior to Tet
28% of Americans called themselves doves
56% of Americans called themselves hawks
Media reports were skeptical but balanced
Poll after Tet
40% of Americans both doves and hawks
Media Reports openly criticized the war
Clark Clifford – new defense secretary
Declared war unwinnable

47. LBJ’s popularity plummeted
February 1968 – 60% disapproved of his handling of the war
Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy run against Johnson
(Democratic Party split)
March 31, Johnson withdraws
U.S. would seek negotiations to end war
“Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president….“That… war, killed the lady I really loved – the Great Society”

48. Race for President Robert Kennedy Democratic National Convention
Strong candidate in Democratic primary
assassinated
Democratic National Convention
Eugene McCarthy v. Hubert Humphrey (LBJ’s VP)
Democrats met at convention to choose candidate
Humphrey already chosen before convention
Upset many antiwar activists

49. Arrival in Chicago for the Convention 10,000 protestors arrive
Pressure Democrats to take an antiwar platform
Voice displeasure with Humphrey’s nomination
Provoke violence (Yippies)
Mayor ordered 12,000 police & 5,000 National Guard
“The world is watching”
Democrats- inside and outside the convention hall- became a party of disorder

50. Republican candidate – Richard Nixon
Promised to restore law & order and end Vietnam War
George Wallace – Governor of Alabama, third party candidate
American Independent candidate –Southern states
“white backlash”- disgusted with inner city riots and antiwar protests
Nixon wins election…
Greatest political comeback in American Politics
(1960- loss to Kennedy for presidency)
(1962- loss for gvnr. CA)