1. 8.3a
Explain the development of the war in Vietnam and its impact on American government and politics, including the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the policies of the Johnson administration, protests and opposition to the war, the role of the media, the policies of the Nixon administration, and the growing credibility gap that culminated in the Watergate scandal.

2. Vietnam
After WWII, the French attempted to restore their control of Southeast Asia.
However, they met with resistance from the nationalist ***(Communists) forces, the Viet Minh, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.
The Truman and Eisenhower administration aided the French with arms and money until the French were defeated.
The French and Viet Minh reached a peace agreement, the ***1954 Geneva Accords, which divided the country at the 17th parallel until elections were held.

5. Claiming that followers of Ho Chi Minh were communists directed from Moscow and Beijing and citing the ***“domino theory”, the Eisenhower administration backed the unpopular and corrupt government in South Vietnam.
The South Vietnamese government under Diem refused to hold the elections called for by the Geneva Accords because Ho Chi Minh would have won.
The ***Viet Cong were formed as a resistance movement to the South Vietnam (Democratic) government.
In the early 1960’s both President Eisenhower sent military aid and military advisors to South Vietnam to combat communist rebels (Viet Cong or VC)
***North Vietnam (Communists) supplied support to the Viet Cong.

6. Flag of the Viet Cong in 1960

8. U.S. Involvement Escalates
Kennedy increased the number of military advisers in South Vietnam.
The increased US presence eroded support for the South Vietnamese government.
***It became clear to the Kennedy administration that the war could not be won with the Diem government in power.
***Kennedy approved a CIA-supported coup to overthrow the corrupt Diem government. Diem was assassinated.
***Kennedy thought about pulling all U.S. aide out of Vietnam, but he himself was assassinated.
***President Johnson quickly made it clear that he refused to lose Vietnam to the communists and greatly increased U.S. troop commitment.

9. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
In 1964 Johnson wanted to greatly increase U.S. troop strength, but public opinion was against this move.
Then Johnson announced that a U.S. ship had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin although today many doubt whether this even occurred.
Johnson used the event to get Congress to pass the ***Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave the President the authority to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States.”
***This gave Johnson the power to take military action without Congress declaring war.

10. The U.S. War Effort in Vietnam
By 1965 the Viet Cong had started to successfully expand in South Vietnam politically.
Their success depended upon supplies from North Vietnam. These supplies came down the Ho Chi Minh Trail which was built through Cambodia and Laos.
To try and cut off this support and in response to an attack that killed 8 U.S. soldiers Johnson ordered Operation Rolling Thunder. The first of many massive bombing campaigns. More bombs were dropped on Vietnam than on Germany. Many civilians were killed.
Johnson refused to bomb certain targets for fear of bringing the U.S.S.R. or China into the war. Both countries supplied weapons and money to the North Vietnamese government.

11. Operation Rolling Thunder

13. Pres. Johnson addressing a Vietnam soldier

19. Growth of the Protest Movement
By 1967, there were 500,000 American troops in Vietnam
To meet the need ever rising demand for soldiers, they reinstituted the draft
The draft was seen as unfair because some were granted medical exemptions and college deferments or enlisted in the National Guard to avoid going to Vietnam
African Americans served in large numbers as ground troops
Like the Civil War in the South, the Vietnam War was seen as a “poor man’s fight”

20. Organizations which had formed in response to McCarthyism and the civil rights movement turned their attention to the war.
Some returning soldiers joined the protest as Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Protesters used the tactics of the civil rights movement, staging a march on Washington
As the protests became more provocative, including the burning of draft cards, protestors lost public support
Television coverage of the war and the protests divided the nation into hawks and doves.

27. In January of 1968, media coverage of the
In January of 1968, media coverage of the ***Tet Offensive showed that the Viet Cong forces could attack anywhere and anytime, thus leading to a shift in public opinion against the war.
Public opposition and a split within the Democratic Party over the war led Lyndon Johnson to withdraw his name from consideration for the nomination in 1968 and begin negotiations to end the conflict.