2. The Vietnam Conflict

3. Some Facts… Longest war in U.S. history, only war we lost
Over 57, 000 Americans and 4 million Vietnamese were killed in war

4. French in Vietnam:
France controlled Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos beginning in 1886
Vietnamese resistance to French occupation grew during WWII
Ho Chi Minh led resistance against French with his troops the Vietminh in 1945 and asserted Vietnam’s independence

5. War continues… Vietminh defeated French in 1954; Geneva Accords –
– U.S. throws support to French (U.S. worried about Soviet and Chinese influence in Vietnam) with $3 billion in aid
Vietminh defeated French in 1954; Geneva Accords –
French agreed to leave Vietnam
Vietnam divided into North and South (fighting between N and S lasted through the 1950s)

6. U.S. Intervention:
Domino Theory – basis of intervention

7. U.S. supported South Vietnam and president Diem
Kennedy sent 1,000 military advisors to South Vietnam in 1961
By 1963 over 16,000 American military personnel sent over

8. Frustration with Diem’s Dictatorial and anti-Buddhist Regime…
South Vietnamese increasingly unhappy with Diem – U.S. didn’t get in the way when he was overthrown and assassinated

9. Johnson took over after J.F.K. assassination
Had doubts but didn’t want to be weak – sent more troops in 1964

10. Gulf of Tonkin
1964, North Vietnam purportedly hit a U.S. warship with machine gun fire
Congress approved Tonkin Gulf Resolution giving the president authority to conduct military operations against North Vietnam and the Vietcong in South Vietnam without any official declaration of war

11. Escalating the War…
U.S. began bombing North Vietnam on a regular basis starting in 1965
By 1967, 500,000 troops

12. Tet Offensive U.S. totally surprised
– Truce on Vietnamese new year, January 1968
70,000 communist soldiers launched a surprise offensive on South Vietnam, hundreds of cities and towns, urban areas, and U.S. embassy in Saigon attacked
U.S. totally surprised

13. Mai Lai Massacre
U.S. forces massacred villagers under direction of a Lieutenant, killed over 200 women, children, and old men in 1968

14. Hardship and Disillusionment
guerilla warfare – jungle, floods, rain, ambushes, Viet Cong mines, booby traps, close combat forcing U.S. air strikes which kill own troops
Hard to distinguish friends from enemies b/c of guerilla warfare and questionable alliances of South Vietnamese

16. U.S. dropped approx. 3.2 million tons of explosives on Vietnamese countryside; 90% were napalm bombs – chemical bombs that burned whatever it touched…
Fighting had devastating impact on Vietnamese civilians; in the North 80% killed were civilians

17. End of War:
U.S. pulled troops out in 1973, after five years of negotiations
Afterward, fighting between N and S began again; N ultimately won and country becomes communist
In 1993, U.S. finally lifted embargoes against Vietnam, reestablished diplomatic ties