1. Vietnam War ( )

2. Colonial Background-Vietnam
1800s -1954
French ruled Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)
1954-French Defeated
Vietnam becomes a Cold War concern
Geneva Accords (1954)
Vietnam is 17th Parallel following French Exit
North (Communist)
South (non-communist)
Vietnam lost its independence during European Imperialism in the mid 1800s
In 1883 Vietnamese were forced to grant France complete control
Franc later combined Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to form French Indochina
Geneva Accords
attempt to find a way to unify Vietnam and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina
The Soviet Union, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China were participants
carefully worded the division of northern and southern Vietnam as a "provisional military demarcation line"

3. Ho Chi Minh Minh supports Viet Cong Spent 30 years abroad
Embraced communism
Returned to Vietnam-1941
Established Viet Minh
Worked with US during WWII against Japan
Sought US support from Truman, was denied
French lost fight with Viet Minh in 1954
Supported by USSR/China
Minh supports Viet Cong
Communist insurgents in the south
-For 30 years Ho Chi Minh lived and worked in the US, Britain, France, USSR, and China working for vietnamese independence
-Embraced Communist Ideals- Some formal education in Moscow
-organized a resistance movement called League for Independece of vietnam or Viet Minh
When the japanese withrew from indochina after surrendering to the allied powers, the vietminh declared independence
He echoed Declaration of independece in his speech
By 1946, french and Viethinh were fighting over Vietnam again – US supported France, afraid communism would engulf asia
Viet Cong – rebel force fo Vietnamese communists

4. US Involvement in Vietnam
Eisenhower (1954) & Kennedy (1962)
Domino Theory
US provided aid first to French
Later to Democratic S. Vietnam
MACV
Kennedy sends aid and 15,000 military personnel
Advise and train S. Vietnamese troops
U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) was a joint-service Command of the United States Department of Defense.
MACV was created on 8 February 1962, in response to the increase in United States military assistance to South Vietnam.
U.S. commitment to the war in Vietnam, and American assistance to the South Vietnamese doubled between 1961 and 1962.

5. Escalation Gulf of Tonkin Resolution-1964
Reaction to the firing upon of US ships by the North Vietnamese
President can use all necessary force to protect US interests
Johnson orders 500,000 troops to South Vietnam
- On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol, engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron.
A sea battle resulted, One US aircraft was damaged, one 14.5 mm round hit the destroyer, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed and six were wounded; there were no U.S. casualties.
Johnson is granted authority to assist any South East Asian country whose government was considered to be jopardized by communist aggression = legal justification for deploying us forces in open warfare against N. Vietnnam WITHOUT formal declaration f owar by congress

6. Downfall of the Great Society
The cost of the war in Vietnam
The cost in $$
The cost in lives
The big protest movement
Massive upheavals in society
Civil Rights Movement
Chaos in the Democratic Party-Assassination of RFK
LBJ was more interested in domestic policy, however foreign policy demanded his attention
By spring of 1965, Johnson’s focus had shifted to fighting in vietnam,
In 1966, government spent 18 times more on vietnam than they did on war on poverty
MLK jr complained the great society had been “shot down on the battlefields of vietnam”
The movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began small--among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses--but gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest. Anti-war marches and other protests, such as the ones organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), attracted a widening base of support over the next three years,
In the frigid fall of 1969, more than 500,000 people marched on Washington to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. It remains the largest political rally in the nation's history.
RFK – June 5, 1968
Democratic campaign for president shot by Sirhan Sirhan, 24 year old palestinian immigrant
Hubert Humphrey won democratic nomination, but lost to Nixon for president in 1969

7. Downfall of the Great Society Cont.
Assassinations of
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King Jr.
Counterculture-rejected materialism and work ethic
Hippies
Widespread drug use
Opposition to Vietnam
JFK – Nov 22, 1963
Malcom X – feb
MLK jr – April 4, 1968
RFK – June 5, 1968
Counterculture of 1960s was a cultural phenomenom that developed in US and UK and spread throughout much of w world.
Gained momentum during vietnam war
Pop music – british bands like beatles and rise of hippie culture

8. Richard Nixon 1969 - 1974 Lost to Kennedy in 1960
Came back in to win!!
Promised to end the Vietnam War
“ We have endured a long night….let us gather the light”
Johnson became more worried about his failing health and was concerned that he might not live through another four-year term. Therefore, at the end of a March 31 speech, he shocked the nation when he announced he would not run for re-election by concluding with the line: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.“ --- backed Hubert Humphrey
Nixon won republican nom – was Einsenhowers VP and ran for pres in 1960 but lost to kennedy
Humphreys was LBJ’s vice pres
Nixon beat Humphrey by less than 500,000 votes
Nixon campaigned on a platform designed to reach the "silent majority" of middle class and working class Americans. He promised to "bring us together again," and many Americans, weary after years of antiwar and civil rights protests, were happy to hear of peace returning to their streets

9. Nixon’s Vietnam War Strategy
Vietnamization
Policy to end US involvement in the war
Shift the burden of war to the South Vietnamese
Promised the public de- escalation of the war
Helped him win 1968 election
Privately promised S. Vietnam he would escalate the conflict
Pentagon Papers
New York Times found out – US citizens began to mistrust US government
Plan to fulfill the campaign pledge to end the war, part of plan was vietnamization
Involved turning over the fighting to the south vietnamese while gradually pulling out troops
Would bring peace “with honor”
Hoped that S vietnam would set up stable anticommunist government
Pentagon Papers – published in 1971 in NY Times and showed that Johnson Admin had “systematically lied not only to the public but also to Congress”
More specifically, the papers revealed that the U.S. had secretly enlarged the scale of the Vietnam War with the bombings of nearby Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps attacks, none of which were reported in the mainstream media
Reporters criticized the government optimism and accused the US government of inflating enemy body counts to give the appearance of progress – Daniel Ellsberg was initially charged with conspiracy, epionage and theft of governement property but charges were later dropped after Watergate scandal entire set of Pentagon papers were declassified and publicly released for the first time.