1. The Vietnam War

2. Background France controlled “Indochina” since the late 19th century.
Japan took control during WWII
With US aid, France attempted to re-colonize Indochina in the postwar period.

3. Background Ho Chi Minh builds nationalist resistance
Vietnamese “George Washington”
France fights and US pays for French-Indochina War
Dien Bien Phu = Disaster

4. Background Geneva Peace Conference
Vietnam Divided at the 17th Parallel
Ho Chi Minh’s nationalists controlled the North
Ngo Dinh Diem controlled the South

5. Background Democratic elections set to reunify Vietnam
Diem backed out & violence erupted

6. Background Participants North Vietnam Soviet Union China South Vietnam
United States
Vietcong

7. US Involvement Begins Repressive Diem Regime
French-educated Catholic leader
Diem’s family controlled government
Plutocracy developed
Buddhist majority repressed
Torture, intimidation and all kinds of fun things

9. US Involvement Begins He’s an SOB, but he’s our SOB
Eisenhower sent financial and military aid
675 military advisors sent by 1960

10. JFK & Vietnam Increases military advisors to 16,000
1963 military coup d'état
Supported (instigated?) by JFK
Diem & brother murdered
JFK assassinated weeks later

11. LBJ & Vietnam Remembers Truman’s “loss” of China Secretary of Defense
Domino Theory revived
“I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went.”
Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara
Primary architect of war
Gradual Escalation

12. LBJ & Vietnam: Crossing the Rubicon
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
USS Maddox attacked twice?
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
“Blank Check” to LBJ to fight the war

13. LJB & Vietnam
Troop Deployment

14. Vietnam – Iraq
2007
2008
2009
2005
2004
2006
2003

15. 1965-1968 No territorial goals Body Counts on TV every night
1st “Living Room” War
Vietcong receives supplies via the Ho Chi Minh Trail

16. 1965-1968 The Air War Operation Rolling Thunder - 1965
Sustained Bombing of North Vietnam
Hanoi bombed for 3 years
Downed pilots = P.O.W.s
Carpet Bombing v. Strategic Bombing
Napalm

18. 1965-1968 The Ground War General Westmoreland
We can see the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Westmoreland 1967

19. Who is the Enemy? North Vietnam Regulars Vietcong
Traditional military opponent
Vietcong
Citizen soldiers
Farm by day; Fight by night
Patient and Strategic
US grossly underestimated their resolve & resourcefulness
“The guerilla wins if he does not lose, the conventional army loses if it does not win.”
Mao Zedong

20. Vietcong - Insurgents

21. Vietcong - Insurgents

22. Vietcong - Insurgents

23. Vietcong - Insurgents

24. The Tet Offensive January 1968 NV Army + Vietcong Offensive
100 Cities & Bases
Hue & American Embassy in Saigon

25. The Tet Offensive Perception of Victory Impacts
US Battlefield Victory & Vietcong Disabled
US Intelligence Defeat
Impacts
US Public: Disbelief, Anger, Distrust of LBJ
“Hey, Hey LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?”

27. 1968 LBJ’s approval rating drops from 48% to 36% Announces:
“…I shall not seek, and I shall not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as President.”

28. Vietnam Strains American Society
Disproportionate representation of racial minorities and poor in enlisted ranks
Discipline problems
Racial Tension
Drug Abuse
Insubordination
“Fragging”

29. Vietnam Strains American Society
Officer versus Enlisted
Combat Rotation
Officers: 6 month front line & 6 months rear support
Enlisted: 12 month font line & varied rear support

30. America Divided
My Lai Massacre

31. America Divided
My Lai

32. America Divided Lt. William Calley
“Helicopter Attack” & “Following Orders”
War Criminal: 1st Degree Murder Conviction
Life Sentence – House Arrest – Released
Post My Lai

33. America Divided
Anti-War Demonstrations
Columbia University 1968

34. America Divided Anti-War Demonstrations
University of California Berkeley 1968

35. America Divided
Anti-War Demonstrations
Kent State University 1970

36. America Divided
Anti-War Demonstrations
Jackson State University 1970

37. America Divided Anti-War Demonstrations
Democratic National Convention - Chicago 1968

38. America Divided
Anti-War Demonstrations
Washington, DC 1967

39. America Divided
Counterculture
Jane Fonda

40. Nixon & Vietnam 1968 Presidential Campaign
“Peace with Honor” = End the War with Victory
Appealed to the “Silent Majority”

41. Nixon & Vietnam
Vietnamization

42. Nixon & Vietnam Pentagon Papers, 1971
LBJ Assigned “Research Paper” to the Pentagon
Daniel Ellsberg leaked documents to New York Times
Government misled Congress & American people through the 1960s
New York Times v. United States (1971)

43. Nixon & Vietnam Expansion of War Cambodia & Laos = Hit the Trail
1972 Christmas Bombing Campaign
Anti-War Demonstrations Increase

44. Nixon & Vietnam Expansion of the War Agent Orange = Chemical Defoliant
Bombing Hanoi
Mining Haiphong

45. Nixon & Vietnam 1972 “Peace is at Hand” Henry Kissinger
North Vietnam attacks South Vietnam
US Bombing of North Vietnam = more bombs than all of WWII

46. 1973 Ceasefire Negotiations to be covered later Conditions
US remove all troops
NV leave troops in SV
NV resumes war
No POW or MIA provisions

47. 1973 Ceasefire Last US troops leave SV 3/29/73 1975 NV defeats SV
Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City

48. South Vietnamese Flee country prior to fall of Saigon

49. North Vietnamese at the SV Presidential Palace

50. America Abandons Its Embassy
April 30, 1975

51. Vietnam

52. The Price 58,000 US Killed 300,00 US Wounded
3,000,000 Vietnamese Killed
$150,000,000,000
Great Society & LBJ Presidency
US Morale, Self-confidence, Trust

53. The Impact 26th Amendment Watergate War Powers Act
Suffrage for 18-year-olds
Watergate
War Powers Act
Troop Deployment
48 Hour Notification of Congress
90 Day Approval by Congress

54. The Impact Veterans’ Experiences POW – MIA
Some POWs retured from “Hanoi Hilton”
2583 Still unaccounted
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

55. “If we have to fight, we will fight
“If we have to fight, we will fight. You will kill ten of our men and we will kill one of yours, and in the end it will be you who tires of it.”
Ho Chi Minh

56. Lessons Learned (?) Duration Casualties Media Access
Congressional Support
Public Support
Clear Goals
Deadlines

57. Vietnam War Memorial

58. Vietnam War Memorial

59. Vietnam War Memorial