Vietnam

Small Group Activity –

Vietnam CSI

What To Expect During This Unit

Listen to a few tracks enjoyed by the “Grunts”

Dissect Plenty of Primary Sources

A lot of video and audio sources

Examine the Evolution of American Culture

Examine the Vietnam Experience

Plenty of Group Work

Do Now –

Describe the term containment

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of

opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly

repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and

creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” 

― Harry S. Truman

What I Know About Vietnam

What I Want to Learn About Vietnam

What I Learned About Vietnam

K-W-LTTYN

Refer to notes packet

T T Y N = Ta l k t o y o u r n e i g h b o r

Small Group Activity –

Read the following statement from Ho Chi Minh and answer the following questions:

Who was Ho Chi Minh?

When was this document written?

What is the overreaching message?

Letter to President Harry Truman, February 16, 1945

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:

“Our VIETNAM people, as early as 1941, stood by the Allies' side and fought against the

Japanese and their associates, the French colonialists. From 1941 to 1945 we fought bitterly,

sustained by the patriotism, of our fellow-countrymen and by the promises made by the Allies at

YALTA, SAN FRANCISCO and POTSDAM…..But the French Colonialists…have come back,

and are waging on us a murderous and pitiless war in order reestablish their domination….. This

aggression is contrary to all principles of international law and the pledge made by the Allies

during World War II…..It violently contrasts with the firm stand you have taken in your twelve

point declaration…..The French aggression on a peace-loving people is a direct menace to world

security….It is with this firm conviction that we request of the United Sates as guardians and

champions of World Justice to take a decisive step in support of our independence….What we ask

has been graciously granted to the Philippines. Like the Philippines our goal is full independence

and full cooperation with the UNITED STATES. We will do our best to make this independence

and cooperation profitable to the whole world.”

Respectfully Yours,

Ho Chi Minh

The Origins of the Vietnam War

T T Y N : Why Vietnam?

The expulsion of the Japanese in 1945 led not to independence but a

revival of French colonialism

Anticommunism rhetoric

A logical extension of Cold War policies and assumption

The Origins of the Vietnam War

U.S. funneled billions of dollars in aid to bolster French efforts

1954, the U.S., refusing to send in troops and/or use a nuclear bomb

in an effort to help the French, France was left with no alternative but

to agree to Vietnamese Independence

The Origins of the Vietnam War

Victory for Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist forces

Geneva Peace Conference divides Vietnam into two districts, with

elections in 1956 to unify the country

Ngo Dinh Diem – American puppet government

The Origins of the Vietnam War

1960s, the U.S. was committed to the corrupt regime of Diem and

the South Vietnamese

1963, U.S. approves a military coup that led to Diem’s death

1963, 17K American Advisors in S. Vietnam

The Key Personalities of the Vietnam Conflict

Lyndon Baines Johnson, President of the United States, November 22, 1963 – January

20, 1969

John F. Kennedy, President of the United States January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963

Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense of the United States January 21, 1961 – February 29, 1968

Ho Chi Minh, President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) 19 February 1951 – 2

September 1969

The Key Personalities of the Vietnam Conflict

William Westmoreland, American Army General and commander of the US forces

deployed in Vietnam between 1964 to 1968

Walter Cronkite. anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). 

“The Most Trusted Man in America”

You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.--Ho Chi Minh to the French, late 1940s

This is not a jungle war, but a struggle for freedom on every front of human activity.--Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964

We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.--Lyndon Johnson, Oct. 1964

I must question the wisdom of involvement in Vietnam--JFK, 1963

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

August1964, N. Vietnamese vessels perhaps fired upon an American spy

ship off its coast

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed

Authorizing the president to take “all necessary measures to repel armed

attack”

Passed without any discussion of American goals and strategy in Vietnam

“I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia

go the way China went.” – LBJ

American Escalation

1964 reelection campaign, Johnson insisted he had no intention of

sending American troops into Vietnam

After reelection, U.S. begins airstrikes and introduce American troops

in the south

1966 – 380K troops

1967 – 485K

End of 1968 – 540K (peak deployment)

American Escalation

America remains quiet

Prior to 1968;

Support 56%

Opposition 28%

“Hearts and Minds”

“We must be ready to fight in Vietnam, but the ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and the minds of the people who actually live out there.” 

-LBJ

American Escalation

“Search and Destroy” missions

“Operation Rolling Thunder” 1965-1968

Bombs, bombs, and more bombs – American planes dropped more

tons of bombs on the small country of North and South Vietnam that

both sides used in all of WWII

Spread chemicals

Napalm

American Escalation

TTYN: What does the following quote tell you about the resolve of the

North Vietnamese?

“You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.”

--Ho Chi Minh to the French, late 1940s

Escalation

The Vietcong: The Other Enemy

The People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF)

Created by the North Vietnamese communists to escalate the armed

struggle in South Vietnam.

The VC were guerrillas,

They wore no uniforms, dressed in the same type of clothing as the

local peasants, and blended into the landscape when their mission was

complete. 

The Vietcong: The Other Enemy

The Viet Cong were supported and trained by the government of

communist North Vietnam.

The Viet Cong tried to create a popular uprising in South Vietnam

during the Vietnam War with their 1968 Tet Offensive, but were able to

seize control of just a few small districts in the Mekong Delta region

What I Know About Vietnam

What I Want to Learn About Vietnam

What I Have Learned So Far About Vietnam

K-W-LTTYN

Refer to notes packet

The Tet Offensive

Refer to your notes packet

The Tet Offensive Refer to your notes packet

Summarizing the Tet

This military action was a major turning point in the way many

Americans perceived the war.

On the morning of January 30, 1968, Communist forces in North

Vietnam and Vietcong squads in the South took advantage of a truce

during Tet (the Vietnamese new year holiday) to launch a massive

offensive.

The Tet Offensive – Turning Point??

Summarizing the Tet

Major cities and provinces were captured, and heavy fighting ensued.

Although turned back by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in a matter of

days, the Communists nonetheless claimed a major political and

psychological victory.

U.S. observers were stunned by the size and coordination of the

Communist forces.

Declared over April 1, 1968

The Tet Offensive – Turning Point??

The Tet Offensive – Turning Point??

Public opinion after the Tet Offensive

Support 41%

Opposition 42%

TTYN: Why did public support for Vietnam shift so dramatically?

Photo Journalism

Eddie Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken on the streets of Saigon during the Tet Offensive sent shock waves through America

Photo Journalism

Photo Journalism

1972 file photo, 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, runs down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack.

Photo Journalism

TTYN – How did the images below cause a seismic shift in the way Americans interpreted the war?

Cronkite Reports on Vietnam

Refer to your notes packet

The Mai Lai Massacre

On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie

Company entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai

“This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and

you've got it," said their superior officers.

The Mai Lai Massacre

As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it soon degenerated

into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including

women, children, and the elderly.

Men were ordered to enter the village firing, though there had been

no report of opposing fire.

The Mai Lai Massacre

According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old

men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the

back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed.

According to reports, a group of the villagers were ordered into a

ditch and were mowed down in a fury of machine gun fire.

McNamara Reflection

Refer to your notes packet

The Counter Culture

The Antiwar Movement

Casualties mount

Americans bombs rain down on Vietnam

Images and stories hit the front pages and the front porches

SNCC and SDS tip the scales (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

and Students for a Democratic Society)

MLK condemns the war and the Johnson Administration

By 1967, men were burning their draft cards or fleeing to Canada

The Counter Culture

Refer to your notes packet

1967, Antiwar demonstrator outside the Pentagon

The Counter Culture

October of 1967, 100K protestors assemble at Lincoln Memorial

By the late 1960s, millions of young people openly rejected the values and

behaviors of their elders

For the first time in American history, flamboyant rejection of respectable

norms in clothing, language, sexual behavior, and drug use became the basis

for a mass movement

Rallying cry was “Liberation”

The Counter Culture

What they were after

Emphasized the ideal of community

Independence from authority

The Free individual

1967, The Summer of Love

“Give peace a chance”

The Weather Underground: The Weatherman

Splinter group of SNCC

the Weathermen were widely criticized for their use of violence as a

means of social and political change.

Many accused the group of terrorism, while others accused it of

giving all activists, both militant and more mainstream, a bad name.

“ When you feel you have right on your side, you can do some pretty horrific things.” - Brian Flanagan, former Weatherman

The Weatherman

Refer to your notes packet

The Weatherman

The Weatherman believed that violent action was a necessary evil in a time

of crisis, a last-ditch effort to grab the country’s attention.

The Results - a widespread revolt against the status quo: against

previously upheld structures of racism, sexism and classism, against

the violence of the Vietnam War and America’s interventions abroad.

Kent State

The Vietnam war heightened awareness and protest, which spread to

college campuses

In May 1970, Kent State students protesting the bombing of

Cambodia by United States military forces

Kent State

Clashed with Ohio National Guardsmen on the Kent State

University campus.

Guardsmen shot and killed four students on May 4

The Kent State Shootings became the focal point of a nation deeply

divided by the Vietnam War.

Kent State

Refer to your notes packet

Kent State

TTYN: You Predict. What effect, if any, do you believe that the Kent St. shooting would have on America?

The shootings helped convince Americans that the anti-war protestors

were not just hippies, drug addicts, or promoters of free

Rather than causing a decline in protests, the Kent State Shootings

actually escalated protests.

Many colleges and universities across the United States cancelled classes

and actually closed their doors for the remainder of the academic year in fear

of violent protests erupting on their campuses.

Woodstock

500,000 people from all over the U.S. traveled to Woodstock

Woodstock signaled the merger and ambivalence of the

counterculture and protest.

The festival was billed as "three days of peace and love," in

contrast to the war and hatred in Vietnam.

Woodstock

Refer to your notes packet

Problem -- Spread of Communism: The Vietnam War

Result

Solution

Sm

all G

ro

up

Ac

tivity

What I Know About Vietnam

What I Want to Learn About Vietnam

What I Have Learned About Vietnam

K-W-LTTYN

Refer to notes packet

In this April 29, 1975 file photo, U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS Blue Ridge push a helicopter into the sea off the coast of Vietnam in order to make room for more evacuation flights from

Saigon.

Evacuation of Americans during Operation Frequent Wind, 29th April 1975.

Assessment

C.S.I.The Winds of War:

The Vietnam Conflict

The Truman Doctrine, 1947

TTYN: Describe the basic tenants of the Truman Doctrine?

With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S.

Truman established that the United States would

provide political, military and economic assistance

to all democratic nations under threat from

external or internal authoritarian forces. The

Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S.

foreign policy, away from its usual stance of

withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly

involving the United States, to one of possible

intervention in far away conflicts.

Diên Biên Phú

Diên Biên Phú

Diên Biên PhúOverview

The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 signalled the end of

French influence and Colonialism in Indochina.

The battle fought around Dien Bien Phu was the last major campaign

by a European state in the region

Dien Bien Phu was a town in northwest Vietnam with an isolated air

base built and used by the Japanese in World War Two.

Located near the Vietnam/Laos border.

Diên Biên Phú

Overview

Although the French inflicted heavy casualties on the Vietminh, Dien

Bien Phu was a tactical and operational failure for the French.

French losses totaled 7,184 casualties, included 1,142 dead and 1,606

missing.

Vietminh suffered 7,900 dead and over 15,000 wounded.

Diên Biên Phú

Overview

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN) had mobilized over

33,000 workers to support the contingent at Dien Bien Phu, which

allowed it to sustain the 50,000-man siege for the five-month

operation.

It was a tactical and operational success for the Vietminh; they had

achieved their decisive victory over the French.

Diên Biên Phú

Overview

The Vietnamese strategic goal of using the victory to obtain

concessions at the Geneva negotiations failed.

The Vietnamese were forced to accept a temporary partition of

their country with elections to be held two years later. However, the

south government headed by Ngo Dinh Diem and backed by the US

established a separate government and ignored the call for elections

in 1956.

Partition of Vietnam

CLASSIF IED

C A S E F I L E

Vietnam Conflict

Harry S Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.

Activity Directions Work Cooperatively

Read each document thoroughly

Use your Think Marks

Complete handout - “Detective Log”

Complete handout - “Questions to Consider”

Individually, complete a one-page summary

Have Fun!!!

Who authored the document?

When was the document

authored?

What type of document?

Who was the audience for the

document? Why was it created?

Who was the aggressor in the incident according to

the document?

Document 1

Document 2

See Handout

Detective Log

Document 1

Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy on Indochina before the Senate

Washington, D.C., April 6, 1954

Document 2

Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy before The Executives' Club

Chicago, Illinois, May 28, 1954

Document 3

Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy at the Conference on Vietnam Luncheon in the Hotel Willard

Washington, D.C., June 1, 1956

Document 4

ANTI-REDS ACTIVE IN NORTH VIETNAM

New York Times; Oct. 16, 1961

Document 5

Reds in Vietnam Kill U.S. Aide in Ambush

New York Times; Nov. 6, 1960

Document 6

OFFICIER TELLS OF "ROUTINE' IN GULF OF TONKIN

Chicago Tribune; Oct 5, 1964

Document 7

New Hurdle in Vietnam

New York Times; Aug. 12, 1964

Document 8

Patrols in Gulf of Tonkin Began as Watch on RedsLos Angeles Times; Sept. 27, 1964

Document 9

President Johnson's Message to Congress August 5, 1964

Document 10

Joint Resolution of Congress H.J. RES 1145 August 7, 1964

Questions to Consider

What questions did you ask while evaluating these sources?

On what points do the accounts agree?

On what points do the accounts differ?

Which of these sources aligns most closely with what you already knew about the Vietnam Conflict? How so?

Which of these sources is most reliable in determining what actually happened the led to the start of the Vietnam Conflict? Why do you think so?

Describe the difficulties in developing an accurate account of historical events like the start of the Vietnam Conflict?

If you were asked to write your own historical account of the events that occurred during the years the followed the battle of Dien Bien Phu, how would you go about doing so?

Cracking the Case

Based on your analysis of the documents and citing

evidence to support your answer, please write a one-page

summary, which answers the following questions: how

did the basic tenants of the Truman Doctrine and the

events that followed following the battle of Dien Bien Phu

interconnect and would ultimately lead to the Vietnam

Conflict? Was Unites States involvement justified? What

are the similarities between the Korean War and the start

of the Vietnam Conflict?

Cracking the Case

Based on your analysis of the documents and citing evidence to

support your answer, please write a one-page to two-page

summary, which answers the following questions: what were

some of the key events that led to the start of United States

involvement in Vietnam, how did President Johnson justify

American involvement in Vietnam, and finally, including your

prior knowledge and additional resources, how did the theory of

containment and the Truman Doctrine underscore United States

involvement in South Asia.

To the Teacher:

Be sure to download my Vietnam Conflict Detective Log

And

Causes of the Vietnam Conflict Primary Source Packet