Post on 21-Jan-2016
vietnam
Frenchindochina
we were fighting Japan too!
the French again!
If one country falls to communism, the rest around it will fall too!
The battle that drove the french out of vietnam in
1954
Who will rule vietnam: The communists or the non-
communists
Divided vietnam at the 17th paralell: north would be
communist the south would not!
Unifying elections would be held in 1956
The non-Communist leader of the South
In 1956 Diem cancelled the unifying elections inthe South.
The U.S. supports this.
Rebels from the South, who supported the Communist North, so they start attacking the South’s gov’t.
Diem was a Catholic and he was oppressing the Buddhist majority.In protest some monks lit themselves on fire!
Military Advisors to train the South how to fight the VC and to get them ready for an invasion by North Vietnam!
The North’s Army
Diem was assassinated in a CIA sponsored coup.
Jfk assassinated on november 22, 1963
North Vietnamese PT boats are said to have fired at U.S. battleships in the Gulf of Tonkin inAugust of
1964
?????
Tonkin Gulf Resolution Congress gave the President the power to do what was “necessary” to stop further aggression by North Vietnam.
This did NOT declare War!!!
Lyndon Johnson (LBJ)
“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” -LBJ
U.S. bombing campaign of North
Vietnam
March of 1965
U.S. General in charge during Vietnam
All men, 18-26 years old, went in front of their local draft board, which then determined if one was fit for duty
Many felt that minorities andpeople from the lower classwere being sent, while the rich were not going.
Muhammad Ali
-In 1967 he refused to be drafted.-He was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison. -While out on appeal, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971.
Dr. Benjamin Spock
-1968 he was sentenced to 2 years in prison for helping draft dodgers.-His conviction would beoverturned on appeal.
the draft lottery
It was the hidden supply route for the communists from the North to the South
V.C. Tunnels
Napalm was a weapon dropped from planes
that caught everything on fire
Agent Orange was a chemical that was
dropped by planes to kill the jungle.
It would result in health problems for people
exposed to it (cancer & birth defects) which the government denied for a
long time
When U.s. soldiers Would be sent out toFind “v.C.” villages &Destroy them.
It was a U.S. Marine basethat was surrounded& attacked by the NVA in January 1968
The Tet Offensive in Febuary of 1968
the V.C. attacked every major city in
South Vietnam
Tet is the AsianNew Year!!!
The U.S. crushes the VC forces, they lose more men in one month than the U.S. does the entire war!
Turning Point!The American publicstarts to turn againstour involvement in ‘Nam.
They feel that they’ve beenlied to by the government!
LBJ will Not seekRe-election in 1968
Bobby kennedy
Richard NixonThat the U.S. would startto slowly remove ourtroops from Vietnam.
My LaiU.S. soldiers involved in a Search & Destroy mission, killed hundreds of unarmedVietnamese civilians in 1968. LIFE magazine reports it in1969.
Nixon announces that U.S. troops have crossed intoCambodia in order to stop theHo Chi Minh Trail.
Kent State in OhioThe Ohio National Guard is called in to stop protests at Kent State.When some students threw rocks,some guardsmen opened firekilling 4 students.
THE PENTAGON PAPERSTop secret gov’t documentsthat exposed some of the lies the gov’t had told the American people about thewar in Vietnam.They were leaked to the New York Times by a gov’t insider in 1971.
SHE TRAVELED TONORTH VIETNAM IN 1972AND SPOKE OUT AGAINSTAMERICA’S INVOLVMENT
IN THE WAR
1973The North & South agreed to cease-fire.
U.S. brought its troops home!
North Vietnam returned allU.S. POWs!
The Media
- T.V. brought the war to the living rooms of Americans.
-The images helped shape public opinion about the war.
-The first T.V. War
America’s longest war
U.s. Combat troops wereThere from 1965-1973
Fall of saigon 1975
The north breaks the Cease fire and attacksThe south- panic breaksOut as the nva heads Towards saigon. TheEvacuation begins!
Gerald ford
hanoi
Ho chi minh city
58,000+
The Bui DoiThe children of Americansoldiers and Vietnamese mothers who were treatedas “outcasts” after the war.
Bui Doi means “Dust ofLife”
Some vets feel that notAll the pows were sent Back!
Returning vets
-many wounded
-no celebrations
-unemployment
-Some did drugs as a way to escape the war.
-Some did drugs because they were already doing them in society before they went to Vietnam.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
-flashbacks
-nightmares
John Kerry
-served in ‘nam ’68-’69
When kerry returnedfrom ‘nam, he & other vets
started to speak out against it!
He claimed that u.s.soldiers had committedmany “war crimes” in
Vietnam!
John McCain-was shot down over Hanoi in October of 1967.
-was held as a POW for 5 ½ years.
The wall
1982