Vietnam

Moving Towards Conflict

CommunismDomino TheoryN. Vietnam – Communist

S. Vietnam

Moving Towards Conflict

Ho Chi Minh

U.S. Steps In

Ngo Dinh DiemVietcong – Communist opposition group

Ho Chi Minh TrailP.733

President Johnson’s Decision

Tonkin Gulf Resolution – August 7 –Congress gives Johnson broad military power

Leaders of U.S.President JohnsonRobert McNamara – Secretary of Defense

Dean Rusk – Secretary of State

William Westmoreland – American Commander

Fighting in the Jungle

Vietcong – jungle terrain, hit-and-run, and ambush tactics was all to their advantage

They also had Tunnels

Fighting in the Jungle

Fighting in the Jungle

U.S. planes dropped napalm

Agent Orange Often wounded civilians and

later Agent Orange was blame for cancer in U.S. veterans of Vietnam

Fighting in the Jungle

Tet Offensive 1968 – Attack on S. Vietnam/U.S.

P.749

Fighting in the Jungle

U.S. soldiers conducted search-and-destroy missions, uprooting civilians with suspected ties to the Vietcong, killing their livestock, and burning villages

Prisoners of War

400,000 imprisoned

War at Home

Became America’s first “living-room war”

Soldiers turned to alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs

War at Home

Draft – all males had to register with their local draft board when they turned 18

10,000 women served most being nurses

War at Home

April of 1965 march of 20,000 protested in Wash., D.C.

Doves – strongly opposed the war

Hawks – felt America should unleash military force to win

War at Home

MLK Jr. died on April 4th, was shot

Robert Kennedy – was assassinated June 5th by Sirhan Sirhan in a hotel kitchen

End of the War

Vietnamization – gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops in order for the South to take more of an active role

End of the War

March of 1972 North Vietnamese launched biggest attack since Tet Offensive

Americans have final push in Dec. of 1972 dropping 100,000 bombs

End of the War

March 29, 1973 – last U.S. combat troops left for home. Vietnam War had ended

Legacy of the War

New period of violence and chaos in Southeast Asia

A controversial war in which the U.S. lost