THE VIETNAM WARSECTION #1

MOVING TOWARD CONFLICT

Chapter 30

Ho Chi Minh: Led the Vietnamese communists (Leader of North Vietnam)

The French in Vietnam

In 1950-1954 the U.S. sends more than $1 billion dollars in aid to France, to help the French fight Ho Chi Minh.

The Domino Theory

If one country falls to communism, the others will follow.

Ngo Dinh Diem

Strong Anti-Communist; (some would say corrupt) leader of South Vietnam who had U.S. support.

VietcongVietnamese who lived in South Vietnam and supported communism and Ho Chi Minh (leader of North Vietnam)

Ho Chi Minh TrailA network of paths along the borders of Vietnam, Cambodia, & Laos in which the North Vietnamese supplied arms to the Vietcong in the South.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Not an actual declaration of war, but it gave president Johnson broad military powers in Vietnam.

Operation Rolling Thunder

The first sustained bombing of North Vietnam.

U.S. Involvement and Escalation

Chapter 30 Section 2

Widely popular - Many Americans at this time still supported the idea of containing communism.

Difficulties for U.S. Troops-Jungle Terrain-Guerrilla Tactics/Tunnels-Land Mines-Lack of support by the Vietnamese

Using Napalm to burn the jungle.

Spraying Agent Orange to kill off vegetation.

Search and Destroy mission

Decline in Morale:-Frustrations of guerrilla warfare -Brutal jungle conditions -Failure to gain against the enemy-Drafted into war

This Led some soldiers to turn to alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use.

Money that was being used to fight poverty, now was used to fund the war.

Television and the Vietnam War Television showed what was really happening. Often contradicted the positive government reports.

A Nation DividedChapter 30 Section 3

Avoiding the War

Working Class War

80% of soldiers came from lower economic levels.

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/john_lennon/imagine.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0XKhAHR5I

1. Ways young American men avoided military service.-medical exemptions-college deferment-Joined National Guard/Coast Guard

2. Why was Vietnam considered a “Working-class” war?-80% of soldiers came from lower economic levels

Avoiding the War

A Personal VoiceDr. martin Luther King, Jr.

“We were taking the young black men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in SouthwestGeorgia and East Harlem….We have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools.”

-quoted in America’s Vietnam War: A Narrative History

Opposing the War

Opposing the War

3. Groups that opposed the war-College Youth-Doves

4. Reasons that “doves” opposed the war-Vietnam was a civil war and the U.S. should not get involved-U.S. should not be the global police-South Vietnam’s leader was not much better than North Vietnam’s leader.

5. In what ways did they show their opposition to the war?-Burn draft cards-Protest-Flee to Canada (10,000)-Went to jail (4,000)

Defending the War

By 1967 Americans were split over Vietnam.

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Defending the War

6. How did most Americans feel about the war in 1967?-Divided-70% still felt that acts against the war were a sign of disloyalty to the country

7. Why did “hawks” criticize the policies in Vietnam?-They felt the U.S. should send more troops to Vietnam.

1968: A Tumultuous Year

Chapter 30 Section 4

The Tet Offensive

Days of Loss and Rage 1968

1968: Democratic Candidates

Turbulent race for president ,assassinations of MLK and RFK, violence and protests…..

George Wallace and Richard Nixon

Quotes of the Time

“Things are not really getting better…we shall not overcome….We have already glimpsed the most compassionate leaders our nation could produce, and they have all been assassinated. And from this time forward, things will get worse: Our best political leaders are part of memory now, not hope.”

-Jack NewfieldSpeechwriter for Kennedy

“People had not only lost control of their history, but might never regain it.”

-Garry WillsJournalist and Historian

Lets revisit the Ho Chi Minh Trail

The End of the War and Its Legacy

Chapter 30 Section 5

President Nixon and Vietnamization

By August of 1969 the first 25,000 troops returned home from Vietnam. The South Vietnamese were given a more active combat role.

“Peace with honor”

Troubles Continue on the Home Front

The My Lai Massacre was a massacre committed by U.S. soldiers on hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children, on March 16, 1968, in the hamlet of My Lai, during the Vietnam War. It prompted widespread outrage around the world and reduced American support at home for the war in Vietnam. The massacre is also known as the Song My Massacre

April 3, 1970 President Nixon announces that the U.S. had invaded Cambodia to clear out North Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers. When college students heard about the invasion protests broke out across the country.

Violence on Campus: Kent State

May 4, 1970 - 4 students killed and 9 wounded. Students burn the ROTC building, the National Guard is called in.

The National Guard fired live rounds into a crowd of campus protesters who were hurling rocks at them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs6aaaJBAv0 Song: Ohio

Jan 27, 1973 the U.S. signed an “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam”.

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

The war itself, raged on. Within months the cease fire collapsed.

On April 30th, 1975 North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon and captured the city. Soon after South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.

A Painful Legacy

-58,000 Americans killed and 303,000 wounded. North and South Vietnamese deaths over 2 million. -Returning soldiers met with hostility and/or neglect. About 15% of the 3.3 million soldiers suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. Some had drug and alcohol issues, others committed suicide. -Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C. in 1982.