The Vietnam War American History Harrison Career Center Mr. Leasure.

The Vietnam War

American HistoryHarrison Career Center

Mr. Leasure

Early American Involvement in Vietnam

Early American Involvement in Vietnam

• Although little was known about Vietnam in the late 1940s and early 1950s, American officials felt Vietnam was important in their campaign to stop the spread of communism.

Early American Involvement in Vietnam (Cont.)

• During the early 1900s, nationalism was strong in Vietnam.

• As the Vietnamese sought independence or reform of the French colonial government, several political parties formed.


• One of the leaders of the nationalist movement was Ho Chi Minh who, during his travels to the Soviet Union, had become an advocate of communism.


• In 1930 Ho Chi Minh helped form the Indochinese Communist Party and worked to overthrow the French.

• Ho Chi Minh was exiled to the Soviet Union and China.


• Upon his return to Vietnam in 1941, Japan had control of the country.

• He organized the nationalist group, Vietminh, which united Communists and non-Communists to force Japan out.


• With the Allies’ victory over Japan in 1945, Ho Chi Minh and his forces declared Vietnam an independent nation.

• France sent in troops to regain its colonial empire.


• France asked the United States for help. American officials were against France controlling Vietnam, but they did not want Vietnam to be Communist either.


• The United States, under the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, supported the French military and their campaign against the Vietminh.


• Eisenhower defended the United States policy in Vietnam with the domino theory —the belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, other nations in Southeast Asia would do the same.

The Vietminh Drive Out the French

The Vietminh Drive Out the French

• Despite aid from the United States, the French struggled against the Vietminh.

• The Vietminh frequently used the tactics of guerrillas, or irregular troops who usually blend into civilian population and are difficult for regular armies to fight.

• They used hit-and-run and ambush tactics.

The Vietminh Drive Out the French (Cont.)

• In 1954 the French commander ordered his forces to occupy the mountain town of Dien Bien Phu. A huge Vietminh force surrounded the town.

• The defeated French were forced to make peace and withdraw from Indochina.


• Negotiations to end the conflict, called the Geneva Accords, divided Vietnam between the Vietminh controlling North Vietnam and a pro-Western regime in South Vietnam.

• The Accords also recognized Cambodia’s independence.


• In 1956 elections were held to form a single government. The United States stepped in to protect the new government in the South led by Ngo Dinh Diem, a pro-Westerner and anti-Communist.

• The tension between North and South Vietnam escalated with the United States caught in the middle.

American Involvement Deepens

American Involvement Deepens

• After Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold national elections, Ho Chi Minh and his followers created a new guerrilla army known as the Vietcong.

• Their goal was to reunify North and South Vietnam.

American Involvement Deepens (Cont.)

• The United States continued to send aid to South Vietnam. The Vietcong’s power, however, continued to grow because many Vietnamese opposed Diem’s government.


• President Kennedy continued the nation’s policy of support for South Vietnam, agreeing with past presidents that Southeast Asia was important in the battle against communism.


• The unpopularity of South Vietnam’s President Diem increased because his government was corrupt, he created strategic hamlets, and he discriminated against Buddhism, one of the country’s most widely practiced religions.


• Diem was overthrown and later executed. This further weakened South Vietnam’s government, forcing the United States to become more involved.

• After Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon Johnson inherited the problem of Vietnam.

Johnson and Vietnam

Johnson and Vietnam

• At first, President Johnson was cautious regarding Vietnam, yet he was determined to prevent South Vietnam from becoming Communist.

• Politically, Democrats needed to keep South Vietnam from becoming Communist, or Republicans would use it against them.

Johnson and Vietnam (Cont.)

• On August 2, 1964, President Johnson announced that North Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

• A similar attack reportedly occurred two days later.


• The Senate and the House passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, authorizing the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack on U.S. forces.

• Congress had given its war powers to the president.


• While the polls showed that Johnson’s approval rating had increased, some dissenters in the White House warned that if the United States became too involved, it would be difficult to get out.


• In March 1965, however, Johnson increased American involvement, and American soldiers were fighting alongside the South Vietnamese troops against the Vietcong.

A Bloody Stalemate Emerges

A Bloody Stalemate Emerges

• By 1965 some 180,000 American combat troops were fighting in Vietnam, with the number doubling by 1966.

• Many Americans believed they could win in Vietnam.

A Bloody Stalemate Emerges (Cont.)

• To take Vietcong’s hiding places away, American planes dropped napalm, a jellied gasoline that explodes on contact, and Agent Orange, a chemical that strips leaves from trees and shrubs.

• Farmlands and forests were turned into wastelands.


• Americans underestimated the Vietcong’s strength, stamina, and morale.

• Johnson refused to order a full invasion of North Vietnam, fearing China would get involved in the war.


• President Johnson also refused to allow a full-scale attack on the Vietcong’s supply line, known as the Ho Chi Minh trail.

• This made winning the war very difficult.


• As American casualties increased, many American citizens began questioning the United States' involvement in the war.

A Growing Credibility Gap

A Growing Credibility Gap

• When American troops first entered the Vietnam War, many Americans supported the military effort.

A Growing Credibility Gap (Cont.)

• As the war in Vietnam continued to drag on, public support decreased.

• Americans began to question the government and believed a credibility gap had developed, making it difficult to believe what the Johnson administration said about the war.

An Antiwar Movement Emerges

An Antiwar Movement Emerges

• As the casualties increased, Americans, especially college students, began to publicly protest the war.

An Antiwar Movement Emerges (Cont.)

• In March 1965, faculty and students at the University of Michigan abandoned their classes and formed a teach-in where they informally discussed issues of the war and why they opposed it.

• This triggered teach-ins at many college campuses.


• Young protestors focused their attention on what they felt was an unfair draft system.

• While college students could delay military service until graduation, those with low income and limited education were called to serve.


• As a result, minorities, especially African Americans, were called to war. Many draftees refused to serve.

• Others moved to Canada and other nations.


• By 1968 the nation seemed divided into two camps—the doves and the hawks.

• The doves wanted the United States to withdraw from the war, and the hawks felt the United States should stay and fight.

1968: The Pivotal Year

1968: The Pivotal Year

• On January 30, 1968, during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese launched a surprised attack known as the Tet offensive.

• In the attack, guerrilla fighters hit American airbases in South Vietnam as well as the South’s major cities and provincial capitals.

1968: The Pivotal Year (Cont.)

• Militarily, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for the Communists, but it was a political victory that shocked Americans.

• As a result, the approval rating for the president plummeted.


• Eugene McCarthy and Senator Robert Kennedy entered the 1968 presidential race as “dove” candidates for the Democratic nomination.

• Johnson withdrew from the presidential race, announcing his decision in an address to the nation on March 31, 1968.


• In April Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Two months later, Robert Kennedy was also assassinated.

• This violence, coupled with a clash between protesters and police at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, left the nation in a state of chaos.


• The chaos benefited the Republican presidential candidate, Richard Nixon, and an independent, Governor George Wallace of Alabama.

• Nixon promised to regain order and end the war in Vietnam.


• Although Johnson attempted to help the Democratic campaign with a cease-fire, Democratic presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey lost by more than 100 electoral votes as well as the popular vote by a slim margin.

• Richard Nixon became president.

Nixon Moves to End the War

Nixon Moves to End the War

• President Nixon chose Harvard professor Henry Kissinger to be special assistant for national security affairs, giving him authority to find a way to end the war in Vietnam.

Nixon Moves to End the War (Cont.)

• Kissinger used a policy he called linkage to improve relations with the Soviet Union and China—the suppliers of aid to North Vietnam.

• He started up peace talks again with North Vietnam.

Nixon Moves to End the War (Cont.)

• At the same time, Nixon began Vietnamization—the gradual withdrawal of American troops in Vietnam, allowing South Vietnam to assume more of the fighting.

• As peace negotiations were underway, Nixon increased air strikes against North Vietnam to maintain American strength.

Turmoil at Home Continues

Turmoil at Home Continues

• The Vietnam War continued to stir up protests and violence in the United States.

Turmoil at Home Continues (Cont.)

• In 1969 Americans learned of a 1968 event that further increased their feelings that this was a senseless war.


• An American platoon under the command of Lieutenant William Calley had massacred more than 200 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the hamlet of My Lai.

• Most of the victims were old men, women, and children.


• In April 1970, Nixon announced that American troops had invaded Cambodia to destroy Vietcong military bases.

• Americans viewed this as an expansion of the war, and a wave of protests followed.


• In 1970 Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that had given the president near complete power in directing the war.


• In 1971 a former Defense Department worker, Daniel Ellsberg, leaked what became known as the Pentagon Papers to the press.

• The secret document showed that many government officials had privately questioned the war while publicly defending it.


• The document also showed how the various administrations deceived the public about Vietnam.

The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam

The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam

• By 1971 nearly two-thirds of Americans wanted the Vietnam War to end.

• President Nixon dropped the insistence that North Vietnam had to withdraw from South Vietnam before a peace treaty could be signed.

The U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam (Cont.)

• A month before the presidential election, Henry Kissinger announced that peace was at hand.

• Nixon won re-election in a landslide.


• Peace negotiations broke down when South Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Van Thieu, refused any plan that left North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam.


• The United States began a bombing campaign that eventually led to the resumption of peace talks.


• On January 27, 1973, the sides agreed to end the war and restore peace in Vietnam.

• After eight years at war, the longest in American history, the United States ended its direct involvement in Vietnam


• In March 1975, the North Vietnamese army launched a full-scale invasion of the South.

• Thieu asked for United States assistance. Nixon had resigned after the Watergate scandal, and the new president, Gerald Ford, asked Congress to supply aid. Congress refused.


• On April 30, the North Vietnamese captured Saigon, united Vietnam under Communist rule, and renamed Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City.

The Legacy of Vietnam

The Legacy of Vietnam

• The Vietnam War had a lasting impact on the United States. The war had cost over $170 billion in direct costs and had resulted in 58,000 deaths.

• Many soldiers who did return home faced psychological problems, and some families were left uncertain about POWs and MIAs.

The Legacy of Vietnam (Cont.)

• In 1973 Congress passed the War Powers Act to reestablish limits on executive power.

• The act required the president to inform Congress of any commitment of troops abroad within 48 hours and to withdraw them in 60 to 90 days unless Congress approved the troop commitment.

The Legacy of Vietnam (Cont.)

• The Vietnam War increased Americans’ cynicism about their government and made them question their leaders.

The Vietnam War American History Harrison Career Center Mr. Leasure.

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