Vietnam War(1954-1975)

By: Tom Deebel and Andre Briscoe

Background

• The Vietnam war went on from 1954 to 1975.• There were two sides during the war.

– The Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) represented communism.– The USA and the South Vietnamese were anticommunism.

• From 1950 to 1954, the US was giving financial aid (Truman Doctrine) to the French, who initially had control over Vietnam.

• Truman feared the domino theory would prove successful with Vietnam, making nearby countries like Japan, the Philippines, and Australia would fall to communism.

More Background• In May of 1954, the French surrendered to

North Vietnam. • Vietnam was then divided into two separate

countries, communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam, a country against communism.

• South Vietnam was getting backed up by the United States.

• Another treaty organization, similar to NATO was created. This was called Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

• The US kept giving military and financial aid to South Vietnam to resist the NVA.

Off to War• In 1961, President Kennedy (elected in 1960)

decided to be more aggressive regarding Vietnam, so he sent troops over.

• The number of troops gradually climbed over time.

• JFK was later assassinated, and Lyndon Johnson became president.

• Shortly after, the USS Maddox was attacked, and President Johnson decided to bomb North Vietnam.

• Then, Johnson passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This allowed President Johnson to take harder military action in Southeast Asia. Johnson continued bombing North Vietnam.

• In the picture on the right, JFK is holding a press conference about sending troops over to Vietnam.

Keep Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’

• Johnson formulated a plan called “Operation Rolling Thunder”. The US bombed North Vietnam for eight weeks, thinking that they would consider negotiating peace.

• North Vietnam remained stubborn, and they would not settle for peace.

• In the Vietnam war, Napalm and Agent Orange were also used. Napalm is a jelly version of gasoline that clings easily to a surface. Agent Orange is an herbicide, or in other words, a substance that kills plants.

Guerilla Warfare• In the Vietnam War, the NVA and the Vietcong

fought using guerilla warfare tactics.• They used mines, booby traps, and so on.• They also attacked our troops at night, when

they could not be seen. • They thought that if they fought us directly in

large battles and the US and South Vietnamese knew where they were, they would easily be defeated. They wanted to be elusive and hard to find.

• They would often hop out of thick plants to attack using the element of surprise.

• In summary, this war was quite different because we did not necessarily know where are enemy was located most of the time.

• This war was also difficult to fight because we did not have a clear enemy. Vietnamese citizens were paid off by the NVA and the Vietcong to kills Americans.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Sji9OhAuI

Effects of the Vietnam War on Society• For the Vietnam War, we used a draft, like in

World War 2.– One had to sign up for the draft at the age of 18.

– 1.5 million people were drafted into the Vietnam War.

• Taxes were being raised in order to compensate for the amount of money the government was spending on the war.

• Inflation was also caused by the war (prices were rising).

• Johnson came up with a plan called the Great Society Plan. With the help of this plan, he wanted to reduce poverty in the US, improve the education and medical care systems, and combat against racism.

• Our nation was split up into Hawks (for the Vietnam War) and Doves (against the Vietnam War).

Tet Offensive• The North Vietnamese military launched an

attack by the name of the Tet Offensive in January 1968.– An offensive attack is an attack where one side is being

aggressive, and attacking the other side.

• The communists fought hard, but they were eventually defeated by the US and the South Vietnamese.

• This attack proved that the North Vietnamese were still able to fight and they were still somewhat strong.

• After this event, the Secretary of Defense, Clark Clifford, decided that it would be smart to not send more troops over because that would hurt our aching economy. Instead, he suggested that we look more in the direction of making peace with them.

• This attack made Americans think that an end was not anywhere in sight.

New Guy in Charge• In the election of 1968, Nixon won the

presidency.• His theory for solving the war was called “peace

with honor”, which meant that he wanted to bring an end to the war, but under honorable terms.

• The North Vietnamese did eventually offer peace to Nixon, but Nixon declined because he did not agree with their terms of peace.

• Nixon then attempted something called Vietnamization. This was the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam while the South Vietnam military would obtain more combat duties against North Vietnam.

• Shortly after, Nixon decided to authorize ground attacks in Cambodia on NVA and Vietcong bases.

Their Way or the Highway• North Vietnam still offered terms of peace, but

Nixon did not agree, so we did not accept them.• North Vietnam remained insistent , and they

were not willing to change theirs terms of peace.

• Eventually, in October 1972, we reached an agreement concerning peace, but one month later, the North Vietnamese backed out.

• In return, we bombed them until they agreed to the terms of peace.

Peace in Paris• In January of 1973, the Paris Peace Accords was

signed by the United States, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the Vietcong.

• The terms of the treaty were as follows:– US withdraws troops.– NVA will still remain in South Vietnam.– A noncommunist government will remain in effect in South

Vietnam.– No more fighting.

• Unfortunately, fighting still occurred as the communist North Vietnam easily took over South Vietnam.

• Vietnam was no longer divided and they operated with a communist government.

• To the right is Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State) and Le Duc Tho (Vietnamese politician) in 1973 in Paris.

Works CitedBattlefield:Vietnam | Guerrilla Tactics." PBS. Web. 25 May 2010.

<http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/guerrilla/index.html>.

Lapsansky-Werner, Emma J. United States History: Modern America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

"Vietnam War." The History Place. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/>.

Picture links• http://www.warchat.org/pictures/vietnam_war_map.gif• http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/98/71298-050-DAB83C4D.jpg• http://www.internationalist.org/vietnamnapalm1966www.jpg• http://www.alan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/nixon.jpg• http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/maps/images/010.jpg• http://neoneocon.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/vietnamization.gif• http://www.newspaperarchive.org/images/newspapers/peace_w_honor_paper.jpg• http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/46/21046-004-85FAD0A4.jpg

Video Link• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Sji9OhAuI