VIETNAM

WAR

1965-1972

FRENCH CONTROL

• French controlled Vietnam until World War II

• Vietnam taken by Japan

• Ho Chi Minh called for an independence of

Vietnam

• Eight Year war between France and Ho Chi Minh

to determine who would rule Vietnam

• United States backed France France becomes

weak

• United States vs. Vietnam

COMMUNISM

• Spread of Communism due to Cold War

• Fear of Domino Theory

• America’s need for containment

NORTH VIETNAM

• Under Communist Control

• Supported by Communist Allies

• Leader was Ho Chi Minh

• Wanted to Unify Vietnam under one Communist

Rule

SOUTH VIETNAM

• U.S. financially, economically, and politically

supported President Ngo Dinh Diem

• Supported by Non-Communist Allies

• Viet Cong Communist Group within South

Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh

• Capitol city Saigon

U.S. INVOLVEMENT

• Never officially declared a war

• John F. Kennedy approved a secret plan for

military actions in Vietnam and Laos

• Sent thousands of men to Vietnam

• Lyndon B. Johnson set events that led to war on

Vietnam

• Only wanted to push North Vietnamese defenses

GULF OF TONKIN

• 1st Tonkin Incident

- USS Maddox was fired upon by three North

Vietnamese torpedo boats resulting in a sea battle

- Not enough for LBJ to send more men to Vietnam

• 2nd Tonkin Incident

- Claimed by the U.S. National Security Agency that

another sea battle occurred between U.S. and

Vietnam

- Did not occur used as a way to justify war

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

- Does not declare war but gives LBJ authority to put

men in Vietnam

RESPONSE TO WAR

• Birthday Draft

- Pick birthday, if picked, going to Vietnam More men go

• Protests

- Student protests Berkeley and Kent State

- More students going to college

- African Americans Get in the way of the Civil Rights Movement

- South Vietnamese Monks are committing suicide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYykmrd_l9I

WAR IN VIETNAM

• Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia

• 1965 Operation Rolling Thunder

- US Air Division, US Navy, South Vietnam Air Force

aerial bombardment against North Vietnam

- Wanted North Vietnam to cease fire and stop

supporting Communism in South Vietnam

- North Vietnam created one the most effective air

defenses that the US ever faced

- Realized war was a Quagmire

WAR IN VIETNAM

• Nature of Jungle

- Animals, Heat, Diseases, Monsoon Season

• Guerilla Warfare

- North Vietnamese war tactics Hit and Run

- Man-holes, explosions, land mines

- Didn’t know who to trust

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdcFF5ePajc

WAR IN VIETNAM

MY LAI MASSACRE

• U.S. soldiers found this village in Vietnam

• Completely massacred the village

- Unarmed men, women, children, and infants

• Many women were raped and found mutilated

• Only the Platoon leader was convicted and served three

and a half years under house arrest

• Burned and destroyed homes

• Increased domestic opposition to the U.S. involvement in

Vietnam

TET OFFENSIVE

• Agreement of cease fire by North Vietnam, South Vietnam,

and the United States

• North Vietnam used this as a surprise attack

• Very successful and turned around entire course of the

war

• Downhill battle for the U.S. and South Vietnam

DOMESTIC PROBLEMS

• Americans upset with LBJ because of war

- Growing dislike

• Needed to stop Great Society because it was not serving

the country domestically

- Funding of Vietnam

• LBJ doesn’t run for re-election Election of Richard

Nixon

- Won because promised to end Vietnam and has a

plan

NIXON’S POLICIES

• Concerned with containment but build relations with

Communist governments

• Vietnamization

- Americans turn more political power to South

Vietnamese and slowly pull away

• Nixon starts pulling men out of Vietnam

HO CHI MINH TRAIL

BOMBING

• Trail that ran through North and South Vietnam,

Cambodia, and Laos

• Primary way of passing supplies to North Vietnam and the

Viet Cong

• Nixon decides to bomb trail

• Involves Cambodia and Laos

HO CHI MINH TRAIL

DOMESTIC PROBLEMS

• Release of Pentagon Papers secret document

- LBJ had mismanaged the war and ignored it

- Most unpopular war of all time

• January 27, 1973 declare a cease fire – logical end to

Vietnam

- Paris Peace Accords – Ending the war and restoring

peace in Vietnam

• April 30, 1975 airlift out of Saigon

- North Vietnam takes over South Vietnam

DISCUSSION

QUESTIONS

1) Is Vietnam considered a war? Why or why not?

2) Is this war justifiable? Why or why not?

3) How did the climate and Vietnamese warfare

affect American soldiers?

4) What events caused American opposition to the

war in Vietnam?

5) What was the leading reason for U.S.

involvement in Vietnam?