The Vietnam
War
Friday, May 18, 12
1. Background
• 938 - 1885 - Independent nation
• 1885-1940 - Colonized and rule by France
Ho Chi Minh
• 1940-1945 - Vietnam Conquered by Japan
• 1945 - Japan defeated. Viet Minh (under the Leadership of Ho Chi Minh) proclaim Vietnamese independence
Friday, May 18, 12
Declaration of September 2, 1945
All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free. . . .Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice.In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty.They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center, and the South of Viet-Nam in order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being united . . .
For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, solemnly declare to the world that:Viet-Nam has the right to be a free and independent country—and in fact it is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.
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Ho Chi Minh
Friday, May 18, 12
1. Background
• 1954 - French defeated at Dienbienphu
• 1954 - Geneva peace conference
• Vietnam divided
• Election scheduled for 1956
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1. Background
US Supports No Dinh Diem to be the South Vietnamese President. Diem was:
• Catholic
• Closely tied with the French colonial government
• Corrupt
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2. Kennedy and Vietnam• Continued Support
of Diem through 1963
• Sent 16,000 “advisors” to Vietnam
• Approved a CIA sponsored coup to replace Diem in November, 1963
• By JFK’s assassination, South Vietnam was less stable than ever
Friday, May 18, 12
3. Lyndon Johnson and escalation of US involvement
in Vietnam• The Tonkin Gulf incident and Resolution, - August
1964
• Operation Rolling Thunder - March 1965
• Escalation of US Role in Vietnam:
1963 - 16,000
1966 - 275,000
1969 - 543,000
Lyndon Johnson Press conference July 28, 1965 explains the reasons the US was in Vietnam.
How does Johnson see this conflict?
What is Johnson missing about the conflict?
How does this relate to the Cold War mindset discussed in class?
Mekong River
0
0 100 200 Kilometers
100 200 Miles
C H I N A
N O R T HV I E T N A M
SOUTHVIETNAMC A M B O D I A
BURMA
T H A I L A N D
L A O S U.S. Seventh Fleetoperations during the war
GULF OFTONKIN
SOUTHCHINASEA
GULFOF
THAILAND
TonleSap
Prey Veng
Battambang KompongCham
Angkor Wat
Dien Bien PhuHaiphongHanoi
Lao CaiThan Uyen
Yen Bai
Da Lat
My Lai
Vinh Linh
Dong Hoi
Vinh
Hue
Pak Seng
Luang PrabangBan Ban
Vang Vang
Vientiane
Bangkok
PhnomPenh Saigon
Maddoxincident, 1964
Quang TriProvinceUdon Thani
NakhonPhanom
Tahkli
Don MuangNakhonRatchasima
Sattahip
FriendshipHighway Ubon
Ratchathani
Communist-KhmerRouge victory,
1975
Vietcong-NorthVietnamese victoryand U.S.withdrawal, 1975
Harbormined,1972
Ca Mau
Bu Dop
Bien HoaLong Binh
Tan SonNhut
Can ThoVinh Long
Chau Duc
Cholon
Vung Tau
Phan RangCamRanhBay
Nha Trang
Tuy Hoa
Ban Me Thuot
Pleiku
AnkheQuinhon
KontumDak To
Quang Ngai
Kham Duc
Khe Sanh
Quang Tri
DanangChu Lai
DemilitarizedZone
Communist-Pathet Laovictory, 1975
MekongDelta
HAINAN
Ia DrangValley
Ca Mau Peninsula
Red River
Mekong Rive
r
Mekong River
Chao P
raya
U.S. basesMajor battles of the TetOffensive, January 1968U.S. and South Vietnameseinvasion of CambodiaHo Chi Minh Trail
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
T102
Map 29-1 The War in VietnamFriday, May 18, 12
• The US relied on a strategy termed “Search and Destroy”
• American soldiers fought against guerrilla insurgents - not generally a regular army
• This led to incredible stress on American soldiers and horrendous civilian casualties such as the Mai Lai Massacre in 1968
The challenge of
fighting in Vietnam
Friday, May 18, 12
1967-68• In 1967 the military
claimed that we were winning the war and that the enemy was defeated
• "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing." General William Westmoreland, Commander of military operations in Vietnam, November 21, 1967
Friday, May 18, 12
The Tet offensive
Three months after Westmoreland’s assessment, the Tet offensive demonstrated that the enemy was not defeated
Mekong River
0
0 100 200 Kilometers
100 200 Miles
C H I N A
N O R T HV I E T N A M
SOUTHVIETNAMC A M B O D I A
BURMA
T H A I L A N D
L A O S U.S. Seventh Fleetoperations during the war
GULF OFTONKIN
SOUTHCHINASEA
GULFOF
THAILAND
TonleSap
Prey Veng
Battambang KompongCham
Angkor Wat
Dien Bien PhuHaiphongHanoi
Lao CaiThan Uyen
Yen Bai
Da Lat
My Lai
Vinh Linh
Dong Hoi
Vinh
Hue
Pak Seng
Luang PrabangBan Ban
Vang Vang
Vientiane
Bangkok
PhnomPenh Saigon
Maddoxincident, 1964
Quang TriProvinceUdon Thani
NakhonPhanom
Tahkli
Don MuangNakhonRatchasima
Sattahip
FriendshipHighway Ubon
Ratchathani
Communist-KhmerRouge victory,
1975
Vietcong-NorthVietnamese victoryand U.S.withdrawal, 1975
Harbormined,1972
Ca Mau
Bu Dop
Bien HoaLong Binh
Tan SonNhut
Can ThoVinh Long
Chau Duc
Cholon
Vung Tau
Phan RangCamRanhBay
Nha Trang
Tuy Hoa
Ban Me Thuot
Pleiku
AnkheQuinhon
KontumDak To
Quang Ngai
Kham Duc
Khe Sanh
Quang Tri
DanangChu Lai
DemilitarizedZone
Communist-Pathet Laovictory, 1975
MekongDelta
HAINAN
Ia DrangValley
Ca Mau Peninsula
Red River
Mekong Rive
r
Mekong River
Chao P
raya
U.S. basesMajor battles of the TetOffensive, January 1968U.S. and South Vietnameseinvasion of CambodiaHo Chi Minh Trail
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
T102
Map 29-1 The War in VietnamFriday, May 18, 12
The Tet offensiveTet turned many more people against the war including the influential CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite
“We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. . . .For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.” February 27, 1968
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Following the Tet offensive, Lyndon Johnson decides not to seek a second term in 1968.
“If I have lost Cronkite, I have lost the nation.”
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4. Nixon and Vietnam, 1969-1973
•The Secret Plan
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• Increased Bombing
• Increased civilian casualties
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4. Nixon and Vietnam, 1969-1973
Increasingly Americans turned against the War
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4. Nixon and Vietnam, 1969-1973
• Vietnamization
• By 1972, only 90,000 US troops remained in Vietnam
• All US Troops withdrawn by 1973
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South Vietnam falls to a North Vietnamese invasion, 1975
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