SSUSH20D

The Vietnam Conflict

The Vietnam Conflict

Historical Background

• By 1900’s: Nationalism was a powerful force in Vietnam

• Vietnamese people were struggling for Independence from France

• A Key leader of the Nationalist Movement was Nguyen Tat Thanh

• He traveled around the world working his way on freighters

• 1912-1923: He lived in NY, England, and France

Introduced to the Socialist Party while in France

• 1923-1940: He lived in the Soviet Union and China

Became an advocate of Communism during visits

• 1940: He adopted the name Ho Chi Minh

Meaning “He who Enlightens”

• 1941: He returned to Vietnam

The Vietnam Conflict

Historical Background

• 1941-1945: Vietnam was supervised by a Vichy French government controlled by the Japanese

Ho Chi Minh organized the Viet Minh as a Nationalist Guerilla Force to fight against their occupation

• 1945: Ho Chi Minh gained control of Vietnam and proclaimed independence

He petitioned President Truman for recognition and support of Vietnam’s Independence . . . Truman never replied

• 1946: France re-imposed its imperial control over Vietnam

Viet Minh and Vietnamese National Army forces resumed fighting

• 1950: Ho Chi Minh met with Stalin and Mao Zedong in Moscow to obtain aid

They all agreed that China would train and supply the Viet Minh

• 1952: President Truman began sending military aide to French Forces

• May 1954: France withdrew from Vietnam after being defeated at Dien Bien Phu

• 1952-1954: U.S. concern over the spread of communism or “Domino Theory” in Vietnam increased

The Vietnam Conflict

Historical Background

• By 1954: The U.S. was paying almost 3/4 of France’s cost to fight the war

• July 1954: Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th Parallel at the Geneva Accords

• Ho Chi Minh began an armed struggle to reunify the Communist North to the Western allied South.

His new guerilla force became known as the Vietcong

• 1959 – Ho Chi Minh’s forces invaded neighboring Laos

His forces built the Ho Chi Minh supply trail thru Laos

The Vietnam Conflict

Initial U.S. Involvement

• 1959: U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group – Vietnam advisors and Special Forces teams were sent in to help train South Vietnamese forces

• By 1961: The Vietcong had assassinated thousands of South Vietnamese government officials

President Kennedy authorized covert operations against the North Vietnamese

• By 1962: U.S. and South Vietnamese had established the Strategic Hamlet Program to seal off villages from Communist insurgents

• Nov 1963: Both President Kennedy and South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem were assassinated

President Lyndon B. Johnson initially exercised caution and restraint concerning U.S. actions in the war

The Vietnam Conflict

U.S. Goes to War

• 2 Aug 1964: North Vietnamese Torpedo Boats attacked the USS Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf

USS Maddox returned fire, damaging one boat and forcing the enemy to retreat

USS Maddox was not damaged and there were no casualties

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara called it an “Act of War”

• President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to authorize the use of force to defend U.S. forces in Vietnam

• 7 Aug 1964: Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Authorizing the President to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces or the United States”

U.S. officially entered the War in Vietnam (a major turning point)

The Vietnam Conflict

U.S. Goes to War

• 6 Feb 1965: Vietcong forces attacked the U.S. Airbase at Pleiku

8 soldiers died and 128 were wounded

• Mar 1965: President Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder

Sustained Bombing Campaign against North Vietnam

• 14 Nov 1965: Battle of Ia Drang Valley

First major battle between regular U.S. Army

and NVA troops

• By the end of 1965: 180,000+ American Combat Troops were fighting in the Vietnam Conflict

The Vietnam Conflict

U.S. Goes to War

• U.S. initially had superior firepower over the Vietcong and NVA

Vietcong were experts at guerilla warfare using ambushes & booby traps

It was also impossible to tell Vietcong from regular Vietnamese civilians

They didn’t wear any uniforms

The Vietnam Conflict

U.S. Goes to War

• The Vietcong and NVA Regulars also used highly developed tunnel systems (like cu chi near Saigon)

Causing U.S. forces to develop new weapons and tactics

Some soldiers, known as Tunnel Rats, were specially trained in tunnel warfare

The Vietnam Conflict

U.S. Goes to War

American planes dropped Napalm (jelled petroleum fuel that

exploded on contact)

They also deployed Agent Orange (Chemical defoliation agent

designed to strip leaves from trees and shrubs)

• By 1966: 360,000 U.S. Combat Troops were in Vietnam

More than 6,700 U.S. soldiers had been killed

Operation Thunder had killed nearly 220,000 Vietnamese

NVA and China were sending supplies to the Viet Cong on the Ho Chi Minh trail through Laos

• President Johnson rejected a plan to invade North Vietnam out of fear that China might enter the war (like in Korea)

The Vietnam Conflict

A Nation Divides

• Feb-Mar 1965: President Johnson’s approval rating initially went from 41% to 66% due to the war effort

• Images on television, newspapers, and in magazines began causing Americans to doubt the justification for U.S. involvement in Vietnam

Buddhist Monk burning himself in protest (11 Jun 1963)

First American casualties being evacuated from La Drang (1965)

The Vietnam Conflict

A Nation Divides

South Vietnamese General executes Vietcong prisoner in Saigon (Feb 1968)

Vietnamese survivors fleeing a Napalm Strike (8 Jun 1972)

• Mar 1965: University of Michigan faculty and students joined together for the first Teach-in

Informed discussion on issues surrounding and opposing the war

• May 1965: 122 Colleges held a National Teach-in by radio for over 100,000 demonstrators

The Vietnam Conflict

A Nation Divides

• Young Americans protested what they felt was an unfair Military Draft System

Colleges students were deferred until after graduation

Low income and minority families provided the highest percentage of draftees

An estimated 500,000 draftees refused to report for duty

Many publically burned draft cards or fled to Canada

About 3,300 were arrested and prosecuted

Some claimed to be “Conscientious Objectors” because killing in war was against their religious convictions

June 1967: The most famous case involved a young boxer named Muhammad Ali

His conviction was overturned on a technicality

The Vietnam Conflict

A Nation Divides

• Many Americans began holding public marches and rallies

Apr 1965: March on Washington held by the Students for a Democratic Society

May 1965: Rally held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC

• Nov 1967: General William C. Westmoreland predicted the end of the war was near

“We have reached an important point when the end begins now to come into view”

• 30 Jan 1968: Vietcong and NVA started a massive surprise attack against U.S. bases on Vietnam’s national holiday

Tet Offensive was disastrous for the Communists

• Gen. Westmoreland stated: “their well laid plans went afoul”

The Vietnam Conflict

A Pivotal Year

• 1968 was a another major turning point of the Vietnam Conflict

Immediately following the Tet Offensive, General William C. Westmoreland asked to increase U.S. troops by 200,000.

Americans saw this as an indication that the war was not going well

• U.S. Media began to openly criticize the war:

Wall Street Journal: “The whole Vietnam effort many be doomed”

Walter Cronkite: “The bloody experience in Vietnam is to end in a stalemate”

• U.S. Politicians divided between two key groups:

Doves – who promoted ending the costly conflict

Hawks – who urged remaining to fight communism

• President Johnson’s approval rating had dropped to 26%

The Vietnam Conflict

A Pivotal Year

• 16 Mar 1968: 26 U.S. Soldiers committed mass murder in the South Vietnam village of My Lai Known as the

My Lai Massacre Approximately 200 unarmed civilians

Mostly old men, women, and children

Reports of up to 500 victims

Soldiers were ordered to

attack to get a high body

count

Lt William Calley was convicted

Served 3 yrs of a life

sentence

The Vietnam Conflict

A New President Takes Charge

• The My Lai Massacre was kept a secret until after the 1968 Presidential Elections

President Johnson chose not to seek re-election

Senator Robert F. Kennedy chose to run as a Democratic Candidate

5 Jun 1968: He was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan (Palestinian radical)

Vice President Hubert Humphrey became the Democratic Candidate

Former Vice President Richard M. Nixon was the Republican Candidate

• Richard M. Nixon was elected president due to three key campaign promises:

Unify the Nation

Restore Law & Order

Bring the Troops Home (and end the war)

The Vietnam Conflict

Turmoil at Home Continues

• Nov 1969: News of My Lai Massacre was made public

• Apr 1970: President Nixon approved U.S. invasion of Cambodia to search out Vietcong strongholds

• Americans saw this as an escalation of the war

Student protests and demonstrations broke out at colleges across the country

4 May 1970: Kent State

4 students were killed by Ohio National Guardsmen

• Congress was furious about the invasion

President Nixon failed to inform Congress prior to the actual invasion

Dec 1970: Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

(which gave the president executive power to order military deployments)

The Vietnam Conflict

Ending the War

• 1969: President Nixon had appointed Henry Kissinger as the key U.S. negotiator for peace

• 1969-1972: Peace Talks dragged on due to three key issues

• Cease Fire Terms

• Return of U.S. POW’s

• Fate of South Vietnam

• Oct 1972: Kissinger announced that

“Peace is at hand”

• Dec 1972: Peace Talks broke off between U.S. & Vietnam

President Nixon ordered the “Christmas Bombings”

11 Straight Days of B-52 Bomber strikes on NVA

• 27 Jan 1973: U.S. & Vietnam signed peace agreement

• Toll of the War = $170 Billion 58,000 U.S. KIA 300,000 U.S. WIA

Increase American cynicism for and distrust of its government leaders