Vietnam War

1959-1975

Aftermath of WWII

• Before WWII, Vietnam was a French colony. Japan took it during WWII, and afterwards France tried to reclaim it.

• After WWII, the Vietnamese resisted for independence.

• Ho Chi Minh led Vietminh resistance• Battle ended in 1954 when French were defeated at the battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Peace?• 1954 International Conference in Geneva– French and Vietminh sign agreement to divide at

the 17th parallel– All Vietnamese elections will be held in 1956

• 1955 new government forms in South Vietnam headed by Ngo Dinh Diem- American backed. North is backed by China and Soviet Union- Ho Chi Minh

• Division becomes permanent, elections never happen, civil war erupts

Trouble Brews

• Ho Chi Minh wants to unite Vietnam– National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) tries to

overthrow Diem– Northern sympathizers in the South used guerilla

warfare

• US become greatly involved in early 60s – JFK sends Special Forces– LBJ later asks Congress to give him war powers in

the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1963

• Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated by his own people– Was not strong enough to overcome the Viet

Cong– Persecuted Buddhists– President Diem was overthrown and executed,

along with his brother, on 2 November 1963– South Vietnam falls into chaos

Here comes America

• 1964 USA bombs North Vietnam• 500,000 troops are sent in• China and Soviet Union send North Vietnam

aid but no troops• Despite help, South Vietnam still struggles– 1968 attacked by North Vietnam- Tet Offensive

(Vietnamese New Year)– Turning point in US opinion– Showed North Vietnamese fought at all costs

Anti-War Movement

What was the purpose of the anti war movement?

How did different people react to the anti war movement?

Poor Preparation

• American forces were always on the defensive– Didn’t know how to fight the jungle terrain– Viet Cong ambushed US troops, set up booby

traps, and escape through a complex network of underground tunnels

– US had to dropped Agent Orange or napalm bombs to clear area; many innocent lives suffered

• Could not decipher who was the enemy since even women and children built booby traps or housed and fed the Viet Cong

• U.S. soldiers became frustrated and suffered from low morale, became angry, and some used drugs

My Lai Massacre

• March 1968• Thought village housed Viet Cong but none found• 500 people including women, children and the

elderly were killed• Higher-ranking U.S. Army officers covered up

events for a year• In 1970, a U.S. Army board charged 14 officers of

crimes related to the events at My Lai; only one was convicted

On 8 June 1972 a South Vietnamese aircraft accidentally

dropped napalm load on the village of Trang Bang

South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes a Viet Cong officer with a single shot to

the head.

1969

• Nixon becomes President• Vietnamization: remove U.S. troops from

Vietnam (started that year) and had fighting back to South Vietnam

• Easter Offensive (also called the Spring Offensive), on March 30, 1972. North Vietnamese troops crossed over the 17th parallel and invaded South Vietnam

Cease Fire

• 1973 all US troops evacuated• 1975 North Vietnam captures Saigon; country

is united

Fall of Saigon

In as many adjectives or phrases as possible, describe what you see.

Evacuation April 1975

• Most were military personnel fleeing Northern troops

• American planes airlifted and evacuated

The Boat People

• Picked up by American navy ships and transported to Guam or the Philippines

• Did not know what was going to happen to them or where they were going

Arrival in US

• 130,000 refugees brought to US in 1975• 1st wave: educated, heads of household, spoke

English well, came from cities, were pretty westernized, worked for French or US, ½ were Christian, came as families

• Placed in processing camps then spread throughout the country

War continues without us

• Communists ruled South harshly• Rebuilding difficult because of inefficient

government and US sanctions• Businesses were nationalized. Re-education camps.

Thousands of urban elite were sent to the country to farm or dig irrigation canals.

2nd Wave of Arrivals

• Mostly Boat People– 2/3 of boats were attacked by pirates– Lost limbs because they couldn’t remove their

jewelry, clubbed to death, women raped, men tied up and thrown overboard

– Survivors floated to Thailand where they lived in refugee camps for months and some for years

– From there, they went to new countries like Australia, Canada, France, and US

2nd Wave of Arrivals

• Diverse: Professionals, fisherman, farmers, storekeepers, most did not speak English.

• 40% were ethnically Chinese from Vietnam-experienced hostility and became targets of the new Communist regime

• Because business is nationalized, the 80% of retail owned by the Chinese were taken

Treatment in US• Veterans told Americans to be nice to the

Vietnamese • fought on the same side; just needed a home• seen as cheap labor

• Sojourners who hoped to rid communist government

– Women have job opportunities and men break gender roles and help out at home. Ended arranged marriages.

– Family ties are strained– The children lose the language because of teasing.

The Lost Generation

• Some kids were sent for better education and to become citizens

• Some came through Operation Babylift• Adoptive parents would abandon them• Lacking families, many struggled to survive, lived in

motels, joined gangs to rob• Struggled in school and no one could help them so

they drop out of school