VIETNAM
From 1800’s till 1940 France ruled Indochina
Became known as French Indochina VietnamCambodia Laos
VIETNAM
1940 Japan took control of Indochina
After war France and Ho Chi Minh fought for control of Vietnam
VIETNAMIf one falls the rest will fallRelate to Cold War If Vietnam fell next Cambodia ThailandLaos Indonesia ??Australia??
VIETNAM
In 2 years National Elections were to be held
United States believed that 80% would vote for Ho Chi Minh
VIETNAM
Diem was corrupt and abusive leaderDevout Catholic minority in a largely
Buddhist countryPersecuted any of the old Vietminh
VIETNAM
Kennedy supported Diem’s government with money and 16,000 “advisors”
Problem for KennedyDiem was oppressive to majority
religion of Buddhism
VIETNAM
VIETNAM
Setting themselves on fire to protest imprisonment of Monks and destruction of Temples by Diem
VIETNAM
1963 Vietnam was becoming very unstable Diem refused to listen to United States to ease up on persecutions
Diem had to goMilitary coupKennedy approved
VIETNAM WAR EXPANDS
Some say Kennedy was going to get out of Vietnam
Debatable as to whether he could have left
He thought it was “their war”
VIETNAM
JohnsonAppeasement not an option in
VietnamJohnson view if Vietnam fell United
States would be ineffective elsewhere
VIETNAM
August 4, 1964 Maddox reported to being fired on
again Bad weather and low visibility Crew reported not seeing or
hearing gunfire
VIETNAM
Johnson went to Congress for additional powers
VIETNAM
RESOLUTION STATED “President will be able to use all
measures to repel any armed attack against the United States”
VIETNAM
August 7, 1964Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passedGave Johnson and future
presidents the ability to escalate
VIETNAM
Johnson had wanted to be able to escalate war just waiting for an event to push the resolution through
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Initially war was popular 61% of American people supported the war• Johnson was reluctant to send
additional troops to Vietnam
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Containment and Domino Theory was still number 1 Foreign Policy of the United States
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• McNamara and Rusk along with commander of the Vietnam troops General William Westmoreland
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Convinced Johnson to escalate troop strength • By end of 1965 • American troop strength was • 180,000 troops
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Westmoreland believed that South Vietnam Army could not stand up to Vietcong• As escalation continued it
became an American War
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• THE WAR• Not a conventional war• Guerilla warfare• Jungle fighting
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Tactics of Vietcong • Hit and Run tactics• Mines• Booby traps
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Friends by day enemy by night• Vietcong had a sophisticated
tunnel systems
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Tunnels included• Kitchens• Sleep quarters• Medical facilities• False tunnels
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Provided easy escape • Tunnels were sustainable and
hard to locate • Distinct advantage to Vietcong
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• World War I and World War II • Both had major battles• Vietnam had some but majority
were • Quick strikes hit and run
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• United States military and government believed that U.S. military forces could wear down the North Vietnamese and they would quit
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Just the opposite as Vietcong or North Vietnamese casualties rose Their will became stronger
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• McNamara was astonished that the North Vietnamese could withstand the onslaught of the American military
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Westmoreland stated U S was winning the military battles• For the United States it was a
military conflict to the Vietnamese it was a battle for survival
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Battle for Hearts and Minds of Vietnam people• Get the South Vietnamese
villagers to side with U.S. • Guerillas would have no place to
hide
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Military struggle vs. fight for survival• Also united States step up
bombing
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Napalm gasoline based bomb that set fire to jungle• To expose Tunnels and reduce
foliage• Agent Orange
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Agent Orange was used to destroy the jungle and expose troops• It was effective but later soldiers
developed cancer
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Quagmire• Despite military victories • Search and destroy missions• War waged on with no end in
sight
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Morale in ranks of soldiers became evident• Frustration of fighting for in a war
that some thought had no cause for America
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Alcohol, drugs, became a problem• Some soldiers would shoot their
own officers rather than follow orders
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• The effects of fighting a conventional war against a non conventional enemy
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Vietnam was the Cold War philosophy • United States and Russia fighting
a war against each other but not firing a shot directly at each other
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Ho Chi Minh believed that they could outlast the United States once the American people got fed up with casualties on the U.S. side
1968
• McNamara resigned in 1967• Confused • Infiltration reduced• Casualties high • But no progress
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• TET OFFENISIVE• JANUARY 31. 1968 • First day of the Vietnamese New
Year
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• North Vietnam launched a massive and coordinated attack on South Vietnam major cities• Attacks were brutal and quick
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Hue (South Vietnam city) was overrun by Vietcong• North Vietnamese were
relentless rounded up supporters of South Vietnam were murdered by the Vietcong
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Saigon was attacked • Initial victories by North
Vietnamese including American Embassy
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• United States forces repelled attack regain Embassy• North Vietnamese casualties
were astronomical
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• A major factor in the Tet offensive was• TELEVISION• The battle and the war was
brought home to America’s living room
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• One event stood out • A South Vietnam officer took a North
Vietnamese solider into the street put a pistol to his head and shot him• It was caught by a photographer
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
South Vietnamese sources state that Lém commanded a Viet Cong death squad, which on that day had murdered South Vietnamese National Police officers, or in their stead, the police officers' families; these sources said that Lém was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of General Nguyễn's deputy and close friend, and six of whom were Nguyễn's godchildren. Photographer Adams confirmed the South Vietnamese account, although he was only present for the execution. Lém's widow confirmed that her husband was a member of the Viet Cong and she did not see him after the Tet Offensive began. Shortly after the execution, a South Vietnamese official who had not been present said that Lém was only a political operative. [6]
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Also North Vietnamese were brutal • Tortured American POWS
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• The Tet offensive was a military victory for the United States• A psychological victory for the
North Vietnamese
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• The brutality of the war and the beginning of the feeling there was no way out of the war from the Tet offensive
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• It was a political defeat for Johnson • It became the political turning
point of the war
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• Fighting the war became a two front war for Johnson• The war in Vietnam was a
quagmire with no victory in sight
VIETNAM AND AMERICAESCALATION IN THE WAR
• And the war or protests against the war at home• Protest and turmoil will boil over
in 1968
1968• Hawks not war mongers but
supported all out military victory in Vietnam• Doves supported ending the war and
getting out of Vietnam quickly
1968• Four reasons students felt the
war was unjust• 1. Civil War• 2. South Vietnam government
was just as oppressive as the North
1968““I will not seek I will not I will not seek I will not accept the nomination of accept the nomination of my party for another my party for another term as your president”term as your president”
• My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it
• As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: • “Some men see things as they are
and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”
1968• Gestapo tactics." Photo by Gary Settle,
August 28, 1968.Mayor Richard J. Daley and son Richard M. Daley jeer Sen. Abraham Ribicoff at the Democratic National Convention as he criticizes Chicago "Gestapo" tactics. Images © Chicago Sun-Times
End of War and Legacy
• Talks began with North Vietnamese • Requirement of withdrawal • All North Vietnamese troops
must leave South Vietnam
End of War and Legacy• August 1969 first reduction of
troops• 25,000• Over next three years troop
strength will be down to 25,000
End of War and Legacy
• Goal of Nixon’s Peace• “Peace with Honor”•Maintain U.S. dignity • Henry Kissinger National
Security Advisor
End of War and Legacy
• Peace talks continued •Massive bombing on the North
continued•Major targets were supply
routes
End of War and Legacy
• 200 to 300 civilians killed by Charlie Company• Vietcong stronghold• Frustration build up
End of War and Legacy
• Numerous members of Charlie Company were killed or wounded in the area • Again frustrations build up
End of War and Legacy
• Company was on a search and destroy mission• Came upon village• Calley ordered to enter village
firing
End of War and Legacy
• Spoke to Congress about the massacre• He received first hand details
from members of Charlie Company
End of War and Legacy
• Military investigation charged Lt Calley charged with murder in September 1969• Two months before the story by
Hersh was published
End of War and Legacy
•Military commission investigated the incident • Findings lack of leadership
discipline and moral
End of War and Legacy•More and more seasoned
veterans rotated out of Vietnam or retired•Many were killed in action• Questioned the draft
inequalities
End of War and Legacy
• Epilogue• Calley was convicted claimed
he was only following orders from Captain Ernest Melinda
End of War and Legacy• Another damaging event • Pentagon Papers• Released• Stating that Johnson always
was in favor of escalating war
End of War and Legacy
• He had no intention of ever leaving Vietnam until victory• Congress was angry• Repelled the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution
End of War and Legacy
• Nixon disregarded and continued to escalate the war•March 1972• Vietcong launched the Easter
End of War and Legacy
• Reaction to invasion• Congress repealed Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution• Demonstrations on College
Campuses
End of War and Legacy
• Kent State• Protested the invasion of
Cambodia• National Guard Troops fired on
Students
End of War and Legacy
• 4 students were killed• Jackson State 2 students were
killed protesting Kent State
End of War and Legacy
• 1972 peace talks began• They were not successful • President Thieu of South
Vietnam wanted U S to do more
End of War and Legacy
• January 27, 1973 final treaty signed• 500 prisoners of U S were
released from POW camps• “Hanoi Hilton”
End of War and Legacy
• Fighting still in Vietnam• 1975 Congress refused funding
to war• North Vietnamese launched
attack on South Vietnam
End of War and Legacy•Without U S support the South
fell• April 30, 1975 Saigon fell to
the Communists•War was now over• Gerald Ford is president
End of War and Legacy• Aftermath• Congress passed the War
Powers Act• President must inform
Congress 2 days of using • U S troops
End of War and Legacy
• Veterans returning home• No hero welcome• 500,000 veterans suffered
from psychological problems after war
End of War and Legacy• United States Causalities of
Vietnam
•58,193 KIA •153,303 WIA •1,948 MIA
End of War and Legacy
• Pol Pot eliminated over one million Cambodians to rid country of Western influence
End of War and Legacy
• This concludes the study on the war in Vietnam
Top Related