Chapter 23The Vietnam War

Chapter Vocabulary• National Liberation- Freeing a nation from control by

another nation.

• Containment- After WWII the U.S. policy of securing peace by trying to contain communism.

• Domino Theory- If one country fell to communism other countries in turn would fall.

• Guerrilla Warfare- Fighting by small, independent bands, using tactics such as sabotage and sudden ambushes.

Continued. . .• Conservative Era- The roll of government is limited

and individuals depend less on that government of assistance.

• Pacification Program- Policy in which entire villages are uprooted and the people forced to move to cities or refugee camps.

• Liberal Era- Government promoted social progress.

Continued. . .• Draft- System of selecting people to serve in the

military.

• Deferment- Postponement of a persons induction into the military service for reasons like health or occupation.

• Conscientious Objector- Person who refuses military service because of moral or religious principles.

• Hawk- Person who supports the war effort.

Continued. . .• Dove- Person who supports the withdrawal of U.S.

troops from war and favors a negotiated end to war.

• Negotiate- To reach an agreement.

• Nationalist Movement- The activities of a group focused on freeing a nation from foreign influence and control.

War in Southeast AsiaSection 1

• Sept. 2, 1945 Vietnam declared it’s independence. The French unwilling to give up Vietnam.

• Ho Chi Minh-leader who was committed to communists.

U.S. support for French• 1950, French unable to best Vietnam, so they asked

U.S. for aid.

• Policy of containment would pull U.S. closer to war in Asia.

• Truman sent $20 million to the French for military aid.

End of French Rule• Peace agreement said Vietnam would be

temporarily divided along the 17th parallel, Vietnamese would withdrawal north of that line and French would withdrawal to the south.

• Vietnam reunified after national elections(1956)

U.S. Enters War• U.S. refuses to sign agreement, Eisenhower thought

the loss of south Vietnam would deny the U.S. access to recourses in markets of southeast Asia.

The Diem Regime• Ngo Dinh Diem = nationalist and anti-Communist, U.S.

aided south Vietnam with $1 billion but 4 out of 5 dollars of the aid was spent on military.

• Diem rejected any reforms that would weaken the ruling class.

Civil War• Diem’s policies and his refusal to hold elections

made Vietnamese people mad.

• 1960 the Vietnamese and other groups opposed to Diem united the south Vietnam to form the NLF. (National Libration Front)

• The leaders were communists.

• JFK faced a difficult choice, leave Diem or deepen American involvement in Vietnam.

The Kennedy Years• Kennedy expanded U.S. role in Vietnam.

• Strengthen the south Vietnamese army with U.S. technology and military advisors to help them win war against Vietcong.

• To pressure Diem to make political and economic reforms to eliminate the conditions that had allowed communism to take root in the first place.

• 1963 Kennedy x3 the amount of aid in increase the number of U.S. advisors.

• South Vietnamese army failed to score major victories against Vietcong.

• Nov. 1, 1963 Diem was killed, 3 weeks later Kennedy was assassinated.

Johnson’s War• Johnson rejected any settlement of the war that didn’t

guarantee a non-communist gov. in south Vietnam.

Tonkin Resolution• North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked 2 U.S.

destroyers in the gulf of Tonkin.

• Resolution was not a deceleration of war it authorized Johnson to widen the war.

• American war ships had been helping south Vietnamese commandos raid 2 north Vietnamese islands.

Operation Rolling Thunder

• Feb. 1965, Vietcong forces attacked U.S. military base and killed 8 Americans which lead to the 1st American bombing of Vietnam.

• NLF continued to grow.

U.S. Troops in Vietnam• General Westmorland asked Johnson to send troops

to guard the U.S. air base at Da Nang.

• End of 1965, 180,000+ U.S. troops were fighting in south Vietnam. By the end of 1967 500,000.

Fighting the War

• U.S. hoped to destroy Vietcong’s will to fight and forced them to bargaining table by relentless bombing and combat.

• U.S. success in war was by body counts-a tally of the # of enemy killed.

• Optimistic reports of body counts lead to many at home to believe U.S. was winning.

• American officials underestimated Vietcong and their North Vietnamese allies, U.S. forces claimed to have killed 220,000 communists by the end of 1967.

Air War

• U.S. relied more on air power, after Operation Rolling Thunder air war over Vietnam went from 25,000 bombing raids to 108,000+

• By 1967, U.S. dropped more bombs on Vietnam than allies dropped during all of WWII.

• To evade bombers, Vietcong used and expanded underground tunnels dug during the conflict with the French in 1940’s.

Ground War • U.S. ground forces attempted to wipe out vietcong through

“search-and-destroy” missions.

• All south of Vietnam became a war zone as U.S. troops searched for Vietcong.

Guerilla Tactics• Vietcong used small bands of fighters to harass U.S. troops.• • Guerilla fighters avoided open battle, they used ambushes, hit-

and-run raids and sabotage.

• U.S. troops undertook pacification program soldiers then burned the fields and emptied villages.

• 1967 more than 14,000 U.S. soldiers killed.

Endless War• For Americans fighting it seemed like a

unwinnable war, Vietnam was frustrating and terrifying nightmare.

• The average soldier was 19 yrs. Old, seven years younger than soldiers in WWII.

1960: A Year of Crises Tet Offensive: A Turning Point

Section 2

• 1,100+ American soldiers, 2,300 South Vietnamese troops, 12,500 Vietnamese troops, and 12,500 Vietnamese civilians were killed.

• More than 1 million Vietnamese became refuges.

• Tet also marked a turning point in the war.

Crisis of U.S. policy• The % of Americans who approved of

Johnson's handling of the war plunged from 40 to 26; Johnson's overall approval ratings dropped from 48 to 36 %.

• Televised reports challenged official statements and brought home the brutality and hopelessness of the war.

• This war was bloody and brutal.

Johnson's Decision• General Westmoreland and Joint Chiefs of Staff requested

additional 206,000 American troops 40% increase.• The Westmoreland claimed that Tet losses had weakened the

Vietcong.

• Johnson accepted Clifford's recommendation he would send only just a few thousand additional troops to Vietnam.

• For the first time in 3 years of war Johnson refused to support Westmoreland.

• March 31, 3 years after the first American troops landed in Vietnam, Johnson had made a televised speech.

• Johnson got out of the race.

• 2 days later, McCarthy swept the Wisconsin Democratic primary.

Tragedy and Turmoil Events 1968 lead to many Americans to reject the liberalism of 1960s and

embrace a new conservatism in hopes of bringing an end to the war and restoring the peace at home.

King’s Assassination• Martin Luther King Jr. was assonated.

• In Chicago fires raged through a 20-block area of the city's heavily African American West Side.

• Murder of Martin Luther King Jr. stunned the nation.

• African Americans stormed through the streets and cities around the country.

• Thousands of the Kings admirers took part in peaceful marches and memorial services.

• Soon the shock and grief of his death soon turned into rage.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2358445n&tag=api

The Democratic Primaries• The presidential race picked up speed.

• 3 candidates for the Democratic nomination: Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

• Kennedy quickly became the front-runner.

• The polls closed June 4, Kennedy had won 46% of the popular vote and McCarthy just 41%.

• Kennedy claimed all of the convention delegates.

Kennedy's Assassination• Evening of June 4, he was assassinated.

• 2 liberal leaders dead within 2 months.

• Hope is ruined after King and Kennedy's deaths for anti-war and civil rights activists.

The election of 1968• Democrats met in Chicago to nominate a candidate for

President.

• New conservative era in presidential politics.

• Role of gov. = limited.

The Democratic Convention• Hubert Humphrey looked like a winner of the

Democratic nomination.

• Nearly 10,000 flocked to Chicago to protest.

• Mayor Richard Daley mobilized 12,000 Chicago police officers and put 5,000 members of the National Guard on call.

• Aug. 28, a convention delegates cast their ballots for Hubert Humphrey.

• There were helmeted police that savagely clubbed demonstrators and bystanders in downtown Chicago.

Nixon and the Republicans• 6 years earlier, Nixon's political career seemed dead.

• 1962 after losing the race for governor of California, Nixon had then announced that he was retiring from politics.

• Nixon saw that the disorder and violence of the 1960’s frightened many of Americans.

• Nixon promised to end the turmoil and to protect the "first civil right of every American to be free from domestic violence".

The Wallace Campaign• Conservative governor of Ala., George Wallace, was

running as the candidate of the American Independent party.

• Wallace called for a victory in Vietnam and he denounced the antiwar protesters.

• Wallace had tried to appeal to the fears and prejudices of the blue-collar workers.

• By mid-Sept. the polls showed that he had won the support of 21% of the voters.

• His campaign suffered a setback.

The Election• End of Sept., polls showed Humphrey trailing Nixon by

15% points and the leading Wallace by only 7 points.

• Mid-Oct. he tried to salvage his campaign by calling for a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam.

• The election of 1964, the Democrats had lost nearly 12 million voters.

• One Election Day Nixon won 43.4% of the popular vote, edging out Humphrey by less than 1%.

The War at HomeStudent Movement

Section 3

• Fall of 1964, Berkeley students demanded freedom of speech.

• on Dec. 2, nearly 6000 students rallied at Sproul hall the administration building of the university. lead by mario savio a student at the university.

• 1950, only 1 million young American attended college. By 1960 it jumped to 4 million.

Students for Democratic Society• the (SDS) formed the core of the New Left, a

rebirthing a political American radicals the first issue the SDS tackled was domestic issues.

• one of the earliest student radical groups was the (SDS) Students for a Democratic Society.

Protesting the War• Summer of 64' the SDS volunteers moved into

urban neighborhoods and organized residents to fight for jobs, school, better housing, and community service.

Resisting the Draft• all 18 year old men were  required to sign up for the

draft. Opposition to the war lead to some students to resist the draft.

Opposition to the War• Oct. of 67' 50,000+ protesters crowded onto the steps

of the pentagon.

• there where armed troops waiting for the protesters at the top steps of the pentagon.

• some protesters placed flowers in the barrels of the troops guns  to convince the troops to join them.

War Divides the Nation • the war divided the society. the Hawks were for the

war and Doves were against it.

Bringing the War Home• Anti-war protests increased on college campuses.

Most violent uprising took place at Columbia University in New York city.

The Media and the War• Television played an important role in public opinion.

• During 1968, 800 reporters covered the Vietnam war.

Early Reporting on the War• June 1960, Newsweek called Diem “one of the

Asia’s ablest leaders”.

More Critical Press• 1968, Reporters Walter Cronkite, Began to

raise serious questions about the war. He said “to say we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence the optimist who have been wrong in the past”

• Media also brought home the tragedies of war.

The My Lai Massacre• March 1968, U.S. forces had massacred nearly

350 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai village.

• Lieutenant Calley was sentenced life in prison.

Nixon and Anti-War Movement• Nixon was elected president. 1969 Nixon

announced that he would start brining troops home as part of his plan to “vietnamize” the war.

The War Comes Home• April 30th, 1970 Nixon ordered U.S. troops to

invade Cambodia.

• His expansion of the war lead to massive protests across the nation. May 4th, students held a peaceful protest on the Kent State campus. Dozens of student fled chocking and weeping from tear gas.

• A group of soldiers raised their rifles and fired into the crowd after retreating.

Jackson State

• An outbreak of vandalism in downtown Jackson prompted local officials to call in 500 National Guard troops.

• May 14, a city truck was set on fire.

• Without warning police officers opened fire, 12 students were wounded and 2 bystanders were killed.

End of a Decade

• The CIA collected files on 7,200 Americans.

• Although the student movement failed in its goal of radically transforming U.S. society it succeeded in effecting change.

• The radicalism of students in the 1960’s alarmed many Americans and fueled growing conservatism.

Ending the WarVietnamiztion

Section 4

• Public pressure was increasing to bring American troops home.

• May 1969, South Vietnamese soldiers trained and equipped to take place of American troops. As South Vietnamese took over fighting, U.S. troops would start coming home.

• Vietnamization was part of a larger foreign policy known as the Nixon Doctrine.

• 1969, U.S. role in Southeast Asia was redefined. U.S. would no longer step in military to protect Asian allies from communist threats.

Paris Peace Talks

• Peace talks began in Paris in 1968, yielded few results. Was between representatives of the U.S., Thieu gov. of South Vietnam; North Vietnam, and Vietcong

• U.S. and South Vietnam said for all North Vietnamese forces to withdraw from south Vietnam & Thieu Regime remain in power.

• North Vietnamese and Vietcong demanded U.S. troops to withdraw from South Vietnam & Coalition gov. that included Vietcong would replace the Thieu Regime.

Secret War

• To force North Vietnamese to negotiate American forces withdrew.

• March 1969, Nixon ordered secret bombing of enemy supply routes and bases in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam.

• Bombing raids failed to cut supply lines and bring the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table, instead attack to Cambodia and Loas.

A Bigger Stick

• 3,600+ secret bombing missions and 110,000 tons of bombs failed to wiped out communist bases.

Home Front• News provoked widespread protests.

National guard fired on and killed anit-war protestors at Kent state and local police did the same at Jackson State.

Final Years of War

• South Vietnamese troops proved unable to defeat the communist forces.

• Feb. 1971 South Vietnamese troops invaded Laos to cut off the flow of supplies from North Vietnam to South.

• North Vietnamese troops crushed South Vietnamese forces in 6 weeks.

Renewed Peace Talks• Oct. 1972 talks re-opened in Paris first time in 10

years in war peace seemed in reach.

• North Vietnamese agreed to drop their demand U.S. would allow North Vietnamese troops in the South.

• U.S. allowed Vietcong to play a role in final political settlement. Cease-fire agreement was negotiated.

• Dec. 18 Nixon ordered the bombing of North Vietnamese major cities, Hanoi and Haiphong.

• Jan. 1973 North Vietnamese agreed to return to the bargaining table it took one week to reach agreement. Nixon sent $1 billion in military equipment to South Vietnamese.

Fall of Saigon• Issues unresolved by the treaty would be

settled on the battlefield.

• March 1973 last American troops left the cease-fire collapsed and fighting broke in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Thieu turned to U.S. to aid and congress refused to grant it.

• April 30,1975 Saigon fell to communism south Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.

Cost of War

• More than 58,000 Americans dead, 300,000 wounded many permanently disabled, $150 billion + had been poured into the war.

• 1st time in history U.S. lost war. Optimism and self confidence inspired by WWII was shattered.

• The U.S. had been unable to defeat the nationalist movement.

The End