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Highlight in your Reading Quiz Notes• Vietcong

• Strategic Hamlets

• Buddhist Monks’ Protests

• Overthrow of Diem

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident / Resolution

• Operation Rolling Thunder

• “search and destroy”

• napalm

• Agent Orange

• Ho Chi Minh Trail

Ch 25 Sec 2: Going to War in Vietnam

Intro 3

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Chapter ObjectivesSection 2: Going to War in Vietnam

• Describe how President Johnson deepened American involvement in Vietnam.

Intro 2


Textbook Assignment (pp.776-779)

1) Who were the Vietcong and how were they able to become so powerful in South Vietnam?

2) How did Ngo Dinh Diem’s actions against Buddhist monks make him even more unpopular and how was he removed from power?

3) What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and how did it effect America’s role in the Vietnam War?

4) How did Operation Rolling Thunder change America’s course of action in the Vietnam War?

Section 2: Going to War in Vietnam

Intro 2


Textbook Assignment (pp.779-781)

1) How were the Vietcong able to overcome the fact that they lacked the firepower of American troops?

2) What was a “search and destroy” mission?

3) Why did the United States military use products such as napalm and Agent Orange when fighting the Vietcong?

4) Where was the Ho Chi Minh Trail and why was it able to help the Vietcong against the United States?

Section 2: Going to War in Vietnam


American Involvement Deepens


• After Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold national elections, Ho Chi Minh and his followers created a new guerrilla army known as the Vietcong.

(pages 776–778)(pages 776–778)

One of the greatest strengths of the Vietcong (also known as “Charlie”, is that American soldiers had a tough time identifying who they were. They also built a very sophisticated tunnel system throughout South Vietnam.

WHO is Charlie and WHERE is he?


American Involvement Deepens


• Their goal was to reunify North and South Vietnam.

• The United States continued to send aid to South Vietnam.

(pages 776–778)(pages 776–778)

• The Vietcong’s power, however, continued to grow because many Vietnamese opposed Diem’s government.

American Involvement Deepens (cont.)


(pages 776–778)(pages 776–778)

• President Kennedy continued the nation’s policy of support for South Vietnam, agreeing with past presidents that Southeast Asia was important in the battle against communism.



(pages 776–778)(pages 776–778)

• The unpopularity of South Vietnam’s President Diem increased because his government was corrupt, he created strategic hamlets, and he discriminated against Buddhism, one of the country’s most widely practiced religions.



(pages 776–778)(pages 776–778)

To protest the actions of Diem, seven Buddhists Monks lit themselves on fire in the streets of Saigon and Hue, but not without first alerting the American press of their planned actions.

What did the Vietnamese Buddhists learn from MLK?

• Diem was overthrown and executed on November 1st, 1963.

• This further weakened South Vietnam’s government, forcing the United States to become more involved.



(pages 776–778)(pages 776–778)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Diem_dead.jpg

• After Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon Johnson inherited the problem of Vietnam.


(pages 776–778)(pages 776–778)

Johnson and Vietnam


• At first, President Johnson was cautious regarding Vietnam, yet he was determined to prevent South Vietnam from becoming Communist.

• Politically, Democrats needed to keep South Vietnam from becoming Communist, or Republicans would use it against them.

(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

• On August 2, 1964, President Johnson announced that North Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Johnson and Vietnam (cont.)


(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

• A similar attack reportedly occurred two days later.

• The Senate and the House passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, authorizing the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack on U.S. forces.

• Congress had given its war powers to the president.



(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

• After the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed, the Vietcong began attacking bases where American advisers were stationed in South Vietnam.



(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

• After an attack in February 1965, Johnson sent aircrafts to strike in North Vietnam.



(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

• While the polls showed that Johnson’s approval rating had increased, some dissenters in the White House warned that if the United States became too involved, it would be difficult to get out.



(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

• In March 1965, however, Johnson increased American involvement by ordering Operation Rolling Thunder which was a round the clock bombing campaign of North Vietnam.



(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

The size of North Vietnam is 63,360 square miles (a little smaller than Florida) yet during the Vietnam war, the U.S. dropped more tons of bombs on North Vietnam than ALL nations dropped on one another during World War II COMBINED!!!

Bombing North Vietnam back to the Stone Age?

• Also in March 1965, Johnson ordered the first American combat troops into Vietnam to fight alongside the South Vietnamese troops against the Vietcong.



(pages 778–779)(pages 778–779)

Ch 25 Sec 2 Review

A Bloody Stalemate Emerges


• By 1965 some 180,000 American combat troops were fighting in Vietnam, with the number doubling by 1966.

• Many Americans believed they could win in Vietnam.

(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

• To take Vietcong’s hiding places away, American planes dropped napalm, a jellied gasoline that explodes on contact, and Agent Orange, a chemical that strips leaves from trees and shrubs.

A Bloody Stalemate Emerges (cont.)


(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

• Farmlands and forests were turned into wastelands.



(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

After effects of Agent Orange attacks

• Americans underestimated the Vietcong’s strength, stamina, and morale.



(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

Star Wars director George Lucas modeled his climatic scene in “Return of the Jedi” to be based on the Vietnam War with the technology of the Empire (United States) defeated by the guerilla tactics of the Ewoks (Vietnamese).

“Return of the Vietcong”?

http://www.retrojunk.com/img/art-images/George%20Lucas%20photo.jpg

• Johnson refused to order a full invasion of North Vietnam, fearing China would get involved in the war.



(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

• President Johnson also refused to allow a full-scale attack on the Vietcong’s supply line, known as the Ho Chi Minh trail.



(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

• This made winning difficult.



(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

• As American casualties increased, many American citizens began questioning the United States’s involvement in the war.


(pages 779–781)(pages 779–781)

Helicopters GI slang referred to helicopters as TWA-teenie-weenie airlines. They were used on a massive scale during the Vietnam War. With gas turbines replacing piston engines, the helicopters had remarkable range and maneuverability.

Ch 25 Sec 2.2 Review

End of Section 2

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