Vietnamese History• Foreign domination of

Vietnam had lasted centuries:– China: off and on for

hundreds of years – France: 1800 until World War

II– Japan: during World War II

Military hero: Tran Hung Dao

Vietnamese Nationalism

• Ho Chi Minh– Joined independence

movement fighting French rule during his youth

– Became an advocate of communism while visiting Soviet Union and founded Indochinese Communist Party

– Returned to Vietnam in 1941 and led struggle against Japanese

• Vietminh– Led by Ho Chi Minh– Formed to fight Japan– Received aid from USA

French Return to Vietnam

• Post WW II – USA backs French in returning to rule in Indochina

• Domino Theory motivates USA– If Vietnam fell to

communism, other surrounding nations would follow

• Vietminh continue struggle for independence– Guerilla tactics: hit and

run, ambush, use jungles to hide

• 1954 - Vietminh victory at Dien Bien Phu forces France to withdraw from Indochina

• Vietnamese independence is negotiated in the Geneva Accords– French Indochina becomes

North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

– Vietnam divided at 17th Parallel– North Vietnam: communist

under Ho Chi Minh– South Vietnam: USA supported

under Ngo Dinh Diem– Elections to unite Vietnam

scheduled for 1956 • 1956 elections never held

– Ho Chi Minh would have been a certain winner

Vietnam Gains Independence

Dien Bien Phu

Battle at Dien Bien Phu

American Involvement

Deepens

• Ho Chi Minh forms guerilla army (Vietcong) to unify nation

• USA supports South Vietnam’s military with aid and advisors– Eisenhower and Kennedy

use this policy – Goal - prevent spread of

communism• Vietcong grow more powerful

and influential• Ngo Dinh Diem overthrown and

executed in 1963– Unpopular reforms– Persecution of Buddhists

• USA supports series of weak, unstable gov’ts in South Vietnam

Flames envelope a young Buddhist monk in Saigon, 1963.

LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin

• LBJ reports North Vietnam attacked USA destroyers in Gulf of Tonkin– He did not report that USA

had been conducting raids against North Vietnam

• LBJ requests and receives Congressional approval for Gulf of Tonkin Resolution– Authorized President to “take

all necessary measures” against North Vietnam

– Gave war powers to LBJ

Operation Rolling Thunder • LBJ ordered Operation

Rolling Thunder (1965)– Massive bombing campaign

against North Vietnam and it’s capital Hanoi

• 180,000 combat troops ordered to Vietnam– USA arrives confident of its

strength and purpose – By 1966 the numbers doubled

• Vietcong escalate attacks on USA positions

• Dear America

Leaflet Dropped by USA in Vietnam

Leaflet dropped by USA in Vietnam

Follow these Instructions below to Surrender 1. Go out and present yourself to the Vietnam Republic Force, or be alienated with those who are half-naked. 2. Carry your Gun on your shoulder with the Barrel pointed to the ground.

3. Place your hands behind your head. Don't be Scared you are Welcome

Frustrating Warfare• Vietcong were effective guerilla

fighters and stayed well hidden in villages and jungles

• USA used “search and destroy” missions to locate Vietcong

• Destroyed landscape and eliminate hiding places in jungle– Napalm (jellied gasoline) – Agent Orange (strips leaves

from trees) – Dear America

U.S. soldiers on a search-and-destroy patrol in Phuoc Tuy province, South Vietnam, June 1966.

Questioning villagers in search for Vietcong

Napalm

Agent Orange

A young Viet Cong suspect cries after hearing a rifle shot. His captors, Chinese Nung tribesmen in the service of the U.S. Special Forces, pretended to shoot his father, a ruse designed to make the boy reveal information

Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief Vietnam, 1968.

Vietcong: Determined Enemy

• Vietcong:– Largely comprised of South

Vietnamese fighting for independence

– North Vietnam supported Vietcong guerillas

– Sent arms and supplies south along Ho Chi Minh Trail

• USA :– Underestimated Vietcong’s

strength and determination– Tactics (limited war of

attrition) did not work against Vietcong or North Vietnamese

– Support for war begins to weaken

– Dear America

Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos

Credibility Gap • General William Westmoreland (top American commander in South Vietnam) continually reported that the enemy was on the brink of defeat– Vietnam becomes

“television war”– Media accounts

contradicted Westmoreland– Credibility gap develops

between government accounts of war and public perception

Tet OffensiveVideo

• 1/30/1968 – Tet (Vietnamese New Year)

• Vietcong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launch surprise attacks– American base camps– Major South Vietnamese cities

• Communist forces retreat after a month of intense fighting– Suffer heavy casualties, but

score a political victory– Americans were shocked at

strength of enemy– Majority in USA turn against war

                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                         

Tet Offensive

Hue, 1968

Hue, 1968

Khe Sanh under fire, 1968

Khe Sanh, 1968

Antiwar Movement • 1965 – first teach-in (leave

classes and gather for discussions of war) occurs

• Protests against draft become widespread– Many publicly burn

draft cards– Nearly 500,000

draftees refuse to serve– Many faced jail or fled

to Canada• Nation divides into hawks

(pro-war) and doves (anti-war)

• Dear America

Early USA protest, 1966

Election of 1968 • LBJ chooses not to run for re-election– Declining popularity due to

war

• Democratic candidates run a closely contested primary– Hubert Humphrey– Eugene McCarthy– Robert Kennedy (assassinated

in June, 1968)

• Republican Richard Nixon wins close election over Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace

“We are winning the war”

Robert F. Kennedy Eugene McCarthy

Hubert Humphrey

Democrats for President, 1968

Chicago’s Grant Park, 1968

Chicago, 1968

Chicago, 1968

Chicago, 1968

Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley at Democratic Convention

Nixon & Kissinger:

1969-1973

• Nixon used Henry Kissinger as his representative in peace negotiations– Kissinger negotiated with

Soviet Union, China, and North Vietnam

• Nixon policy of Vietnamization – South Vietnam assumes

greater role in war as America withdraws

– As USA troops withdrew, bombings increased

Vietnamese Air Force drops napalm on Viet Cong targets

My Lai Massacre• News of massacre at My

Lai shocks nation • American platoon killed

several hundred men, women, children in the village of My Lai

• Platoon commander, Lt. William Calley served a prison sentence for the crime

• Photos by Sgt. Ron Haeberle became public in 1969

• Dear America

Lt. William Calley

My Lai Massacre: On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company entered the village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said a superior officer. A short time later the killing began.

My Lai: Sgt Haeberle photographed these women and children seconds before American soldiers shot and killed them

My Lai: Among the civilians massacred by U.S. soldiers

My Lai: Aerial photo of village burning

Kent State • Nixon announces that USA has invaded Cambodia– Searching for Vietcong

military bases– Americans see it as an

escalation of war• Demonstrations against the

war increase across the country

• Protest at Kent State University in Ohio ends in violence– Four students are killed

and at least nine wounded when National Guardsmen open fire on a crowd of protesters

                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Kent State University: May 4, 1970

Memorial at Kent State

War Ends• 1972 – Nixon increased

bombing raids on North Vietnam

• 1973 – Peace agreement between USA and North Vietnam

• 1975 – USA completes pullout from South Vietnam – North Vietnam invades the

South – Saigon falls and is renamed

Ho Chi Minh City– Vietnam united under

communist rule

Last days at the American Embassy

Fall of Saigon, 1975

Fall of Saigon, 1975

Fall of Saigon, 1975