Chapter 33 pages 822-828
Vietnam #3 Reading Quiz
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
What was the Cambodian Incursion?
What happened at Kent State?
What was the Sense of the Senate?
What was Vietnamization?
Why did Congress Repeal the Tonkin Gulf Resolution?
What happened when the South Vietnamese army
(ARVN) invaded Laos with U.S. help?
7) Why did Nixon increase bombing in North Vietnam
and mine Haiphong Harbor?
8) How did the VietnamWar end?
Situation in Vietnam prior to
Nixon’s Election in 1968
5:12 min.
Nixon’s Vietnam Policy 10:33 min
Winding Down the War
• Nixon’s Campaign Promise- 1968
•
WINNING THE PEACE
•
During the campaign, Nixon claimed to have a "secret plan" to end the war. In the final days of the
election, much was riding on the success or failure of the Paris Peace Talks with the North
Vietnamese. He ruled out a “one sided withdrawal or the acceptance of terms that would amount
to a disguised defeat.
•
''Every American wants peace in Viet Nam. The question is what kind of peace. The war must be
ended, but in a way that does not encourage aggression and thereby sow the seeds of future wars.
•
''Beyond this, we need a new diplomacy -- one that looks past Viet Nam to the prevention of future
wars, and one that enlists other nations more fully in their own defense.
•
"In Korea, and again in Viet Nam, America furnished most of the money and most of the arms -and most of the men.
•
"America is a big country. But there are only 200 million Americans, and there are more than 2
billion people who live in the free world. We need a new diplomacy that will get other nations with
a stake in the defense of peace and freedom to bear their share of the burden. And we need a new
diplomacy that will insure that, if the people of a friendly nation again are threatened, we help
them fight the war but we don't fight the war for them."
Nixon’s Secret War
2:44 min.
Cambodian Incursion 1969-1970
•
•
•
•
•
Nixon secretly widened the war to force the
North Vietnamese to negotiate.
Secret bombing of North Vietnamese and
Cambodian bases in Cambodia
While enlarging the war Nixon also began to
withdraw troops.
In 1970, the communists in Cambodia
overthrew the leader Prince Sihanouk and
took over (Khmer Rouge). U.S. and South
Vietnamese leadership were concerned with
Vietcong and North Vietnamese bases
located in Cambodia across the South
Vietnam border (Mekong River).
President Nixon gave the approval for an
April, 30, 1970 attack across the border into
Cambodia by the Allies and U.S. Tanks- an
incursion. This seemed to be in direct
conflict with administration’s attempt to
scale down the war (Vietnamization)
Anti-War Protests 1969
•
•
•
•
In the United States the Cambodian incursion sparked renewed Anti-War
reactions. Demonstrations got louder and stronger.
Nixon appeals to the “Silent Majority” for support of the war.
June 1969- “Sense of the Senate” barred military operations in any
country without Congressional approval.
June 24, 1970- Senate repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
Kent State May 4, 1970
Protests against the Cambodian Incursion at Kent State University in Ohio caused the Governor to call out the National
Guard. A frightened guard unit opened fire at the unarmed protestors killing 4. More that 80 colleges and universities
suspended classes.
Nixon and Vietnamization
•
The plan was to encourage the South
Vietnamese to take more
responsibility for fighting the war.
•
It was hoped that this policy would
eventually enable the United States to
withdraw gradually all their soldiers
from Vietnam.
•
July 1969, the 540,000 US troops
were to be reduced by 25,000.
•
To increase the size of the ARVN
(Army of the Republic of Vietnam),
a mobilization law was passed in
South Vietnam that called up into the
army all men between seventeen and
forty-three years of age.
Nixon and Vietnamization
4:30 min.
"carrot and stick" strategy
•
Negotiate through strength
•
Nixon proposed "mutual withdrawal" of troops
and no more bombing of North Vietnam- Jan. 25,
1969
•
Nixon's advisers told him that they feared that the
gradual removal of all US troops would eventually
result in a National Liberation Front victory. It was
therefore agreed that the only way that America
could avoid a humiliating defeat was to negotiate a
peace agreement in the talks that were taking place
in Paris.
•
Madman Theory- In an effort to put pressure on
North Vietnam in these talks. Bob Haldeman, one
of the US chief negotiators, was told to give the
impression that President Nixon was mentally
unstable and that his hatred of communism was so
fanatical that if the war continued for much longer
he was liable to resort to nuclear weapons against
North Vietnam.
Phoenix Program
•
Another Nixon innovation- secret
Vietnamese were trained by the CIA
to infiltrate peasant communities and
discover the names of NLF
sympathizers.
•
When they had been identified, Death
Squads were sent in to execute them.
•
Between 1968 and 1971, an estimated
40,974 members of of the NLF were
killed in this way.
•
It was hoped that the Phoenix
Program would result in the
destruction of the NLF organization,
but, as on previous occasions, the
NLF was able to replace its losses by
recruiting from the local population
and by arranging for volunteers to be
sent from North Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh Trail
•
The US could never stem the flow of
supplies to the Ho Chi Minh Trail
and this was crucial to keep the
guerrilla war going.
•
Communist forces had been using
what was then known as the Truong
Son Route since at least 1959 to
infiltrate men and materiel through
Laos into South Vietnam. Not only
was it a lifeline, it served as a basing
area and a sanctuary in Laos for
staging operations into South
Vietnam.
Vietnam 1970
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
North Vietnam invasion of Laos and
Cambodia Feb. 21 - defeated Hmong army
and captured Plain of Jarres - created Khmer
Rouge
Cambodia coup Mar. 18 - neutralist Sihanouk
replaced by pro-U.S. Lon Nol
Nixon saw film Patton Apr. 25 - made decision
next day to invade Cambodia
Cambodia invasion Apr. 30 - 32,000 U.S.
troops attack the Fishhook and Parrot's Beak
for 2 months - destroy NV supplies and set
back NV plans for 2 years - a military success
but political disaster
Kent State demonstration May 4 against
ROTC - 4 students killed
Cooper-Church amendment to limit U.S.
troops in Laos and Cambodia passed Senate
58-37 on June 30
Le Duc Tho and Kissinger met in Paris for
3rd round of talks in June
Hatfield-McGovern amendment to require
complete withdrawal from Vietnam failed in
Sept.
Vietnam 1971
•
•
•
•
•
Winter Soldier investigation Jan. 31-Feb.
2 by John Kerry and the Vietnam
Veterans against the War - 116 vets
testified about atrocities committed by
U.S. in Vietnam.
Operation- Lam Son 719 - ARVN invade
Laos Feb. 8 with U.S. air support - but
failed to close the Ho Chi Minh trail and
showed that Vietnamization had failed.
Kissinger met with Le Duc Tho is secret
talks in house on the Rue Darthe in Feb.
rather than the formal talks at the Hotel
Majestic, but stalled.
Ping-pong team visit to China Apr. 10 Nixon ended of 21-year trade embargo in
June.
New York Times published Pentagon
Papers June 13.
•
Vietnam 1972
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nixon arrived in China Feb. 21 - Shanghai
Communique
North Vietna invasion of Quang Tri Mar. 30
Nixon responded with Op. Linebacker Apr. 6 bombing north of DMZ - B-52 raids on Hanoi and
Haiphong Apr. - 1,300 air strike sorties,
May 1 - low point for Nixon's "Vietnamization"
policy - collapse of SV seemed inevitable
Le Duc Tho and Kissinger met in Paris May 2 - 4th
round of talks fail - talks suspended May 4
Nixon decided May 8 to mine Haiphong harbor and
blockade NV coast - 4 aircraft carriers added to 7th
Fleet - massive bombing and "jugular diplomacy"
successful
Nixon arrived in Moscow May 22 - SALT I treaty
signed May 29 - Brezhnev agreed to help pressure
NV
Le Duc Tho and Kissinger met in Paris July-Aug. 5th round of talks finally made progress - NV
agreed to coalition government and Kissinger
agreed to allow NV
Kissinger TV press conference Oct. 26 - "peace is at
hand”
Nixon ultimatum to North Vietnam Dec. 14 to
resume negotiations or "suffer the consequences"
Vietnam 1973
•
Kissinger and Le Duc Tho signed
treaty Jan. 27 in Paris – POWs released in 60 days, return
began of 591 U.S. POWs
– ceasefire under International
Commission of Control and
Supervision (ICC),
– coalition government in SV to
arrange elections, U.S. aid to SV to
continue
•
•
•
U.S. troops withdrawn by March,
yet bombing continued.
Congress cut off funds for war June
30, to become effective Aug. 15
War Powers Act passed Nov. 7 over
Nixon's veto
Fall of Vietnam and Indochina- 1975
•
Vietnam
–
•
Cambodia
–
•
Fall of Saigon Apr. 29, 1975- Ambassador
Graham Martin and 7100 U.S. and SV
personnel evacuated Apr. 30, 1975
Khmer Rouge
Laos
–
Pathet Lao and Pol Pot
Cambodia and Khmer Rouge
Pol Pot
•
The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed
close to 1.7 million people in the mid- to
late 1970s.
•
Money, private property, education and
religion were abolished and Cambodia's
towns and cities were emptied as the
population was forced into massive,
unworkable agricultural collectives.
•
In addition to death from work
starvation and exhaustion, the regime
killed anyone suspected with
connections with either the defeated
Khmer Republic government or the
previous Sihanouk government, as well
as intellectuals (Pol Pot defined anyone
who wore glasses as automatically an
intellectual), professionals, and also
ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams,
Laotians, and Thai.
Laos and Pathet Lao
• Left-oriented nationalist group
in Laos that took control of the
country in 1975. Founded in
1950, the Pathet Lao (Lao
Country) movement joined with
the Viet Minh
• In 1975, the Communist Pathet
Lao took control of the
government, ending a sixcentury-old monarchy.