Vietnam
Unit 5
Lesson 4
Objectives
Explain how the US became involved in
Vietnam’s struggle for independence.
 Describe the expansion of US involvement
and military tactics used.
 Trace the roots of opposition to the war and
describe the antiwar movement.
 Analyze the impact and legacy of the
Vietnam War.

“GOOOOD Morning Vietnammmm!!!”
Warm Up

During the JFK and LBJ
administrations what were some of the
issues the nation was dealing with
domestically?
The Vietnamese Nationalist
Movement
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French colony “IndoChina” (1858-1940) .
Occupied by Japan
WW2 (1940-45).
Ho Chi Minh leads
Vietminh
independence
movement.
A Divided Vietnam
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North Vietnam
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Communist
Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh
Increased army
Nationalized
economy
– Russian and
Chinese aid
-VC and NLF
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South Vietnam
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–
Anti-Communist
Saigon
Ngo Dinh Diem
Corrupt,
controlling govt
– Rejected national
elections
– US aid
- RVN, RVNAF
Domino Theory
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Ike, JFK, LBJ all help S
Vietnam
If one goes, they all may
fall to communism
Form SEATO- defense
alliance SE Asian nations
Must stop aggression,
appear “tough”
Kennedy in Vietnam
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$ and military advisors
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Self-immolation
Buddhist monks
Diem coup &
assassination
Johnson and the Americanization
of Vietnam
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Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Operation Rolling
Thunder
Draft- 500K US troops
1967
Westmoreland- Attrition,
Seek and Destroy
Napalm, Agent Orange to
“expose” enemy
Think-Pair-Share

Can attrition work?
Jungle Warfare

Elusive Enemy
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Ambush tactics
Terrain, environment
Hidden in general pop
Camo weapons
No front lines
Elaborate tunnel
systems
– Booby traps
– Land mines
Activity: Fortunate One

Students will listen
to a song from
Credence
Clearwater Revival
and analyze the
lyrics
Working Class War

Selective Service
– Medical/Education
exemptions
– Conscientious
Objectors
– National/Coast Guard

Draftees
– Lower class whites and
minorities
Student Protest Movement
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New Left
Students for
Democratic Society
Free Speech
Movement
Sit-ins, Teach-ins,
Marches, Civil
Disobedience, Draft
Dodgers/Bonfires
Counterculture
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Opposed to war, racial
injustice
“Turn on, Tune in, Drop
out” of mainstream
Movement bucks tradition
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–
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–
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Sexuality
Dress and Hair
Drugs
Music and Art
Communal Living
Nixon in Vietnam
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Elected in ‘68
Plan: Vietnamizationgradual withdrawal,
hand over to S.
Vietnam
Reality: Expands
action into Laos and
Cambodia!
Renewed protests
– Kent State
Think-Pair-Share

Could Kent State
have been avoided?
A Forced Peace
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Operation Linebacker II
– Dec 18-31
– Intense bombing of Hanoi force
N to table
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Paris Peace Accord
– Jan 23, 1973
– Kissinger and Le Duc Tho
– Ceasefire, Withdrawal, POW’s,
Reconciliation talks
Aftermath
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US leaves bases and planes to RVNAF
Fall of Saigon 1975
– North captures South, reunites as Communist nation
– US cuts all econ/political recognition until 1995

Continued bombings Laos and Cambodia
– Cambodian Civil War (Khmer Rouge)
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Vietnamese Boat People and Amerasians
Pentagon Papers
– Dept of Defense study which revealed decades of govt
deception about US involvement in Vietnam
Discussion: Accounts of the War

“They told stories that at times they had personally
raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from
portable telephones to human genitals and turned up
the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly
shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent
of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun,
poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the
countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal
ravage of war and the normal and very particular
ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power
of this country.”
– John Kerry, 1971 Testament to US Senate of Foreign
Relations
Impact of War
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Unofficial 30 year war
58K dead, 300K wounded (PTSD)
Abolished draft
$158 billion
Divided nation
Less faith in govt
Question role of US in world affairs
War Powers Act
Closure
Should the US have entered the war in
Vietnam?
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