American Involvement
WAR IN VIETNAM
HO CHI MINH


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Prime Minister (1946–
1955)
President (1945–
1969) of the North
Vietnam, called the
Democratic Republic of
Vietnam
Lost power in late
1950s, but remained a
figurehead
EISENHOWER WITH DIEM
NGO DINH DIEM




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President of South
Vietnam
Nationalistic
Catholic
Anti-communist
Corrupt and despotic
WHO IS THE ENEMY?


US sides with anticommunist South
Vietnam even though its
government is corrupt
ARNV (Army of the
Republic of Vietnam)
South Vietnam
North Vietnamese aided by
 Vietcong (insurgents in
the South fighting for the
north; enemy of US)
ROBERT MCNAMARA


Secretary of
Defense
Most important
policy-maker of
the Vietnam War
GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION, AUGUST 7,
1964
A US destroyer on patrol off the coast of
Vietnam was torpedoed by No Vietnamese
 Johnson asked and was given a resolution from
the US Congress to engage in conventional
warfare in Southeast Asia without a formal
declaration of war

PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND GENERAL
WESTMORELAND
GENERAL WESTMORELAND



American military
commander
Strategy of “attrition”,
in other words,
measured success in
battle not by territory
claimed, but by
number of enemy
killed
“body counts”
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER, 19651968

A strategy of gradually intensified bombing of
North Vietnam
 did
not include airfields or missile sites under
construction where Chinese or Soviet advisors
would be;
 did not include dikes or dams or anything that
would hurt civilian population;
TET OFFENSIVE

January 30, 1968


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Usually Tet had been observed as a truce time
General Westmoreland has just issued a statement
that the enemy had been dispersed
North and Vietcong attacked key cities and every
major American base in South Vietnam

30,000 from North or Vietcong were killed
TET OFFENSIVE
RESULTS OF TET




Major psychological blow to the US
Could the public believe military or government
officials?
Presidential advisors began to devise plans to
disengage, believing goal of holding communism
out of South Vietnam unlikely.
“Vietnamization”

Rely on the Vietnamese to make determinations
ANTI WAR PROTESTS--MOTHERS
NIXON – KISSINGER APPROACH
strengthen South Vietnamese military and
government
 disarm anti war movement at home by
replacing US soldiers with So Vietnamese
 negotiate with both North Vietnam and Soviet
Union
 intensive bombing

1968 there were 543,000 US troops in
Vietnam
 1971 reduced to 140,000
 During the last four years of the war, 20,000
Americans died

HO CHI MINH TRAIL
NIXON’S WAR
Spring 1969 Nixon began a secret bombing
campaign in Cambodia
 April 1970, Nixon ordered a joint ARVN –US
invasion of Cambodia

INVASION OF CAMBODIA
MY LAI
My Lai Massacre, March 1968
 US Army Company tortured and massacred a
village of between 350 to 500 people
 It was not reported until a year later
 Lt William Calley put on trial beginning
November 1970
 He was the only one convicted

PENTAGON PAPERS
June 1971, publication of the Pentagon Papers,
a secret government study critical of US policy
in Vietnam.
 Daniel Ellsberg, who worked on the project but
did not feel anyone paid attention, gave a copy
to the New York Times
 Later published in book form


the New York Times said that the Pentagon
Papers "demonstrated, among other things,
that the Johnson Administration had
systematically lied, not only to the public but
also to Congress, about a subject of
transcendent national interest and
significance"
SENATOR ENTERS CONTENT INTO
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
To ensure the possibility of public debate about
the content of the papers, U. S. Senator Mike
Gravel (D-Alaska) entered 4,100 pages of the
Papers into the record of his Subcommittee on
Public Buildings and Grounds.
 After that, it could not legally be suppressed

1964-1975
US sent 2.6 million soldiers to Vietnam
 US spent more than $150 billion
 Unsuccessful in preventing the unification of
Vietnam under a communist government
 Today the country is known as the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam

SOME REASONS THE US WAS NOT
SUCCESSFUL

North Vietnam’s poor economy made it need
substantial assistance from China and Soviets
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
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In 1967 alone, China provided 600,000 tons of rice, and
small arms, ammunition;
The Soviets contributed (to compete with China) tanks,
fighter planes, surface-to-air missiles, and other weapons.
Determination of the population
Ability of the North Vietnamese government to
dispatch tens of thousands of citizens in the effort
QUESTIONS
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Would a more aggressive (military) strategy have
brought the Soviets and or China into the war?
Can strategic bombing work as well in the third world
guerilla war as between major industrial powers?
Why did Johnson not do a full out bombing campaign?

Concerned (like Truman) about upsetting China that had
nuclear weapons and 700 million men