U.S. HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 17
THE VIETNAM WAR
VIETNAM
 controlled for centuries by China for centuries.
From late 1800s to WWII they were controlled by
the French along with Laos & Cambodia (a.k.a.
French Indochina). In 1940, invaded by Japan
VIETNAMESE NATIONALISM
 Nationalism would grow in Vietnam leading them
towards a push for independence or for reform of
French colonial rule.
 Nationalist movement was led by Nguyen That
Thah (Ho Chi Minh). He would found the
Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 & would
work towards independence. Forced to flee &
spent time in exile in the Soviet Union & China,
returning in 1941 after Japan invaded. He then
organized a group called the Vietminh, consisting
of Communists & non-communists.
 U.S. will support the Vietminh in their struggle to
expel the Japanese.
AFTER WWII
 Japan gives up control in 1945.
 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independence.
 French refuse to give up colony & send troops
in 1946.
 Vietminh go into hiding, slowly gaining control
of large areas of the country.
AMERICA AIDS FRENCH
 France appeals to U.S. for assistance. U.S.
opposes colonialism & supported the Dutch &
Britain in giving up their colonies in the area
but they did not Vietnam to become
Communist.
 Truman’s decided to aid France after China’s
fall to communism & the Korean War.
 Eisenhower continued supporting France as he
believed in Truman’s domino theory policy
DEFEAT AT DIEN BIEN PHU
 Vietminh would use guerilla tactics against the
French.
 French took over the town of Dien Bien Phu
where they planned to cut off the Vietminh’s
supply lines & force them into open battle.
 Vietminh responded by surrounding the town
& bombarding it
 May 7, 1954: French forces fell to the Vietminh.
French made peace & withdrew from
Indochina
GENEVA ACCORDS
 Provided temporary division of Vietnam along
the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh & Vietminh
controlled North Vietnam. Pro-western regime
led by anti-Communist Ngo Dinh Diem
controlled South Vietnam. Elections were to
be held in 1956 to reunite country
 Diem refused to hold the elections fearing Ho
Chi Minh would win. Eisenhower approved of
this & increased aid to South Vietnam
AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT DEEPENS
 Ho Chi Minh responds by organizing a new
guerilla army of South Vietnamese
communists (Vietcong) to aide in an armed
struggle to reunify Vietnam. By 1961 they
controlled much of the country
 Eisenhower sent military advisers to train
South Vietnam’s army.
 Vietcong grew as many opposed Diem’s
government.
JFK & VIETNAM
 Kennedy continued to support South Vietnam
sending more military personnel (15k approx.)
 Despite this increase of military personnel,
Diem’s regime was falling apart.
OVERTHROW OF DIEM
 Diem continued to make unpopular decisions.
He began discriminatory policies against
Buddhism, banning the traditional religious
flags used for Buddha’s birthday. Buddhist’s
protested in return & Diem’s police killed 9
people. Several Buddhist monks responded by
pouring gasoline over their bodies & setting
themselves on fire. These images broadcasted
across U.S. TV news reports horrified
Americans.
OVERTHROW OF DIEM
 August 1963: U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot
Lodge arrived & learned that the S. Vietnam
generals were planning on overthrowing Diem
 November 1, 1963: S. Vietnam Generals
launched a military coup against Diem &
executed him.
JOHNSON & VIETNAM
 Johnson did not want to lose control of Vietnam to
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the Communists as he felt it would hurt
Democrats, his presidency, and democracy.
August 2, 1964: Johnson announces that the
North Vietnamese torpedoed two U.S. destroyed
on the Gulf of Tonkin.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 7, 1964:
Congress gave Johnson the authority to “take any
measures necessary to repel any armed attack
against the U.S. & to prevent further aggression”
March 1965: Johnson continued bombing North
Vietnam & sent combat troops into Vietnam
SEE ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES PG. 403
BLOODY STALEMATE
 End of 1965 – more than 180k troops; 1966 –
more than doubled that number
 U.S. military felt confident yet the Vietcong
frustrated them by continuing to use guerilla
tactics & by blending in with the general
population & vanishing quickly
SEARCH & DESTROY
 American troops attempted to locate enemy
troops & then bomb them using napalm as
well disrupt supply lines.
 Agent Orange was used to desolate the land
but that would end up injuring our own troops
as well.
 Vietcong were resolved to keep fighting and
not surrendering. They demonstrated this with
their acceptance of huge losses.
HO CHI MINH TRAIL
 North Vietnamese supported the Vietcong by
providing arms & supplies through jungle paths
that wound through Cambodia & Laos known as
the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Eventually they would send
in troops to fight.
 North Vietnam received weapons & other types of
support from both China & the Soviet Union –
both of whom were communist nations. Johnson
did not want to directly attack North Vietnam for
fear that one of the two would get directly
involved like China had done in Korea.
BODY COUNTS
 American troops would have to fight a war of
attrition _ wearing down y our enemy. They
began doing “body counts” after each battle to
measure their progress. As the numbers
increased of American troop deaths, many back
in U.S. began questioning our involvement in the
war.
ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT
 Vietnam was the “first televised war” as media
reports were constantly aired that
contradicted government reports. This created
a credibility gap in believing what the
government said was happening as to what
was really happening
 February 1966: Congress would hold
“educational” hearings on Vietnam to discuss
administration’s military strategy
TEACH-INS
 March 1965: faculty members & students hold
a teach-in at University of Michigan where
they discussed Vietnam & their reasons for
opposing it
 May 1965: “National Teach-In” – held by radio
for more than 100k antiwar demonstrators
 Opposition was for different reasons: saw as a
civil war in Vietnam that U.S. had no business
involved in; saw S. Vietnam as a corrupt
dictatorship & defending it was immoral
ANGER AT THE DRAFT
 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will
organize a march on Washington D.C. drawing
more than 20k against the war. Another rally
held at the Lincoln Memorial drew thousands.
 Many protested the unfair draft system. Many
who were in college could postpone their draft
until after graduation. Working-class family
members who could not afford college were
more likely drafted leading to a
disproportionate number of them & minorities
being drafted.
ANGER AT THE DRAFT
 African Americans represented 20% of
combat-related deaths that caused Dr. King to
publicly condemn the conflict.
 More than 500k draftees will refuse to go:
burning their draft cards, not showing up for
induction, or fleeing the country.
 1969: lottery system instituted leaving those
with low numbers subject to the draft.
 Twenty-sixth Amendment: gave all citizens
18 years old and older the right to vote in all
state and federal elections.
HAWKS & DOVES
 Johnson was determined to continue fighting
to stop spread of communism
 Americans would be divided into two groups:
Doves – wanted to leave Vietnam; Hawks –
wanted to stay and fight
TET OFFENSIVE
 Tet Offensive – January 30, 1968: North
Vietnamese & Vietcong launch a surprise attack
during Tet, Vietnamese New Year. They attacked
American airbases, major cities, & the American
embassy in Saigon.
 A month later, U.S. troops would repel the
Vietcong.
 This attack left American people shocked that a
people who were on the verge of losing were able
to do this. This began to leave doubt in American
minds that we would win this war & that it would
end in a stalemate
JOHNSON DOES NOT RUN FOR REELECTION
 With the upcoming presidential election in
1968, Eugene McCarthy and Senator Robert
Kennedy decide to run for the Democratic
presidential nomination with both attracting
Americans who opposed the war
 March 31: 1968: President Johnson, who would
be the incumbent, decided on national
television that he would not run for the
presidency nor accept the nomination from
the Democratic Party.
SEASON OF VIOLENCE AT HOME
 April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King assassinated
by James Earl Ray
 June 5, 1968: Senator Robert Kennedy was
gunned down by Sirhan Sirhan, an Arab
nationalist
 Democratic National Convention – Chicago:
antiwar protestors and police clash. In a park
not from the convention hall protestors &
police began fighting that would air on
national television
NIXON WINS PRESIDENCY
 Republican candidate: Richard Nixon, former
vice presidential & 1960 presidential hopeful
 Independent: George Wallace of Alabama
seeking to attract Americans who were still
distraught with Civil Rights movement & urban
social unrest.
 Nixon’s campaign promised to reunify the
nation & restore law and order
 Nixon will win by more than 100 electoral
votes, but won by a slim margin of the popular
vote
NIXON MOVES TO END WAR
 Nixon appoints Henry Kissinger to engage in a
policy called linkage where he worked to improve
relations with the Soviet Union & China so as to
get them to reduce their aid to North Vietnam
 Nixon would engage in Vietnamization where he
began the process of withdrawing troops & having
South Vietnam troops take over more of the
responsibility in fighting.
 Nixon would increase the air strikes in North
Vietnam & secretly bomb Vietcong sanctuaries in
Cambodia
TURMOIL AT HOME CONTINUES
 My Lai incident: Lt. William Calley & his
platoon massacred old men, women, &
children. News reached American ears &
began to change the viewpoint about the war.
 April 1970: Nixon announced that American
troops invaded Cambodia to attack Vietcong
bases there. Americans began to see this as an
expansion of the war setting off numerous
protests resulting in deaths of many
Americans at home
TURMOIL AT HOME CONTINUES
 Congress will repeal the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution in December 1970.
 Pentagon Papers: leaked by Daniel Ellsberg to
the New York Times which were government
documents that had details about decisions to
expand the war – Confirming American fears
that the government was not being honest
about the war
U.S. PULLS OUT
 Nixon is able to win re-election as Kissinger
returns from his secret talks & announces that
“peace is at hand”.
 Talks for peace break down & Nixon launches
more air strikes in December 1972 (“Christmas
Bombings”) in an effort to force the North
Vietnamese back to the table
 January 27, 1973: warring sides signed an
agreement “ending the war & restoring the
peace in Vietnam”. U.S. promised to withdraw
the troops & exchange prisoners of war.
DOMINO EFFECT
 January 1975: Cambodia falls to Communists
 March 1975: North Vietnamese army invaded
South Vietnam. Gerald Ford, president, asked
Congress for funds & they refused. April 30 –
North Vietnamese capture Saigon & rename it
Ho Chi Minh City
 Neighboring country of Laos, who was neutral
during the war, would be destabilized by the
bombings along the Ho Chi Minh trail that ran
through their country & would fall to
communists after the fall of Saigon
WAR’S HUMAN TOLL
 America’s price: Over $173 billion,
Approximately 58k dead, 300k injured.
 Millions of Vietnamese soldiers & civilians died
 Many more Americans are listed as
POWs/MIAs. Families believe that the
government is hiding the truth about them
 Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated in 1982
WAR’S IMPACT ON NATION
 War Powers Act 1973: Requires the president to
inform Congress of any commitment of troops
abroad within 48 hours & to withdraw them in 60
to 90 days unless explicit approval given by
Congress.