From Aid to Intervention
• Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated in August
1963
• JFK was assassinated in November 1963
• LBJ inherited the Vietnam conflict
• 16,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam by 1963
• Within his first year, LBJ increased the U.S.
commitment by 10,000 troops
Summary Sentence: “LBJ Speaks to
the Nation”
• Write a summary sentence on the message
LBJ gave the to the U.S. about our involvement
in Vietnam.
– What event led to increased support? (military)
– Why are we increasing our support? (non-military)
WAIMH:
LBJ and
Vietnam
Johnson and Vietnam
• On Aug. 2, 1964, two U.S. destroyers were
torpedoed by N. Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin
• LBJ ordered U.S. aircraft to attack N. Vietnam
ships
• Aug. 7Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution
– What powers does the resolution give to the
president?
– What is the interest of the U.S. in Vietnam?
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges
• March 1965Operation Rolling Thunder
started a constant bombing of N. Vietnam
• By 1966, over 300,000 troops were fighting in
Vietnam
• Vietcong used ambushes and guerilla warfare
within the jungles
• U.S. used napalm to set fire and Agent Orange
to decay trees, shrubs, farmland, and forest on
fire
• North Vietnam began
sending supplies and
soldiers to South
Vietnam through the Ho
Chi Minh trail to aid the
Vietcong
• LBJ refused to invade N.
Vietnam in fear of China
entering the war
• Hard for U.S. to win the
war by not trying to
conquer N. Vietnam
DQ: Vietnam
• How did Lyndon Johnson fundamentally
change the nature of U.S. involvement in
Vietnam? Was this, then, “Lyndon Johnson’s
war?”
The Quagmire Deepens
• By 1967, 500,000 U.S. soldier were in Vietnam
– About 20,000 Americans had been killed
• Most U.S. officials believed the communists could
not withhold the U.S. militarily
• Soviet Union and China aid North Vietnam
• The Viet Cong was strong in the South
• Search and destroy missions were used to find
Vietcong living in villages
• About 4 million Vietnamese were put into refugee
camps while the U.S. dropped 3 million tons of
bombs on North and South Vietnam
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
V
I
E
T
N
A
M
W
A
R
Summary: Acrostic