The Vietnam War:
America’s Longest War
Chapter 29.1
The Vietnam War
1954-1975
Domino Theory – If Vietnam fell to communism, the rest
of Southeast Asia would also become communist
History of Vietnam
•Vietnam had spent years fighting colonial powers China
and France
•France abandoned Vietnam after being defeated by Ho
Chi Minh and Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu during First
IndoChina War
•Ho Chi Minh was a communist and a nationalist
Divided Vietnam
•1954 Geneva Accords
•Vietnam was divided at 17th parallel
•Ho Chi Minh became president of Communist North Vietnam
•Ngo Dinh Diem became president of South Vietnam
•Geneva Accords called for 1956 election to help unify Vietnam
•Ho Chi Minh agreed
•South Vietnam refused to support elections, Vietnam remained divided
U.S. Involvement
•Truman Doctrine pledges to aid any nation threatened by communism
•Eisenhower 1st sent military advisors to South Vietnam / 675 advisors
by 1960
•By 1963 the end of JFK’s presidency – 16,000 advisors on advice by
LBJ
•Diem was very unpopular due to corruption and insistence that
Buddhists follow Catholic laws --- assassinated by South Vietnamese
military with U.S. backing
1964 Election
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Vietnam War major focal point
Johnson called for restraint in U.S. involvement
Goldwater proposed nuclear weapons
Landslide victory for LBJ
Daisy Ad 1964
LBJ
•Robert McNamara was Secretary of Defense under both JFK and LBJ
•North Vietnamese forces (Vietminh) gain more territory and loyalty of
South Vietnamese
•Vietcong – communist guerillas in the south
•National Liberation Front – political party members of Vietcong
•LBJ decides to escalate the war (send American troops)
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
•LBJ claims North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. destroyers in
Gulf of Tonkin
•Details were very sketchy – later shown attack did not occur
•Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – Gave president authority to “take all
necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the
U.S. and to prevent further aggression”
•Gave LBJ complete control without declaration of war from Congress
Battlefield Conditions
•Nearly 3 million Americans served in Vietnam
•Americans have superior weapons, supplies, and technology
•Many South Vietnamese seemed indifferent, many turned off by
dishonest government
•Although outnumbered – Vietcong have success using guerilla warfare
•Americans had trouble identifying friends from foe
•Vietcong used ambushes, tunnels, booby traps, and mines
Tunnel
Rats
Air War
•Operation Rolling Thunder - 1966 U.S. begins bombing
North Vietnam with B-52 Planes
•3 years of “continuous” bombing of North Vietnam
•Agent Orange – herbicide used to expose Vietcong hiding
places
•Later found to be very dangerous to humans
•Napalm – jellylike substance which would burn human
flesh
Escalation
•After being elected in his own right in 1964 LBJ decides to escalate
war
•By the end of 1964 184,000 American troops were in Vietnam
•Led by General William Westmoreland
•Despite escalation and bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia
and Laos war seems to be a stalemate
•Escalation continues:
•385,000 troops by 1966
•485,000 troops by 1967
•536,000 troops by 1968
•War at home
• Hawks (support the war)
• Doves (oppose the war)