Ch 17 Sec 1-The Vietnam
War
America’s 2nd Longest War
American Support for France

Ho Chi Minh had begun a revolutionary
movement against the French in the
1930’s
 Ho Chi Minh was a US ally during WWII
 After WWII the Japanese were forced out
 Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh declared
Vietnam free
 In the late 1945 the French came back to
reclaim their colony
 The US funded $1 Billion towards the
French war effort from 1950-1954
Vietminh Drive out the French
In 1953 IKE and the US viewed Ho as a
communist aggressor
 IKE feared The Domino Theory and
thought it might occur if Vietnam was lost
 In 1954 despite massive US aid the
French are defeated at Dien Bien Phu
 From May through July 1954 seven
countries meet with the Vietminh and the
anti-communist South in Geneva to agree
to peace
 The Geneva Accords divided Vietnam at
the 17th parallel, Free Elections in 1956

Diem Cancels the Elections
Ho Chi Minh was popular in the North by
redistributing land to peasants
 South Vietnam’s anti-communist and Catholic
President Ngo Dinh Diem refused to take part in
the Geneva Accord elections of 1956, supported
by the US
 In 1957 the Vietcong or Communist Guerillas
began attacks in the South by assassinating
members of Diem’s government
 In 1959 the Ho Chi Minh Trail or supply line to
communists in the South was opened

JFK and Vietnam
Like IKE, JFK chose to “sink or swim”
with Diem in Vietnam
 By the end of 1963 more $ and 16,000 US
military advisors were in South Vietnam
 Diem popularity was plummeting, his
Hamlet Program was unsuccessful
 His attacks on Buddhism and the protest
of Buddhist monks was increasing
 On Nov. 1st 1963 a US supported South
Vietnam military coup was carried out
and Diem was assassinated

Johnson’s War
After Diem death the South was unstable
 LBJ felt US credibility is at stake and he
does not want to give in to communist
aggression
 In August 1964, a North Vietnamese gun
boat fired a torpedo at The USS Maddox
 Two days later the Maddox and another
destroyer opened fire on the North
 LBJ launches limited bombing attacks
 Congress adopted the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution which gave LBJ broad military
powers in Vietnam

USS Maddox




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The public did not know
the US was conducting
secret raids against the
North
The USS Maddox was
collecting information
LBJ had prepared the
resolution months
before hand
In response to the Pleiku
attack Operation Rolling
Thunder was launched
By June of 1965, 50,000
US troops were fighting
in Vietnam
Deeper into the Quagmire

In March 1965 LBJ began sending troops

Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara and
Sec. of State Dean Rusk advised LBJ to
deploy troops
 LBJ went back on his 1964 campaign
promise, but he looked to be containing
communism
 In 1965, 61% supported US policy in Nam
US Troop Buildup Accelerates
By the end of 1965, 180,000 US troops
were sent to Vietnam
 General William Westmoreland continued
to request more US troops
 He was not impressed with the Army of
the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) (South
Vietnam)
 By 1967 there were 500,000 US troops in
Vietnam

 War
of Attrition
 Massive
bombing would
weaken N.
Vietnam
 Defeat of the
Vietcong in
battle
 Used the “body
count” to justify
eventual victory
An Elusive Enemy

The Vietcong used hit-and-run and
ambush tactics
The Vietcong was part of the civilian
population, US troops could not tell friend
from foe
 The Vietcong had a network of tunnels to
launch attacks and disappear quickly
 The jungle was laced with booby traps

and land mines

US troops dealt with jungle terrain, rice
paddies, heat, leeches, and Mekong Rot
AK-47
Tunnel
Rats
Napalm
strike
“Home
is where
you dig”
The nuclear
powered
aircraft
carrier USS
Enterprise
War of Attrition







US bombers pounded VC and North
Vietnamese positions
Despite high causalities the VC would not
surrender
The North was receiving supplies from China
and the USSR
The US tried to win ‘Hearts and Minds”
The US used Napalm to set fire to the jungle
The US used the defoliant Agent Orange in
Operation Ranch-Hand
By 1967 there were 4 million refugees due to
US Seek and Destroy missions
Sinking Morale
Guerrilla warfare, brutal jungle, and
failure to make headway, and mounting
causalities frustrated US troops
 Many soldiers turned to alcohol,
marijuana and other drugs to escape the
war
 South Vietnamese civil war within the
civil war made the war tough to manage
 Many US troops fought bravely and POW
fought just to stay alive, even facing
torture and the infamous Hanoi Hilton

Ch 17 Sec 2 Vietnam Dives
the Nation
 Why
was Vietnam a working
class war?
 What were the roots of
opposition to the war?
 What was the anti- war
movement?
 Why was their growing division
in the US over the war?
Ch 17 Sec 2 –Vietnam Divides the nation
LBJ’s Great Society Programs suffered
due to lack of funding, $6 billion was cut
from the programs (Taxes went up 10%
as well to curb inflation and pay for the
war)
 The war cost $21 billion every year
 Americans saw the horrific images on TV
 Over 16,000 American troops were killed
between 1961 and 1967
 Many charged that a “creditability gap”
between what the LBJ reported and what
was actually occurring (Fulbright
Hearings)

Roots of Opposition-”The Times They are AChanging”
College students became more involved
in social protest
 The New Left demanded sweeping
changes in American society


Students for A Democratic Society (SDS)
charged that large Corporations and large
government institutions had taken over
the US (They wanted democracy and
individual freedom) Anti-WAR
 In 1964 The Free Speech Movement grew
out of a dispute between administrators
and students at Univ. of CA at Berkeley
From Campus to Mass Mobilization
Professors and students used teach-ins to
protest the war ( Sit-In for the campus)
 In April 1965, SDS organized a march on
Washington of 20,000, then 30,000
 By 1969 SDS had chapters on 400
campuses
 In spring of 1967 nearly 500,000
gathered in NYC’s Central Park “Hell no
we won’t go!” “Burn Cards not People!”
 In October 1967 100,000 anti-war
protestors marched from the Lincoln
Memorial to the Pentagon ( 1,500 injured,

War Divides the Nation

Hawks v Doves
In December 1967, 70% of Americans
felt that the protests were “acts of
disloyalty”
 Backlash to the Protestors organized
 “America Love it or Leave It!”
 “Support our men in Vietnam!”
 “College professors, students…don’t love
our country.”
 LBJ was determined with slow escalation
 Sec. of Defense McNamara resigned in the
end of 1967

Songs of Protest and Support
CCR- Fortunate Son
 Bob Dylan –The Times they are a

Changing

Eve of Destruction

The Ballet of the Green Berets
The Working Class War-Teenage Soldiers
 Many dogged the draft as Americans
doubted the war (Draft included 18-26
year old males) Average age 19.
Some got medical exemptions
 Some joined the National Guard or Coast
Guard
 Some got a college deferment
 The less economically privileged fought
the war which included lower economic
class whites and minorities
 African Americans made up only 10% of
the population but 20%-30% of the
combat deaths
 Draft lottery was instituted in 1969

Women Join the Ranks
10,000 Us Women served in Vietnam
 Most served as military nurses (China

Beach)
 Thousand more served in the Red Cross
and the USO (United Services
Organizations)
1968: The Pivotal Year
What
was the Tet
Offensive? How did it effect
the American public?
What were the domestic
disturbances of 1968?
What led up to the 1968
Presidential Election?
The Tet Offensive
On Jan 30th 1968 during the Vietnamese
New Year celebration the Vietcong
launched massive attacks across Vietnam
 The Tet Offensive lasted for one month,
100 cities and towns were attacked, 12
US air bases, and even the US Embassy in
Saigon ( 40,000 Vietcong deaths)
 The Tet Offensive increased the
creditability gap and shook the public
 Tet changed millions of minds, including
new Sec. of Defense Clark Clifford who
thought the war was unwinnable

LBJ declines to run in 1968
Democrats looked for candidates to run
against LBJ in the primaries
 Senator Eugene McCarthy opposed LBJ
 In the NH Primary LBJ got 48% of the

vote McCarthy 42% ( Peace Candidate)
 RFK sensing weakness entered the race
 On March 31, 1968 LBJ announced the US
would seek negotiations to end the war,
with more involvement from South
Vietnam and he would not run for re-
election in 1968, his VP Hubert Humphrey
will.
King, the War and the Assassination
On April 3rd, 1968 DR. MLK addressed a
crowd in Memphis
 He was there to support the city striking
garbage workers
 He gave his famous
“Promised Land” Speech
He was assassinated
one day later by James
Earl Ray on his hotel
balcony

Reaction to King’s Death
RFK passionate plea
for non-violence in
Indianapolis
 Over 100 cities
exploded in flames
 Baltimore, Chicago,
KC, and Washington
were the worst
 RFK was killed in
June 1968 by Sirhan
Sirhan

Violence and Protest
On April 4th Dr. MLK was assassinated in
Memphis
 Violence ripped through more than 100
US cities (27,000 had been jailed)
 On June 4th, 1968 RFK won the
Democratic Primary on June 5th he was
gunned down by Sirhan Sirhan after
giving a speech in the hotel kitchen
 During the first 6 months of 1968, 40,000
students took part in 200 demonstrations
on 100 campuses ( Columbia University)

The DNC of 1968
In August at the DNC Convention in
Chicago thousands of anti-war and other
protestors “Yippies” converged on the
city (Youth International Party)
 The Democratic nomination was between
Eugene McCarthy and LBJ’s VP Hubert

Humphrey
 Mayor Richard J. Daley mobilized 12,000
Chicago Police officers “…there will be
law and order.”
 On Aug. 28th Rock and bottles met
nightsticks and mace, “The whole world is
The Election of 1968

Richard M. Nixon (R) vowed to restore
law and order, and to end the war in
Vietnam

Hubert H. Humphrey (D) LBJ’s VP
Richard Nixon won a close race and
inherited the Quagmire of Vietnam
Ch 17 Sec 3 The War
Winds Down
1969-1973
Man Walks on the Moon!

Nixon’s Vietnamization
Sec. of State Henry Kissinger opted for
Vietnamization which was a reduction in
US troops by turning active combat
operations over to the South Vietnamese
while negations continued
 By August 1969 25,000 troops came
home
 Between 1969 and 1972 the # of US
troops dropped from over 543,000 to less
than 25,000

Nixon spoke of “peace with honor” while
the US continued bombing campaigns
Trouble on the Battlefront
Nixon appealed to the “silent majority”
 In Nov. 1969 Americans learned of the My
Lai Massacre ( 100 innocent Vietnamese
civilians mostly old men women and
children were gunned down by a US
Platoon)
 Out of 25 officers only Lt. William Caley
Jr. was convicted and imprisoned
10 year sentence
(House arrest 3yrs.)

The Invasion of Cambodia
and Kent State





In April 1970 Nixon announced the US invaded
Cambodia to clear out VC and North Vietnam
supply centers
Colleges burst out in protests, 1.5 million
students closed more than 1,200 campuses
On May 4th, 1970 at Kent State after the ROTC
building was burned down and rocks were
thrown at the National Guard, they opened fire
on protestors
4 were killed nine wounded at Kent State
At Jackson State 2 were killed, 12 wounded
End of the War
In March of 1972 the North Vietnamese
launched their largest attack since Tet
 Pres. Nixon ordered a massive bombing
campaign on Hanoi and other cities, and
mined Haiphong Harbor
 National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger
had been secret negotiating with Le Duc
Tho of North Vietnam
 On Oct. 26th, 1972 just days before the
election

Kissinger announced “Peace is at Hand!”
Talks stalled due to
South Vietnamese
rejection of the
Kissinger Plan
 Nixon unleashed the
“Christmas

Bombings” of Hanoi
and Haiphong,
100,000 bombs over
11 days
Jan 27, 1973 an
agreement was
reached
 On March 29, 1973
the last US troops left
for home

The Fall of Saigon
With-in months of the US departure the
cease fire-was broken
 In March 1975 North Vietnamese
launched a full scale invasion

The US sent $ to South Vietnam but no
troops
 Pres. Ford did not want another

nightmare
 On April 30th, 1975 North Vietnamese
tanks rolled into Saigon and the South
fell, it was renamed Ho Chi Minh City
Painful Legacy of Vietnam
There were no victory parades for Vietnam Vets
 Many faced bitterness and hostility



15% or 3.3 million soldiers developed post
traumatic stress disorder
58,000 US troops were killed

1 Million Vietnamese were killed, and chemicals
like agent orange have polluted the
environment and caused birth defects and
cancer, 400,000 re-educated by the
communists

The Communists forced 1.5 million people out
of Vietnam , 50,000 boat people perished
Cambodia’s civil war in which Khmer Rouge led
by Pol Pot killed 1 million Cambodians

Lasting Legacies of Vietnam
 The
US abolished the draft
 In Nov. 1973 Congress passed The
War Powers Act in which the
President must inform Congress
within 48 hrs. of sending forces
 Troops
cannot remain longer than 90
days without authorization from
Congress
In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial was unveiled in
Washington DC