VIETNAM
America’s
Longest
War
A Short Quiz
• How many US military personnel died in
Vietnam?
• True of False: Minorities served in
disproportionately high numbers in Vietnam
• What percentage of soldiers who served in
Vietnam were drafted? 25% 50% 75%
• What was the military outcome of the Tet
Offensive?
• What percentage of the American public
opposed the Vietnam war in 1967?
30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
The Big Questions
• Why get involved?
• Why the huge
military escalation?
• Why the eventual
pull-out?
• What “Lessons”?
The Cold War Context
Europe 1947
The Cold War Context
China 1949
The Cold War Context
Korea 1950
Background History of Vietnam
•
•
•
•
•
French Colony
1940-1945 Japanese occupation
1945 French try to resume colonial rule
1945-1954 The First Indochinese War
1950 US begins $$ aid to SV gov. and military
aid to France
• 1954 US paying 80% of French military costs in
Vietnam
• 1954 French defeated at Dien Bien Phu
Background History of Vietnam
• UN Peace Treaty
• Temporary partition –
to allow resettlement
• Nationwide elections
in 1954
Two Vietnams
North Vietnam
• Center of traditional Vietnamese culture
(very little Europeanization)
• Poverty and high population
• Rural – most live in traditional villages
• Strong nationalist sentiment – proreunification
Two Vietnams
South Vietnam
• More recently settled (like the American West in
1890)
• Heterogeneous population
• Strong influence of French culture and
Catholicism
• Smaller population than North
• Divided opinion over re-unification
The Second Indochinese War
• 1956 Elections cancelled (US fears
Ho Chi Min will win)
• 1960 Viet Minh launch war in South
–
–
–
–
Guerilla war
Sabotage
Propaganda
Assassination
• 1961 SV government is reeling
• US sends first military advisors
• 1963 16,000 US military advisors
in SV
WHY INTERVENE IN VIETNAM?
The Example of Korea
WHY INTERVENE IN VIETNAM?
The Containment Doctrine
• “Our purpose in Vietnam is to prevent the
success of aggression. It is not conquest,
it is not empire, it is not foreign bases, it is
not domination. It is, simply put, just to
prevent the forceful conquest of South
Vietnam by North Vietnam.”
-- LBJ
WHY INTERVENE IN VIETNAM?
The Domino Theory
“Finally, you have broader
considerations that might follow
what you would call the "falling
domino" principle. You have a
row of dominoes set up, you
knock over the first one, and
what will happen to the last one
is the certainty that it will go
over very quickly. So you could
have a beginning of a
disintegration that would have
the most profound influences.”
-- President Eisenhower, press conference,
April 7, 1954.
WHY INTERVENE IN VIETNAM?
• The Pressure of Domestic
Anti-Communism
• To Maintain International
Credibility
WHY INTERVENE IN VIETNAM?
American Idealism and Optimism
“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and
foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation
of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war,
disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient
heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing
of those human rights to which this Nation has always been
committed, and to which we are committed today at home
and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it
wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any
foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
-- President John F. Kennedy, inaugural address
The Path to Escalation
•
•
•
•
Truman
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
The Path to Escalation
Lyndon Johnson’s War
• “If you let a bully come in
your front yard, he'll be on
your porch the next day and
the day after that he'll rape
your wife in your own bed.”
• “Just like the Alamo,
somebody damn well needed
to go to their aid. Well, by
God, I'm going to Viet Nam's
aid!”
The Path to Escalation
Lyndon Johnson’s War
“The Best and
the Brightest”
The Path to Escalation
Lyndon Johnson’s War
The First Combat Troops Arrive
“This is not Johnson's war. This is America's war. If I
drop dead tomorrow, this war will still be with you.” LBJ
The Path to Escalation
Lyndon Johnson’s War
“We are not about
to send American
boys 9 or 10
thousand miles
away from home
to do what Asian
boys ought to be
doing for
themselves.”
-- Lyndon Johnson
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
OVERALL GOALS OF U.S. POLICY
•
•
•
•
Secure South Vietnam’s territory
Stabilize the SV government
Maintain US domestic support for the war
FAILED on all three counts
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
GOAL 1 – secure SV territory
Three methods
• Attrition
• Bombing
• Pacification
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
Attrition
• focus on the “body count” or
“favorable kill ratio”
• Misperception of Manpower
advantage
– Believed 3.5 to 1 advantage
– Reality 1.2 to 1 advantage
• Guerilla vs. Conventional Warfare
Guerilla vs. Conventional Warfare
• US won all conventional battles
• But most US casualties caused by
booby traps
Guerilla vs. Conventional Warfare
Rising Frustration = “Search and Destroy” missions
Guerilla vs. Conventional Warfare
Rising Frustration =
Free Fire Zones
Guerilla vs. Conventional Warfare
Rising Frustration = Defoliants like Agent Orange
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
Bombing
• Targeted key sites like
reservoirs, electricity
plants, and military
strongholds
• GOAL – weaken NV
resolve and will to
fight
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
Bombing
• Massive bombing
campaign
• US dropped 500 lbs
of bombs per person
in NV
• Twice the tonnage of
bombs dropped in all
of Europe during
World War II
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
Bombing
• Little impact on NV
war effort
• Tunnels
• Supplies from Soviet
Union and China
• NV morale and unity
actually strengthened
by bombing (think
Battle of Britain)
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
Pacification
• Protect the SV
people and win
their support
• Key to a “war
without fronts”
• The battle for the
“Hearts and Minds”
of the people
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
Pacification
• Train SV civilians and
soldiers to go into
countryside
• Live and work in
villages
• Counteract NLF
“cadres”
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
Pacification
• Failure
• Low priority
– Small budget
– Little training
• US destroyed many
villages
• Ineffective protection for
successful outposts
– VC kill thousands of
collaborators
John Paul Vann
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
GOAL 2 – stabilize SV government
• Many leaders come
and go
• Autocratic and
Repressive = low
support among
civilian population
– Ex: Buddhists
• Hurt effort to raise
and maintain an army
The Making of an
“Unwinable War”
GOAL 3 – maintain US domestic support
• Strong support through 1965
• Steady support 1965-1967
• Declining support after 1968
Pro-War Rally
http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html
1965
1966
1967
1968
Growing Anti-War Movement
• Initially small #’s of
intellectuals and
college students
• By 1967 massive
protests
Growing Anti-War Movement
Journalists
Walter Cronkite, 1968
Growing Anti-War Movement
Politicians
• Jan 1966 Sen. William
Fulbright opens hearings
• 1967 Sen. Robert
Kennedy voices opposition
• Johnson Administration
officials leave
– McGeorge Bundy
– Rbt McNamara
Sen. Clifford Case visiting SV in 1967.
Changed from supporter to strong critic of the war
Growing Anti-War Movement
Civil Rights Leaders
“’A time comes when silence is
betrayal.’ That time has come for us
in relation to Vietnam.”
MLK making his first major address opposing the
Vietnam War, Riverside Church, NYC 1967
Growing Anti-War Movement
The Economy
• Military and Great
Society spending =
6% inflation by 1969
• LBJ signs 10%
income tax surcharge
– the “war tax”
• Conservatives force
$6 billion cut in Great
Society programs
“I believe we can continue the Great Society while we fight in Vietnam.”
Growing Anti-War Movement
The Rising Death Toll
Growing Anti-War Movement
The Rising Death Toll
US Soldiers Killed June 1965-Dec 1968
Declining Soldier Morale
• Unclear objectives
• Frustrating form of
combat
• Poor military
equipment
• Indifferent and / or
hostile attitude of the
SV people
• The anti-war
movement
• The draft
• Rising drug use
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The tipping point is the critical moment
in an evolving situation that leads to a
new and irreversible development.
1968: The “Tipping Point”
General Westmoreland, late 1967 "With 1968 a new phase is
starting … we have reached
an important point where the
end begins to come into
view."
-- speaking before the National
Press Club in Washington
“[We are beginning to see]
light at the end of the tunnel”
-- nationally televised interview
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The Tet Offensive: Jan 31, 1968
• Tet – the Vietnamese
New Year
• Massive surprise NV
offensive in SV
• 80,000 NV troops
strike 100+ towns and
cities, including 36 of
44 provincial capitals
• Grim Images on TV
• “Light at the End of the
Tunnel”?
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The Tet Offensive
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The Tet Offensive
• Irony – US decisively
defeats the NV
offensive
• But public opinion
sours on the war
• Loss of trust
• LBJ’s approval rating
drops to 35%
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The Election of 1968
• Mar. 12 Sen. Eugene
McCarthy wins 42% in
New Hampshire primary
to LBJ's 49.9%
• Mar. 31 LBJ withdraws
from presidential
campaign
“I'm tired. I'm tired of feeling rejected by the American people.
I'm tired of waking up in the middle of the night worrying about the war.”
-- LBJ
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The Election of 1968
Robert F. Kennedy
enters the race
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The Election of 1968
The Democratic Convention in
Chicago, August 1968
1968: The “Tipping Point”
The Election of 1968
The Re-Emergence of Richard Nixon
My Lai
347 killed on March 16, 1968
Nixon and Vietnam
“Vietnamization”
• 1969 withdraws 60,000
troops
• By 1972 only 60,000
troops remain
• Anti-war movement
fades
Melvin Laird, Nixon’s Sec. of Defense
Nixon and Vietnam
Re-Escalation
• 1970 Prince Sihanouk
of Cambodia deposed
in coup and replaced
by pro-American
General Lon Nol
• US invades to knock
out NV supply networks
in Cambodia
Nixon explains the “incursion” of Cambodia
Nixon and Vietnam
Re-Escalation =
Revival of the Anti-War Movement
1971 Anti-War Rally – Vietnam Veterans throw away medals earned in Vietnam
at protest rally outside the Pentagon
Nixon and Vietnam
Re-Escalation =
Revival of the Anti-War Movement
• Kent State
• 4 killed by
National Guard
Nixon and Vietnam
The Pentagon Papers 1971
• Leaked by Daniel
Ellsberg
• Published by the NY
Times
• Revealed
– Military involvement far
more extensive
– Pentagon released
false info alleging
progress in the war
Fallout from the Pentagon Papers –
66% of American public favor pull-out
Nixon and Vietnam
Ending the War
• Secret negotiations
coupled with a
massive bombing
campaign
• Cease-fire agreement
reached late 1972
• January 1973 – peace
accord takes effect
• Last US troops
removed
The War Resumes
• 1974 North Vietnam resumes military
operations
• 1975 South Vietnam government falls
The Cost of the Vietnam War
United States
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58,000 American soldiers killed
$150 billion
Great Society programs cut
U.S. confidence crushed
– One of several humiliations in 1970s
• U.S. loses credibility internationally
The Cost of the Vietnam War
Vietnam
• 2 million killed (North
and South)
• Environmental
damage (Agent
Orange)
• Massive infrastructure
damage
LESSONS?
Teaching American
History
“Who dares to teach must
never cease to learn”
-- Librarian and Educator, John Cotton Dana
“Trying to plan for the future
without knowing the past
is like trying to plant cut flowers.”
-- Historian Daniel Boorstin