Page 20 NP
The Late Cold War Era:
U.S. II 8 c; 9d
U.S. II 8 c; 9d
U.S. II 8 c; 9d
In the United States we
refer to this conflict as
the Vietnam War
In Vietnam, citizens refer
to this conflict as the
American War
What do Americans Think?

p16 First TV War – American Journey Video
Stages of the War p. 17
 Stages
of the Vietnam War
 The French Phase 1945-1954:
http://10.206.3.241/?a=5108&s=00:02:03:00&e=00:02:59:22
 U.S.
Advisors 1954-1963:
http://10.206.3.241/?a=5108&s=00:05:18:00&e=00:06:02:00
 Escalation

1963-1968:
History Channel troop characteristics
http://10.206.3.241/?a=5108&s=00:07:35:00&e=00:07:55:00
http://10.206.3.241/?a=5108&s=00:12:33:00&e=00:13:43:08
The Tet Offensive Aftermath
Viginians at War DVD Volume II
the Tet Offensive.


The Tet Offensive was a series of
surprise attacks by the Viet Cong
(rebel forces sponsored by North
Vietnam) and North Vietnamese
forces, on scores of cities, towns,
and hamlets throughout South
Vietnam. It was considered to be
a turning point in the Vietnam
War.
The attacks began on January 31,
1968, the first day of the Lunar
New Year, Vietnam's most
important holiday. It took weeks
for U.S. and South Vietnamese
troops to retake all of the captured
cities, including the former
imperial capital of Hue.

American spokesmen initially
described the Tet offensive as
a failure for the Viet Cong,
pointing to their retreat and
staggering casualties. But
when General William
Westmoreland reported that
completing the Vietcong's
defeat would necessitate
200,000 more American
soldiers and require an
activation of the reserves,
even loyal supporters of the
war effort began to see that a
change in strategy was
needed.
The Tet Offensive

To a growing segment of
the American public, Tet
demonstrated the resolve
of the Vietcong and the
tenuous control South
Vietnam had over its own
territory. It also helped
unite those at home in
their dissenting opinions
of the war.
 Stages
of the Vietnam War
 Vietnamization
1968-1973
http://10.206.3.241/?a=5108&s=00:16:27:00&e=00:16:54:03
 The
End 1973-1975:
http://10.206.3.241/?a=5108&s=00:20:26:11&e=00:21:49:00
Entire Video
Our Enemy the Vietcong

ZVD: Vietcong
and Guerilla
Warfare (Tunnel
Rats) or
History
Declassified 8
min.
Why was it so
hard to fight
this war?
 Who won?
THE COST
OF WAR
http://www.casperplatoon.com/VietnamWarMusic.htm
Play with Cost of War Pictures on next slide.
OF WAR
 Of
the 2.7 million Americans that
served in the Vietnam war…
 300,000 were wounded in action
 75,000 were disabled
 Of the casualties listed on The
Wall, approximately 1,300 remain
missing in action
 58,129 were killed
 The average age was 19
 On
the Vietnamese side it is
estimated…
 1.1 million North Vietnamese
and Viet Cong (Southern
resistance soldiers) were killed
 Over 2 million North and South
Vietnamese citizens were
killed
American Opposition to War

Americans were divided over whether the
United States should be involved militarily
in Vietnam



Burning draft cards
Holding protests
Kent State University
May 4, 1970
 4 unarmed
demonstrators killed

U.S. II 8 c; 9d
U.S. II 8 c; 9d
U.S. II 8 c; 9d
Images and Songs from Vietnam
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=7651&title=Vietna
m_War_Memorial&ref=Rhassler
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=41220&title=Vietna
m_Part_One&ref=Rhassler
Korea vs. Vietnam
Same
 Containment
 Domino Theory
 North: Communist
South: Democratic
 Communist: China,
USSR
 Democratic: U.S. and
Allies
p. 18
Different
 Korea: Tie


UN Police Action
Vietnam: Loss




All U.S.
Guerilla Warfare
I.D. enemy difficult
Public turned against
the war. Freedom of US
Marching to Freedom Chap. 4
If Time Cover All
If not cover slide 64 and 65
The U.S. in the 1970s:
The Economy




The U.S. gave up the war in Vietnam, last
solider came home in 1975.
The economy was drained by the war and
experienced high unemployment .
Energy prices skyrocketed.
The U.S. automobile industry declined as
consumers turned to small, energyefficient Japanese imports.
The U.S. in the 1970s:
The Government
Détente:Thaw In the Cold War
SAFARI Montage chap. 1 Cracks in the Wall ABC News



President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 after the
Watergate Scandal in which he obstructed justice by
covering up a Republican Party break-in of
Democratic headquarters.
Gerald Ford succeeded him and granted Nixon a
pardon.
The public grew to distrust government and elected
an “outsider” in Jimmy Carter.
The U.S. in the 1970s:
The Government


President Carter could not improve the
economy
The Americans of the 1970s became the “me
generation”
The U.S. in the 1980s:
The Government and
Society
Reagan Chap. 2 8min.




Ronald Reagan united economic and cultural
conservatives to win the White House in 1980
“Government was the problem, not the solution”
“Yuppies” or young urban professionals were
concerned with their private lives rather than
public issues
Upper-middle-class standard of living depended
on both husband and wife holding full-time jobs
The Collapse of Communism and
the End of the Cold War. Page 19
SAFARI Montage chap. 13 The Cold War
SAFARI Montage chap. 14 The Cold War
Reagan Chap. 3 4 min.

Gorbachev’s economic policies




Glasnost- Political Openness/Freedom
Peristroika- Economic Openness/Freedom
Leads to openness and the exposure to
democratic ideas. People like these
ideas and Communism starts to fall.
The first example of the fall is the Berlin
Wall in 1989.
Destruction of the Berlin Wall


November 9, 1989
"Tear Down This Wall!"
Fall of the Soviet Union
December, 1991
Butter Battle Activity p. 21