Chapter 22
The Vietnam War Years
Vietnam War
*Extension of Cold War
(prevent communism
from spreading)
Ho Chi Minh
Domino Theory
Vietcong
Map of
Vietnam
Vietnam War
*Extension of Cold War
(prevent communism
from spreading)
Ho Chi Minh
*Leader of
communist
party in Vietnam
Domino Theory
Vietcong
Ho Chi Minh
Vietnam War
*Extension of Cold War
(prevent communism
from spreading)
Ho Chi Minh
Domino Theory
*Idea that if one
nation became
Communist, others
would fall to
communism
Vietcong
Eisenhower’s Domino Theory
Vietnam War
*Extension of Cold War
(prevent communism
from spreading)
Ho Chi Minh
Domino Theory
Vietcong
*Rebel group in
S. Vietnam =
Supported by
Ho Chi Minh in
North
Vietcong Rebel Forces
How did Americans respond?
Draft
• Selective
Service System
= required men
to serve in war.
• Draft dodging
• “working-class”
war
How did Americans respond?
Doves v. Hawks
• Doves =
against war
• Hawks =
supported war
How did Americans respond?
New Left
• Political Youth
movement =
college students
that demanded
change in
gov’t/society
8. How did the Vietnam War end?
What kind of effect did it have?
• By 1973, war was
over for U.S.
• 1975 = S.Vietnam
surrenders to
N.Vietnam.
• 58,000 Americans
killed
• 303,000 wounded
• Vietnamese deaths =
2 million
End of Vietnam…who was to
blame for defeat???
“We Didn’t Start the Fire”
Billy Joel
• We Didn't Start the Fire
Vietnam is a long, thin country on a
peninsula in southeast Asia. From the
late 1800s until World War II, France
ruled Vietnam. The French treated the
Vietnamese badly. As a result, the
Vietnamese often rebelled. The
Communist Party in Vietnam organized
many of the rebellions. The group’s
leader was Ho Chi Minh. Vietnamese
Communists combined with other
groups to form an organization called
the Vietminh. The Vietminh’s goal was to
VIETNAM
Communist leader of North Vietnam
Ans--Ho Chi Minh
Communist group led by Ho Chi Minh
Ans--Vietminh
The United States supported France
during the war. America considered the
Vietminh to be Communists. The United
States, like other western nations, was
determined to stop the spread of
communism. President Eisenhower
explained his country’s policy with what
became known as the domino theory.
Eisenhower compared many of the
world’s smaller nations to dominoes. If
one nation fell to communism, the rest
also would fall.
Eisenhower’s explanation for stopping communism in Asia
Ans--Domino Theory
Several countries met with the French and the
Vietminh to negotiate a peace agreement. The
agreement was known as the Geneva
Accords. It temporarily split Vietnam in half.
The Vietminh controlled North Vietnam. The
anti-Communist nationalists controlled South
Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh ruled North Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem led South Vietnam. America
hoped that Diem could turn South Vietnam
into a strong, independent nation. Diem,
however, turned out to be a terrible ruler. His
administration was corrupt. He also refused to
allow opposing views.
Peace
agreement
that split
Vietnam in
two
Ans--Geneva Accords
Leader of South Vietnam
Ans--Ngo Dinh Diem
By 1957, a rebel group had formed in
the South. The group was known as
the Vietcong. It fought against
Diem’s rule. Ho Chi Minh supported
the Vietcong from the North. He
supplied arms to the group along a
network of paths that ran between
North and South Vietnam. Together,
these paths became known as the
Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Communist rebel group in South
Vietnam
Ans--Vietcong
Network of
paths
running
between
North and
South
Vietnam
Ans-Ho Chi
Minh
Trail
In August 1964, Johnson received reports of
an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin off North
Vietnam. A North Vietnamese patrol boat
allegedly had fired torpedoes at a U.S.
destroyer. President Johnson responded by
bombing North Vietnam. He also asked
Congress for special military powers to stop
any future North Vietnamese attacks on U.S.
forces. As a result, Congress passed the
Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The resolution
granted Johnson broad military powers in
Vietnam. In February 1965, President Johnson
used his new power. He launched a major
bombing attack on North Vietnam’s cities.
Passed by Congress that allowed
President Johnson to fight in Vietnam.
Ans--Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
In 1965, Johnson began sending U.S. troops to
Vietnam to fight the Vietcong. The president’s
advisers supported sending in troops. They
included Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. These men
believed that America had to help defeat
communism in Vietnam. Much of the public also
agreed with Johnson’s decision. The American
commander in South Vietnam was General
William Westmoreland. Westmoreland was not
impressed by the Army of the Republic of
Vietnam (ARVN) as a fighting force. He asked for
even more troops. By 1967, almost 500,000
American soldiers were fighting in Vietnam.
Commander of US troops in
Vietnam
Ans--William Westmoreland
The South Vietnamese military
forces
Ans--Army of the Republic of
Vietnam (ARVN)
The United States believed that its superior weaponry
would lead to a quick victory over the Vietcong.
However, several factors turned the war into a bloody
stalemate. The Vietcong did not have advanced
weapons. As a result, they used hit-and-run ambush
tactics. The second factor was the Vietcong’s refusal to
surrender. The third factor was the American troops’
inability to win the support of the Vietnamese peasants.
U.S. planes dropped napalm, a gasoline-based bomb
that set fire to the jungle. They did this to expose
Vietcong tunnels and hideouts. They also sprayed
Agent Orange. This was a leaf-killing chemical that
destroyed the landscape. Both of these weapons
wounded villagers and ruined villages. American
soldiers also turned the peasants against them by
conducting search-and-destroy missions. During these
missions, soldiers destroyed villages they believed
Gasoline-based explosive
Ans--Napalm
Chemical that destroyed jungle foliage
Ans--Agent Orange
The number of U.S. troops in Vietnam
continued to increase. So did the cost of the
war. As a result, the nation’s economy began to
suffer. President Johnson had to cut spending
for his Great Society programs. By 1967, many
Americans still supported the war. However,
the images of the war on television began to
change that. The Johnson administration told
the American people that the war was going
well. But television told the opposite story.
Each night, Americans watched the brutal
scenes of the war on their television screens.
This led to a credibility gap in the Johnson
administration. A growing number of people no
US public no longer believed the
Johnson administration
Ans--Credibility Gap
Most soldiers who fought in Vietnam were
called into combat under the country’s
Selective Service System, or draft. Because
the war was growing unpopular, thousands of
men tried to avoid the draft. One of the most
common ways to avoid the draft was to attend
college. Many university students during the
1960s were white and financially well-off. As a
result, a large number who fought in Vietnam
were lower-class whites or minorities. Nearly
80 percent of American soldiers came from
lower economic levels. Thus, Vietnam was
known as a working-class war.
System for calling people to military
service
Ans--Draft
By the 1960s, American college students had
become politically active. The growing youth
movement of the 1960s was known as the New
Left. The New Left did not call for socialism.
However, it did demand sweeping
changes in American society. One of the better
known New Left groups was Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS). This organization
called for greater individual freedom in
America. Another New Left group was the Free
Speech Movement (FSM). This group was
formed at the University of California at
Berkeley. It grew out of a fight between
students and administrators over free speech
Across America, college students rose up in
protest against the war. They did so for
various reasons. The most common reason
was that the conflict in Vietnam was a civil
war between the North and South. By 1967,
Americans were divided into two main
groups. Those who wanted the United States
to withdraw from the war were called doves.
Those who supported the war were called
hawks.
American individual who called for
America to withdraw from Vietnam
Ans--Dove
American individual who supported
the war effort
Ans-Hawk
January 30 was the Vietnamese equivalent of New
Year’s Eve. It was the beginning of festivities known
as Tet. During the Tet holiday in 1968, a week-long
truce was called. Many peasants crowded into South
Vietnam’s cities to celebrate the holiday. However,
many of the peasants turned out to be Vietcong
rebels. The rebels launched a massive attack on
nearly 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam. They
also attacked 12 U.S. air bases. The attacks were
known as the Tet offensive. The Tet offensive
shattered America’s confidence in the war. The
enemy now seemed everywhere. Many Americans
began to think that the war was unwinnable. The Tet
offensive also hurt President Johnson’s popularity.
By the end of February 1968, nearly 60 percent of the
public disapproved of Johnson’s handling of the war.
Series of Vietcong attacks during the
1968 Tet holiday
Ans--Tet Offensive
Even before the Tet offensive, an antiwar group in the
Democratic Party had taken steps to unseat Johnson. The
group looked for someone to challenge Johnson in the
1968 primary election. They asked Robert Kennedy, a
senator from New York. Kennedy declined. However,
Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy agreed. He would
run against Johnson on a platform to end the Vietnam
War. McCarthy surprised many people by nearly beating
Johnson in the New Hampshire Democratic primary.
Suddenly, Johnson appeared politically weak. As a result,
Robert Kennedy declared himself a presidential
candidate. The Democratic Party was now badly divided.
President Johnson decided to address the nation on
television. He announced that he would not seek
reelection as president. Several more incidents stunned
the nation. On April 4, a gunman killed civil rights leader
Martin Luther King, Jr. Two months later, an assassin
About 10,000 antiwar protesters came to Chicago. Some
protesters wanted to pressure the Democrats to create an
antiwar platform. Others wanted to voice their opposition to
Humphrey. Still others wanted to create violence to discredit
the Democratic Party. The violence in Chicago highlighted
the Democrats’ division. The Republicans were more
unified. They nominated former Vice-President Richard
Nixon for president. Nixon campaigned on a platform of law
and order. He also assured the American people that he
would end the Vietnam War. With National Security Adviser
Henry Kissinger, he came up with a plan to end the war.
Their plan was known as Vietnamization. It called for the
gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops and for the South
Vietnamese to do more of the fighting. To win support for
his war policies, Nixon appealed to what he called the silent
majority. These were mainstream Americans who quietly
supported the president’s strategy.
Republican President of the US,
elected in 1968
Ans—Richard Nixon
President Nixon’s plan for ending
America’s involvement in the war
Ans--Vietnamization
Those mainstream Americans who
supported Nixon’s policies
Ans--Silent Majority
The war continued to divide the country. In
November of 1969, Americans learned of a
shocking event. U.S. troops had massacred more
than 100 unarmed Vietnamese in the village of
My Lai. A protest at Kent State University in Ohio
turned tragic. To restore order on the campus,
the local mayor called in the National Guard.
Some students began throwing rocks at the
guards. The guards fired into a crowd of
protesters. Four students were killed. Support for
the war declined even further in June of 1971.
The Pentagon Papers were documents that
showed that the past U.S. presidents had never
drawn up any plans to withdraw from Vietnam.
Site of massacre of Vietnamese
civilians by American soldiers
Ans--My Lai
Site of protest where National
Guard killed four students
Ans—Kent State
Government documents that showed the
gov. had no real plan for leaving Vietnam
Ans—Pentagon Papers
The Vietnam War cost both sides many lives.
In all, about 58,000 Americans died in
Vietnam. Another 303,000 were wounded.
Vietnamese deaths topped 2 million. In the
United States, the war resulted in several
policy changes. In November 1973, Congress
passed the War Powers Act. This law
prevented the president from committing
troops in a foreign conflict without approval
from Congress. In a larger sense, the war
made Americans less willing to become
involved in foreign wars. The war also left
many Americans with a feeling of mistrust
toward their government.
Act that forbids the president from
mobilizing troops without
Congressional approval
Ans—War Powers Act
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