The Vietnam War
1941-1954 (First Indochina War)
• 1941 – League for the Independence of
Vietnam (Viet Minh) created (dominated by
Communists / led by Ho Chi Minh)
• 1945 – Ho Chi Minh, thinking he has
US support, declares Vietnam
independent.
• Post WWII – Vietnam placed under
the control of China and Britain /
eventually the French convince the US
to give Vietnam back to them.
• War breaks out btw. the Viet Minh and
the French.
• Why did this happen?
1941-1954 (cont.)
• US provides aid ($ and weapons) to France.
• 1950 – Communist China and the USSR
recognize Vietnamese independence.
• 1954 – French crushed at Dien Bien Phu leading
to and end to the war.
• Geneva Conference – Vietnam partitioned into
North and South (North – communist under Ho
Chin Minh / South – Ngo Dinh Diem prime
minister).
French troops captured at Dien
Bien Phu (almost 12,000 French
soldiers were captured).
President Dwight Eisenhower
meets with Prime Minister
Diem.
1955-1963 (Things Fall Apart)
• Partition was supposed to be temporary
(elections were supposed to happen).
• Why don’t they happen?
• 1955 – rigged elections in the South result in 98% of the people voting
for Diem to be President.
• Diem’s Rule characterized by corruption and human rights violations:
• Those suspected of being communist were rounded up and killed.
• Buddhist organizations were targeted (Diem was a devout Catholic).
• Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu used their positions of power to
gain for themselves.
Buddhist monk sets himself on fire to protest
Diem’s government.
1955-1963 (cont)
• 1957 – insurgency develops in the South
in response to Diem’s govt. (Viet Cong)
• 1960 – Ho Chi Minh agrees to begin a
military operation to liberate the South.
• Pres. Kennedy increases the amount of
US forces in Vietnam from 700 to 12,000.
• CIA lets it be known that the US would not
attempt to stop an overthrow of Diem.
1955-1963 (cont.)
• Nov. 1963 – Diem and his brother are
removed from power and executed.
• South Vietnam is ruled by chaos / US
forces in Vietnam – over 16,000
1964-1968 (Second Indochina War begins)
• Aug. 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin incident leads to
Congress granting LBJ military powers.
– Empowered President Johnson to:
• “To take all necessary steps to repel armed attack against US
forces”
• “To take all necessary steps, including force, to assist S Vietnam
and any member of SEATO”
• March 1965 – Operation Rolling Thunder begins
(US bombs North Vietnam to eliminate their
support of the insurgency).
• Dec. 1965 – 200,000 US marines in Vietnam to
protect US air bases.
• South Vietnamese army continues to be crushed
by the insurgency.
Operation Rolling Thunder in action.
1964-1968 cont.
• Gen. William Westmoreland begins to push for a
more offensive role for US ground forces.
(predicts victory by 1967)
– By 1969, U.S. troop strength reached 543,000
(500,000 supported the war from other Asian countries
and Pacific bases)
• U.S. became heavily involved in fighting a
guerrilla war-- they were not prepared
• 1968 – Tet Offensive begins (military failure for
the insurgency)
• Why could the Tet Offensive be considered a
political success?
Vietcong Underground Tunnels
Gen. Westmoreland on two of his three Time
magazine covers in 1965 & 1967.
1968: Tet Offensive
• North attacked 12 U.S. bases &
Embassy
• Objective:
– Shatter South’s army & cause a
civilian revolt
– Tactical failure, huge strategic
success
– American confidence in war effort
plummeted
– Opposition to war increased
significantly
• After Tet, U.S. objective was to
get out, quickly and gracefully
Insurgent executed by the
National Chief of Police.
•Paris Peace Talks begin in 1968 but
achieved nothing
–North Vietnam knew time was on
their side
With Americans under fire in Vietnam,
senior politicians turn on the President.
Robert McNamara, who had been the
chief architect of the war and had
repeatedly assured the President and
the U.S. public that victory would soon
be at hand, suddenly decides to leave
office. McNamara is replaced by Clark
Clifford. Clifford convinces Johnson that
the war cannot be won on the battlefield.
Peace talks begin in Paris.
1969-1975 (American withdrawal and defeat)
• 1969 – Pres. Nixon proposes “peace with honor”
plan (vietnamization)
• U.S. forces begin withdrawing June 1969
– By 1972, 200,000 U.S. troops had left Vietnam
• Sept. 1969 – Ho Chi Minh dies
• 1969 – US begins bombing insurgent supply lines
and bases in Cambodia.
• 1970 – US & SV forces attack supply lines in
Cambodia
• 1971— US fighter-bombers
launch strikes against supply
lines in Laos and Cambodia
Battle of Hamburger Hill, May 1969
-Forty-six men of the 101st Airborne die
during a fierce ten-day battle at 'Hamburger
Hill' in the A Shau Valley near Hue. 400
others are wounded. After the hill is taken,
the troops are then ordered to abandon it by
their commander. NVA then move in and take
back the hill unopposed.
-The costly assault and its confused aftermath provokes a political outcry back in the
U.S. that American lives are being wasted in Vietnam. One Senator labels the assault
"senseless and irresponsible.“
-It is the beginning of the end for America in Vietnam as Washington now orders
MACV Commander Gen. Creighton Abrams to avoid such encounters in the future.
'Hamburger Hill' is the last major search and destroy mission by U.S. troops during the
war. Small unit actions will now be used instead.
-A long period of decline in morale and discipline begins among American draftees
serving in Vietnam involuntarily. Drug usage becomes rampant as nearly 50 percent
experiment with marijuana, opium, or heroin which are easy to obtain on the streets of
Saigon. U.S. military hospitals later become deluged with drug related cases as drug
abuse causalities far outnumber causalities of war.
1969-1975 cont.
• 1972 – Easter Offensive –
insurgents & NVA capture
the northern section of SV
• 1972 – US begins secretly
negotiating with the North
Vietnamese govt.
• 1973 – Paris Peace Accords –
US officially pulls out of Vietnam /
elections to be held
• 1975 – North Vietnamese begin
offensive after elections are not
happening.
• April 1975 – Saigon (capital of
the South) falls.
Final Toll
•
•
•
•
•
America’s most unpopular war
America’s longest and most expensive war
Best technical war money could buy
Overwhelmingly won tactical battles
Could not win the war
Final Toll—Costs
• Human Toll:
– 58,135 Americans killed, 153,000 wounded, 2500
missing in action
– South Vietnam – 243,000 military / 300,000 civilian
– North Vietnam/insurgency – 666,000 military / 65,000 civilian
• $141 Billion spent
– Inflation tripled by the end of 1960s
– In exchange for a tax increase in ‘67, Republicans
demanded that there be a $6 billion reduction in Great
Society funding
– “That war…,” Johnson later admitted, “killed the lady I
really loved—the Great Society.”
• 6.3 Million tons of bombs dropped
– 12x more than Korea, 2x more than WW II
• 2,257 aircraft lost ($3.1 Billion value)
• 5.2 Million combat sorties flown
Final Toll—Political
• U.S. reluctance to enter military conflicts that don’t
directly threaten national interests
• Congressional restriction on President’s ability to
commit U.S. military forces
– War Powers Act of 1973
• President must inform Congress w/in 48 hrs if
troops sent
• Troops may remain up to 90 days w/out
Congressional declaration of war
• Lessened public opinion of government and military
– “Credibility Gap”—TV footage of American in
body bags contradicted the gov’t & military
optimistic account of progress and imminent
Vietcong surrender
• Public divided over the war
– Doves-those opposed to the war
– Hawks-those in support of more military force to
win the war
Final Toll—Political
 Pentagon Papers, 1971
-7,000 page Defense Department report written for
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in 1967-1968
-Revealed gov’t involvement in Vietnam dating back
to 1940s
Truman: military aid to France in war against
Vietminh
Eisenhower: direct involvement in preventing 1956
elections
Johnson:
Gov’t had plans drawn for entering the war prior to
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
There was never any plan to end the war as long as
North Vietnam continued to fight
THE COSTS
OF WAR