Vietnam War
U.S.
Involvement
Vietnam War
• 1954-civil war ended
between communist
North Vietnam under
Ho Chi Minh and weak
neutral government in
south Vietnam
• 1956-war begins again
and by 1960 the south
Vietnam forces were
confined to the cities
Vietnam War
• 1960-confilict spreads to Laos—2 sides
in Laos: one U.S. and other communist
• 1961- U.S. sign an agreement creating
a coalition government in Laos
• 1961- May- Kennedy sends 400 Green
Berets to help train south Vietnamese in
guerilla war fare-it fails
Vietnam War
• 1961-August- U.S sends 600
green berets and helicopters
• 1962- South Vietnam hold their
own in battles
• 1963-Vietcong emerge from
jungle and chew up inept south
Vietnamese
Vietnam War
• Without massive
American intervention
the war would be lost
Tonkin Gulf
• August 2, 1964- American destroyer
“Maddox” claimed to be attacked by
communist patrol boat in Tonkin Gulf, off
the coast of North Vietnam
• August 4- Maddox and another ship, “C
Turner Joy” claimed to have been
attacked-neither ship saw enemy vessel
or suffered any damage.
• Johnson ordered air raids against torpedo
boats and oil storage tanks
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Johnson asked and got more power
when congress passed the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution
• Gave the president the authority to
take the nation to war without
congressional approval
• Article 1 of constitution says congress
has that power
• 1973- congress placed restriction on
the resolution
Gulf of Tonkin
More trouble in Vietnam
• Spring 1965-South Vietnam
regime had completely lost
control of the countryside
and huddled in the cities
More Involvement
• Presidential advisor said
without American intervention
South Vietnam government
would collapse
• Johnson decides to get
involved deeper
Vietcong Attacks
• Feb 7, 1965Vietcong raids camp
of American military
advisers
• Killing 8, wounding
100
• The raid gives
Johnson excuse to
order air strikes
More Involvement
• April 196535,000 American
troops
• June-doubled
• 2 years –
500,000 troops
• 20,000 deaths
Guerrilla war
• Vietnam was a
guerrilla war
• Every village as
a potential
battleground
• 150,000
civilians died
annually
Agent Orange / Napalm
• In in effort to take away Vietcong hiding
places – American planes dropped
Napalm (a jellied gasoline that explodes
on contact) and Agent Orange (a chemical
that strips leaves from trees and shrubs).
$$$$$$$$$$$$
• 1966-cost $8
billion
• 1968- cost $27
billion
Unpopular
• Three causes that made the Vietnam
War to be the most unpopular in U.S.
history.
T.V., Cost, Lies
• Television- First time Americans could
see a child running down a street of
thatch-covered house her clothes aflame.
• LIES - Government Falsehood- Statement
contradicted one another: reported only
103,000 Vietcong and suffered 79,000
casualties-Jan1,1966 237,000 Vietcong.
• Cost- Every Vietcong communist killed
cost the U.S. $322,000
Television and the War
• “New Left”Antiwar
movement by
college students
and
intellectuals.
• Beginning in
1964 and
Berkeley, Cal.
Students
wreaked havoc
at American
universities—
called for “nonnegotiated
peace” demand
and class
disruption.
Protest
• April 1967125,000 students
surged through
the streets of
New York to the
United Nation
building to ask
the U.N. to
intervene.
• October 196775,000
descended on
the Pentagon
and blocked the
building entrance
in a massive act
of non-violent
disobedience.
Non-violence
Discontent • Only 29% of the
American people
thought the President
was doing a good job.
• Burning of draft cards
gesture of opposition of
the war.
• “New Left” destroyed
itself by its violent
methods that
antagonized everyone
else in the country.
Tet
Offensive
• Jan. 1968-Tet is the
Vietnamese New Year
• Vietcong made a surprising
move and came down on
every city of substantial size
in South Vietnam and dozens
of American bases
• Thousands of guerrillas enter
the hear of Saigon, captured
the American Embassy for 6
hours
• City was leveled by US
bombers to regain control of
cities
The Truth
• Tet offensive demonstrated that in 3
years of war, the Vietcong was still a
military power
• Also demonstrated that the Vietnamese
people had turned against their
government
• Thousands of peasants must have
known about the moves of the Vietcong
forces yet the government knew
nothing
Vietnam Withdraw
• Nixon and Kissinger dictated a
final withdraw of Vietnam.
• It was clear the war could not be
won and its continuance
hampered negotiation elsewhere
in the world.
• It was important that the withdraw
not appear to be a surrender.
Vietnam Pull-out
• Peace talks opened up in Paris in 1968
• Vietcong demanded a role in the gov.
• South Vietnam military leaders in Saigon
had little popular support to stay in power
had to keep fighting
• US to win the war had to send million of
troops to Southeast Asia
• To withdraw was to confess that the tens
of thousands of lives lost in Vietnam had
been lost for nothing
U.S. Had 3 Choices
1. Continue the war at the present level-lead nowhere
2. Pull out quickly and let the South
Vietnamese take care of themselves-cause political reaction at home
3. Begin a slow pull out, while trying to
negotiate a settlement
• Nixon chose the third---allowing South
Vietnamese to fight on the ground and
US forces to supply air power
1970
• March 18-a right wing general seized
control of the government in Cambodia
• North Vietnamese troops moved in the
defense-less country
• April 27-Nixon ordered combined
American and South Vietnam troops to
remove the Vietcong in Cambodia
• Students take to the street smashing
everything in sight
End of Vietnam
• Kissinger and North Vietnamese
finally come to terms:
• U.S. agreed to permit the North
Vietnam army to remain in South
Vietnam after cease-fire
• Nixon calls is “peace with honor”
• Help Nixon get re-elected
More Trouble in Vietnam
• December-Nixon unleashes new
B-52 attacks on the North
because of haggling over details
at peace talk
• Bombing causes world outcry but
it works
• Final cease-fire was signed on
Jan. 27, 1973
The Real End
• Neither side obey peace
settlement
• Nixon orders air raids over
Cambodia
• August 15, 1973-Congress
passed resolution for ceasing all
American military activity in S.E.
Asia
Vietnam Falls
• Spring 1975-Communist
mounted a massive attack
• April 30 communist forces
force Saigon South Vietnam
to surrender
The Fall of Saigon