THE VIETNAM WAR
1954-1982
READING & DISCUSSION GUIDE
Please read each section and answer the questions that follow.
Section I
In 1945 the United States became involved in Vietnam. Vietnam had been
an unnoticed French colony until Japan seized it. After World War II,
France wanted to take Vietnam back—reclaim it! Under Ho Chi Minh, the
communist leader of Vietnam, a nationalist movement started.
1. When one nation acquires land/property that does not belong to them
and makes it their own, what is it called?
2. Define nationalism. What impact can nationalism have upon a country?
3. Who was Ho Chi Minh?
Section II
Ho Chi Ming immediately asked the United States for help and the United
States refused. Ho Chi Minh then formed the Vietminh. Ho Chi Minh was
aided by the Soviet Union and China in their fight against the French. At
Dien Bien Phu, a North Vietnamese town, the French were surrounded and
destroyed. The French asked United States President, Dwight Eisenhower,
for help. Eisenhower believed in the domino theory, once one country fell
to communism, they would all fall. Eisenhower wanted Vietnam free but did
not want to intervene. On May 7, 1954, the French started negotiations with
Ho Chi Minh at the Geneva Accords. This was a meeting that was held in
Switzerland to discuss the situation in Vietnam. Vietnam was divided upon
the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh was given the territory above the 17th parallel
and it became communist. The territory below the 17th parallel was anticommunist and wanted democratic elections. Ngo Dinh Diem led the south.
3. What is the domino theory?
P2
4. Why are the Geneva Accords important? What decisions were made at
The Geneva Accords?
5. Who is Ngo Dinh Diem?
SECTION III
Ngo Dinh Diem was a Catholic, which was a minority in South Vietnam.
Diem had agreed to allow elections to take place in his country and later
stopped that from occurring. He stopped the proposed democratic elections
in 1956 because he feared that North and South Vietnam would be reunited.
This decision started his downfall. Many of the South Vietnamese were
Buddhist and they feared that Ngo Dinh Diem would also eventually decide
to inflict his Catholic beliefs upon them. Diem created a religious crisis in
the south. He developed harsh policies on anyone who was Buddhist.
Several Buddhist monks actually set themselves on fire and this was aired on
national TV. They began to doubt his dedication to freedom since he stopped
the elections. It is also important to know that Ho Chi Minh never accepted
the 17th parallel as the division between the two countries. In Ho Chi Minh’s
mind, there was no division in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh launched a civil war
in the south. H formed the Viet Cong, which were communist guerillas in
the south. The Viet Cong’s role was to infiltrate the south, appear to support
Diem and eventually overthrow him. At this point the United States decided
to increase their involvement in Vietnam. President Eisenhower immediately
sent 650 military advisors to train the South Vietnamese to defend
themselves.
6. Who are the Viet Cong and what role did they play in starting the war?
7. Why did people doubt Ngo Dinh Diem?
8. Why do you think President Eisenhower agreed to send 650 military
advisors to the south? What policy was he following?
P3
SECTION IV
Diem had created a religious crisis/war in the south. His harsh policies
against the Buddhist, as well as, their televised suicides, had drawn national
attention to South Vietnam. John F. Kennedy had become the United
States President and he realized that the war could not be won without the
removal of Diem. In November of 1963, a coup e tat was staged to
overthrow the South Vietnamese government. Diem was executed, as well
as his brother. John F. Kennedy was shocked by the executions. Kennedy
knew that Diem needed to be removed from the government, but he did not
want him executed. John F. Kennedy realized that South Vietnam needed a
stable government, but he was killed himself before he could ensure this.
John F. Kennedy’s VP, Lyndon Johnson became President. Once Lyndon
Johnson takes over, a policy of escalation was started. During Johnson’s 1st
month as President over 5000 more troops were sent to South Vietnam. In
the Gulf of Tonkin, in international waters. American vessels were attacked
unprovoked. Lyndon Johnson asked the United States Congress for a war
resolution. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave the
President the power to take “all necessary measures.” Critics declared that
the Vietnam War was an “illegal war” because Congress had not declared
war. However, Lyndon Johnson sent increasing military support to save the
South Vietnamese government in Saigon. The controversy over the legality
of the war caused two groups to arise: the HAWKS and DOVES. The
hawks were avid supporters of the war. They believed that the Soviet Union
had encouraged the North Vietnamese to take over South Vietnam. The
hawks wanted to stop the aggression in Vietnam. The doves thought that
Vietnam was in the midst of a civil war between the North Communist and
Nationalist. The doves felt the issue was a “Vietnam” issue.
9. Why did you think John F. Kennedy would want Diem out of the South
Vietnam government?
10.Why did Lyndon Johnson start escalating American involvement in
this conflict in Vietnam?
11.What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution? Why is this resolution
considered extreme?
12.Compare and contrast the hawks and doves.
SECTION V
In February of 1965, in Pleiku, the VC or Viet Cong attacked United
States military base killing 7 marines. Lyndon Johnson ordered aerial
bombings in the north and two battalions of marines were sent to Da
Nang in South Vietnam. After Pleiku, President Johnson authorized
Operation Rolling Thunder, which were prolonged air attacks on
targets in North Vietnam. By the end of 1965, over 184,000 troops were
in Vietnam. By 1967, the United States had over 500,000 troops in
Vietnam and in 1969 there were over 540,000.
13.What happened at Pleiku?
14.How did President Johnson react to the Pleiku incident?
15. What was Operation Rolling Thunder?
15.Why do you think that the number of troops in Vietnam kept increasing?
Section VI
In January 1968, on the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, the Viet Cong
launched an all out surprise attack. The Tet attacks were made on all
military bases in South Vietnam. The United States counterattacked (TET
Offensive) and was victorious. Vietnam was called “Television’s War”
because there were journalists everywhere. Every night in the United States,
citizens could watch the horrors of war. The Tet Offensive was viewed by
millions and was not viewed as a victory at home. The My Lai Massacre
caused major protest within the United States. My Lai was a small village in
South Vietnam. The US troops thought that the village members were
sheltering over 250 Viet Cong. The problem in the south was that the enemy
was hard to identify. The Viet Cong may be friendly by day and fight at
night. In other words, many men and women in the south that they believed
were in support of the United States attacked the troops. In My Lai, a
company of troops under William Calley moved into the village and killed
from 175 to 400 Vietnamese. The My Lai Massacre was brutally criticized
by American journalist because many of the 175 to 400 killed were elderly,
women and children. There were no Viet Cong found in the village.
16.Why do you think the VC would elect to attack the United States bases
in South Vietnam on TET, the Vietnamese New Year?
17.What was the TET Offensive?
18.Why was the Vietnam Conflict called TV’s War?
19.Why did the press make a big deal of the My Lai Massacre?
Section VII
Lyndon Johnson was advised to add 200,000 more troops after The TET
Offensive. Johnson had turned against escalation and chooses not to send
more troops. Johnson realized that the war was a very unpopular war in the
United States. On March 31, 1968, Lyndon Johnson went on TV to advise
United States citizens that he would not seek re-election of the Presidency.
Johnson realized that the protest against the war had ruined his political
career. 1968 was one of the most violent years of protest in American
history. For example, there were major protest, murders and race riots that
occurred in 1968. Many citizens protested against the TET Offensive. Many
voters protested because President Johnson choose to not seek re-election,
while others celebrated. Race riots broke out in many US cities destroying
property and lives. Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy’s brother, had
received the Democratic nomination to run for President he was murdered in
1968. Martin Luther King, Jr. had also been very successful in getting
Congress to pass Civil Rights legislation and he was murdered in 1968.
George Wallace, the governor of Alabama, ran as a 3rd party candidate.
Wallace had years earlier stood in the door of the University of Alabama
prohibiting a black student from entering the university. Wallace ran on a
segregationist ticket and he was also shot.
20.Explain why 1968 was considered the most violent year of the 1960s.
Section VIII
Lyndon Johnson leaves office and Richard Nixon takes over as the United
States President. Nixon opposed escalation, he promised to end the
involvement in Vietnam. He developed a plan called vietnamization, which
would reduce the number of United States soldiers in Vietnam.
Vietnamization would replace United States soldiers with soldiers from
South Vietnam. In other words, the South would have to learn to defend
themselves and not depend on the United States. Nixon’s policy was a
withdrawal policy. The United States would continue to give South
Vietnam money, weapons and training to conduct the war against the Ho Chi
Minh and the Viet cong. In 1969, there were 540,000 troops in Vietnam, but
by 1972 only 30,000 remained. There were 2 occasions were Nixon
advanced the war defying his policy of Vietnamization. Ho Chi Minh was
using Laos and Cambodia to re-supply the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. On
April 30, 1970, Nixon announced the Cambodia Incursion. The Cambodia
Incursion attacked communist sanctuaries in Cambodia. Nixon also launched
a drive into Laos to stop Ho Chi Minh’s supply line. The Ho Chi Minh Trail
went into Laos. There were many protests from expansion into Laos and
Cambodia. Demonstrations took place at Kent State University in Ohio.
The state police killed two students. Demonstrations also took place at
Jackson State in Jackson, Mississippi. President Nixon conducted secret
meetings with the north Vietnamese. His talks failed and he ordered massive
B-52 bombings until North Vietnam agreed to armistice. Because of the
bombings, over 500 prisoners of war (POW’s) were released. The war did
not end between the north and the south.
21.How did Nixon’s policy differ from Johnson’s?
22.What was vietnamization?
23.Why was there such protest to the Cambodia Incursion and the Laos
Incident?
24.Explain why there was a protest at Kent State University.
Section IX
By 1975, South Vietnam fell to North Vietnam and became communist. In
1973, the Paris Peace Conference was held and it was agreed that the
United States would withdraw from Vietnam, all prisoners of war would be
released, the US troops would withdraw from Laos and Cambodia, and there
could be no more troops of military assistance to South Vietnam. The war
cost over $118 billion dollars. The United States lost 58,132 troops and
303,640 American troops were wounded. South Vietnam lost 184,546
troops and 495,931 were wounded. South Vietnam lost 451,00 civilian
causalities and over 935,000 were wounded. North Vietnam lost 927,124
troops and there is no estimate on the number that was wounded. Cambodia
had over 2 million causalities and Laos 1 million. The United States
economy was affected by the war, inflation was outrageous. Inflation
simply means there is an increase in the money supply and credit available.
Inflation may sound good, however, it causes the price of goods to rise
drastically. The press leaked the Pentagon Papers which directly discussed
how many United States Congressman publicly supported the war while in
session opposed the war. The Pentagon papers also discussed many mistakes
that were made by the military during the war. The Pentagon Papers caused
outrage with the United States.
25.Discuss the effects of the Vietnam War.
26. Which country was hurt the most? Justify your answer.