Vietnam:
A Subset of the Cold War & The 60s & 70s Counter Culture
Indochina—Cambodia, Laos, & Vietnam are placed in French control after
WWII.
America fights Communism—Truman Doctrine, Containment, Marshall Plan,
Korean War—Korea is divided by the 38th Parallel. (North/communist &
South/democratic.
French Defeat—the communist defeat French forces & conquer Indochina
except South Vietnam. (North and South Vietnam are divided at the 17th Parallel.)
Ho Chi Minh—The communist leader of North Vietnam declares war on South
Vietnam to make it one country under Communism.
Presidents Dwight Eisenhower & John F Kennedy—decided to help South
Vietnam stay free from Communism (chess match).
The Enemies of South Vietnam—1) North Vietnamese Army (NVA/Charlie),
2) Vietcong-Southern Vietnamese Communist Sympathizers.
JFK & Military Advisors—16,000 military advisors go to South Vietnam to
preserve democracy.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—assassinates South Vietnam’s president Ngo
Dinh Diem because he is working w/the Communists & persecutes Buddhists &
monks. JFK is killed before his can do anything to fix our foreign entanglement.
Gulf of Tonkin—A U.S. ship is attack in a Vietnamese gulf, & Congress gives
President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) all the war powers he needs to fight in
Vietnam.
LBJ 3 Options:
1) Withdraw troops & risk domino theory of communism spreading into Europe.
2) Send limited amounts of troops to South Vietnam: A) Limit casualties B) Prevent
split of American people (Civil Rights/Great Society/War of Poverty).
3)Full Scale attack that risks China & Russia getting in & starting WWIII.
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Johnson opted for OPTION #2, but underestimated the resolve of Ho Chi
Minh, the Communists, & North Vietnam.
Operation Rolling Thunder—1st air bombings on North Vietnamese cities.
Gen’l Westmoreland—placed in charge of U.S. Forces in Vietnam (Green Berets
& 40,000 U.S. troops.)
Tour of Duty—365 days in-country
1967—500,000 troops in Vietnam at one time.
Enemy Military Tactics—the Viet Cong used “hit & run” tactics w/ambushes.
They were farmers by day and killed soldiers at night w/booby traps, small attacks,
snipers, etc. They were called Charlie, Victor Charlie, VC by U.S. troops.
Trophies—the enemy would cut off the ears of U.S. soldiers.
U.S. Military Tactics—Search and destroy missions; find the enemy & destroy
them w/bombings. Weapons—M16s, M60, Mortars, Napalm, Agent Orange. They
left calling cards—Ace of Spades.
Tet Offensive—The enemy used the Chinese New Year/Cease in War to launch
a massive military campaign against U.S. troops. 7,000 Marines were pinned
down in:
Khe Sanh—a Marine military base, but they held their ground. It was a military
failure for the Communists, but the U.S. media covered it as a major victory.
Deferments—college students w/C average don’t go to war.
Paris Peace Talks— peace attempts fail in Paris, & LBJ does not seek re-election.
Richard Nixon says “Bring Our Troops Home!”
Election of 1968—Richard Nixon (R) beats Hubert Humphrey (D)/LBJ’s VP.
Robert Kennedy was killed & the Democrat Party blew up at the DNC in Chicago.
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My Lai Massacre—U.S. troops led by Lt. William Calley massacred many
innocent Vietnamese, & the American public is outraged.
Vietnamization—Nixon gradually withdraws U.S. troops & hopes to replace them
w/U.S. trained South Vietnamese Troops (ARVN).
Henry Kissinger—Nixon’s Secretary of State (Brilliant) began Peace Talks in
1970, but secretly bombs the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Communist supplies) in
Cambodia.
Kent State—College students protest the War and throw rocks at the Nat’l Guard
leaving several college students dead.
Defensive role—Nixon orders a stop on offensive attacks.
1972—All U.S. troops leave Vietnam & come home to America, but the Air Force
& Navy remained.
Hanoi—Peace negotiations stall and Nixon bombs North Vietnam’s capital to
break the stall.
1973/Geneva Accords—cease fired agreed on both sides at the Geneva Accords, &
the 1st U.S. POWs are released by North Vietnam.
Pentagon Papers—Secret military papers admitting the Pentagon was not honest
about the Vietnam War.
1974/Watergate—in 1972, (R)’s break into (D)’s headquarters to defeat the “anti-Americans”
in the (D)-Party. It is blamed on Nixon along with his secret Oval Office tapes and his has to
resign.
Gerald Ford becomes the next 38th POTUS and is the 1st non-elected
POTUS.
The Tragic Year—1975—North Vietnam invades Saigon, South
Vietnam’s capital, & forces the American embassy to evacuate. Saigon
falls and the Vietnam War ends.
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American causalities—58,000 dead from beginning to end.
Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge—with U.S. presence gone, the communists
slaughter millions of innocent people. The anti-war hippies are silent
about the genocide.
Feminism—the belief women should have the same social, political, &
economical rights as men.
National Organization of Women—fought for women’s rights, and
detested most if not all males.
Gloria Steinem—the most prominent women’s activist that argued
women should burn bras, girdles, wigs, & other garbage. “I am a women
& here me roar!!!”
Counterculture/Hippie Culture—a movement that made up by hippies
that hated the war, most of what America stood for, and wanted “peace”
and “looooove!” They experimented with drugs such as pot, acid, LCD,
etc, and sex—but they were the smart ones.
Music—Hippies loved to listen to the Beatles at venues such as
Woodstock.
J. Edgar Hoover—Director of the F.B.I monitored this culture closely
because of their treasonous behavior.
ON THE POSITIVE SIDE:
The Wins the Space Race—US spaceships such as the Gemini and
Apollo made it to space after the Soviets launched the Sputnik.
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