FRANCE OWNED VIETNAM AS A COLONIAL
POWER

1800s – France controlled French
Indochina (Laos,
Cambodia, Vietnam)


1945 – Ho Chi Minh wanted Vietnam to become independent.

Ho Chi Minh was
Communist.

1954 – Battle of Dien Bien Phu –
French were defeated and pushed out of Vietnam
At the Geneva Conference – Vietnam was divided into two nations.
Divided at the 17 th parallel
North Vietnam –
Communist – Ho Chi Minh
South Vietnam –
Republic (backed by the US)
Ngo Dinh Diem


1955-1975 – the US was involved to protect
South Vietnam from Communism!

Eisenhower sent 675 U.S. Advisors to assist the
South Vietnamese

Kennedy sent 16,000 U.S. Advisors to assist the
South Vietnamese

The United States supported
Diem.
• He imprisoned people
• He moved peasants to hamlets
• He persecuted Buddhists
Diem was Catholic
The U.S. realized he wasn’t a great leader to support…
In November, 1963, Diem was overthrown
And assassinated.
Click on the picture of Buddhist Thich Quang Duc burned to death in protest of Diem in June
1963

Secretary of Defense under
Kennedy and Johnson
Came up with “Flexible Response” idea to military Crises


When JFK was assassinated, Lyndon B.
Johnson became
President.

He “inherited” the
Vietnam issue.

Eventually, Johnson sends combat troops to
Vietnam.

Viet Cong – Communist
Guerillas in South
Vietnam

Viet Cong posed a problem for South Korea.

Johnson and McNamara

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Click on Johnson’s
Photo for a short video
About the Gulf of Tonkin


August 7, 1964

Congress passed this to allow Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”

It allowed Johnson to do what he wanted in
Vietnam…..

It “covered everything”!

GRADUAL ESCALATION OF WAR IN VIETNAM

Ho Chi Minh Trail – supply line for North
Vietnam that ran through Laos and
Cambodia

February 1945 – U.S. began bombing North
Vietnam


1965- 25,000 –
184,000

1966 – 385,000

1967 – 485,000

1968 – 536,000


Vietnamese New Year

North Vietnamese and
Viet Cong take part in a major offensive in South
Vietnam

The U.S. Embassy was attacked in Saigon

LBJ popularity plunged!
Click on map for a Tet Offensive Water Cronkite Video

Eddie Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken on the streets of Saigon during the Tet Offensive sent shock waves through America


Guerilla warfare

Swamps, jungles

Men carried 60 pound packs through rice paddies, etc.

Men had to deal with leeches, jungle rot
(feet), fever

Underground tunnels, land mines, grenades


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Saturation bombing – dropped 1000s of tons of explosives…
Agent Orange – herbicide dropped on dense jungle landscapes

Killed leaves and undergrowth and exposed
Viet Cong hiding places
Killed crops, but caused severe health problems for humans and livestock
Click on the aerial photo for Agent Orange video


Jellylike substance dropped from planes as firebombs

Stuck to bodies and seared off flesh

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Click on picture below for video. Investigative reporting lead to the truth about this massacre.
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March 1968
Reports that My Lai village in South Vietnam was harboring 250 Viet Cong
Instead, women, children, and old men
US army under Lt. Calley
“cleared out the village”
175-400 dead
Lt. Calley got life in prison with hard labor
Nixon eventually reduced it to 20 years (only served 3)


Pentagon Papers – study of US involvement in
Vietnam by New York Times (June 1971)

Baby boomers graduating high school

College enrolled had grown

Generation gap from young to old

New Left – wanted radical change


University of California
Berkeley – most radical campus

Teach In Movement –
University of Michigan
March 1965

Students protesting the war

50-60 professors did small night sessions that focused on the issues of the Vietnam War


18-26 yrs old – draft
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1965 – LBJ doubled the draft
Deferment if in college
1966 – if grades dropped, could be drafted
1967 – resistance movement geared up
100,000 men – crossed border to Canada

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Rejected most of the conventional social customs
HIPPIES
Rejection of traditional relationships
Psychedelic drugs, marijuana
Soldiers had access to drugs in Asian and brought them home
Burned their draft cards!
Click on picture to left for video

Folk and rock music
Beatles, Janis Joplin, Joan
Baez, Jimi Hendrix,
Creedance Clearwater
Revival
A lot of music from the period became anti-war
Click on the picture to the right for a song.


Three day peace and music festival in Bethel,
New York Click below to see interview with Jimi.
Click Jimi to hear his
National
Anthem


Division in the Democratic Party

March 1968 – LBJ told America he would not run again for President.

Click picture for his speech to the nation.


Democrats


Robert F. Kennedy
(assassinated)
Eugene McCarthy

Hubert Humphrey *

Click on RFK for video
Republican

Richard Nixon * winner


The idea of removing American forces and replacing with S. Vietnamese soldiers

1968 – 1972 – 536,000 to 24,000 troops

However, Nixon resumed bombing raids

April, 1970 – we secretly bombed Cambodia to clear out Communist hide-outs

OUTRAGED AMERICANS!


Students reacted to the Cambodia bombing in protest

They burned the ROTC building on campus

The Ohio National Guard was called in

The NG opened fire on students and killed 4.


March 1972 – Bombing of Hanoi, North
Vietnam


1. withdraw troops in 60 days

2. all POWS to be released

3. End activities in Laos and Cambodia

4. divided at the 17 th parallel


North attacked South Vietnam

U.S. personnel were evacuated from Saigon

Airlift evacuation at the US Embassy of 1,000
Americans and 6,000 S. Vietnamese
Click picture to watch
A quick video about
The evacuation.

LONGEST AND LEAST SUCCESSFUL US WAR

58,000 dead

300,000 wounded

$150 billion

More bombs were used than in WW2

Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam became
Communist


Cambodia – Khmer Rouge

Killed 1.5 million Cambodians

Many fled to the US


No welcome home for our soldiers

Many Vietnam Veterans changed from their uniforms before getting off the plane.

Many Vets had tomatoes thrown at them by protestors

Vietnam Veterans Memorial was completed in
1982


We began trading with Vietnam in 1994

We restored diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995.


He focused on the “silent majority” majority of
Americans (hard working people – non-hippies)

Détente – easing of relations with the
Communist nations of China and USSR.