 Using map on page 726
-
-
-
or 742in text, label the
following:
Countries: Cambodia,
China, Laos, North
Vietnam, South
Vietnam
Cities: Saigon, Hanoi
Political Features: Ho
Chi Minh Trial
Physical Features:
17th Parallel, Gulf of
Tonkin
 If one nation falls under
Communist control, nearby
nations will also fall under
Communist control.
French Rule
French exploit Indochina (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam)
Communist Party Rebels
Indochinese Communist Party organizes a revolution against French.
Vietminh Gain Independence
Despite massive US aid French are ousted from Vietnam in battle of Dien Bien Phu.
 Temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th
parallel.
 Communists and their leader, Ho Chi Minh,
Controlled North Vietnam
 Anti-Communist nationalists controlled South
Vietnam
North Vietnam
Government Communist
Leader
Ho Chi Minh
South Vietnam
Anti-Communist
nationalists
Ngo Dinh Diem
Won approval by
Little support; corrupt
Support
supporting peasants and government with no
among
approval of religions other
Vietnamese fighting Japanese and
French
than his own; attempted
no land reform programs.
(Removed from power and assassinated
– help of CIA)
Followed by a series of inept military
leaders.
 Communism in Vietnam
- Vietcong (Communist
opposition group in South)
attack Diem government
- Ho Chi Minh Trial—a network
of paths used by North
Vietnamese to transport
supplies to Vietcong in South
 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Resolution adopted in 1964
- Provided the President broad powers to wage war in Vietnam
- Greatly escalated America’s involvement in the conflict.
 Read pages 204-205 in your text.
 How does the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution expand president al
powers?
Candy Question:
 After World War II, nationalist and communist rebels in the
French colony of Vietnam fought for their independence. A 1954
agreement ending the colonial war split the country into
communist North Vietnam and democratic South Vietnam.
When France pulled out the following year, the United States
stepped in to prop up South Vietnam. Over the years, American
involvement grew and led to the introduction of U.S. ground
forces.
 Fill vacancies in the
armed forces
 Could not be filled
through voluntary
means
 Deferments and
objectors.
 LBJ ended in 1965
 100,000 Dodgers
 1969 Lottery
 In 1973, the draft
ended
 All-Volunteer military.
 Jimmy Carter
Pardoned Draft
Dodgers
 2/3 were volunteers.
 79% had high school
education.
 Average age was 19 to 20
years old.
 The average infantryman in
Vietnam saw about 240 days
of combat in one year.
 Tour of Duty was 1 year.
 A “Manipulatable” Draft
- Most soldiers in war drafted (18-26)
- Medical deferments
- College deferments
- Question arose: Why are the government officials who support this war
not sending their children to fight in this war?
 One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam
was a casualty
 86% Caucasians
 12.5% Black
 1.2% Other races
 Amputations or crippling wounds were 300% higher
 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled
 March 1965—3,500 Marines
 April 1965—60,000 combat troops
 July 1965—125,000 combat troops
 By 1967—500,000 U.S. troops
 Guerilla Warfare
- Hit-and-run ambush
- Booby traps
- Land mines
- Elaborate tunnel networks
 War of Attrition
- Gradual wearing down of the enemy by continuous
harassment
- Napalm
- Agent Orange
- Search-and-destroy missions
Effects of
Defoliants
Body
Count/Search and
Destroy
Mi Lai massacre,
more on this later.
 Credibility Gap
- Belief that there was a gap between what government was
reporting and what was really happening
- Although polls showed large majority of Americans supported
the war, media images led America to question intentions
 Do you believe CCR opposed or supported the war
in Vietnam based on the lyrics?
 In what way does the song criticize the American
government?
 How do the lyrics demonstrate the idea that the
Vietnam conflict was a working-class war?
 Directions:
- Actively read document
- On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions
1. How did Johnson’s public actions contrast with his private
opinion regarding the Vietnam War?
2. What effect did the war in Vietnam have on Johnson?
3. How important is if for a President to have faith in a victory
when he enters his country into war?
4. What parallels does the writer make between Vietnam and
the present day War in Iraq? What similarities can you draw
between Iraq and Vietnam?
 When finished the documentary, you
are required to write a detailed
paragraph that addresses the
following prompt:
 How
does the morale of the soldiers
stationed in Vietnam progress
throughout the war?
“I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to death
your right to say it”
 Many soldiers in Vietnam have the quote above a response when
asked their opinion on the antiwar demonstrations back home.
Put yourself in the place of a young draftee and answer the
following questions.
1. What is the meaning of the quote?
2. Should freedom of speech be defended at any cost?
 Division of South Vietnamese
 Several in countryside joined Vietcong
 People in cities backed government of South
Vietnam
 Several remained neutral
 “Our people no longer want to take sides in this
war that is gradually but inexorably destroying
us. We have no desire to be called an ‘outpost of
the Free World’ or to be praised for being the
‘vanguard people in the world socialist revolution.’
We simply want to be a people—the Vietnamese
people.”
 Ly Qui Chung, Saigon newspaper editor, 1970
 “We would go through a village before dawn,
rousting everybody out of bed, kicking down doors
and dragging them out if they didn’t move fast
enough. They all had underground bunkers inside
their huts to protect themselves against bombing
and shelling. But to use the bunkers were
Vietcong hiding places, and we’d blow them up
with dynamite—and blow up the huts too. At the
end of the day, the villagers would be turned loose.
Their homes had been wrecked, their chickens
killed, their rice confiscated—and if they weren’t
pro-Vietcong before we got there, they sure as hell
were by the time they left.”
 New Left
 Students for a Democratic Society
 equality, freedom, fight poverty
 Counter Culture
 Chipped away at war involvement
 Only 20% of University Students participated
 Average American also protested
The New Left
The New
Conservatives
Who
Students for a Democratic Society, The National Review, John Birch
Free Speech Movement
Society
What
Youth movement that
encompassed several activist
groups
Youth movement that opposed New
Left
When
1960s
1960s
Where
Primarily college campuses
Primarily college campuses
Many youths believed nation
needed to be in need of
fundamental change; end Vietnam
Believed America needed to return
to order; end Vietnam
Why
Doves
Against war, thought it was time to
withdrawal
Hawks
Supported war, should increase military
force
 “There has always been confusion, frustration, and difference of opinion
in this country, when there is war going on…You know what President
Roosevelt went through, PresidentWilson inWWI. He has some senators
from certain areas that gave him serious problems until victory was
assured. We are going to have these differences. No one likes war. All
people love peace. But you can’t have freedom without defending it.” –
LBJ
 Visit each of the three themed stations.
 Read the accompanying article.
 Evaluate each of the artifacts, documents, pictures or
posters. Select one to analyze.
 Use the accompanying sheets to assist you.
 You must evaluate a different type of artifact for each
Station. (One Document!)
 Poster, artifact, document or picture.
 TET Offensive
- North Vietnamese attack on cities in

-
South Vietnam
45,000 Viet Cong and NVA soldiers
died
Boosted U.S. opposition to the war
and undermined Johnson presidency
Johnson’s Decision
LBJ decides he will not run for
reelection
Claimed he would try to “deescalate”
the conflict
 Nixon Platform
- “Peace with Honor”
- “Law and Order”
- Won election of 1968
The End of a “War”
 1968 – Nixon is elected president
 Henry Kissinger – Secretary of State
 Platform of ending the war.
 Promised an end, but no explanation of how.
 Peace with honor and Vietnamization
 Removing troops, but still bombing!
 “Peace with Honor”
- Nixon and Kissinger’s policy that they would end the war that
left reputation of U.S. intact
- Hoped to persuade N.V. to accept negotiated end to war
 Vietnamization
- South Vietnam would gradually take over conduct of war (self-
government, self-development, self-defense)
- American troops would slowly withdrawal
 Operation Menu
 Remove communist




strongholds.
Neutral nations
US invasion caused
civil war.
Khmer Rouge
Killed 2million
 Emptied cities
 Largest holocaust ¼ of population.
 Killed all teachers, doctors and businessmen
 Pol Pot was the leader.
 Died in 1998 with no remorse.
 Vietnam invaded in 1979.
 NO KHMER LEADER HAS EVER BEEN TRIED!
 Several are still alive and living free today.
 Silent Majority and Middle America
 Nixon announced invasion of Cambodia.
 Student protests began again.
 Called out the National Guard.
 Young and untrained.
 Crowed attacked.
 Fired into the crowd killing 4 wounding others.
 Many not even protesters
 Papers enacted by request of state department.
 Leaked to New York Times
 Nixon v. New York Times.
 People saw government lies.
 Began to distrust the govt.
Pentagon Papers
- Leak to N.Y. Times a top-secret study of U.S. role in
Indochina
- Revealed secrecy and deceit on the part of U.S. presidents
War Powers Resolution
- Congress’s reaction to Nixon’s activities in Cambodia
- Limited a president’s ability to send armed forces into
combat
 Nixon ran on a platform claiming an end to the War.
 No real strategy, never planned to let Vietnam
become communist.
 North Vietnam (communists) would stay in the
South.
 US would protect if North violated agreement.
 Removed last combat troops in March 1973.
 What is the purpose of Nixon’s speech?
 Paris Peace Accords
of 1973
 Kissinger and Le Duc
Tho negotiated peace
treaty.
 Both men awarded
Nobel Peace Prize.
 1975 – North Vietnam overran the South.
 US diplomats and thousands of Vietnamese
escaped.
 Nixon’s promise was unanswered by Ford.
 Vietnam has been communist since.
 US should not have
 US could have won the
entered Vietnam.
 Not our war to fight.
 Could not win a guerilla
war.
war if fought properly.
 More troops and $$$
 Invaded the North.
 Effect of Vietnam
- Vietnam Syndrome—reluctance to become involved in overseas
conflicts
- Post-traumatic stress syndrome—soldiers show signs of mental illness
- Lack of confidence in government
- Support for troops in wars after
 "I haven't really slept for twenty years. I lie down, but I
don't sleep. I'm always watching the door, the window,
then back to the door. I get up at least five times to walk
my perimeter, sometimes it's ten or fifteen times. There's
always something within my reach, maybe a baseball bat
or a knife, at every door... Once when my daughter was
younger and I was that way, she came up behind me and
before I knew it I had her by the throat up against the
wall. I can still see her eyes. I put her down and just
walked out of the house without saying anything to
anybody and didn't come back for a week."
Anonymous account from a Vietnam veteran (Shay,
1995)
 People have long debated whether the study of history can
provide useful lessons to guide future behavior. The American
philosopher George Sanatayana warned that “those who cannot
remember the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat it.” In
contrast, the American inventor and father of the assembly line,
Henry Ford, declared that “history is bunk!” Just as people learn
from their experiences, so nations, it is argued, learn lessons
from history. Many lessons from the American experience in
Vietnam have been put forth by historians, politicians, and media
commentators.
 Lesson 1: Fight to win; there is no substitute for victory.
 Lesson 2: Make it quick, make it decisive.
 Lesson 3: There is no point in thinking about Vietnam, it cannot





happen again.
Lesson 4: Once you have climbed onto the back of the tiger, you have
lost your ability to determine where and when you will dismount.
Lesson 5: If you do not level with the people in the beginning, they
will not follow you in the end.
Lesson 6: The United States is not all-powerful.
Lesson 7: A team will not win if the players are continually
squabbling with the coach, refusing to execute his or her plays, and
insisting that theirs be tried instead.
Lesson 8: Do not go it alone when you go to war
 Individually read summary of lessons and decide whether or
not you believe each lesson to be valid or invalid—remember to
justify your answers
 Working in debate groups, identify the top three most important
lessons we need to take away from the conflict in Vietnam
 Decide as a group whether or not you believe the U.S. has
applied these lessons to the present-day War in Iraq—be sure to
justify your answers
 Be prepared to share your findings with the entire class and
challenge your classmates answers!
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Contractions—DO NOT use any type of contraction
There, their, they’re; two, too, to; know and no. KNOW the difference!
Watch your verb tense—in most cases you will use the past-tense. Be
consistent!
DO NOT end sentences in prepositions (For, to, from, with, at, etc.)
The comma is your friend however be careful not to overuse him!
NEVER EVER start a sentence with BUT!
Many, many, many students are very, very, very attached to using these two
words. Please do not.
Avoid using rhetorical statements, too many questions, conversational
tones and flowery introductions and conclusions. GET TO YOUR POINT
AND MAKE IT STICK!