April 16--What do you know
about the Vietnam War?
•WHAT DO YOU WANT TO
KNOW ABOUT THE VIETNAM
WAR?
The Vietnam War
IB Objectives
Spread of the Cold War from Europe
 US involvement in Vietnam
 US foreign policy during Cold War

IB Sample Questions
“The Vietnam War had a disastrous effect
on the presidencies of both Lyndon B.
Johnson and Richard Nixon.” To what
extent do you agree with this statement?
 Compare and contrast the roles of Korea
and Vietnam in the Cold War.

Key Terms
Ho Chi Minh
 Geneva Accords
 Ngo Dinh Diem
 Vietcong

Lecture Outline
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Why the US became involved
The War
Why the US lost
Impact of the War
Why the US got involved
US foreign policy
 The Communist victory in Vietnam allowed the
Soviet Navy to establish a strong presence in the
South China Sea and to pose a military threat to
the US in the region.
 Access to raw materials and markets of
Indochina
 If a political party wanted to be successful in the
next election it must have appeared firm against
any Communist move.

Causes of the War
Indochina (Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos)
had been a French colony since the 1890s.
 Ho Chi Minh was a French educated
Communist, who organized the
Indochinese Communist Party (the
Vietminh) in 1930.
 The Vietnamese, with US aid, raised a
guerilla force of 5,000 men to fight the
Japanese.

The War of Independence
In August 1945 the Vietminh proclaimed
the independence of Vietnam.
 In November 1946 the Vietnamese War
for Independence began.
 At first the US was unsympathetic towards
the French but after the policy of
containment was adopted the US began to
support the French.

Why did the US support France?
The need to have French support in
Europe against the Soviets
 The possibility of a Communist victory in
Indochina
 The 1949 Communist victory in China
 The Korean War

The War for Independence
By the end of the war the US had given
the French more than $2.6 billion in
military aid.
 The Geneva Accords set the terms of the
French withdrawal.
 Vietnam was temporarily divided at the
17th parallel.
 Elections were to be held in the summer
of 1956.

th
17
Parallel
South Vietnam
The French appointed Ngo Dinh Diem as
the interim Premier of the South.
 With US support, Diem blocked the
elections called for by the Geneva Accords
and broke off all contact with the North.
 Between 1955 and 1961, the US gave
South Vietnam more than $1 billion in
economic and military assistance and by
1961 it was the 5th largest recipient of US
foreign aid.

April 19– Write an identification
for the Geneva Accords.
South Vietnam
By the late 1950s the American mission in
Saigon was the largest anywhere in the world
with 1,500 men.
 By 1956 over 200,000 political opponents had
been arrested.
 Diem refused to institute land reform or
make other necessary economic and social
changes.

South Vietnam
Diem’s refusal to hold the reunification
elections and his harassment of
Communists caused the Southern
Communists, the Vietcong, to begin
guerrilla warfare against the government.
 Ho formally approved the guerrilla
campaign and began to send arms and
advisers south to assist the Vietcong.

North Vietnam Responds
In 1958 about 700 government officials
were assassinated, in 1960, 2,500.
 US military assistance more than doubled
between 1961 and 1962 and the number
of US military advisors increased from
3,205 to more than 9,000.

South Vietnam
May 1963 the Buddhists begin to protest
Diem’s policies.
 In August Vietnamese forces carried out
raids on Buddhist temples and arrested
1,400 people.
 On November 1, 1963 Diem and his
brother were overthrown and murdered.
 3 weeks later President Kennedy was
assassinated.

US Involvement Activity
Recorder
 Presenters (2)

UN p. 960-967
Henry Kissinger
 Vietnamization
 Pentagon papers
 “Christmas bombing”
 Paris accords
 SALT I
 Nixon Doctrine
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