26.1 – GOING TO WAR IN VIETNAM
• French Indochina – French
colonial area including
Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia
• Ho Chi Minh – leader of
the Vietnamese nationalist
movement
• Presented a petition of
independence at the 1919
Versailles Peace
Conference; it was ignored
Ho Chi Minh
26.1 – GOING TO WAR IN VIETNAM
• 1930s – HCM founded
the Indochinese
Communist Party
• Worked to overthrow
French rule
• 1940s:
- HCM organized the
Vietminh to expel the
Japanese
- French returned to claim
control after WWII;
fought the Vietminh
- U.S. (Truman) decided to
aid French forces against
the Vietminh (why?)
26.1 – DIEN BIEN PHU
• Vietminh used guerilla tactics to
frustrate the French
• 1954 – VM forces surrounded
the French at DBP and
eventually the French were
forced to withdraw from
Indochina
26.1 – GENEVA ACCORDS
• The agreement to end the conflict:
• Divided Vietnam along the 17th
parallel
• North Vietnam – controlled by Ho Chi
Minh and the Vietminh
• South Vietnam – pro-Western regime
(led by Ngo Dinh Diem; allied with
the U.S.)
• 1956 – election to be held to reunite
the country; Diem refused to allow
them to take place
Ngo Dinh Diem
26.1 – AMERICA GETS MORE INVOLVED
• Ho Chi Minh reacted by
starting an armed struggle
to reunited the country
• he created the Vietcong
(guerrilla army of South
Vietnamese communists)
• Ike sent hundreds of U.S.
military advisers to train
South Vietnam’s army
• Diem continued to look to
the U.S. for more aid
26.1 – JFK TAKES OVER
• JFK continued
Truman/Ike’s policy of
supporting South
Vietnam
• He increased the # of
American military
personnel in South
Vietnam by almost
15,000
• He also urged Diem
to:
a. create a more
democratic gov’t in the
South
b. Help the peasants
c. Use strategic
hamlets (failure)
26.1 – OVERTHROW OF DIEM
• Diem discriminated
against Buddhists;
further increased his
unpopularity
• Nov. 1, 1963 – a coup
overthrew and
executed Diem
• Actually made things
worse; chaotic
situation
• U.S. became more
involved in an effort
to prop up the South
Vietnamese gov’t
26.1 – LBJ & VIETNAM
• Initially wanted a “limited”
war to prevent the spread of
communism
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• LBJ announced that the N.
Vietnamese attacked U.S. ships
(Aug. 1964)
• Aug. 7 – Congress passed the
resolution, which gave LBJ the
authority to “take all necessary
measures to repel any armed
attack against the forces of the
United States and to prevent
further aggression”
• LBJ basically had war powers
26.1 – LBJ & VIETNAM
• Reacting to increased
attacks by the VC, LBJ
authorized the
bombing of N.
Vietnam (1965)
• March 1965
• LBJ launches
Operation Rolling
Thunder against
North Vietnam
• LBJ sends in the first
combat troops into
South Vietnam
26.1 – WAR BECOMES A STALEMATE
• By the end of 1966
there were almost
400,000 American
troops in Vietnam
• VC fought back with
ambushes, booby
traps, mixed in with
the locals, used
tunnels….guerrilla
tactics
• U.S. countered with
“search and destroy”
missions, napalm,
Agent Orange
26.1 – HO CHI MINH TRAIL
• N. Vietnam sent supplies and
troops to the VC in the South by
way of the Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Wound through Laos and
Cambodia
• LBJ did not attack the trail or North
Vietnam(why not?)
• Failed war of attrition as a result?
• By the end of 1966 more than 6,700
Americans were dead and citizens
seriously questioned the war