The Vietnam War
CHAPTER 22
THE VIETNAM WAR
20 years
 Five presidents
 164 billion dollars
 58,132 Americans died/2million Vietnamese
 150,000 Americans wounded
 21,000 permanently disabled
 3 million Americans served (avg. age 19)
 100,000 fled U.S. to avoid conflict
 830,000 PTSD reports

VIETNAM WAR
U.S. had the latest military technology
 Could not defeat a poorly equipped peasant
army
 Why not??
 Vietnamese fighting for their independence
 Very difficult conditions to fight under (enemy,
weather, terrain, etc)

CAUSES OF VIETNAM WAR
Depends on who you ask…………….
 Americans—
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 Cold
War
 Stop spread of communism
 Domino Theory
 Political reasons
CAUSES OF VIETNAM WAR

Vietnamese—
 Imperialism
 Western
greed
 Resources
 Desire for independence/self rule
 Internal Civil War
HISTORY OF VIETNAM
Nearly 2000 years old
 Imperialized for nearly all its existence
 China controlled Vietnam for 1,000 years
 Referred to the area as Indo China (Vietnam,
Laos and Cambodia)
 1858 Vietnam occupied by France
 1940 Vietnam occupied by Japan
 1945 Vietnam reoccupied by France

INDOCHINA
INDOCHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
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Formed in 1930
Leader: Ho Chi Minh
(he who enlightens)
Planned for Vietnam’s
independence
movement
Group combined with
other nationalist groups
and became the
Vietminh
VIETMINH
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Vietnamese Nationalists
Determined to gain
independence
France had no intention
of giving up its rule
Pres. Truman sent 15
million in aid to France
Eventually paid for most
of France’s war (2.6
billion) to defeat
Vietminh
FRANCE DEFEATED
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Dien Bien Phu falls to
Vietminh
May, 1954 France
surrenders and pulls out
of Vietnam
Despite massive U.S. aid
GENEVA ACCORDS
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May-July 1954
Meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland
France, G.B., S.U., U.S.,
China, Laos, Cambodia,
Vietminh, S.V. anticommunists
Agree to temporarily
divide Vietnam at 17th
parallel until elections
held in 1956
DIVISION OF VIETNAM
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Communist North
Vietnam under Ho Chi
Minh (Hanoi Capital)
Anti-Communist South
Vietnam under Ngo
Dinh Diem (Saigon
capital)
Elections to be held in
1956: let the people
decide who they want to
lead Vietnam
TIME FOR ELECTION
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Ho very popular (land
reforms)
Diem hated by many
(anti-Buddhist)
Very corrupt, oppressive
gov’t.
Diem cancels elections
in 1956
GUERILLA WARFARE
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Vietcong (Communist
group formed in South
Vietnam)
Teamed up with
Vietminh in North
Vietnam to fight against
Diem’s Army
U.S. assisting Diem
(military advisors,
financial aid, etc.)
1963: A VERY BAD YEAR
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Diem’s army near
defeat to communists
Nov. 1, 1963: Diem
assassinated (military
coup)
Nov. 22, 1963:
Kennedy assassinated
JFK said “in the final
analysis, it’s their war”
LYNDON JOHNSON’S VIETNAM
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Communists close to
uniting Vietnam under
one rule
LBJ does not want to be
perceived as “soft on
communism”
Election of 1964
approaching in U.S.
Appoints Gen. William
Westmoreland as
commander of U.S. forces
in S.V.
AM. SOLDIERS COMMITTED TO COMBAT
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Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Aug. 2, 1964
LBJ accuses N.V. of an
unprovoked attack on
USS Maddock patrolling
off coast of Vietnam
“alleged” attacks
prompted Johnson to
strike back
GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION
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Aug. 7, 1964: Congress
adopts this resolution
(close to a declaration
of war)
Gave Johnson the power
to take “all necessary
measures to repeal any
armed attack against
U.S. forces”
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER
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Feb. 1965: first
sustained bombing of
N.V.
U.S. air force conducted
avg. of 5,500 bombing
missions per month
Goal: break N.V. will to
fight and force a
surrender
THE WAR ESCALATES
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June 1965: 50,000
U.S. soldiers in S.V.
Gen. Westmoreland
asks for more soldiers
to assist S.V. (ARVN)
1965: 61% Ams.
Support the war/24%
oppose it
Johnson told we could
win the war in 2 yrs.
Max.
WAR ESCALATES
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1967: 500,000 U.S.
troops in Vietnam
Death toll at 9,000
Ams.
Johnson pledged that
victory is near
Westmoreland’s
strategy for defeating
Vietcong: destroy their
morale. Introduced
“body count”
A DIFFICULT WAR TO FIGHT
Guerilla warfare (no front lines)
 Jungle terrain
 Landmines, booby traps, underground tunnels,
heat, rain, leeches, secret supply routes
 Hit-n-run tactics
 Difficult to identify the enemy
 Underestimated the enemy’s resolve to fight
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DIFFICULT CONDITIONS
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Vietcong aided by China
and Soviet Union
Televised war (little
censorship)
High drug use and
addiction
Racism among troops
Heavy use of chemicals
(agent orange, napalm)
AMERICAN SUPPORT DECLINES
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1967: morale low
among soldiers
Public support waivers
Credibility gap growing
Active protests on
college campuses
Thousands searching
for ways to avoid the
draft (ages 18-26)
ANTI-WAR PROTESTS
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College campus
demonstrations
increasing
Musicians singing antiwar songs
Burning draft cards
Conscientious Objectors
(opposed war on moral
or religious grounds)
1968: A TUMULTUOUS YEAR!
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Jan. 30, 1968: Tet, the
Vietnamese New Year
was traditionally
celebrated by a ceasefire.
Instead 80,000 NVA +
Vietcong launched an
attack on key cities in
S.V., 12 Am. Bases, &
U.S. Embassy.
RESULTS OF TET OFFENSIVE
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Four weeks of fighting to
regain control of areas
in S.V.
Vietcong deaths:32,000
U.S. & ARVN deaths:
3,000
Military victory
Psychological defeat
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Polls showed a majority of
GROWS
Ams. CREDIBILITY
No longerGAP
supported
Johnson’s policies in
Vietnam
Johnson had 60%
disapproval rating
Sect. State McNamara
resigned
Media openly criticizing the
war now
WALTER CRONKITE
EFFECTS OF TET OFFENSIVE
PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S ANNOUNCEMENT
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Mar. 31, 1968: “I shall
not seek and I will not
accept the nomination
of my party for another
term of President”
V.P. Hubert Humphrey
announces his
candidacy for Demo.
Party
2 MAJOR ASSASSINATIONS:
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DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
April 4: Martin Luther King
assassinated in Memphis,
Tennessee
June 4: Robert Kennedy, top
contender for Presidency in
1968, assassinated in Los
Angeles Hotel
1968: A VERY BAD YEAR
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 1968
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Held in Chicago (Aug)
Several democratic
candidates seeking the
nomination
10,000 protestors
showed up. Wanted
democrats to adopt antiwar platform
Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS)
Yippies (Youth
International Party)
RESULTS OF CHICAGO RIOTS
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Riots broke out in
Chicago
Mayor of Chicago
ordered 12,000 police
officers and 5,000
national guardsmen
Images captured made
Democrats look bad.
Nixon (Rep.) triumphs
from this
ELECTION OF 1968
Hubert Humphrey: Demo. Candidate (V.P.
under Johnson)
 Richard Nixon: Republican Candidate (V.P.
under Eisenhower)
 George Wallace: Am. Independent Party (Gov.
Alabama) Ran on platform of school
segregation and state’s rights

ELECTION OF 1968
ELECTION OF 1968
HUBERT HUMPHREY
ELECTION OF 1968
GEORGE WALLACE
ELECTION OF 1968
NIXON’S WAR
Nixon won by 800,000 more votes
 Promised “an honorable end to the war”
 “Peace with Honor”
 Announces his “Vietnamization Plan”: gradual
withdraw of U.S. troops in order for S.V. army to
take control of war
 Goal was to maintain dignity in face of withdraw
from war
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PROTESTS CONTINUE
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College campuses
continue to protest the
war
Nixon hates these
protests (hippies)
Appeals to “the silent
majority”: moderate,
mainstream Americans
who quietly supported
the president’s
strategies.
MY LAI MASSACRE
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Nov. 1969 New York
Times reported on
incident that occurred in
March, 1968
Charlie Company (120
men) under Lt. William
Calley, Jr. entered small
village in northern S.V.
Orders to kill everyone
in village (Vietcong
rebels)
MY LAI MASSACRE
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No signs of Vietcong in
village
Carried out the orders
and proceeded to kill
over 500 villagers (old
men, women, children)
Lt. Calley charged and
convicted of war crimes
(Nixon reduced
sentence to 3 yrs.
House arrest)