CHAPTER 29: THE
VIETNAM WAR
THE BIG PICTURE: It was the first war to
invade American homes via television.
For years TV brought the Vietnam War
into American living rooms. Seemingly
unwinnable, the US war effort brought
down a president and bitterly divided
the nation.
CHAPTER 29 SECTION 1:
THE WAR DEVELOPS
MAIN IDEA: Concern about the
spread of communism led the
United States to become
increasingly involved in Vietnam.
Colonial Vietnam
A Nationalist Leader
Changing Rulers
• Vietnam had been controlled by
China since 200BC (drove them out
in the early 1400s)
• French took control of Vietnam in
1883
• Nguyen That Thanh hoped to gain
independence for his nation at the
conclusion of WWI, but was
disappointed…France retained
control
• Changes his name to Ho Chi Minh
and goes to Vietnam to fight for
independence
• During WWII, Japan controlled
Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh created
the Vietminh to challenge the
Japanese
• France reasserted control at the
end of the war and the Vietminh
began challenging French rule
Vietnam after World War II
The first Indochina War
The Domino Theory
• After the war, Truman refused to
support Ho Chi Minh because he
was communist, and the US was
pledged to contain the spread of
communism
• 1949: China becomes communist,
causing more American aid to
flow to the French in their fight
against the Vietminh
• 1950: communist North Korea
invades South Korea and
communists revolts break out in
Indonesia, Malaya, and the
Philippines
• Eisenhower believed that if
Vietnam fell to communism, the
other nations in Southeast Asia
would fall too; this is called the
domino theory
• US began spending arms,
ammunition, supplies and money
to French forces fighting in
Vietnam (75% of the cost of the
war)
Vietnam after World War II
France is defeated
The Geneva Conference
• Last major battle for the French
was Dien Bien Phu
• 40,000 Vietminh surround 15,000
French…US refuses to send troops
to help
• May 7, 1954: French surrender and
agree to leave
• Vietminh became experts
at guerrilla war
(hit-and-run, camouflage)
• Warring parties met at the Geneva
Conference to workout a peace
agreement
• Signed in July 1954, the Geneva
Accords divided Vietnam at the 17 th
parallel (North communist, South
nationalists) with elections to be
held July 1956
• US pledged to support the South,
China supported the North
Growing Conflict in Vietnam
Vietnam’s Leaders
A Civil War
• North controlled by Ho Chi Minh
(very popular with his people, their
George Washington)
• Minh took land from rich and gave
it to poor peasants making him
popular with the people
• Leader of South Vietnam was Ngo
Dinh Diem and he was not popular
with the people (Catholic, anticommunist) and was corrupt and
brutal
• Cracked down on the Buddhist
majority, gave gov’t jobs to family
• Canceled the election in 1956
• By late 1950s, Diem’s opponents
were in open revolt and North
Vietnam sent supplies to the rebels
called the Vietcong
• 1955: Eisenhower begins sending
supplies to South Vietnamese
government (900 military advisors
in the country at end of his term)
Increasing US Involvement
Diem’s Overthrow
• Kennedy supported US
involvement (believed in the
domino theory) & increased # of
military advisors (16,000 by 1963)
• Diem’s arrest and killing of
Buddhist protesters led to them
setting themselves on fire in public
• US public support turned and the
US helped overthrow and
assassinate Diem in Nov. 1963
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• Johnson wanted an expanded US
role in Vietnam, but needed
Congressional approval
• 1964: Johnson claimed N.
Vietnamese fired on USS Maddox
in Gulf of Tonkin
• Johnson misrepresented facts
(Maddox was spying and actually
fired 1st)
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution:
authorized Johnson to expand the
war
• President no longer had to get
approval for any military actions
CHAPTER 29 SECTION 2:
US SUPPORT OF THE WAR
AT HOME AND ABROAD
MAIN IDEA: As the United States
sent increasing numbers of troops to
defend South Vietnam, some
Americans began to question the
war.
The Air War
• 1st action was Operation Rolling Thunder: a bombing campaign of
North Vietnam
• A major target was the Ho Chi Minh Trail: the route the North used
to send supplies to the Vietcong in the South
• Pilots also used Agent Orange (a chemical that killed plants) and
napalm (jellied gasoline) to kill and burn the jungle to make the
enemy more visible
• Bombing backfired- increasing support for the rebels without
harming them significantly
• By late 1968, 1 million tons of bombs were dropped on Vietnam
The Ground War
US Strategy
• US began sending ground troops
commanded by General William
Westmoreland
• Conducted search-and-destroy
missions to drive enemy forces
from their hiding places (made
enemies of civilians)
• Pacification aimed to win civilian
support (improving infrastructure
and economy)– failed
Declining Troop Morale
• Troops became frustrated with
guerilla attacks
• They didn’t know the terrain and
the civilians were uncooperative
• They were in constant danger and
despite killing large numbers of
the enemy, the fighting did not
decline
• Troops began to question if the US
could ever win
US Forces Mobilize
The Draft
Noncombat Positions
• 2.5 million Americans served in
Vietnam, they were younger and
80% had high school education or
less
• As the US committed more troops,
they began relying on the draft
• Could get deferment
(postponement) while in college,
so enrollment skyrocketed
• High numbers of poor and African
American served
• 1969- went to a lottery system
with no deferments allowed
• Thousands avoided service by
fleeing to Canada
• 10,000 women served in
noncombat roles like secretary,
nurse, or transportation
Public Opinion Shifts
Media’s Impact/ Hawks and Doves
• Vietnam was the 1 st war where TV
crews were with soldiers
• TV coverage profoundly influenced
public opinion about the war
• Images on TV contradicted the
govt’s positive reports about how
the war was going
• US public began dividing into two
camps: hawks who supported
continuing the war, and doves who
wanted the war to end
• Major criticisms: Vietnamese did
not want us there, drained
resources from Great Society
programs, and was being fought by
poor and minority
The antiwar movement
• As the fighting dragged on, the
antiwar movement grew
• Much of the activity occurred on
college campuses
• One of the most vocal groups was
Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS) who led the first nationwide
protest in 1965
• While they were vocal and visible,
antiwar groups were in the
minority throughout the 1960s
CHAPTER 29 SECTION 3:
1968: A TURNING POINT
MAIN IDEA: As the Vietnam War
dragged on and increasingly
appeared to be unwinnable, deep
divisions developed in American
society.
The Tet Offensive
Khe Sanh
• Tet Offensive: a series of
coordinated attacks by the
Vietcong against the US
• US had seen increase in traffic on
Ho Chi Minh Trail
• January 1968: Vietcong siege US
base at Khe Sanh; it takes US 77
days to repel the forces
• Westmoreland connected
movement on the trail to the
attack at Khe Sanh, but it was a
diversion
The Main Attacks
• Main attack started Jan 30, 1968
during the Vietnamese new year
(called Tet) during a ceasefire
• 84,000 troops attacked 12 US
bases and 100 cities throughout
South Vietnam
• Although the US eventually put
down the attacks, to many
Americans, the Tet Offensive
indicated that the communists
would never give up
Effects of the Tet Offensive
Growing Doubts
• Feb 1968: respected anchor Walter
Cronkite shares his view that the
war was a bloody stalemate
• Other major news organizations
began expressing doubts that the
US could win the war
• Public protests grew and attracted
more Americans
• People within the Johnson
administration began to express
doubts (including Sec. of Defense
Robert McNamara)
Democratic Challengers
• By the time Johnson was running
for re-election ¾ of Americans
opposed the war
• Several Democrats began
challenging Johnson, including
Eugene McCarthy and Robert
Kennedy
Johnson Seeks a Solution
• General Westmoreland continued to insist that the US had won the
Tet Offensive and that the war was almost over
• March 1968: requested 206,000 more troops; due to public
outrage, Johnson denied the request
• May 1968: Johnson announces that he will try to negotiate with
North Vietnam and that he will not run for re-election
• Peace talks quickly stalled and the fighting dragged on
The Election of 1968
The Democratic Primary Fight
• Johnson’s VP Hubert Humphrey
enters the race after Johnson’s
announcement and defended the
administration’s handling of
Vietnam
• Both McCarthy and Kennedy
advocated a rapid end to the war
• Kennedy was an early leader in the
primaries
• June 1968: Robert Kennedy is
assassinated at a campaign event
by Sirhan Sirhan (angry over
support of Israel)
The Democratic Convention
• August: Democratic National
Convention meets in Chicago
• Inside, delegate debated choosing
between McCarthy and Humphrey,
outside, Vietnam protests became
violent under Chicago mayor
Richard Daley
• Much of the violence was
broadcast on national TV
• In the end, Humphrey became the
nominee, but the incident revealed
a growing generation gap
between older and younger
Americans
The Election of 1968
Nixon and Wallace
The Election Campaign and Results
• Republicans nominate Richard
Nixon appealing to mainstream
Americans and calling for ‘law and
order’
• He claimed to have a secret plan to
win the war with honor
• George Wallace ran as an
independent who opposed
integration and war protesters
• Most of his supporters were
conservative, Southern Democrats
& working class whites
• Nixon led the polls for much of the
race, but the gap narrowed in
November, especially when peace
talks with the Vietnamese showed
progress
• The popular vote was very close,
but Nixon had a clear majority in
the electoral college (301 votes)
CHAPTER 29 SECTION 4:
THE WAR ENDS
MAIN IDEA: President Nixon
eventually ended US involvement
in Vietnam, but the war had
lasting effects on the United
States and Southeast Asia.
Widening the War
Vietnamization
• Nixon gets National Security
Advisor Henry Kissinger to
conduct secret peace talks in 1969
• Nixon’s ‘peace with honor’ plan
also included Vietnamization:
gradually turning over the fighting
to Vietnamese troops while pulling
out US soldiers
• War protesters wanted all troops
out immediately; Nixon appealed
to the silent majority: middle class
Americans who he believed
supported Vietnamization but
were not as vocal
Laos and Cambodia
• While withdrawing troops, Nixon
also secretly expanded the war by
bombing Cambodia and Laos to
disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail (goal
was also to win concessions in the
peace talks)
• Nixon called it the ‘Madman
Theory’- trying to convince the
North Vietnamese he would do
anything to win…it did not work
• 1972 North Vietnam invaded South
Vietnam again
Increasing Protests
Campus Violence and Growing Protest
• 1970: Nixon announces an invasion
of Cambodia sparking protest on
campuses nationwide
• May 4, 1970: National Guard called
out to end protest on Kent State
campus– fire into the crowd killing
4 (more violence on other
campuses)…several shut down
• Protest groups were joined by
more mainstream, middle class
Americans (over 250,000 marched
in DC)
Radical Protests and Troubling Revelations
• 1969: America learns of massacre
of civilians by US troops at My Lai
• 1971: New York Times publishes
Pentagon Papers revealing that
the US gov’t had been misleading
the public about the war for years
• Nixon tried to stop publication in
US v. New York Times but Supreme
Court sided with free speech
claims
End of US Involvement
The 1972 Election
• Nixon ran against George
McGovern, who insisted on an
immediate end to the war
• 1971: Congress ratifies 26th
Amendment changing voting age
from 21 to 18
• Nixon stressed law an order and
promised an end to the war
• Weeks before the election,
Kissinger announced a
breakthrough in peace talks
• Nixon wins in a landslide
•
•
•
•
•
A Peace Agreement
Peace talks stall, so Nixon begins a
new round of bombing (called the
Christmas Bombings)
Peace agreement reached January
1973
US agreed to withdraw all troops
and help rebuild Vietnam
Both sides released all prisoners of
war (POWs)
Agreement did not address what
would happen to South Vietnam
The Legacy of Vietnam
Cambodia and Southeast Asia
Effects on Veterans
• 1975: North invades South, Saigon
surrenders April 30 th
• Communist forces called the
Khmer Rouge gain control of
Cambodia in 1975
• Vietnam War devastated
Southeast Asia: 185,000 soldiers
and 450,000 civilians in South
Vietnam died (1 million in the
North)
• Over 700,000 refugees fled to the
US
• 58,000 Americans killed in the war
• 300,000 were wounded and 2,500
were reported missing
• Other soldiers suffered from post
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or
suffered from exposure to
chemicals
• Many soldiers were the target for
American anger and shame
The Legacy of Vietnam
The war’s political impact
• US spent $150 billion fighting the
war in Vietnam, greatly adding to
the debt and fueling inflation
• Many Americans were angry at the
federal government by how they
were misled
• To prevent another Vietnam,
Congress passed the War Powers
Act: set a 60-day limit on
presidential commitment of US
troops with out authorization from
Congress
• Americans also became more
reluctant to get involved in other
foreign conflicts
Healing from the war
• 1982: Vietnam War Memorial was
unveiled in DC
• It lists all 58,000 Americans who
were killed or listed as missing in
the conflict
• The US resumed relations with
Vietnam in 1995