The Vietnam War
1955 - 1975
Chapter 31
Indochina - Background
French Colony
 WWII leads to nationalist
movements
 Ho Chi Minh organizes Vietminh
 French reassert control w/ US
support (1946-1954)
 Dien Bien Phu – May 7, 1954

Indochina - Background

Geneva Accords
Divides Vietnam at 17th parallel
 Provides for elections in 2 years

French pull out
 Ho Chi Minh controls the North
 Ngo Dinh Diem controls the
South

Ho Chi Minh
May 19, 1890 – Sept 2, 1969

Leader of
the
Vietnamese
nationalist
movement
Ngo Dinh Diem






Noble Family
Roman Catholic
Dictatorial Powers
Supported by US
until 1963
Out of touch with the
Vietnamese People
Assassinated in ’63
Early Protests of
Diem’s Government
Self-immolation by a Buddhist Monk
US Involvement - Background

Anti-communist atmosphere

Events of late 1940s and
1950s


China, Korean War, Soviet
atom bomb, McCarthyism,
Alger Hiss, etc.
Made alternative
vision/solutions difficult
US Involvement - Background

Kennedy Years
Test of US
resolve/credibility
 Test of “flexible response”
 Test of Kennedy’s
youth/inexperience

JFK – Increased US
Involvement

Abandon Ngo or deepen US
involvement?
Increased US military advisors
from 652 to 16,000
 strengthen S. Vietnam army with
US technology
 pressure Ngo into making
necessary reforms.

JFK – Increased US Involvement

Fall of Ngo Dinh Diem
Nov.1, 1963, a coup
overthrows and kills Ngo
 Three weeks later JFK is
assassinated.

The Vietnam War
Part II: US Involvement
and Escalation
Johnson’s War

"I’m not going
to be the
president who
saw SE Asia go
the way China
went."
Tonkin Gulf – Aug. 4, 1964
N. Vietnamese fire on US ships
 Tonkin Gulf Resolution

414/0 – House
 88/2 – Senate
 “all necessary measures”

Tokin Gulf Resolution
Not a declaration of war
 Granted broad military powers
 1965 first US combat troops
arrive
 1967 – 500,000 US troops

Challenges





US Goal – Get the North to stop fighting
-- War of attrition
Highly motivated enemy
Guerrilla tactics
Unclear enemy
Sinking morale
The Ground War
1965-1968
 No territorial goals
 Body counts on TV
every night
(first “living room”
war)
Who Is the
Enemy?
 Vietcong:



Farmers by day; guerillas at night.
Very patient people willing to accept
many casualties.
The US grossly underestimated their
resolve and their resourcefulness.
The guerilla wins if he does not lose,
the conventional army loses if it does
not win.
-- Mao Zedong
Ho Chi Minh:
If we have to fight, we
will fight. You will kill
ten of our men and we will
kill one of yours, and in the end it
will be you who tires of it.
Who Is the
Enemy?
The Soldiers

A working-class war
 Minorities
 Lower income
 “Manipulatable” draft
U.S. Troop Deployments
in Vietnam
600,000
500,000
400,000
U.S. Troops
300,000
200,000
100,000
1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
0
Opposition – Protest to
Resistance
Pre-existing protest atmosphere
 Student led movement
 Draft resistance
 Hawks and Doves
 Silent Majority
 Kent State – May 4, 1970

Anti-War
Demonstrations
Columbia University
1967
Hell no, we won’t go!
Anti-War
Demonstrations
Student Protestors
at Univ. of CA
in Berkeley, 1968
Democratic Convention
in Chicago, 1968
Anti-War
Demonstrations
 May 4, 1970
 4 students
shot dead.
 11 students
wounded
 Jackson State
University
 May 10, 1970
Kent State University
 2 dead; 12
wounded
Tet Offensive – January 30,
1968
Surprise attack
 Lasted a month
 “Lost” Walter Cronkite
 Greatly shook American resolve

My Lai Massacre 1968
Search and destroy mission
 None found/no enemy fire
received
 500 Killed

The Ceasefire,
1973
 Conditions:
1. U.S. to remove all troops
2. North Vietnam could leave troops
already in S.V.
3. North Vietnam would resume war
4. No provision for POWs or MIAs
 Last American troops left South
Vietnam on March 29, 1973
 1975: North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam
 Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City
The Costs
1. 3,000,000 Vietnamese killed
2. 58,000 Americans killed; 300,000
wounded
3. Under-funding of Great Society
programs
4. $150 Billion in U.S. spending
5. U.S. morale, self-confidence, trust
of government, decimated
2,583 American
POWs / MIAs
still unaccounted for today.
The Vietnam Memorial,
Washington, D.C.
Memorial to US
Servicemen in
Vietnam
58,000
Wars Legacy
“Credibility Gap”
 War Powers Act

48 hours notice
 90 Days


26th Amendment – 18 year olds
vote
Lessons
for Future
American Presidents
1.
2.
3.
4.
Wars must be of short duration.
Wars must yield few American casualties.
Restrict media access to battlefields.
Develop and maintain Congressional and
public support.
5. Set clear, winnable goals.
6. Set deadline for troop withdrawals.