Key Events
of the
Vietnam War
Central Idea
For the United
States the war
was first a
"crusade" then a
"challenge" and
finally, a
"burden.”
Crusade
Challenge
Burden
1957-1964
1965-1969
1970-1976
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Vietnam: Historical Background
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Vietnamese people resisted
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Chinese control for a millennium
French colonialism in the 19th and 20th century
U.S. power in the 20th century
French colonial policies violently uprooted Vietnamese
society
Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969): “father of the Vietnamese
revolution,”
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Helped found the French Communist Party
organized the Vietminh (League for the Independence of Vietnam)
During World War II the Vietminh worked to liberate Vietnam from
the Japanese: rescuing downed airmen and passing intelligence
[Sources:
The First Indochina War, 1946-1954
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1946: outbreak of French-Vietminh war
Eight-year guerilla war, ended with decisive French defeat at
Dienbienphu in 1954
By 1954 U.S. paid about three-quarters of the financial cost of
the French war against Ho Chi Minh
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Between 1950 and 1954 the U.S. gave $3 billion in aid to the French
U.S. sent 300 men as part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group
April 5, 1954: President Eisenhower coined “domino theory”
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Suggested that if one country in Asia became Communist others
would fall too
Basis for US involvement in Southeast Asia to prevent the spread of
Communism
THE CRUSADE AGAINST
COMMUNISM BEGINS
The Crusade
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Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy make
commitments to the French and then to
democratic forces in Vietnam
US involvement begins mid-1950’s as part of
US anti-communist foreign policy:
Containment
 Domino Theory
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Eisenhower and Diem
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American Military Divided o what kind of support to provide
1954 Geneva Conference:
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After 1955: U.S. supported government of Ngo Dinh Diem
even though it had little support in South Vietnam
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Temporary division of Vietnam at 17th parallel
National elections in 1956
U.S. provided $300 million per year (mostly for South Vietnamese
military)
US sent 740 uniformed soldiers
Diem refused to hold elections
Illusion of Nation Building: military security over economic
and political reform
Kennedy and Diem
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JFK increased U.S. support to South Vietnam
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Strategic Hamlet Program (1961-64):
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$41.1 million in military aid in 1961
Military advisors grew from 900 in 1961 to 16,700 in 1963
South Vietnamese peasants were uprooted and
concentrated in fortified villages to counter Vietcong
political and military influence
1963 Buddhist Crisis: self-immolation of Buddhist monks
to protest Diem’s brother who was head of the
government’s police and security forces
1963 Military Coup against Diem
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South Vietnamese killed both brothers
U.S. intelligence agents knew of plotting, but did not warn
Diem
DEFEATING COMMUNISM
Challenge
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Johnson vows a quick solution to growing
communist strength in Vietnam
Growing anti-war sentiment follows the
increasing body count
Greater losses and inability to “break” the
enemy frustrate soldiers, politicians and
citizens
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
 The
Gulf of Tonkin Incident was a pair of alleged
attacks by North Vietnamese gunboats on two
American destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS
C. Turner Joy, in August of 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin.
 Although information obtained well after the fact
indicates that there was actually no North
Vietnamese attack that night, U.S. authorities and all
of the crew at the time said they were convinced at
the time that an attack had taken place.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the
President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to
repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to
prevent further aggression.

Section 2. The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to
world peace the maintenance of international peace and security in
southeast Asia. Consonant with the Constitution of the United States and
the Charter of the United Nations and in accordance with its obligations
under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, the United States is,
therefore, prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary
steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol
state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting
assistance in defense of its freedom.

Section 3. This resolution shall expire when the President shall determine
that the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured by
international conditions created by action of the United Nations or
otherwise, except that it may be terminated earlier by concurrent
resolution of the Congress.
Escalating the war
Operation Rolling Thunder
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Operation Rolling Thunder was a
bombing campaign that began on 24
February 1965 and lasted until the
end of October 1968.
The campaign was designed to force
Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition
to take over South Vietnam.
The operation began primarily as a
diplomatic signal to impress the NV
with America’s determination
It was also intended to bolster the
sagging morale of the South
Vietnamese
America’s Commitment
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Support for South Vietnam increases
in cost and in troops.
McNamara and other Johnson policy
makers now become focused on the
need to prevent a Communist victory
in South Vietnam, believing it would
damage the credibility of the U.S.
globally.
The war in Vietnam thus becomes a
test of U.S. resolve in fighting
Communism
America's prestige and President
Johnson's reputation are on the line.
Battle of Khe San
 Khe
Sanh was a United States Marines military base
in the Republic of Vietnam ("the south")
 near
the border with Laos and just south of the border
with North Vietnam
 became the scene of a large offensive operation by the
People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, also known as the
North Vietnamese Army or NVA) and US Marines in 1968.
 The defense of the base was codenamed Operation
Scotland
Tet Offensive 1968
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A series of crucial battles beginning on Jan. 31, 1968, the first
day of the celebration of the lunar new year, Vietnam's most
important holiday
The Vietnamese Communists launched a major offensive
throughout South Vietnam.
It took weeks for U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to retake
all of the captured cities
Although the offensive was not militarily successful for the
Vietnamese Communists, it was a political and psychological
victory for them.
It dramatically contradicted optimistic claims by the U.S.
government that the war had already been won.
EVENTS IN VIETNAM AND AT HOME
WORSEN
Burden
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Nixon must bring about “peace without
victory” as protests and violence at home
increases over the US involvement in Vietnam.
Events at home like the Kent State shooting
and the riots at the Democratic Convention
become an outlet for generalized frustration
over an extended war
My Lai Massacre 1968
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The My Lai Massacre was a massacre committed by
U.S. soldiers on hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese
civilians, mostly women and children, on March 16,
1968, during the Vietnam War.
Why?
 Insurgents
were sometimes housed and sheltered by
civilians, and American soldiers were frustrated with
the complicity of the local people.
 On the eve of the attack, Charlie Company was
advised by US military command that any genuine
civilians at My Lai would have left their homes to go
to market by 7 a.m. the following day.
 They were told that they could assume that all who
remained behind were either VC or active VC
sympathizers.
 They were instructed to destroy the village.
Outcome of Mai Lai
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Created world wide outrage
Weakened support for the war at home
Conviction of Lt. Calley (he served 4 ½
months)
Pentagon Papers 1971
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Officially titled United States –
Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A
Study Prepared by the
Department of Defense, is a DOD
history of the US political-military
involvement in Vietnam from
1945 to 1967.
The Papers "demonstrated...that
the Lyndon Baines Johnson
Administration had systematically
lied, not only to the public but
also to Congress, about a subject
of transcendent national interest
and significance".
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Secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara created the Vietnam
Study Task Force on June 17,
1967, for the purpose of writing
an "encyclopedic history of the
Vietnam War".
The study comprised 3,000 pages
of historical analysis and 4,000
pages of original government
documents in 47 volumes, and
was classified as "Top Secret Sensitive".
The Papers get Leaked
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Daniel Ellsberg leaked the papers to the New
York Times for publication
Nixon’s administration charged him with a
Felony under the Espionage Act of 1917 and
sought injunctions against several newspapers
to cease printing the documents.
The Supreme Court heard the case and denied
the government’s claim, quashing the
injunctions
Impact
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First Amendment protection for the press
Lead to the Watergate Scandal when it was
revealed that Nixon’s administration had
illegally wiretapped Ellsberg
The Beginning of the End
“Vietnamization” 1970
 After Nixon's election in
1968, this became the
policy of the US.
 The policy was designed to
"expand, equip, and train
South Vietnam's forces and
assign to them an everincreasing combat role, at
the same time steadily
reducing the number of U.S.
combat troops."
Fall of Saigon 1976
 The capture of Saigon, the
capital of South Vietnam, by
the People's Army of
Vietnam and the National
Liberation Front
 The event marked the end
of the Vietnam War and the
start of a transition period
leading to the formal
reunification of Vietnam
into a communist state.
References
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Vietnamese Declaration of Independence
Source: Domino Theory
Failure of Strategic Hamlet Program
Source: Geneva Conference
Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Summary and Chapter I
Advising the Viet Minh