The Vietnam War.pdf - KenyonUSHistory

The Vietnam War

1. Under whose Presidency did the US become
involved in Vietnam?
2. What was the Historical SignificANCE OF Dien
Bien Phu?
3. Who was Ho Chi Minh and what was the Ho
Chi Minh Trail?
4. What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?
5. What was operation Rolling Thunder?
6. What is Agent Orange?
7. What is the historical significance of the Tet
Offensive
8. What is Vietnamization?

French Indochina
• By 1500’s the French come to Vietnam in
search of spices.
• Attempt to convert the Vietnamese to
Catholicism.
• Several missionaries are murdered which
prompts France to send it’s navy for
protection.
• France takes control of all Indochina
(Vietnam, Loas, and Cambodia)

Maps of Indochina: Laos,
Cambodia, and Vietnam

French Indochina
• Vietnamese come to hate French
imperialism.
• Most Vietnamese are Peasant Farmers,
the French want to make profits so they
turn the land into giant plantations and turn
the Vietnamese into tenant farmers.
• This means great profits for the French
and great hardships for most of Vietnam.

French restrict freedom of speech and assembly.
French Jailed several Vietnamese Nationalists.
All this does is make Vietnam more ripe for revolt.

Ho Chi Minh
• Vietnamese begin to
rebel against French
rule.
• By 1940’s they are
ready for full scale
revolution.
• The most important
leader is Ho Chi Minh.
• Wanted Independence
for Vietnam and to turn
it into a Communist
country.

Ho forms the League for
the Independence of
Vietnam known as the
VIETMINH.
“Rich people, soldiers,
workers, peasants,
intellectuals, employees,
traders, youth, and
women who warmly love
your country! Let us unite
together! As one mind
and strength we shall
overthrow the Japanese
and French.” –Ho

Ho receives help from the U.S. to defeat Japan
during WWII.
On September 2, 1945 a half a million Vietnamese
gather in Hanoi to celebrate their independence.
American Planes circle overhead and the band plays the Star
Spangled Banner.
Ho Chi Minh reads a speech that was modeled after Thomas
Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.

Ho Chi Minh’s: Declaration of Independence,
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
“All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of Happiness"
This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence
of the United States of America m 1776. In a broader sense, this
means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the
peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.
The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights
of Man and the Citizen also states: "All men are born free and with
equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights."
Those are undeniable truths.
Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists,
abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have
violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow-citizens. They
have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice. In the field
of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic
liberty.

Fear of Communism
• The Soviets dominated most of Eastern Europe.
• The Chinese communist were fighting for control
of China.
• Truman fears the spread of communism and for
containment purposes supports the French in
their efforts to retake control of Vietnam.
• French soldiers enter Vietnam and retake
control, sending the Vietminh into the jungle to
prepare for another guerrilla war.

“If ever the tiger
pauses, the
elephant (France)
will impale him on
his mighty tusks.
But the tiger will
not pause, and
the elephant will
die of exhaustion
and loss of
blood.”

1950: U.S. enters the struggle
between France and Vietnam.
Over the next four years the
U.S. spends 2.6 Billion on the
war.

In 1953 newly elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower continues sending
money to help the French in Vietnam and introduces the Domino Theory.
Compares countries on the brink of Communism to a row of Dominoes, waiting
to fall one after the other. “You have a row of dominoes set up, You knock
over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that
it will go over very quickly.”

Dien Bien Phu
• Despite Massive U.S. aid, the French
could not retake Vietnam.
• May 1954 is the final blow when the
Vietminh overran the French outpost at
Dien Bien Phu.

Dien Bien Phu
A French military base that
the Vietminh gain control of,
French surrender and begin
to pull out of Vietnam.

• After fall of Dien Bien Phu,
French surrender and begin to
pull out of Vietnam.
• May- July 1954: France, Great
Britain, Soviet Union, United
States, China, Laos, and
Cambodia meet in Geneva
Switzerland with the Vietminh
and the anti-communist
nationalists from the South.
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai(left) with Vietnamese President
Ho Chi Minh (center), Premier Pham Van Dong and Vice-
Premier Ho Lung.
• Geneva Accords: temporarily
divides Vietnam along the 17 th
parallel. Communist leader Ho
Chi Minh control the North from
city of Hanoi. While anticommunist
nationalists
controlled the South from the
city of Saigon

• Geneva Accords: temporarily
divides Vietnam along the 17 th
parallel. Communist leader Ho
Chi Minh control the North from
city of Hanoi. While anticommunist
nationalists controlled
the South from the city of Saigon

Ho Chi Minh in the North
• Ho’s government was brutal and
repressive.
• Wins popular support in the North by
breaking up large plantations and
redistributing the land to the peasants.
• By fighting off the Japanese and the French
in the name of an independent Vietnam he
had become a national hero.

Ngo Dinh Diem
• Ngo Dinh Diem:
President of South
and strong anticommunist.
• He realizes Ho’s
popularity and refuses
to take part in the
countrywide election
of 1956.

Ike and Diem
• U.S. thinks that if there
is a countrywide election
that Ho will win so they
support the cancellation
of the elections.
• Furthermore, they will
give military aid and
training to Diem in return
for a stable anticommunist
government
in the South.

Diem Fails the U.S.
• He leads a corrupt government.
• He violently suppresses any
opposition.
• Offered little or no land
distribution to the peasants.
• Restricts Buddhist religious
practices.

Vietcong (VC)
• 1957 Vietcong (Vietminh)
begin attacks on Diem
government
assassinating thousands
of govt. officials.
• Ho Chi Minh Trail: Ho
supplies the VC with w/
weapons via a network of
paths along the borders
of Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia

John Kennedy and Vietnam
• Kennedy was fearful
of attacks that
Democrats were soft
on communism.
1. Increases Financial
Aid to Diem
2. Sends thousands of
military advisors to
train the S.
Vietnamese troops.

• Diems popularity
continues to fall.
• Strategic Hamlet
Program: Moves all
villagers into protected
areas.
• This greatly upsets
villagers who had seen
no land reform from
Diem and were now
being forced to leave
their home villages
were their families had
lived for generations
and where their
ancestors were buried.

Further Attacks on Buddhism
• Fed up with Buddhist protests against his
regime Diem imprisons imprisons
thousands of Buddhist clerics and orders
their temples destroyed.
• Several monks and nuns publicly burn
themselves to death.
• American officials ask Diem to stop the
persecution but he refuses.

Diem Must Go
• On November 1, 1963 a U.S.
supported military coup toppled Diems
regime.
• Against Kennedy’s wishes Diem is
executed.
• A few weeks later Kennedy is
assassinated and the question of
Vietnam falls to the New President
Lyndon B. Johnson

After Diem
• After Diem’s death S. Vietnam is in Chaos.
• Military leaders try to grab power.
• Vietcong only getting stronger.
• New U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson
does not want to
be labeled soft on
communism.

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• August 2, 1964: N. Vietnamese patrol
boat fires a torpedo at an American
destroyer the U.S.S. Maddox which
was in the Gulf of Tonkin off the N.
Vietnamese Coast.
• Torpedo missed it’s target – But the
Maddox inflicts heavy damage on the
patrol boat.

2 Days Later…
• Maddox and another Destroyer are sailing
of the coast of N. Vietnam.
• Technicians report that they were shot at
by enemy torpedoes.
• The Maddox opens fire.
• Crew later said they had neither seen nor
heard hostile gunfire.

LBJ’s Response
• Launches
bombing
strikes on N.
Vietnam
• Asks congress
for “all
necessary
powers”

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• Congress approves Johnson’s request called the
Tonkin Gulf Resolution on August 7, 1964.
• It gives him broad military powers in Vietnam.
• LBJ does not tell congress or the American people
that the U.S. had been leading secret raids against
N. Vietnam or that the Maddox was in Gulf of
Tonkin to gather info for the raids.
• LBJ had prepared the resolution months
beforehand and was just waiting for the right
moment to pass it through congress.
• 2005 National Security Advisory released secret
documents that made it clear no attack had
occurred

Tonkin Gulf Resolution gives LBJ the authority
to use military power against N. Vietnam

Operation Rolling Thunder
• February of 1965: The
first sustained bombing
N. Vietnam. (3/1965 –
11/1968
• By June More than
50,000 U.S. soldiers
were battling the
Vietcong.
• Much of the nation
supported Johnson and
the containment of
Communism in
Vietnam.
• Wins 1964 Presidential
Election.

Rolling Thunder
2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968
(More tonnage then all sides on WWII)

LBJ Reluctant to Send Ground Troops
• Said he was, “not
about to send
American boys 9
or 10,000 miles
away from home
to do what Asian
boys ought to be
doing for
themselves.”

In March of 1965 after advising
closely with Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara and Secretary of
State Dean Rusk he begins sending
tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers to
Vietnam.

Sec. Of Defense: Robert McNamara
Sec. Of State: Dean Rusk

Escalation
• August 7, 1964: Congress gives LBJ war
powers on
• June 1965: More than 50,000 U.S. soldiers were
battling the Vietcong.
• By the end of 1965: U.S. had sent more than
180,000 Americans to Vietnam
• 1965 poll showed 61% of Americans
supported the U.S. policy in Vietnam,
while only 24% opposed it.
• By 1967: the number of U.S. troops in
Vietnam is 500,000.

• 1965 poll showed 61% of
Americans supported the U.S.
policy in Vietnam, while only 24%
opposed it.
• By the end of 1965 U.S. had sent
more than 180,000 Americans to
Vietnam

• ARVN: Army of the Republic of
Vietnam
VC: Ho’s Guerilla army that fights
against U.S.
• Gen. William Westmoreland:
The American Commander in S.
Vietnam who continues to request
more troops.
• Westmoreland had no trust in the
ARVN.
• By 1967 the number of U.S.
troops in Vietnam is 500,000.

JUNGLE WARFARE
• Jungle terrain and enemy’s guerilla tactics
turned the war into a frustrating stalemate.
• Vietcong lacks high powered weaponry of
U.S. forces.
• VC: use hit and run, ambush tactics, and
knowledge of the jungle to confuse the
U.S.
• Jungles were laced with booby traps and
land mines.
• VC used a system of tunnels to attack and
disappear quickly.

Blending In
• Attacks could happen in cities or in the
countryside.
• Vietcong moved secretly in and out of the
civilian population making it hard for U.S.
soldiers to tell who was friend and who
was the enemy.

A South Vietnamese
soldier beats a farmer
with the blunt end of a
knife for allegedly
supplying inaccurate
information about the
movement of Viet Cong
guerrillas in a village
west of Saigon. Jan. 9,
1964.

The body of an American paratrooper killed
in action near the Cambodian border is
raised to an evacuation helicopter in
Vietnam in 1966. More than 58,000
Americans were killed and 350,000
wounded in the war.

A South Vietnamese woman mourns over the body of her husband,
found with 47 others in a mass grave near Hue in April 1969.

Veterans of the Vietnam conflict
take part in an anti-war protest
by piling their medals,
decorations and awards in front
of the U.S. Capitol on April 26,
1971. A veteran adds his
helmet to the pile.