The United States in Vietnam

1
The United States in Vietnam

• Early American Involvement

The Ben Thanh market Saigon, South Vietnam
2
Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)
3
Ho Chi Minh Invites U.S. Friendship 1945
4
The French Re-colonize Indochina
M24 (CHAFFEE) AMERICAN LIGHT TANK USED BY FRENCH
IN VIETNAM
5
The French Meet the Vietminh at Dien Bien
Phu1954
6
Battle of Dien Bien Phu, May 7,1954French Defeat
7
The Geneva Accords, 1954

• 1. Cease Fire led to line at the 17th parallel.
  French troops south of the line. Vietminh north
  of the line
• 2. Elections to unify Vietnam would follow in
  July 1956 under international supervision
• 3. The U.S. and South Vietnam did not sign the
  accord.

8
Vietnam after 1954
9
Ngo Dinh Diem (1901-1963)
10
Buddhist Monks Protest Diems Oppressive Regime,
1963
11
More Violence

• By 1963 there were 16,000 American advisors in
  Vietnam
• November 1, 1963 - assassination of
• Ngo Dinh Diem
• Ho Chi Minh proposed a reunification election
• South Vietnam ruled by a military council

12
JFK Assassinated, November 22, 1963
13
Lyndon B. Johnson
14
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 4, 1964
Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
15
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Empowered the president to take all necessary
  measures to repel armed attack against U.S.
  forces
• Passed in the House 416 to O
• Passed in the Senate 88-2
• Senator Wayne Morse said,I believe history will
  record we have made a great mistake. In 1970
  Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

16
The War Heats Up

• It would be a great humiliation for this nation
  to be defeated by a small nation of 16 million
  people.
• Senator Russell Long (D Louisiana)
• February 26, 1964

17
Rolling Thunder, 1965-1968
18
U.S. Combat Troops in Vietnam
Chart courtesy of http//faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/C
hange-Viet2.html
19
More Vietnam War
20
Napalm Bombing
21
Use of Agent Orange
Pesticide Dioxin, 12 million gallons Sprayed over
5 million acres of land In Vietnam. Toxic,
cancer causing, And led to infant deformities.

22
Tet Offensive, January 1968
23
Tet Offensive Map
24
LBJ Decides NOT to Run in 1968

• I cant run, I cant hide, and I cant make it
  stop

Halts bombing, calls for negotiations
25
Richard Nixon and then Gerald Ford1968-1976

• Peace with Honor Vietnamization
• Watergate 1972 Ford becomes president
• Armistice 1973 Saigon falls 1975

Ike JFK LBJ Nixon Ford
26
The war dragged on for five years after the
election of Nixon in 1968,becoming Americas
Longest War
27
U.S. Citizens and the Draft
US anti-war demonstrators burning their draft
cards
28
Peace Movement
The main question Americans had was "why are we
fighting someone else's war"?  
29
Ohio National Guardsmen kill four students
demonstrating against the war at Kent State
University, Spring 1970
30
Paris Peace SettlementJanuary 27, 1973

• 1. Cease fire
• 2. Withdrawal of all American troops
• 3. Release all American prisoners of war held in
  North Vietnam

31
Fall of Saigon, April 30, 1975
32
U.S. Combat Troops in Vietnam
2.15 million U.S. soldiers served in Vietnam
33
Vietnam Memorial
34
Election of 1964
35
Election of 1968
36
Election of 1972
37
Harry Flood Byrd
38
Richard Nixon
39
John F. Kennedy