American involvement in Vietnam.

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American involvement in Vietnam.
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Was it worth the cost?
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The Folly of the French

• French colonialism.
• Dien Bien Phu. Fortified French garrison taken
  by the Vietminh. French surrender.
• Vietnam is divided at the 17th parallel.
• Containment????

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Ho Chi Minh

• he who enlightens.
• Nationalist or communist leader of Vietnam.
• Modeled the North Vietnamese Constitution after
  the Dec. of Indp. and US Constitution.

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Ngo Dinh Diem

• President of South Vietnam from 1955-1963.
• Corrupt.
• Became an embarrassment to the US.
• Overthrown in a coup in 1963 and assassinated.

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Escalation of the war.
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Tonkin Gulf Resolution - 8/64

• Destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy are attacked by
  NV patrol boats.
• Johnson obtains a blank check from Congress
  allowing attacks on NV without a declaration of
  war.

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Rolling Thunder
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning..
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Air Assault
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Airborne
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USS Pueblo
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Would the US attack North Korea?

• US intelligence gathering ship.
• International waters.
• US involvement in Vietnam.
• Released after 11 months of torture.

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1968 The Tet Offensive
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Impact of the Tet Offensive

• Tactical US victory.
• Light at the end of the tunnel.
  General Westmoreland
• Protests.
• Americans lose faith in the war and in Johnson.
  68 election.
• My Lai

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We had to destroy the village to save it.
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Shifting the Burden

• Vietnamization Training and letting the South
  Vietnamese (ARVN) army fight the war. By 1972,
  over 500,000 troops were withdrawn.
• Cambodian Laoatian problem
• 1970. NVA sanctuaries. Nixon orders US troops
  and planes to attack.
• Strong protest reaction across the country.

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American protest movement
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The Protest Movement

• Mixture of peace and violence.
• Kent State. May 4th, 1970.
• http//library.thinkquest.org/27942/intro.htm

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The end of a long struggle

• 1973 Paris Peace Agreement.
• Wityhrawal of US troops.
• Reunification by peaceful means.
• Status quo of territory.
• Communist victories come to Cambodia, Vietnam and
  Laos by 1975

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The Year 1968.

• 1968 Tet Offensive.
• 1968 Request for 206,000 more troops.
• 1968 Robert Kennedy enters the presidential
  race.
• 1968 Johnson announces halt of bombing over North
  Vietnam and also announces his intention not to
  run for another term.

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68 continues

• 1968 Martin Luther King assassinated, April 4.
• 1968 FBI launches a campaign (Code named
  COINTELPRO) to counter the growing antiwar
  movement.
• 1968 Robert Kennedy assassinated.
• 1968 Demonstrations at Democratic convention in
  Chicago.

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68 continues

• 1968 Johnson stops all bombing of North Vietnam.
• 1968 Richard Nixon narrowly defeats Hubert
  Humphrey in the presidential election.