April 24

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April 24Write an identification for Ngo Dinh
Diem.
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The Vietnam War

• 1963-1968

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Key Terms

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• General William Westmoreland
• Tet Offensive

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Lecture Outline

• I. Increasing US involvement
• II. Tet Offensive

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Consequences of Diems death

• Diems death brought chaos to Vietnam
• The Vietcong was able to fill the political
  vacuum.

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Consequences of Kennedys assassination

• V.P. Lyndon B. Johnson became president
• He was looking for a way to increase US
  involvement in South Vietnam
• On August 1, 1964 an American destroyer was
  giving electronic and logistical support to South
  Vietnamese commando raids on coastal North
  Vietnamese facilities in the Gulf of Tonkin.

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US Involvement

• On August 4 the two Americans destroyers reported
  that they were under attack and that they were
  engaging the enemy.
• The administration ordered retaliatory air
  strikes against North Vietnamese naval bases and
  nearby oil storage facilities.

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Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• It authorized Johnson to take all necessary
  measure to repel any armed attacks against the
  forces of the US to prevent further aggression.
• The vote in the Senate was 88 to 2 in favor of
  the resolution. In the House debate took 40
  minutes and the vote was unanimous.

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US Involvement

• Johnsons political approval rating in the Louis
  Harris poll went from 42 to 72.

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Containment

• The Administration looked at Vietnam as a crucial
  step in the nations policy of Containment.
• By the end of January 1965 the Johnson
  Administration had come to the conclusion that
  the inability to win guerrilla war in the South
  required the US to bomb the North.

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Containment

• Sorties against the North increased from 25,000
  in 1965 to 108,000 in 1967 and continued to
  increase thereafter.

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General William Westmoreland

• In February, the commander of US forces in
  Vietnam, General William Westmoreland, requested
  Marines to protect the US airbase at Danang.
• North Vietnam began sending regular army troops
  down the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos and
  Cambodia.

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(No Transcript)
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US Strategy

• US never developed a strategy
• By late 1967, the US had nearly 500,000 combat
  troops in Vietnam.
• It had dropped more bombs than in all of WWII and
  was spending more than 2 billion per month.
• From 1965-1968 the Soviets and Chinese gave 2
  billion in aid to the North Vietnam.

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Effects of US Bombing

• Civilian casualties 1,000 per week
• North Vietnam continued to send men south.
  200,000 North Vietnamese reached draft age each
  year.
• The US lost a total of 1,577 fixed wing aircraft
  and 2,400 helicopters worth billions of dollars.

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Effects of US bombing

• Gave the North Vietnamese a propaganda advantage.
• Captured US airmen gave Hanoi hostages which they
  would use to finally end US involvement.

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April 26Do you think the U.S. should have been
involved in Vietnam? Why?
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Tet Offensive

• Single most important event in turning American
  public opinion against the war.
• On January 30, during the Buddhist Lunar New Year
  (Tet), the Communists launched a massive,
  coordinated assault against the major cities of
  South Vietnam.

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Tet Offensive

• Vietcong and North Vietnamese deaths have been
  estimated as high as 40,000.
• In the first 2 weeks of the campaign the US lost
  1,000 killed and South Vietnam 2,300.
• An estimated 12,500 civilians were also killed.
• US won the battle.

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Tet Offensive

• Televised accounts of the fighting undercut
  Johnson and Westmorelands optimistic year-end
  reports widening the credibility gap between the
  US government and its citizens.

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Decreasing US Involvement

• On March 31, 1968, Johnson went on television and
  announced that the bombing of North Vietnam would
  be limited to the area just north of the
  demilitarized zone, that the US was ready to
  discuss peace, and that he would not run for
  re-election.

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UN p. 960-967

• Henry Kissinger
• Vietnamization
• Pentagon papers
• Christmas bombing
• Paris accords
• SALT I
• Nixon Doctrine

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Read the Vietnam Commitment on UN p. 936-937 and
make a t-chart on the different historical
interpretations.

• Podhoretz, Lewy, and Smith
• Historians on the left
• Halberstam
• Berman
• Gelb and Betts