Moving Toward Conflict

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Moving Toward Conflict

• Chapter 22
• Section 1

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America supports France in Vietnam

• 2 reasons why
• To strengthen its relationship with France
• Stop the spread of communism

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Ho Chi Minh

• Leader of the Indochinese Communist Party and the
  North Vietnamese Army
• Formed the Vietminh
• Led the Vietnamese Nationalists to victory over
  France in 1954

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Vietminh

• Organization whose goal was to win Vietnams
  independence from foreign rule

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Domino Theory

• Explained by president Eisenhower during a news
  conference in 1953
• The idea that if a nation falls under communist
  control, nearby nations will also fall under
  communist control

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Geneva Accords - 1954

• Temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th
  parallel
• North Vietnam was communist South Vietnam was
  anti-communist
• Elections would be held in 1956 to unify Vietnam
  into one country
• United States supported the South

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Ngo Dinh Diem

• South Vietnams president
• Refused to run in the 1956 elections mainly
  because of Ho Chi Minhs popularity and his fear
  of losing
• Regime was unpopular because of the corruption,
  repressive tactics, and persecution of the
  Buddhist religion

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Vietcong

• A communist opposition group that grew in South
  Vietnam
• Fought against the Southern Vietnamese troops and
  eventually the U.S. troops as well
• Support by Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese
  Army

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1956 elections are cancelled

• The United States supported this because it
  appeared that Ho Chi Minh would win the election
  and possible unify Vietnam under communism
• Diem proved to be inept
• Was Catholic and opposed Buddhists (Majority)
• Americans became more frustrated with Diem
• 1963 Without explicit American approval, Diem
  and the South Vietnamese government is overthrown
  and Diem executed.

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Tonkin Gulf Resolution

• Resolution adopted by Congress in 1964 giving the
  President (at this point Johnson) broad powers to
  wage war in Vietnam
• Ultimately, this gave President Johnson the power
  to increase Americas role in the Vietnam War
• Increased American presence
• 1963 - 16,000 American advisors
• 1965 184,000 American Troops
• 1966 385,000 American Troops
• 1967 542,000 American Troops

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U.S. Involvement and Escalation

• Chapter 22 Section 2

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Johnson Increases U.S. Involvement

• By the end of 1965 185,000 U.S. ground troops
  in Vietnam
• Led by General William Westmoreland
• Began to request more troops
• Not impressed with ARVN (Army of the Republic of
  Vietnam South Vietnamese Army)

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Fighting in the Jungle

• Entered the war thinking our superior weaponry
  would lead to easy victory of Vietcong
• Enemy was hard to find
• Often was not in uniform
• Vietcong used the jungles and tunnel system to
  use hit and run tactics to kill Americans

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War of Attrition

• Westmorelands strategy was to destroy the morale
  of the Vietcong
• Constant attacks and gradually wear down the
  enemy
• U.S. viewed the war as strictly military struggle
  and Vietcong saw it as a battle for their
  existence
• Paid any price for victory

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Hearts and Minds

• U.S. tried to win over the hearts and minds of
  South Vietnamese people
• No place for the Communists to hide

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Agent Orange and Napalm

• Agent Orange leaf killing toxic chemical.
• Used by the U.S. to destroy the forests
• Years later, would be blamed for high cancer
  numbers
• Napalm gasoline based bomb
• Dropped from American planes, quickly burned up
  the jungles and exposed tunnel systems

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Search and Destroy

• Missions conducted by American troops
• Sought to find people who supported Vietcong
• Soldiers killed livestock, and burned villages
• These tactics pushed the South Vietnamese towards
  the Vietcong

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Early War At Home

• Johnson Administration thought the war would be
  over quickly
• As war drug on, money to pay for the war had to
  be taken away from Great Society programs
• Inflation climbed from 2 in early 60s to over
  5.5 in 1969
• Johnson asked for a tax increase, and received
  it, but had to cut 6 billion from Great Society
  programs

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The Living Room War

• Vietnam became Americas first televised war
• Video footage from the war was on the news every
  night
• Footage contradicted what the Government was
  telling the people
• Gen. Westmoreland claimed that a Vietcong
  surrender was imminent
• Defense Sec. McNamara said he could see the
  light at the end of the tunnel

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Television War

• Images of American soldiers in body bags told a
  different story
• Between 1961-1967 16,000 Americans had died in
  Vietnam
• Critics of the war claimed a credibility gap
  a difference in what Johnson said, and what was
  REALLY happening
• By 1967 Americans began to change their opinion
  of the war
• Americas youth began to openly protest the war
• Their voice will only get louder

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A Nation Divided

• Chapter 22 Section 3

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The Draft

• Vietnam was becoming an unpopular war, and unlike
  WWI and WWII, few men volunteered for service
• All men between 18 26 years old were eligible
  for the draft
• Thousands of men tried to find ways around the
  draft
• Moved to Canada
• Medical exemptions
• Religious Reasons (Muhammad Ali)
• College Deferment
• Because only rich, white kids could afford
  college, 80 of draftees were from low economic
  classes

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African-Americans in Vietnam

• African Americans accounted for 20 of all combat
  deaths but only accounted for 10 of population
• African Americans were still treated as 2nd class
  citizens in the US, but yet were fighting for the
  US to guarantee rights of people in SE Asia that
  they did not receive at home

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Roots of Opposition

• The New Left a growing youth movement of the
  1960s which called for sweeping changes in
  American society
• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) claimed
  that corporations and government institutions had
  taken over America, called for a restoration of
  participatory democracy
• College campuses became a breeding ground for the
  opposition movment

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Protest Movement Emerges

• 1965 and 1966 SDS organized several marches on
  Washington drawing upwards of 30,000 protesters
• By 1969 there were SDS chapter on 400 campuses
  nationwide
• Reasons for protesting war
• Many saw it as a civil war between North and
  South Vietnam and we needed to stay out
• South Vietnamese government was no better than
  communist North
• America shouldnt police the world
• Morally wrong

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From Protest to Resistance

• Between 1967 and early 70s over 200,000
  Americans were accused of draft offenses
• 4,000 were imprisoned
• About 10,000 Americans fled the country, most to
  Canada or Sweden
• October 1967 - 75,000 protesters met at the
  Lincoln Memorial, afterwards 30,000 marched to
  the Pentagon to disrupt the war machine
• Police used tear gas to stop them, 1,500 were
  injured and 700 arrested

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War Divides the Nation

• By 1967 Americans found themselves in one of two
  groups
• Hawks People who felt the US should unleash
  more of its military force and win the war
• Doves People who believed the US should
  withdraw from the war

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1968 A Tumultuous Year

• Chapter 22 Section 4

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Tet Offensive

• Jan. 30th, 1968 Equivalent of New Years Eve,
  called Tet.
• Both sides agreed to a week long truce for the
  Tet holiday
• There were funerals held for the dead, and
  thousands flooded South Vietnamese cities
• The coffins were loaded with weapons and the
  villagers were Vietcong agents and spies

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Tet Offensive Cont.

• On the night of Jan. 30th, 1968 the Vietcong
  launched an overwhelming attack on 100 towns and
  cities in South Vietnam and even the US Embassy
  in Saigon.
• Called the Tet Offensive, it continued for over a
  month until South Vietnam and US forces could
  gain control over the situation
• Militarily the US and South Vietnamese won, only
  3,000 men were killed compared to 32,000 Vietcong
  and North Vietnamese soldiers
• Psychologically the Tet Offensive showed the
  American public that we were a long way from
  victory, and the credibility gab widened.

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Change in Public Opinion

• Before Tet Offensive 28 claimed to be Doves
  while 56 claimed to be Hawks
• Following Tet Offensive 40 for both causes
• Media began to openly criticize the war, calling
  it unwinnable and a sinkhole
• LBJs popularity plummeted with 60 of Americans
  disapproving of his handling of the war

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Johnson Withdraws

• Robert F. Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy declared
  their candidacy for the Democratic Nomination for
  President in 1968, both claiming to end the war
  in Vietnam
• March 31st, 1968 LBJ addresses the nation
• U.S. would seek negotiations to end the war
• Escalation of the war would end
• Bombing would cease
• Require more out of the South Vietnamese to
  defend themselves
• I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the
  nomination of my party for another term as your
  President

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Violence Grips the Nation

• April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. is
  assassinated outside a motel in Memphis, TN.
• Violence ripped through over 100 cities
• Rioters burned building and destroyed
  neighborhoods
• June 5th, 1968 After winning the California
  primary, Robert F. Kennedy gave a speech in a
  L.A. hotel, as he was leaving through the kitchen
  a young Palestinian immigrant, Sirhan Sirhan shot
  Kennedy dead

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College Protests

• 1968 Over 40,000 students on 100 campuses
  nationwide took part in over 200 demonstrations
• Mostly protesting the war
• Others protesting over campus and social issues

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Race for the Presidency

• Democratic Primary pitted Eugene McCarthy against
  Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
• Humphrey was the heavy favorite to win
• Thousands showed up in Chicago to protest outside
  the Democratic National Convention
• Chicago Mayor Daley used 12,000 Police officers
  and 5,000 national guard troops to keep peace
• On August 28th, violence erupted and police were
  forced to use mace and their nightsticks
• All of this was captured on national TV
• This greatly hurt the image of the Democratic
  Party heading into the election in November

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1968 Election

• Democratic Nominee Hubert H. Humphrey
• Republican Nominee- Richard M. Nixon
• America Independent George Wallace
• George Wallace A Democrat from Alabama, ran on
  a campaign of segregation.
• Helped Nixon win by splitting the Democratic vote
• Nixon wins 301 Electoral votes
• Humphrey has 191 Electoral votes
• Wallace has 46 Electoral Votes
• Nixon wins the election and will end Americas
  involvement in the war, but not before his
  policies lead to more uproar and protests

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The End of The War Its Legacy

• Chapter 22 Section 5

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President Nixon The War

• January 1969 Nixon announces the first US troop
  withdrawals from Vietnam
• Negotiations with North Vietnam were going
  nowhere
• US South Vietnam demanded that all North
  Vietnam troops withdraw to the North and South
  Vietnamese government retains power
• North Vietnam demanded that US troops leave, and
  South Vietnamese government step aside

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Kissinger Vietnamization

• Henry Kissinger US National Security Advisor
• Conferred with Nixon, and came up with a plan of
  Vietnamization
• A gradual withdraw of US forces
• South Vietnam takes a more direct roll in the
  fighting
• In 1969 the first 25,000 troops come home and in
  3 years the total number of US troops dropped
  from 500,000 to 25,000

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Peace With Honor

• Nixon wanted to maintain US dignity and
  bargaining power at the negotiation table
• Nixon demanded that the South Vietnamese
  government stay intact
• Began a heavy bombing campaign in North Vietnam,
  Laos and Cambodia to encourage the North
  Vietnamese to surrender

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Trouble on Home Front

• Silent Majority group of Americans Nixon
  believed supported the war, but just remained
  silent

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My Lai Massacre

• March 16th, 1968 A US platoon entered the
  village of My Lai searching for members of the
  Vietcong
• After finding no evidence of the Vietcong, Lt.
  Calley ordered the villagers rounded up, and he
  then had 200 of them executed. Mostly women and
  children
• The US public finds out about the massacre in
  November of 1969, this incident shocked most
  Americans
• Lt. William Calley Jr. is charged with ordering
  the attack and is imprisoned

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Invasion of Cambodia

• April 30th, 1970 Nixon announces that the US
  has invaded Cambodia (neighbor of Vietnam) to
  search for Vietcong forces and to eliminate their
  supply lines
• Americans, particularly college students, begin a
  giant protest over the invasion of another
  country
• 1.5 Million students on 1,200 campuses begin to
  protest the invasion

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Kent State

• In May of 1970, a massive student protest broke
  out and being to burn the ROTC Building
• The local mayor called in the National Guard who
  fired live rounds into the crowd, killing 4 and
  injuring several more
• Ten days later, a similar incident broke out at
  Jackson State University, where 12 were wounded
  and 2 killed

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The Pentagon Papers

• June of 1971, the 7,000 page document was leaked
  to the media and became known as the Pentagon
  Papers
• Written in 1967-68 for Robert McNamara
• Detailed plans for entering the war
• Even though Johnson promised to stay out
• Showed that there was never any plan to withdraw
  from Vietnam as long as North Vietnam persisted
• Even though the government told us otherwise
• Leaking of the Pentagon Papers gave Americans
  even more reason to distrust our government

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Americas Longest War Ends

• By 1972, most Americans agreed that the war
  needed to end
• Nixon sent Henry Kissinger to meet with North
  Vietnam and Nixon backed off his stance of
  allowing North Vietnamese troops in the South
• Jan. 27th, 1973 US agrees to end the war and
  pursue peace in Vietnam
• March 29th, 1973 Last American troops leave
  Vietnam and come home

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The Fall of Saigon

• Shortly after the US left, the peace between
  North and South Vietnam failed
• The North launched a massive invasion of the
  South and the South appealed to the US for help
• President Ford refuses to send any more troops to
  Vietnam
• April 30th, 1975 North Vietnamese tanks roll
  into Saigon and captured the city. Shortly after,
  South Vietnam surrenders

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The Legacy of Vietnam

• 58,000 Americans Died
• 303,000 Americans wounded
• Over 2 million North South Vietnamese killed
• 15 of the 3.3 Million soldiers who served in
  Vietnam suffered from PTSD
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial built in 1982 in
  Washington DC. Contains the names of all
  Americans killed or missing in Vietnam War

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Major Policy Changes

• Congress abolished the draft
• November 1973 passed the War Powers Act
• Stipulated that a President must inform Congress
  within 48 hours of sending forces into a hostile
  area without declaration of war
• Troops may only remain there 90 days unless
  Congress declares War
• Led to great cynicism among Americans about their
  government political leaders