The Vietnam War

1
The Vietnam War

• 1968 - 1973

2
A Nation Divided

• As the war dragged on, Americans increasingly
  became divided into Hawks and Doves
• Hawks supported the war, Doves believed it was
  morally wrong and could not be won
• Doves began to organize protests, sit ins and
  marches against the war
• During Vietnam about 1.8 million soldiers were
  drafted vs. enlisting. As opposition to the war
  rose so did opposition to the draft
• Conscientious objectors were people who refused
  to fight in the war over moral obligations
• Television brought the sights and sounds of
  battle into American living rooms. The graphic
  images shocked and sometimes sickened viewers.
  One theory is that the steady diet of blood and
  horror on TV helped turn Americans against the war

3
The War Begins to End

• The war played a heavy role in the election of
  1968. Heavily criticized for escalating the war,
  Johnson decides not to run again
• Anti-war protests plagued the nation and
  interrupted political conventions, some even had
  to have police and national guard get involved
• Promising to re-establish law and order, POTUS
  Nixon won the election knowing that most
  Americans do not support the war, he begins to
  look for a way out of the war that promised
  peace with honor

4
Vietnamization Protests

• Nixon begins to scale back American troops in
  Vietnam in June of 1969
• By Aug, 25000 troops return, by April of 70
  150,000 troops have returned home
• Nixon refers to his policy of lowering the number
  of US troops and handing the war over to the
  South Vietnamese military as Vietnamization
• During this time, Nixon also secretly starts to
  bomb Cambodia and Laos to stop the VC and NVA
  from moving along the Ho Chi Minh Trail
• With the new bombing tactic in Cambodia came a
  new round of protests in America, the most
  notably was the protest at Kent State University
  which resulted in the death of American
  protesters
• During this time, peace talks begin in Paris
  between America and North Vietnam, USA asks for
  all Communist troops out of SV, North Vietnam
  asks to have a communist government in SV, the
  talks stall
• By 1972, only 60,000 troops remain in Vietnam

5
The Final Years of the War

• In 1970, Nixon sends Henry Kissinger to secretly
  negotiate a surrender with North Vietnam
• In 1972, Kissinger announces that a peace deal
  has been agreed upon, South Vietnam had never
  been consulted on these talks and declines the
  peace deal, war raged on and Nixon now orders the
  bombing of North Vietnam
• After 12 days of heavy bombings, the North
  Vietnamese agree to end the war by January of
  1973
• The last Americans leave by March and the longest
  war in American history is over
• Against the peace deal, North Vietnam invades
  South Vietnam again in 1974, by 1975 they control
  most of the cities, by April of 75 the capital
  Saigon falls