End of Vietnam

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End of Vietnam
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Review

• 1. Identify the Cold War President with his
  policy in Vietnam
• 2. What was Khe Sanh?
• 3. Explain the causes effects of the Tet
  Offensive.
• 4. Discuss the candidates of the 1968
  Presidential Election

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Vietnamization

• Peace with honor
• Nixon NSA Henry Kissinger plan secret peace
  negotiations
• Vietnamization
• Turn fighting over to S. Vietnamese
• Gradual withdraw of US troops
• Secretly expanded war gt bombing Cambodia Laos
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?veLhZryqKVZM

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Protests

• Nixon policy
• April 1970 announced troops in Cambodia gt
  protests
• Kent State
• May 1970
• Students set fire to ROTC
• 4 killed, 9 injured
• Jackson State
• 9 days later
• 2 killed, 9 injured
• Public reaction
• Shocked horrified
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vfopb-pr2mxM

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My Lai Massacre

• March 1968
• Lt William Calley led troops on a search
  destroy mission
• No Vietcong found
• Massacre
• US troops killed 450 women, children, elderly men

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Pentagon Papers

• NY Times 1971
• Published secret government documents tracing US
  military in Vietnam since Truman
• Revealed government misled public
• Leak angered embarrassed Nixon
• Daniel Ellsberg
• Leak (Dept. of Defense)

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Election of 1972

• Nixon v. George McGovern
• McGovern
• Outspoken critic of war
• 26th Amendment 71
• Voting age reduced from 21 to 18

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End of U.S. Involvement

• Peace talks stalled
• Christmas Bombings
• Around-the-clock bombing of N. Vietnam cities
• Called off without major results
• Settlement Jan 73
• US withdraw troops agree to help rebuild
  Vietnam
• Both sides release POWs
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJdNnTGCrku0

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Legacy

• N. Vietnam
• 1975 (2 years after US troops left) gt N. Vietnam
  invades S. captures Saigon
• US rushed to evacuate Americans working in city
• April 30, 1975 South Vietnam surrendered
• Country reunified

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Khmer Rouge

• Cambodia
• 1975 Communist forces (Khmer Rouge) controlled
  Cambodia
• Killed 2 million (1/4 population)
• Border dispute gt Vietnam invaded in 79
• Installed puppet govt
• Vietnam occupied until 89 when UN peace-keeping
  forces came

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Effects on Vietnam

• 185,000 S. Vietnamese soldiers killed
• 450,000 S. Vietnamese civilians killed
• 1 million Vietcong troops killed
• Severe environmental damage

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Effects in US

• 58,000 US troops killed
• Survivors exposed to dangers defoliants
• Not welcomed upon return
• Trouble readjusting
• 150 billion spent
• Increased national debt inflation
• War Powers Act 1973
• Affirmed Congressional constitutional right to
  declare war
• Gave President 60-day limit on committing troops
  without special authority or declaration of war