The document summarizes key events in the Vietnam War from US intervention in the 1950s to the end of the war in the 1970s. It discusses the US sending aid to South Vietnam after the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam, as well as the Gulf of Tonkin incident that led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution greatly expanding presidential war powers. It also covers the growth of the anti-war movement in response to graphic TV coverage of the war and events like the Tet Offensive and Kent State shootings. Finally, it outlines the US withdrawal from Vietnam and subsequent policies like the War Powers Act limiting presidential authority to wage war without congressional approval.

2. Guatemala, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Korea
US
Interventions
in the 1950s

3. Vietnam

4. I. Causes
a. France tries to re-colonize
Vietnam after WWII
b. Geneva Accords: divide
Vietnam
i. North = Communist
ii. South = Anti-Communist
c. US sends $1 billion in aid to
the south (weapons, soldiers,
supplies)
d. Plan to reunite in 2 years,
but fighting begins

5. The Ballad of the Green Berets
by Barry Sadler and Robin Moore

6. II. US Entry
a. Domino Theory: fear that if 1
country falls to communism,
others will follow
b. Tonkin Gulf Incident: US Ship
is fired upon by North
Vietnamese
c. Tonkin Gulf Resolution: gives
President power to “take all
necessary actions”
i. *** 58,000 soldiers die in a war
never approved by Congress

7. Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation
by Tom Paxton

8. III. Anti-War Movement
a. Living Room War = violence is
on TV
i. Napalm = bomb
--> severe burns
ii. Agent Orange = pesticide
--> birth defects
iii. Tet Offensive = battle on tv
that turns public against war

9. Fixin to Die by Joe McDonald

10. b. U of M “Teach-in”:
Professors refuse to teach
class, and instead discuss
protest
c. Kent State
i. Students protest the invasion
of Cambodia
ii. Burn down ROTC building
iii. National Guard kill 4, wound 9

11. Ohio by Crosby, Stills, and Nash

12. IV. End of War
a. Vietnamization: US slowly
withdraws and puts South
Vietnam in charge of own
defense
b. War Powers Act: Troops may
not be used for more that 60
days without approval from
Congress
i. *** Shows people lost
confidence in government

13. “War” by Edwinn Starr

14. IV. End of the COLD War
a. Détente - an easing of Cold
War tensions
i. Nixon visits China!
ii. SALT talks limit # of nuclear
weapons
b. Star Wars Program - space-
based laser defense shied
against foreign missiles
c. Glastnost and perestroika -
refoms to the Soviet Union’s
poitical and economic systems
than ended totalitarian control

15. Looking for Freedom
by David Hasselhoff