The Vietnam War caused immense loss of life and deeply divided American society. Over 50,000 US troops and millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians were killed in the long and unsuccessful US effort to contain communism in Southeast Asia. Growing public opposition led to major protests and political upheaval in the US. Ultimately, the US withdrew and South Vietnam fell to a North Vietnamese communist government in 1975. The war left a legacy of distrust in government and trauma for many veterans.

2.  Eastern edge of the Indochinese Peninsula
 Jungle conditions, swamp, lush land along the deltas.
 Slightly larger than New Mexico
 Temperature:
 August: 91o F
 January: 70oF
 Precipitation:
 August: 13.5 inches
 January: 8 inches

4.  America involvement:
 1950-1973—money, weapons, and military advisors
 1965-1973—American combat troops on the ground
 2nd longest military engagement
 Afghan war is now the longest
 American Fatalities:
 37,393
 MIA: 2,000
 South Vietnam Fatalities
 Military: 266,000
 Civilian: 843,000
 North Vietnam Fatalities:
 Military: 251,000
 Civilian: 182,000

5.  1. Summarize Vietnam’s history as a French colony and
its struggle for independence.
 2. Examine how the United States became involved in
the Vietnam conflict.
 3. Describe the expansion of U.S. military involvement
under President Johnson.

6.  The Vietnamese had been
striving for independence
for years*
 Vietnam declared
Independence on
September 2, 1945 from
French colonial rule*
 A friendship between the
U.S. and Vietnam
began, which later turned
into war

7.  Communist
 Leader of the Vietminh: Vietnamese
Nationalist Force
 Founded in 1941
 Purpose: to drive the French out
 Goals: land reform and an
independent unified Vietnam
 Was actually trained by OSS forces
around 1945

8.  French did not want to give up their colony of Vietnam
 November 1946: War between French and the Vietminh
begins
 1950: French appeal to U.S. for help
 U.S. did not want to lose France as an ally
 China became Communist in 1949 (puts the pressure on us)
 Containment: U.S. policy that opposes Communism and
where it does it exist, it “ contained”
 U.S. agreed to send military aid to France

9.  Ike takes office in ‘53. By ‘56 we were
paying for 80% of the 1st Indochina
War
 1956: The French surrender
 France and Vietnam meet in Geneva
to work out a peace agreement
between the countries – The Geneva
Accords
 Vietnam was to be temporarily
divided along the 17th parallel
 To Be reunited after 1956 National
Vietnamese elections
 Ike refused to sign it due to the
domino theory
 If one country fell to
communism, those in the area would
fall to communism.

10.  South Vietnam was in chaos after
colonialism and war
 Ngo Dinh Diem (groomed by the U.S.)
 Was an anti-Communist and
nationalist
 Refused to take part in the ‘56
elections as spelled out in the Geneva
Accords
 1954-1961: U.S. sent $1 billion to South
Vietnam
 Had little in common with his people
 Rigged elections so he would
win, refused to hold real elections

11.  Vietcong
 Vietcong: In South Vietnam, but oppose Diem and
support North Vietnam
 Promised economic reform, reunification, and used
terror extensively
 Tied to Ho Chi Minh government
 Vietcong supported by North Vietnam, China, and the
Soviet Union
 The Ho Chi Minh Trail*
 Network of paths thru Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
 Used to move goods and most importantly provide for
guerilla warfare.

12.  1963: Buddhists protested
Diem regime, which
persecuted Buddhists
 Plan to overthrow
Diem, with U.S./JFK
support- November
1, 1963*
 Diem was “accidentally”
killed in the process*
 Kennedy was assassinated Thich Quang Duc*
Nov. 22, 1963 and the
Vietnam conflict was
turned over to Johnson

13.  Believed Vietnam was
important to a Cold War
victory
 By 1964, U.S. aid was still the
only thing keeping South
Vietnam from collapsing
 Johnson wanted to expand
U.S. involvement to ensure
a non-communist victory
 Advised by Secretary of
Defense Robert McNamara

14. August 1964:
 Tonkin Gulf Incident
 Johnson announced two U.S.
destroyers were attacked off
the coast of North Vietnam
(it is now known that this
incident never really
happened, the government
made it up so that Americans
would support expansion in
Vietnam)
 Congress passed the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution:
 Did not declare war, but it
widened the war (gave
Johnson more military powers
in wartime than any President
before him)

15.  1. Explain the reasons for the escalation of U.S.
involvement in Vietnam.
 2. Describe the military tactics and weapons used by
U.S. forces and the Vietcong.
 3. Explain the impact of the war on American society.

16.  Increased Involvement
 ‘65 and every year after, Johnson continued to escalate the # of
troops in Vietnam to support South Vietnam(Americans supported
it)
 American’s fought along side the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
(South Vietnamese)…fought against the Vietcong and North Vietnam.
 U.S. hoped to destroy the Vietcong’s will through bombing and
combat
 Bombing: Operation Rolling Thunder—bombing of North Vietnam
 Ground War: Search and Destroy Missions (controversial)
 Vietcong appealed to peasants
 Vietcong could be anyone
 Use of napalm and agent orange – know what these are
 Guerrilla Warfare: (Vietcong) Small groups of fighters to
annoy U.S. troops, avoid open fighting
 Strategic Hamlet Program: (U.S.) Uproot villages and force
people to move to cities or refugee camps
 Bottom Line: Fighting the Vietcong was a nightmare…!!!

17.  *By the end of ‘65 the govt.
had sent almost 200,000
Americans to Vietnam.
 *General Westmoreland
 Commander of U.S. troops
in Vietnam
 Asked Johnson to send
troops in March 1965
 Nov. 21, 1967:
Westmoreland states the
end is near- 10 weeks later
we get the Tet Offensive
 Felt that the Vietnamese
could not withstand our
troop support..
 By ‘67 – 500,000 troops!!

18.  America’s first “Living Room War”
 Combat footage appeared on the
nightly news
 The news seemed to counter the
Governments portrayal of what
was happening over there
 The govt came back with body
count stats of how many Vietcong
were dying in combat versus how
many Americans were dying
 A credibility gap was growing
 Government was saying one
thing, but the American people
were seeing something different
on TV. Journalist Walter Cronkite

19.  1. Explain the draft polices that led to the Vietnam War
becoming a working-class war.
 2. Trace the roots of opposition to the war.
 3. Describe the antiwar movement and the growing
divisions in U.S. public opinion about the war.

20.  The Draft
 Use of the Selective Service System (18-26 years of age)
 As doubts grew, men found ways to avoid the draft
 Medical exemptions
 College exemptions (most common)
 This often left the working class to fight the war…
 African Americans
 Made up a disproportionate # of soldiers…
 1969 – instituted a draft lottery
 Women – could not serve in combat
 10,000 served as nurses, many more in the red cross and the
USO

21.  The New Left
 Youth movement demanding sweeping changes
 SDS – Students for a Democratic Society
 Corporations are taking over America
 Called for civil disobedience @ selective service centers
 By ‘70 had chapters on 400 college campuses
 Free Speech Movement
 Colleges were a breeding ground for all of these groups…
 Protests quickly changed to resistance
 “burn cards, not people”
 “hell, no, we won’t go”
 Doves (for peace) vs. Hawks (for war)
 Even with all the resistance Johnson stays the course.

22.  22.4 Objectives
 Describe the Tet offensive and its effect on the American
public.
 Explain the domestic turbulence of 1968.
 Describe the 1968 presidential election.

23.  The Tet Offensive
 On the eve of the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) the Vietcong attacked
100 towns and 12 U.S. air bases in South Vietnam. They even
attacked the U.S. embassy in Saigon. Continued for about a month.
 Result
 America and South Vietnam able to regain control.
 Showed the Vietcong not close to surrendering.
 What effect did it have on public opinion?
 Walter Cronkite
 Clark Clifford
 Hawks vs. Doves
 How was the democratic party “a house divided” in 1968?
 Johnson announced that we would seek negotiations to end the
war, then he announced he would no longer be running for
president.

24.  Democrat  Hubert Humphrey
 Loyal Supporter of LBJ
 People were afraid that I
wouldn’t end the war
 I was the Democrat’s
nominee for president in
1968
 I lost the presidency in
the 1968 general election
to my Republican
opponent

25.  I was a member of the  Eugene McCarthy
Democrat Party
 I was a Senator from
Minnesota
 I decided to run for
president even when LBJ
was still running
 I was an anti-war supporter
 I did not earn the
Democrat nomination for
President

26.  I was a member of the  Robert Kennedy
Democrat Party
 I was a Senator from New
York
 I wanted to end the war
 I was assassinated

27.  I was a member of the  George Wallace
American Independent
Party
 I was once the governor of
Alabama
 I supported school
segregation and states’
rights
 I lost the presidency in the
general election, but I took
votes away from Hubert
Humphrey

28.  I was a member of the  Richard Nixon
Republican Party
 I was V.P. under
Eisenhower
 I promised to restore law
and order
 I won the Presidency in
1968

29.  Martin Luther King
 Assassinated April
4th, 1968
 Robert Kennedy
 Decided to run because
of Johnson’s weakness at
the polls
 June 4th he won the
California primary
 June 5th he was
assassinated
 Protests on college
campuses skyrocketed

30.  ‘68 Democratic National Convention
 Humphrey was going to win the nomination
 Why did this upset anti-war voters?
 Around 10,000 protestors met in Chicago
 Some came to voice their displeasure over Humphrey
 Some to provoke violence (the Yippies)
 Mayor Richard Daley “there will be law and order”
 Mobilized 12,000 police officers and 5,000 National Guard
 Riots broke out
 Democratic party problems was seen by millions of
Americans.
 Nixon wins the election
 Promised to restore law and order, and to end the war in
Vietnam
 Appealed to the Silent Majority

32.  1. Describe Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization.
 2. Explain the public’s reaction to the Vietnam War
during Nixon’s presidency.
 3. Describe the end of the U.S. involvement and the
final outcome in Vietnam.
 4. Examine the war’s painful legacy in the United
States and Southeast Asia.

33.  Nixon and Vietnamization
 Began troop withdrawal in early 1969
 But he continued the war against North Vietnam
 Kissinger (national security advisor) and Nixon came up with
vietnamization
 Gradual withdrawal of troops from Vietnam
 The S. Vietnamese would take a more active role in combat
 By ‘72 troop #’s dropped from 500,000 to 25,000.
 “Peace with Honor”
 Preserve our clout at the negotiation table
 Ordering of massive bombing campaigns in N. Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia.
 The enemy needs to fear us.

34.  The My Lai Massacre
 What happened at this
incident?
 Cambodian Invasion
 To clear out N. Vietnamese and
Vietcong supply centers.
 Kent State Shootings
 Students were protesting the
bombings in Cambodia
 So what happened???
 The Pentagon Papers
 Papers drawn up by Robert
McNamara, leaked by Daniel
Ellsberg that detailed our true
plan for the war in Vietnam.

35.  March 1972 – NVA launch the largest attack since Tet
 Nixon orders to lay more mines and this halted the attack and
he terrible stalemate continued.
 October 26th, 1972 – “Peace is at Hand” – Henry Kissinger
 Nixon is re-elected in ‘72
 Christmas bombings – U.S. dropped 100,000 lbs. of bombs on
the 2 largest cities of Vietnam
 Jan 27, ’73 – Agreement to end the war and restore peace
 March 29, ‘73 – the last U.S. combat troops left for home
 March of ‘75 – The North Vietnamese led a full scale attack on
South Vietnam. By April 30th, tanks rolled in and captured
Saigon. (how did the U.S. react??)

36.  In the U.S.
 58,000 Americans were killed – 303,000 were wounded
 How many Vietnamese died???
 Change of attitude
 Many now look more cautiously at foreign affairs, and more cynical
toward their government.
 How did many Americans treat their fellow Americans coming home
from Vietnam?
 15% of the returning soldiers developed post-traumatic stress
disorder (????)
 In Asia
 The N. Vietnamese began to “Nationalize” the
country, imprisoning 400,000 in “reeducation” camps. 1.5
million fled the country in the mid 70’s.
 Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, took over Cambodia
 Killed at least a million of his own people.

37.  What were the hawks vs. doves arguments after the war???
 Major policy changes
 Abolished the draft
 War Powers Act of ‘73
 The President must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending
troops into a hostile area without a declaration of war.
 The troops may remain there no longer than 90 days unless
Congress approves the actions or declares war.
 How did the war alter our views on foreign policy?
 Overall Legacy
 People generally do not trust their govt. as much as they did
before the war.
 Do you feel it that we won the Vietnam War or that we lost
the Vietnam War? Why?