a brief overview of Vietnam; nothing fancy

1. The Vietnam War Draws to a
Close

2. The Eisenhower Doctrine
• This was basically the plan for “containing” commumism
• The Goal of the US was not to wipe out communism but to keep it
from spreading

3. Some issues in the Cold War
1) The Soviets launch, “Sputnik”
--the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth
--US believes that Soviet Education is advancing more quickly
than that of the US
--many Americans believe the Soviets are pulling ahead of us in
missile technology, creating a “missile gap”

4. 2) The US was caught spying over the Soviet when with its U2 spy plane
--the shooting down of this aircraft as it was over the Soviet
Union made Cold War relations between the US and Soviet Union
worse.
--the US also used the U2 Spy plane to take pictures of the Soviet
Union placing missiles on the island of Cuba
3) Bay of Pigs invasion
--US sponsored an attempted overthrown of the communist
government of Fidel Castro
--The US withdrew air support at the last minute

5. 4) The Soviet Union builds a wall between East and West Berlin
--the Soviets claim it is to keep Western Ideas from “infecting”
the people of E. Berlin
--in actuality it is an attempt to keep the people of E. Berlin and
East Germany from fleeing the control of the Soviet Union
5) Cuban Missile Crisis
--The US sees that the Soviet Union is placing nuclear missiles on
the island of Cuba, 90 miles from US soil
--President Kennedy wants the Soviets to remove the missiles
--there were 13 tense days before the Soviets agreed to back
down and remove the missiles

6. So the US became involved in the Vietnam war to
keep Communism from spreading from North
Vietnam into South Vietnam
• From 1965 until 1968 most Americans believed that victory was
possible for the US
• After the Tet Offensive in 1968, many Americans began to question
why the US needed to be in Vietnam

7. Some people to know
Robert McNamara
--former executive for Ford Motor Company
--promoted increased US involvement in Vietnam
General William Westmoreland
--Commander of US forces in Vietnam
--promoted strategies like “Operation Rolling Thunder” to bomb
large parts of North Vietnam and Cambodia

8. As America grow weary of war there are
many protests about Vietnam
1) The Pentagon Papers (secret documents) are released
--it is revealed that there is no plan to withdraw the US from
Vietnam
2) Students protesting at Kent State University are shot at by US
National Guardsmen
--4 students are killed
3) The 26th Amendment is passed giving 18 year olds the right to vote
--Since Congress could send them to war at 18, people believed
that the voting age to elect congressmen should be 18 as well

9. War Ends for the United States in Vietnam
US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger negotiates a peace settlement
with representatives from North Vietnam at the Paris Peace Accords
The US withdraws soldiers in 1973
In 1975, soldiers from North Vietnam over run the South Vietnam
capital of Saigon
The US embassy is evacuated Vietnam becomes one united nation
Saigon is renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the leader of North
Vietnam

10. Now this country in which the US fought so hard to eliminate
communism is still communist
But several US factories are located in Vietnam
In fact, the NIKE running shoes that I wear are made in Vietnam.
I bet you have several items that are made there as well.