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History 320 Lecture 9: Vietnam and the 1960s

History 320 Lecture 9: Vietnam and the 1960s. Part I: From Camelot to Cam Rahn Bay. The rain may never fall till after sundown. By eight, the morning fog must disappear. In short, there's simply not A more congenial spot For happily-ever-aftering than here In Camelot. John F. Kennedy, c. 1960.

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History 320 Lecture 9: Vietnam and the 1960s

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  1. History 320 Lecture 9: Vietnam and the 1960s

  2. Part I: From Camelot to Cam Rahn Bay The rain may never fall till after sundown.By eight, the morning fog must disappear.In short, there's simply notA more congenial spotFor happily-ever-aftering than hereIn Camelot.

  3. John F. Kennedy, c. 1960

  4. Nikita Khrushchev denouncing Stalinism and Stalin’s crimes during the 20th Soviet Congress in 1956 • Despite considerable resistance within the Kremlin, Khrushchev attempts to improve relations with the United States • Builds up considerable trust for Eisenhower, who he considered a friend • U-2 incident in 1960 derails progress toward detente, as do growing tensions over Berlin

  5. Kennedy the Cold Warrior • Accused his predecessor, Eisenhower, of being too soft on USSR • Shared widespread assumptions of American superiority and ability to direct global affairs • Views USSR as aggressively expansionist • Determined to stand up to Khrushchev: Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis Kennedy meets Khrushchev in 1961

  6. Popular press article on the new Special Forces or Green Berets, 1961; JFK saw these as a more flexible approach to “Containment”

  7. Fulgencio Batista, a former elected president of Cuba who then led a military coup in 1952 that made him the dictator of the nation

  8. Fidel Castro, the fiery young Cuban nationalist and revolutionary who led the widely supported popular revolt against Batista in the late 1950s

  9. Castro addresses an enthusiastic crowd of Cubans in May of 1961

  10. Cuban tanks and planes meet the Bay of Pigs invaders, April 15, 1961

  11. American U-2 spy photo of the Cuban atomic missile base, October 14th 1962

  12. “Every idiot can start a war, but it is impossible to win this war . . . therefore the missiles have one purpose—to scare them, to restrain them . . . to give them back some of their own medicine. The Americans had surrounded our country with military bases and threatened us with nuclear weapons, and now they would learn just what it feels like to have enemy missiles pointing at them.” --Nikita Khrushchev, 1962 Soviet Union Previously classified U.S. government map showing the 1962 deployment of American atomic missiles in Turkey, immediately south of the Soviet Union

  13. Robert Kennedy John Kennedy Ex-Comm (Executive Committee) meeting during Cuban Missile Crisis, October 14-27, 1962

  14. October 22, 1962, JFK goes on national television to tell the American people of the Cuban crisis and his plans for a naval “quarantine” and demand for immediate removal of the missiles

  15. One of the Soviet submarines surfacing near the quarantine line about 500 miles off the Cuban coast

  16. Khrushchev’s long (eight pages) and emotional letter to JFK, writing “We are of sound mind and understand perfectly well that if we attack you, you will respond the same way.” Khrushchev offers to withdraw the missiles if JFK ends the blockade and promises not to invade Cuba.

  17. Quiz Three • In his book (Chapter 4), Brand suggests that Cold War politics and miscalculations led the US to militarily support South Vietnam even though that nation was not especially important to American interests. Michael Lind, on the other hand, argues that Vietnam was “The Necessary War.” Briefly, explain Lind’s basic argument: What is his basis for concluding American intervention was necessary?

  18. The Question of Vietnam • Problem inherited from the Eisenhower administration • Backburner issue, a small relatively unknown “nation” in Southeast Asia • How did we get involved with the fate of Vietnam? Kennedy-era Map of S.E. Asia

  19. Divided Vietnam established by the Geneva Accords, July 1954; national elections to be held in 1956

  20. Ngo Dinh Diem meeting with President Eisenhower and Sec. State John Foster Dulles

  21. Diem greeted by less-than-overwhelming crowds upon his return to Saigon

  22. General Vo Nguyen Giap speaking to Viet Minh troops in 1954

  23. Ho Chi Minh, with his base of power in Hanoi in North Vietnam, urges the southern anti-Diem nationalists to be patient • Remains hopeful that a peaceful vote reunifying the two sections can be realized

  24. The Viet Cong: “Vietnamese Communists” National Liberation Front fighters study a model of a strategic hamlet in preparation for an attack

  25. “Had Ngo Dinh Diem proved a man of breadth and vision, the core of people who filled the NLF would have rallied to him. As it was, the South Vietnamese nationalists were driven to action by his contempt for the principles of independence and social progress in which they believed. In this sense, the southern revolution was generated of itself, out of the emotions, conscience and aspirations of the Southern people.” --Truong Nhu Tang Diem and family: Brother Nhu behind Diem, his sister-in-law Madame Nhu at center

  26. Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk

  27. New recruits to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam

  28. American “advisors” and pilots evacuate ARVN soldiers from a jungle outpost

  29. An American officer leading ARVN soldiers into battle, c. 1963

  30. One of Diem and Nhu’s ill-advised Strategic Hamlets, 1963

  31. American schematic of the general design for Strategic Hamlets

  32. Ngo Dinh Nhu, Diem’s brother and head of Secret Police, c. 1960

  33. Madame Nhu on the cover of Life magazine, 1963, and practicing her aim

  34. The Buddhist monk Thich Quang Doc sets himself on fire in a busy Saigon intersection, June 11, 1963

  35. ARVN generals who led the successful November 1, 1963, coup deposing and killing Diem and Nhu

  36. Diem murdered by ARVN generals during the November 1, 1963, coup d’etat

  37. Kennedy seconds before his assassination in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963

  38. Summing Up: Kennedy and Vietnam • Commits American prestige to supporting an independent South Vietnam • By time of his death, some 15,000 American “advisors” in Vietnam and U.S. is paying vast sums to support war against Vietcong • Did Vietnam have anything to do with JFK’s assassination? • Regardless, left to his successor a situation in Vietnam that was vastly more dangerous than it had been in 1961

  39. Part II: “That Bitch of a War”: How Vietnam Destroyed Lyndon Johnson and Modern Liberalism Hey, Hey LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

  40. The Great Society • Immense array of new federal programs, more ambitious in some ways than FDR’s New Deal • Used JFK’s martyrdom to good political effect • Government can and should solve all manner of social problems and make the nation a better more just place • Head Start, Medicare, Public Television, Worker Safety, Consumer Safety, Clean Air and Water, Student Loans, Federal Support for Arts, etc.

  41. Segregated water in Georgia, 1955

  42. MLK speaking at bus boycott rally, 1956

  43. LBJ’s Civil Rights Record • Far surpassed anything JFK did or contemplated • 1964 Civil Rights Act: Gave federal government power to act against segregation and other racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination • 1965 Voting Rights Act: Federal government becomes guarantor of the right of all citizens to vote

  44. LBJ and Vietnam • Always claimed his Great Society was his true love and Vietnam a distraction • Had little interest or experience in foreign affairs • Yet also a liberal Democratic anti-communist, unwilling to allow the nation Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy had sworn to defend to collapse • Begins to increase US commitment

  45. Johnson’s Slippery Slope • August, 1964, Gulf of Tonkin incident leading to the Gulf of Tonkin congressional resolution allowing president to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” • Reluctant to commit US conventional troops, attempts to use superior technology to force North Vietnamese to accept an independent South

  46. American bomber releases its weapons in Operation Rolling Thunder; eventually, the US will drop more bombs than used in all wars in human history, yet NVA did not seem to weaken

  47. Rough view of the major routes of the Ho Chi Minh trail; US attempts to cut with bombing, Agent Orange defoliant, etc.

  48. LBJ “Americanizes” the War • 1964-65, war is going bad for South, despite massive US support • Much of countryside supports Viet Cong, ARVN corrupt and inefficient • US air bases regularly attacked by VC forces • March 1965, LBJ commits first regular ground troops to defend DaNang, and Americans soon take on the bulk of the fighting

  49. General William Westmoreland, architect of the Search and Destroy Strategy in Vietnam; tells LBJ his strategy is working

  50. Westmoreland on the cover of Time, February 1965

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