AMERICA DIVIDED

1. The Vietnam War AMERICA DIVIDED

2. WHAT DO I DO? • Use the slides and video clips provided in the slide show to fill in the blanks on your coursepack worksheets entitled “Hot Events in the Cold War” • Key words are in red for your convenience!

3. ANOTHER COLD WAR DIVISION • Like Korea and Germany, Vietnam was divided in two following World War 2 • North Korea was given a communist government supported by China • South Korea was given a democratic government supported by France

4. VIETNAM’S LEADERS Ho Chi Minh of Nguyen Van Thieuof North Vietnam South Vietnam

5. FRENCH WITHDRAWAL • From 1950 France and USA worked together to keep South Vietnam free from attack from the North • French forces withdrew in 1957 and American troops replaced them

6. GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION • In 1964 North Korea bombed the US naval destroyer, the Maddox • US President Lyndon B. Johnson responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to increase US action in Vietnam • The war was ON! Beginnings of the Vietnam War

7. US AIR STRIKES ON VIETNAM

8. DEADLY NAPALM • U.S. napalm bomb strike in South Vietnam, 1966. The USA dropped more than 338,000 tons of napalm (jellied gasoline) on Vietnam and killed more than 2 million Vietnamese during eight years of war.

9. CARPET BOMBING

10. NAPALM STRIKE 1972 • South Vietnamese children burned by napalm accidentally dropped by South Vietnamese planes. Kim Phuc’s clothes were burned off her body.

11. THE WAR WORSENS • By 1966 there were over 500 000 US soldiers in Vietnam • Many South Vietnamese were secretly working to support the communist North • They were the National Liberation Front, known as Viet Cong • They launched some major attacks on the American troops from within the South including the Tet Offensive • Tet Offensive Video Clip

12. MY LAI MASSACRE 1968 • The Viet Cong made many US soldiers angry and distrusting of all Vietnamese people, as a result, some vicious atrocities ensued • American troops attacked the village of My Lai, an alleged Viet Cong stronghold, where they raped and killed over 500 civilians • Change your handout to read 500 civilians, not 150

14. A mother shelters her 13-year-old daughter from molestation by American soldiers just moments before they were slain

15. THE HO CHI MINH TRAIL • The infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail served as the supply route from North Vietnam to soldiers and Viet Cong in the South • Both sides were forbidden from entering Laos and Cambodia, but both sides did anyways

16. THE AMERICAN PUBLIC PROTESTS • The Vietnam War was the first war where the US government did not receive 100% full support from the American people • Many men refused to be conscripted, publicly burned draft cards, and many hid in Canada • Anti-war protests were common • Washington Anti-War Protest 1969

19. PEACE TALKS… FINALLY • Under much public pressure and after suffering great loss in Vietnam, the peace talks began in 1972 and US troops withdrew by 1973 • Despite the ceasefire, both sides continued to fight • In 1975 North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam for the last time and in 1976 the two halves were united under one communist government • Vietnam remains united today

20. Watch a scene or two from the movie Platoon; the DVD is available in the History Office

21. THE END