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WAR IN VIETNAM

WAR IN VIETNAM. Mr. Jerry Judd 2005. Geographic Setting. Vietnam is an S shaped country that hugs the coast of Southeast Asia. For much of Vietnam’s 2,000- year existence, it was dominated by foreign powers such as China, France, and Japan. History of Vietnam.

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WAR IN VIETNAM

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  1. WAR IN VIETNAM Mr. Jerry Judd 2005

  2. Geographic Setting Vietnam is an S shaped country that hugs the coast of Southeast Asia.

  3. For much of Vietnam’s 2,000- year existence, it was dominated by foreign powers such as China, France, and Japan. History of Vietnam

  4. Inheriting a Conflict 1946-1964

  5. War for Independence In the 20thcentury, a Vietnamese nationalist named Ho Chi Minh formed a Communist party dedicated to Vietnamese independence. From 1945 to 1954, Ho’s forces fought the French. Ho Chi Minh

  6. Geneva Accords In 1954, Ho’s forces defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu. The peace agreement, called the Geneva Accords, temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh and the Communists controlled the north. The anti-communists and their leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, controlled the south.

  7. Diem’s Demise A Buddhist monk sets himself on fire in a busy Saigon inter- section in 1963 as a protest against the Diem regime.

  8. The United States Steps In In the wake of Diem’s unpopularity, the U.S. took a more active role in halting the spread of communism in Vietnam. Eisenhower and Kennedy, both subscribers to the “domino theory”, waded deeper and deeper into the affairs of the country.

  9. ESCALATING INVOLVEMENT 1964-1967

  10. Kim Phuc Phan Thi

  11. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution The alleged attack on the USS Maddox prompted President Johnson to announce the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The resolution gave the president power to take “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the U.S. and to prevent further aggression.” USS Maddox Lyndon Johnson

  12. Troop Buildup The first American combat units arrived in Vietnam in 1965. By the end of the year, the U.S. Government had sent more than 180,000 men to Vietnam. The commander of U.S. troops was Gen. William Westmoreland.

  13. Air War In 1965, President Johnson launched Operation RollingThunder, a campaign against military targets in North Vietnam.

  14. Ground War U.S soldiers conducted search-and-destroy missions, uprooting civilians with suspected ties to the Vietcong, killing their livestock, and burning villages.

  15. Vietcong The U.S. superiority in weaponry was negated by the enemies mastery of the jungle terrain and guerrilla war tactics. Moving secretly in and out of the general population, the Vietcong (South Vietnamese supporters of communism) used ambush tactics to help turn the war into a frustrating stalemate.

  16. “It will be a war between an elephant and a tiger. But the tiger will not stand still. He will leap upon the back of the elephant, tearing huge chunks from his side, and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. Slowly the elephant will bleed to death.” Ho Chi Minh

  17. The Draft Under the Selective Service System, or draft, all males between the ages of 18 and 26 could be called into military service. As Americans’ doubts about the war grew, thousands of men attempted to find ways around the draft.

  18. The Turning Point 1968

  19. Tet Offensive The year 1968 began with a daring attack by the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese army on numerous cities. The simultaneous strikes, while ending in military defeat for the communists, stunned the American public. Many people with moderate views began to turn against the war.

  20. My Lai In March, 1968, a U.S. platoon under the command of Lt. William Calley, killed more than 200 Vietnamese-mostly women, children, and elderly men in the small village of My Lai. In March, 1968, a U.S. platoon under the command of Lt. William Calley, killed more than 200 Vietnamese-mostly women, children, and elderly men in the small village of My Lai.

  21. Johnson Withdraws The Vietnam War and the divisiveness it caused took its toll on President Johnson. In March, 1968, Johnson announced he would not seek re-election.

  22. Antiwar Movement A variety of pacifist, religious, civil rights, and student groups shaped the antiwar movement. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called for an immediate pullout of U.S. forces and an end to the draft.

  23. Nixon’s Vietnamization 1969-1970

  24. “Peace with Honor” Part of Nixon’s end- the-war plan was called Vietnamization. It involved turning over the fighting to the South Vietnamese as U.S. troops were gradually pulled out. This strategy, said Nixon, would bring “peace with honor.” Nixon hoped to maintain U.S. dignity in the face of its withdrawal from war.

  25. Invasion of Cambodia Publicly, Nixon emphasized Vietnamization: secretly, however, he planned to widen the war--into Cambodia. For years, North Vietnamese troops had attacked South Vietnam, then retreated to the safety of camps in neutral Cambodia. Early in 1969, Nixon decided to conduct a secret campaign to bomb these positions.

  26. Violence on Campus News of the bombing and invasion of Cambodia provoked outrage in the U.S., particularly on college campuses. On May 4, 1970, four people were killed at a Kent State University demonstration.

  27. Pentagon Papers In 1971, another incident sparked the antiwar movement. The New York Times began publishing a collection of secret government documents relating to the war. Known as the Pentagon Papers, they showed that the government had frequently misled the American people about the course of the war. Daniel Ellsberg

  28. No More Will To Fight 1971-1975

  29. Lost Cause Throughout the war, American soldiers had fought well. But as the U.S. presence fell to 140,000, few wanted to die for a cause that seemed to have lost its meaning. By the end of 1971, four times as many Americans soldiers required treatment for serious drug abuse as required medical attention for combat wounds.

  30. A Cease-Fire At Last On January 27, 1973, a peace agreement was signed. The last U.S. ground forces were withdrawn on March 29. And soon after, Congress passed a bill blocking any further U.S. military activity in Indochina.

  31. POW’S Lieutenant Colonel Robert Stirm, a returning POW, receives a warm welcome from his family in 1973. The longest-held Vietnam POW was Lieutenant Everett Alvarez, Jr., of California. He was imprisoned for more than eight years.

  32. On April 30, 1975, full columns of NVA soldiers entered Saigon. As the last Americans in Vietnam scrambled aboard any air- craft they could claw their way onto, the Communists that the U.S. spent two decades fighting finally succeeded in freeing Vietnam of foreigners Fall of Saigon

  33. The Legacy of Vietnam *More than 58,000 killed, 300,000 wounded and 2,300 missing and presumed dead *More cautious outlook on foreign affairs– Vietnam Syndrome *More cynical about the government *Anti-war demonstrations resulted in violence and even death *Policy changes were made, such as the War Powers Act and abolition of the draft

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