Vietnam War

1. Vietnam War • 1957-1975: The longest war in U.S. history

2. French claimed the entity of Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) by 1893. • From the start, the Vietnamese resisted and resented the French rule. • In the 1920’s, after the success of the Russian Revolution and communism in Russia, different colonies around the world found communism appealing. • Places like Vietnam saw Marxism as a means of modernizing their societies and resisting the colonial powers.

3. By 1928, there was a strong Communist Party in Vietnam, but the French still maintained control and many citizens did not agree with communism. • After WWII, there was a movement for self-determination for all peoples – freedom from all colonial rulers (independence). In 1946, the U.S. granted total independence to the Philippines. • France was not as willing to give up their colonies in Southeast Asia.

4. Vietnam: in 1945, the major leading power next to the French was the Communists. • The Vietminh forces, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, seized power throughout most of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was elected president of a new provisional republic in Hanoi. France refused to accept this new government, and seized the southern part of the country. • War broke out between Ho Chi Minh and France in 1946.

5. 1954-at the Geneva Conference, France agreed to a peace settlement with Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh. • Vietnam divided • North=communist based in Hanoi • South=non-communist based in Saigon • Both sides agreed to hold elections in 2 years to create a single government. • Cambodia and Laos were both declared independent states under neutral governments.

6. The U.S. • The U.S. followed their dominant policy, the domino theory, which referred to the idea that if one South East Asian country fell to communism others would fall.

7. Truman Doctrine • Under the Truman Doctrine (1948) the U.S. promised aid to anyone fighting communism. We gave the French aid to fight Ho Chi Minh. After the French loss in 1954 we continued to give aid to the anti-communist government in South Vietnam. This is how we became involved in the Vietnam War!

8. Under leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem, and with the support of U.S., South Vietnam refused to hold national elections fearing that the communists would win. • 1963: South Vietnam on the verge of collapse • Diem was a harsh and corrupt leader – lost support of his people. He tried to find Catholicism – anti-Buddhist.

9. The Buddhists began to stage enormous anti-government demonstrations, during which several monks doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire – in front of T.V. cameras.

10. On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon, Vietnam.. Eye witness accounts state that Thich Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes.

11. this only made things worse! • Kennedy said it would be okay if Diem was overthrown • Diem was assassinated and military leaders took control

12. August 1964: Gulf of Tonkin – LBJ announced that American destroyers on patrol in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Later this incident was questioned. • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: gave LBJ the authority to “take all necessary measures” to protect American forces and “prevent further aggression” in Southeast Asia.

13. 1965- Viet Cong were on the verge of seizing the whole country. • March 1965- Johnson sends in U.S. troops to South Vietnam to prevent total communist takeover. • North Vietnam responds – sends forces into the South; at the end of the 1960’s, the war had reached a stalemate.

14. 1965: we begin bombing North Vietnam after communist forces attacked an American military base. Bombs goals were to destroy the transportation lines responsible for the flow of North Vietnamese soldiers and supplies into South Vietnam. These transportation lines were known as the “Ho Chi Minh Trail”

15. Johnson began a gradual escalation of the war • By July 1965, he doubled the men that could be drafted. • By March 1965, over 100,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam. By the end of 1967, over 500,000 had come. • Men were drafting using the lottery system based on birthdays.

16. Strategy: attrition – wear the other side down; FAILS!

17. Why did attrition fail? • North Vietnamese were willing to commit many more soldiers and resources to the conflict than the U.S. expected! We thought our bombs would take out North’s lightening capacity. The North was also getting a lot of aid from Russia and China.

18. North responded to the bombing by creating an underground network of tunnels, shops, and factories. The bombing actually strengthened popular commitment to the war.

19. Another part of the American strategy was “pacification” – push the Viet Cong from particular regions and “pacify” those regions by winning the “hearts and minds of people”. Pacification was difficult and not often attained. Soon this pacification policy became more of a relocation strategy when American troops uprooted villagers from their homes and destroyed their villages and surrounding countryside.

20. Soldier’s Life • The war was tough on American GIs for several reasons. The South Vietnamese regime was unable to build extensive popular support. Ordinary people living in South Vietnam were often supporters of the NLF. So the war was fought not against a clearly defined enemy, but against an amorphous, shifting enemy that was literally everywhere. American bombings, and the slash and burn approach to ground operations US forces often took, made ordinary Vietnamese in the countryside hostile to Americans--acts of sabotage were common, as were hidden bombs, sniper attacks, and booby traps. It became difficult for Americans to tell North and South Vietnamese people apart, and after a while they stopped caring.

22. By the end of 1967 protests against the war became popular as it dragged on. The economy suffered because of money dedicated to war and Great Society programs.

23. Well, come on all of you, big strong men,Uncle Sam needs your help again.He's got himself in a terrible jamWay down yonder in VietnamSo put down your books and pick up a gun,We're gonna have a whole lotta fun. And it's one, two, three,What are we fighting for ?Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,Next stop is Vietnam;And it's five, six, seven,Open up the pearly gates,Well there ain't no time to wonder why,Whoopee! we're all gonna die. Come on Wall Street, don't be slow,Why man, this is war au-go-goThere's plenty good money to be madeBy supplying the Army with the tools of its trade,But just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,They drop it on the Viet Cong. And it's one, two, three,What are we fighting for ?Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,Next stop is Vietnam.And it's five, six, seven,Open up the pearly gates,Well there ain't no time to wonder whyWhoopee! we're all gonna die. Well, come on generals, let's move fast;Your big chance has come at last.Now you can go out and get those reds'Cause the only good commie is the one that's deadAnd you know that peace can only be wonWhen we've blown 'em all to kingdom come. And it's one, two, three,What are we fighting for ?Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,Next stop is Vietnam;And it's five, six, seven,Open up the pearly gates,Well there ain't no time to wonder whyWhoopee! we're all gonna die. Come on mothers throughout the land,Pack your boys off to Vietnam.Come on fathers, and don't hesitateTo send your sons off before it's too late.And you can be the first ones in your blockTo have your boy come home in a box. And it's one, two, threeWhat are we fighting for ?Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,Next stop is Vietnam.And it's five, six, seven,Open up the pearly gates,Well there ain't no time to wonder why,Whoopee! we're all gonna die. Example of protest music: “Fixin to die” lyrics

24. Tet Offensive~January 31, 1968 • Tet is the name of the Vietnamese New Year – This offensive was launched by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese in 1968. • It included surprise attacks on major cities and military bases in South Vietnam. • Broadcasted on all TV’s the TET Offensive displayed how brutal the fighting was in Vietnam.

25. After this offensive many in America, including President Johnson, did not believe America could win this war. • Within weeks of TET, opposition to the war doubled.

26. My Lai Massacre Lack of public support for the war intensified as evidence of the full awfulness of the war effort mounted. In March of 1968 an American unit was patrolling the village of My Lai in Central Vietnam. They had suffered recent losses, were frustrated by their inability to find the enemy and anxious for revenge. They rounded up unarmed women, children, and elderly civilians, raped the women, then opened fire. The killed over 300 Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children.

27. A Soldier Speaks about My Lai • We huddled them up. We made them squat down…I poured about four clips [several hundred bullets] into the group…the mothers were hugging their children…well we kept right on firing. They was waving their arms and begging…I still dream about it. About the women and children in my sleep. Some days, some nights, I can't even sleep.

28. My Lai Massacre in Pictures

29. America looked to Robert Kennedy, an antiwar candidate in 1968 election. He won primary after primary. LBJ announced that he would not run again. • June 6, 1968: Sirhan Sirhan, a young Palestinian in Los Angeles, assassinated Kennedy.

30. Chicago: Democratic Convention shaken – named Herbert Humphrey as new front-runner candidate, but the democrats could not decide on an antiwar plank. Problem was that thousands of antiwar protestors were staging demonstrations in downtown Chicago. The third night of the Convention, protestors were injured with tear gas and Billy clubs. The whole riot was being televised with the crowd chanting, “The whole world is watching!”

31. Made many Americans turned away from Democrats to the more conservative Republicans. • Richard Nixon won the election of 1968. He offered “peace with honor” as his plan for Vietnam. It was a tight race. Yet he found it difficult to abandon the American commitment.

32. Nixon’s special assistant for national security, Henry Kissinger, often overshadowed him.

33. Kissinger’s main strategy was “Vietnamizing” – training and equipping South Vietnamese soldiers to assume burden of conflict instead of American soldiers. In 1969, Nixon brings home 50,000 troops and continues gradual removal of the rest. By 1972 there are fewer than 60,000 troops left.

34. Problem: policy did not help the South gain an advantage. They escalate activity – decide to attack bases in Cambodia and Laos where they think the North were launching many of their attacks. • Nixon kept these raids from the public and Congress. • Spring 1970 – a pro-American government took control of Cambodia – gave approval to Americans to come into Cambodia. Nixon announced that he ordered American troops across the border to clean out bases used by the North.

35. Result: huge inflammation of antiwar activity at home. May 4, 1970 four students were killed and nine others injured when National Guard opened fire on antiwar demonstrators at Kent State University in Ohio.

36. 1972: Nixon went on another major bombing raid of Hanoi and other Northern targets. • Finally, on January 27, 1973, North Vietnam and U.S. signed an “agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam”. Nixon claimed this last bombing helped bring on the cease-fire.

37. The U.S. Withdraws from Vietnam • ***Finally, in January 1973 a peace agreement was reached. • The provisions of the peace included: • U.S withdraw all forces in S. Vietnam in 60 days. • All prisoners of war needed to be released. 3. All military activities must end in Cambodia and Laos. 4. The 17th parallel would continue to divide Vietnam until the country could be reunited.

38. Legacy of the War • In 1975, the South fell to the North and Vietnam was united as one, Communist nation • More than 58,000 Americans died and over 300,000 were wounded. • The Vietnam was the longest and least successful war in American history. • The U.S. spent at least $150 billion on the war • The U.S. did not restore trade with Vietnam until 1994.

39. Vietnam Wall Memorial • A contest was held in 1979 for designing the Vietnam Memorial to honor all the soldiers who gave their life for their country during the Vietnam War. • The winner was a 21 year old college student named Maya Ying Lin. • The Wall was completed in 1982.