• Students will be able to explain the origins of American involvement in Southeast Asia especially Vietnam• Students will be able to trace the growing US participation in the

Vietnam War• Students will be able to explain the rise of the US anti-war movement

and its impact on American society• Students will be able to explain how the US exited the war and the

impact the war had on US foreign and domestic policies

• Vietnamese Nationalism Vietnam under control / influence

of China Came under control of France in

1800s as part of French Indochina Ho Chi Minh founded Vietnamese

Communist Party – led resistance movement, Vietminh, against Japanese

Received US support After WWII he declared Vietnam

independentHo Chi Minh

• After WWII (1946) French troops returned to Indochina• 1949 French drove out Vietminh

and set up new colonial government• Vietminh began guerrilla war

against French – French appealed to US for help• US opposed colonialism but did

not want Vietnam to become Communist

Vietminh prisoners

• Two events caused President Truman to support French- the fall of China to the Communists and the Korean war• US believed USSR was trying to

expand Communism in Asia• President Eisenhower also

supported France – eventually US paying ¾ of French war costs• Domino Theory – belief that if one

country fell to Communism then it would cause others to fall as well

• France frustrated by Vietminh guerrilla war• Wanted to draw Vietminh out into

open battle• Battle of Dien Bien Phu• French defeat caused withdrawal

from Indochina• Geneva Accords

UN divided Vietnam at 17th parallel Elections to be held to unite Vietnam

into single country French troops at Dien Bien Phu

No elections held – North became Communist state under Ho Chi Minh / South led by Ngo Dinh Diem

Diem pro-West, anti-Communist, Catholic

South Vietnam supported by US War began between South

Vietnam and Communists

Ngo Dinh Diem

• Communists formed guerrilla army in the south called Viet Cong• Growing power of Viet Cong

caused US to increase support for South Vietnam• President Kennedy increased US

troop strength in Vietnam to ~15,000• Diem began Strategic Hamlet

program – fortified villages • Program unpopular with peasants Viet Cong in training

• Diem unpopular due to persecution of Buddhists• Buddhists protested• South Vietnamese generals with

CIA overthrew Diem – Diem assassinated• Coup made situation worse

Buddhist monk burns himself to death protesting Diem’s policies

• 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – authorized President Johnson to expand US military presence in Vietnam• Attacks by Viet Cong on US forces

resulted in the bombing of North Vietnam• Operation Rolling Thunder – extensive

bombing campaign against North Vietnam• Johnson sent US combat troops to

fight alongside South Vietnamese units

• Over 200,000 US troops in Vietnam by 1966• US frustrated by guerrilla tactics

and dense jungle terrain/foliage• Guerrillas blended in with

civilian population• Body counts• Search and Destroy missions• Use of Napalm and Agent

Orange (defoliant)Burned children flee accidental napalm strike by South Vietnamese Air Force

• Viet Cong suffered heavy losses but continued war against US and South Vietnam• Viet Cong supplied by North Vietnam

through network of jungle trails called Ho Chi Minh Trail• Trail bypassed much of South Vietnam

through Laos and Cambodia• North Vietnam supplied by USSR and

Communist China• Johnson refused to expand war and

allow US to use full powerHo Chi Minh Trail

• By late 1960s many in US turned against the Vietnam War• General Westmoreland,

commander of US forces in Vietnam, assured the American public that US was winning• Daily images of war on TV news

caused credibility gap – doubt that US government was telling truth

• Protests increased as casualties mounted• Teach-In – teachers and students

abandoned classes and protested war• Exemptions to the draft seen as

impacting the poor and minorities unfairly• Black casualties protested by MLK• Many young men resisted the draft or

fled to Canada or Sweden• Hawks: pro-war / Doves: anti-war

• 1968 – The Turning Point• Tet Offensive

Massive surprise attack on South Vietnam by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units

All major cities attacked Communists executed thousands of South

Vietnamese leaders, teachers, and foreigners

Tet was military defeat for Communists but huge propaganda victory

Mainstream media in US turned against the war

President Johnson’s popularity plummeted

• Election of 1968 Senator Eugene McCarthy entered

Democratic primary – “peace” candidate

Robert Kennedy also entered race Johnson declined to run for another

term Robert Kennedy and MLK

assassinated Violent protests staged at the

Democratic Primary in Chicago Hubert Humphrey (VP) won

nomination

Richard Nixon won Republican nomination

Third Party nominee George Wallace (Segregationist)

Nixon pledged to restore law and order and end Vietnam War

Nixon won election

Richard Nixon

George Wallace

• President Nixon appointed Henry Kissinger as his special assistant• Linkage - Kissinger tried to improve

relations with USSR and China to get support to end war • Vietnamization – Nixon policy of

arming South Vietnam so they could fight the war and US could withdraw troops• Nixon increased bombing of North

Vietnam and Cambodia President Nixon and Henry Kissinger

• My Lai Massacre – US troops massacred ~200 South Vietnamese villagers• US invaded Cambodia to destroy

Communist Ho Chi Minh Trail• Many saw invasion as widening

of war – protests at Kent State University resulted in death of 4 students

Bodies of villagers at My Lai killed by US troops

• The Pentagon Papers Government documents leaked by

DOD worker Daniel Ellsberg Documents showed many in

Johnson administration questioned US involvement in Vietnam while publicly supporting it

Also showed government officials lied to the press and public

• Election of 1972 – Nixon won second term• Peace talks between US and North and

South Vietnam • Communists broke off talks – Nixon

conducted massive bombing of North Vietnam – Communists resumed talks

• US pulled combat troops out of Vietnam and promised continued military supply to South Vietnam

• North Vietnam invaded the South – US Congress refused to supply South Vietnam

• South Vietnam fell to Communists in April 1975

US helicopters evacuate US and select South Vietnamese personnel from Saigon as the city falls to the North Vietnamese Army

• Aftermath Vietnam War cost billions of dollars ~58,000 US deaths About one million Vietnamese deaths

(South and North) not including civilians Changed way US looked at war Congress passed War Powers Act –

President must inform Congress of troop commitment w/in 48 hours and withdraw troops w/in 60-90 days

US citizens more cynical about government ~250,000 South Vietnamese killed by

Communists after war About two million Vietnamese “boat

people” fled Vietnam