Vietnam

Lecture Notes

The Vietnam Domino

• U.S. replaced France as the supporter of South Vietnamese– CIA installed Ngo Dinh Diem

in South Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh (North-

Communist)• Catholic Diem alienated

mostly Buddhist nation– Viet Cong guerrillas began

launching attacks in 1957

Communist Uprising

• Viet Cong were gaining strength in South Vietnam– U.S. increased number of

weapons and advisers• Diem violently suppressed

political opposition– protests movement grew

Johnson’s War

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed after U.S. destroyer Maddox was “torpedoed” in August 1964– Gave the president power

to wage undeclared war

Stalemate• Over 180,000 American troops were in

Vietnam by the end of 1965– number doubled in 1966

• Vietcong used ambush (guerilla) tactics• America used “search and destroy”

tactics– napalm and Agent Orange

• North Vietnam sent supplies to the south by way of the Ho Chi Minh Trail– through Laos and Cambodia

Support in the U.S.

• Before 1966, most Americans supported the war in Vietnam – Opposition: students, pacifists, and radical groups– TV described U.S. successes and told upbeat stories about the courage

and skill of American soldiers. As the war continued, however, television reports began to show more scenes of violence, suffering, and destruction—the human toll of the war.

• Credibility Gap: the difference between the reality of the war and the Johnson administration’s portrayal of it.

Difficulties in Vietnam

• War of attrition: military campaign designed to wear down the enemies strength. – Eliminate enough troops to make the Viet-Cong stop

fighting – “Search and destroy” missions – Body count became a measuring tool for US progress in

the war.

Tet Offensive: January 31, 1968

• 85,000 Viet Cong soldiers attacked cities, villages, military bases, and airfields.

• US & South Vietnamese troops vs. Viet Cong– US “military victory” – High enemy casualties

The Fallout: Tet Offensive

• Before 1966, most Americans supported the war in Vietnam – Doves vs. Hawks

• The Tet Offensive added to President Johnson’s credibility gap. – The difference between the

reality of the war and the Johnson administration’s portrayal of it.

A Shaken President

• Johnson faced challenges from within the Democratic Party– Vietnam compromised

“Great Society” gains

• LBJ withdrew from 1968 presidential race.

A Divisive Election:1968

• Richard Nixon nominated by Republicans– “secret plan” to end the war– appealed to the “silent majority”

• George Wallace ran as a third-party candidate– fiercely opposed racial integration

• Chicago riots hurt Humphrey’s campaign– Nixon wins

Beginning the Peace Talks

• Vietnamization: – The gradual removal of

US troops.– South Vietnamese take

more active role. – Troop withdrawal begin

in 1969

Getting Out of Vietnam

• Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in Dec. 1970– Invasion of Cambodia

• Pentagon Papers (1971)– Revealed that government had

lied about the war

• Troop withdrawals accelerated– 90,000 by early 1972

Stalemate and Cease-Fire

• Cease-fire began on January 27, 1973– North Vietnamese troops

remained in the south– Full-scale invasion began

in March 1975

• South Vietnam collapsed in April 1975– Evacuation of U.S.

embassy in Saigon

Legacy of the War• America’s longest and least successful

war

• 58,000 Americans dead (300,000 wounded)

• Cost at least $150 billion

• Millions of Vietnamese soldiers died, countless civilian deaths

• Laos and Cambodia fell to Communism

• Soldiers returned wounded, scarred, and without appreciation

The Whitehouse Plumbers • After the release of the

Pentagon Papers, the White House created a unit to ensure internal security.

• This unit was called the Plumbers because they stopped leaks.

• These were the men who would orchestrate the break-in that would launch the Watergate Scandal.

Howard Hunt G. Gordon Liddy

James McCord Chuck Colson

Nixon’s Personality Behind Closed Doors

• Paranoid! Many believed the loss in the election of 1960 particularly increased this trait in him.

• Highly regarded for his experience, but people were open about disliking and distrusting him personally.

• Calculating and Cold– willing to say anything to vanquish his enemy.

• Nixon believed in concentrating power in the executive branch of government.

The Watergate Break-in• 1972 polls showed Nixon

slipping– The Plumbers turned their

activities to political espionage.

• On 17 June 1972, 5 men were arrested while attempting to bug the headquarters of the Democratic Party inside the Watergate building in Washington D.C. – One of the men arrested, James

McCord, was the head of security for the Republican Party.

• The Nixon campaign denied any involvement.

Despite the growing stain of Watergate, which had not yet reached the President, Nixon won by the largest margin in history to that point.

The Election of 1972

Initial Aftermath • More than 30 government

officials went to prison for their role in Watergate.– Richard Nixon was not one of

them.

• In September 1974, President Gerald Ford gave Nixon a full pardon.

• Woodward and Bernstein won the Pulitzer Prize.

• The identity of Deepthroat was kept secret until W. Mark Felt unmasked himself in 2005.

Ford announcing the pardon

Legacy of Watergate• Watergate proved to the American people and the world that the

President was NOT above the law, and that he would not be shielded by the Constitution.

• The most lasting legacy of Watergate was the shift in the public perception and trust of the office of President. This was especially compounded by the event directly following with the mistakes of Vietnam.

• The public trust will never fully be restored to the level that existed before the Vietnam/Watergate Era.

• This also marked the absolute end of the press’s protection of the office of President. No event better shows this than the Clinton Scandal of the 90s.

Youth Culture and Counterculture

• “Counterculture” grew out of the New Left movement– mass appeal, less substantive

politically (“hippies”)– experimentation with drugs

was common

• Hippies challenged social norms, critical of war/draft– Haight-Ashbury (San Francisco)

Cultural Revolution

• Counterculture stressed rejection of materialism, consumerism– communes (“families”)

• “Sexual revolution” reflected changing attitudes– Roe v. Wade (1973)

• Gay rights movement grew– Stonewall Rebellion (1969)