Vietnam War Era

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Section One: Origins of the Vietnam War

Cold War struggles vs. Global Communism

America’s involvement in Vietnam has roots:

European colonialism

Cold War politics

Vietnamese calls for independence from France

France in Southeast Asia

Indochina

​​​​​​​Harshly treated

French laws

French business dominated plantation and mineral economies

Ho Chi Minh

​​​​​​​Important for making demands for Vietnam independence

Searched for Westerners who would support his plans for Vietnam independence

Visited France, England, US, and USSR​​​​​

Soviet communists supported him and Minh had embraced communism​​​​​​​

French Fight to Keep Vietnam

Colonialism was fading all around the world​​​​​​​

France wanted to keep VN and maintain some of its global powers

Nationalism was emerging

​​​​​​​VN continued its calls for independence

Created Vietminh

The US supported the French in its fight against global communism

​​​​​​​President Harry S. Truman

Gave aid for 2.6 billion dollars

Domino Theory

​​​​​​​President Dwight D. Eisenhower

A communist VN was a threat to the whole southeast Asian region

French are defeated

Battle of Dien Bien Phu

By May of 1954 they were defeated

SEATO

Supported Diem with economic and military aid

Diem refused elections in 1956 and declared himself president of the Republic of South Vietnam with US support

Communist Opposition

​​​​​​​1957 – National Liberation Front

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Want to overthrow Diem​​​​​​​

Unify VN under communist rule

Vietcong

​​​​​​​NLF guerrilla fighters

Supported by the north

Civil War in Vietnam

Only support from the U.S. kept Diem in power

Kennedy and Vietnam

​​​​​​​1961 – special forces to SVN as advisors (flexible response)

By 1962 – 15,000 advisors

Diem was very unpopular throughout the south

Diem is overthrown and assassinated in November of 1963

Kennedy is assassinated shortly after and Johnson takes over

Johnson and VN

​​​​​​​"Cold warrior”

1964 - The USS Maddox

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Authorized the president to take military action in VN

No declaration of war

Section Two: US Involvement Grows

“Americanizing” The War

Feb 1965 – Pleiku and Operation Rolling Thunder​​​​​​​

US committed more troops to fight

Became a dominant force in fighting both Vietcong and North Vietnamese

March 1965 – Da Nang

Exclusive and Determined Enemy

Minh’s Strategy (“The Tiger and The Elephant”)

Costly and Frustrating

Limited results​​​​​​​

Troop commitments and battlefield deaths increased rapidly

End of 1965 – 184,000 troops in VN - 636 killed

1967 500,000+ troops – 30,000 killed

The “Quagmire”

“Hearts and minds”​​​​​​​

Corruption

Stalemate

Doubt on the Home Front

?ing the War

Draftees

Important?

Fight it themselves?

Weakening the Enemy

​​​​​​​Massive government spending

Higher prices and inflation

Higher taxes

Hurt Great Society agenda

Anti-War Movement

Hawkes and Doves

Section Three: The War Divides America

Anti-War Protests Increase

1967 & 1968 Senator Fulbright hearings

By 1965 Draftees

1.5 million men

Working class and poor

MLK speaks out against the war

October 1967 – Stop-the-Draft week

Activation on College Campuses

Strong presence of antiwar opinion

Middle class

Students for a Democratic Society

1960 University of Michigan

Teach ins

“We Won’s Go”

Free-Speech Movement

1964 University of California at Berkeley

More Opposition on War

“Living room War”

Protest in middle America increases

Many anti-war groups

“Credibility Gap”

Tet Offensive

Major Communist offensive across South Vietnam

Turning point for the war

The costs of continuing the war

1968 – Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy

Johnson Announces attempts at a negotiated settlement of the war AND that he would not run for re-election

Violence of 1968

MLK and Robert Kennedy had gotten assassinated

Democratic National Convention

1968 in Chicago

Anti-war protests and violence erupts

TV coverage with deep divisions across the country

Election of 1968

Republican→ Richard Nixon & Democrat→ Hubert Humphrey

American Independent Party – George Wallace

Silent Majority and the Southern Strategy

Section Four: The War’s End and Impact

Nixon Starts to Pull Out

Dedicated to ending the war

1968 and 1969 peace talks stall

1970 – Vietnamization and “peace with honor”

Ho Chi Minh trail and Cambodia

Trouble on the Homefront Intensify

Kentucky (1970)

Jackson State University

May 1970, “All the Way USA”

1971→ My Lai (massacre of civilians by American Troops)

Pentagon Papers (showed that the Government misinformed the public and congress about the war)

The War Ends

Paris Peace Accords (1973)

Fall of Saigon

Lasting Impact

2.5 million served

58,000 Americans killed

300,000 wounded

Conflict continued in South East Asia

Coming Home

Mixed reactions

Protest against

Lack of appreciation

Physical and psychological issues for many

1982 – Vietnam Veterans Memorial

American Policies

Great Society was derailed by the war effort and protests

1973 - War Powers Act

Less likely to intervene in world affairs

Fear of “another Vietnam”

Section Five: Nixon and the Cold War

Redefines Foreign Policy

Realpolitik

Concrete national interest not abstract ideologies

No worldwide communist movement

Recognizing China

Establishing diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China

Economic benefits

Differences between Soviet Union and China could be exploited

1972 Trip to China

By 1979 the US and China had full diplomatic relations

Détente with Soviet Union

May 1972 – Nixon visits Moscow

Strategic Arms Limitations Agreement

Reduce tension between US and USSR

New Global Strategy

Pragmatic approach to American foreign policy

Ended the Vietnam War

Step towards ending the cold war​​​​​​​​​​​​​​