Vietnam

Early History of Vietnam

• Early Vietnam• Ruled by the French, started in the late 1800s

• Ho Chi Minh--leader of the Indochinese Communist Party, wanted Vietnam to be independent/communist

• Vietminh--organization created by Ho Chi Minh that attempted to win independence.

• After WWII, France was determined to keep Vietnam

• Ironically, the USA had supported Ho Chi Minh during WWII b/c he was against the Japanese.

USA and Vietnam

• Domino Theory• Belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, all the other countries of

SE Asia would become communist• Eisenhower would stop communism in SE Asia

• Results• French were forced to surrender at Dien Bien Phu• Geneva Accords---temporarily divided Vietnam into 2 countries

along the 17th parallel. • North Vietnam (Communist)--capital of Hanoi• South Vietnam (anti-communist)--capital Saigon.• Election to unify country would be in 1956.

US Helps Out???

• Election of 1956• Ho Chi Minh--very popular guy in the North b/c he was a national

hero• Ngo Dinh Diem--strong anti-communist who was supported by the

USA• Diem realized he could not win the election, so he dropped out of the

race• Diem made everyone mad b/c he lost control of the government, tried

to make everyone Catholic, and did not redistribute any land to the poor.

• Vietcong---communist opposition to Diem/S Vietnam, started to become more popular in South Vietnam

• Ho Chi Minh Trail--allowed for supplies and men to go between the North and South Vietnam (trail that went through Laos, Thailand and Cambodia)

Presidential Response

• John F Kennedy• Sent over thousands of military advisor

• Gave more $ to Diem, Diem forced people to move out of villages, also started attacking Buddhism

• USA supported a military coup to assassinate Diem

• Kennedy was assassinated a few weeks later (1963)

Presidential Response

• Lyndon Johnson (President after Kennedy)• Was willing to do anything to prevent communist from taking

over South Vietnam

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution• US alleged that the North Vietnamese had been firing at US

ships (not true)

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution--US would take all steps necessary to stop North Vietnam, started a bombing campaign called “operation rolling thunder”

• By March of 1965, over 50,000 American soldiers were in Vietnam fighting against the Vietcong

Johnson’s Plan continued..

• President Johnson’s Plans• Worked with Robert McNamara (Sec of Defense) and Dean

Rusk (Sec of State)• All decided to start sending thousands of troops to Vietnam in

1965 (most people were in favor)

• Style of Fighting• Vietcong used guerilla warfare (hit/run, surprise)• Tunnel system allowed them to withstand air strikes and hide

effectively (leeches, heat, weather)• Lots of booby traps and land minds• Made the fighting very difficult and dangerous

Problems fighting

• Too Much Jungle• Napalm—gasoline based bomb that set fire to jungle• Agent Orange—leaf killing chemical, destroyed

everything, caused cancer for both Vietnamese and Americans.

• Don’t know who they are fighting• Search and Destroy Missions—getting rid of

civilians who are suspected as being with the Vietcong

• Destroying entire villages

Mental Issues

• Sinking Morale• Guerilla war, bad conditions, not winning, death• All made soldiers very upset• Drugs became very popular• POW Camps

• Issues at Home• Living Room War—combat footage appeared on the nightly

news, showed the reality of the war.• Led to people questioning whether our government was telling

the truth• Also led to more people opposing the war in America

War at Home

• Draft• All males had to register with their local draft boards

• Could get out of service with: doctors note, join the coast guard, go to college, run away

• Over 80% of the soldiers in Vietnam were from the lower class

• African Americans• Forced into the worst situations, very high number of

deaths

War at Home

• USA Divided• College students formed many groups in opposition

to the Vietnam War (SDS, FSM)

• Felt that issues in Vietnam were a Civil War, government in S. Vietnam was worse than N. Vietnam, US can’t police the globe, war is bad.

• Doves—people that wanted peace, US withdrawal

• Hawks—greater military force need to win

1968

• Tet Offensive• Surprise attack by the North Vietnamese on over

100 towns in South Vietnam

• Lasted for around a month

• Military it was a bad move for N. Vietnam (lost almost 10 times as many men)

• Psychologically and politically it was a great move by N. Vietnam

» Shocked Americans who had been told that N. Vietnam was close to surrendering.

1968

• Violence in America• Assassinations (MLK JR, Robert F Kennedy)

• Riots in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention

• New President• Lyndon Johnson chose not to run in 1968

• Richard Nixon won the election (Rep)

The End of the War

• Richard Nixon• Told reporters that they would get troops out of Vietnam

• Negotiations for a withdrawal went nowhere

• Henry Kissinger• National Security Advisor

• Vietnamization—gradual withdrawal of troops from South Vietnam (let them rule themselves)

• Within 3 years, number of troops went from 500,000 to under 25,000

• Nixon did order a massive bombing campaign on North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

Troubles with Withdrawal

• My Lai Massacre• Massacre of an entire village by US troops in 1968

• Calley (leader) was convicted and imprisoned

• Country was SHOCKED

• Invasion of Cambodia• US invaded Cambodia in 1970

• Done to try to ruin the Ho Chi Minh Trail

• Lots of protest within America (colleges)

Other Problems

• Kent State Massacre• Massive student protest over invasion of Cambodia

• National Guard came in to stop the protest

• National Guard shot at the crowd, killed 4, injured 9

• Same thing happened at Jackson State College

• US Actions• US continued to bomb N. Vietnam

• Stalemate

End of the War

• Final Push• Negations between N. Vietnam, S. Vietnam and USA were

going nowhere.• Christmas Bombings—USA dropped over 100,000 for 11 days

straight on N. Vietnam• The USSR finally stepped in and negotiated a peace between

the countries.• US troops left Vietnam on March 29, 1973, two years later

North Vietnamese Troops invaded and took control of South Vietnam. (Saigon)

• Communist took over, imprisoned over 400,000, over 1.5 million left Vietnam

• Cambodia went into a Civil War (1 million dead)

End Results

• Death/Injury Toll• 58,000 Americans died

• 303,000 Americans wounded

• USA• Soldiers did not receive a warm welcome on return home

• 15% of soldiers suffered from PTSD

• Thousands committed suicide

• Drug Abuse

• New way of thinking concerning war and government