Vietnam

Vietnam was a ______ Colony since mid 19th century and _____ took control of Vietnam in 1940 during _____

French, Japan, WWII

what did hi chi minh do after WWII? what was the result?

• declared Vietnamese independence and waged war against French colonial control

• resulted in First Indochina War between French and Viet Minh

how did the First Indochina War end?

• French defeat at Dien Bien Phu

• Geneva Accords of 1954 forced France out

Role of Truman in the war

• Financially aided French in the First Indochina War

• Saw Vietnam through a Cold War viewpoint and wanted to apply the containment policy

role of eisenhower in the vietnam war

• Supported South Vietnam after it was freed from French colonialism

• Introduced Domino Theory: if one Southeast country fell to communism others would too

• Provided military advisors and more financial aid to South Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem

role of JFK in vietnam war

• Wanted to counter communism in Vietnam and get political win in capitalism vs communism

• Increased US military advisors in South Vietnam

• Defended support for South Vietnam but secretly thought it would fall

Geneva Accords 1954

• Agreement after French defeat in First Indochina War

• France, Viet Minh, China, US, Soviet Union, and other nations involved in negotiations

  TERMS

  • Divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel

  • Set nationwide elections in 1956 to reunify Vietnam; US and South Vietnam refused because communism was more likely to win

  • Prohibited Vietnam from joining international military alliances 

17th parallel

divided north and south vietnam

• intended to be temporary

• didnt move much during war

who led north vietnam

communist Ho Chi Minh

who led south vietnam

non communist Ngo Dinh Diem

vietcong

• communist forces in south vietnam that supported the north

• used guerrilla warfare, ambushes, traps

• blended with local population

ho chi minh

communist leader of north vietnam

• declared independence from france and established north vietnam

• supported by china and soviet union

• was the main general figthing US

Ho chi minh trail

•  jungle paths used by North to supply Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army in South Vietnam

• Passed through Laos and Cambodia to avoid US and South Vietnamese soldiers

• Main movement of North Vietnam’s troops, weapons, and supplies

guerrilla warfare

• used by vietcong

• ambushes, traps, tunnels

• used because vietnamese lacked strength and firepower

gulf of tonkin incident

• US navy ships cooperating with South Vietnamese gunboats in provocative raids along the coast of North Vietnam

• 2 American destroyers were allegedly fired upon by North Vietnamese

• Other investigations suggest that North Vietnamese fired in self defense

• Johnson stated that “For all I know, the Navy was shooting at whales out there.”

gulf of tonkin resolution

• Johnson used the incident to get congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

  • Allowed president to have more power in using force in Southeast Asia

  • Widespread and covered multiple topics but mainly expanded power of the president

operation rolling thunder

• Regular full-scale bombing attacks against Northern Vietnam

• Used this as leverage to attempt to force the North Vietnamese into peace negotiations

• Example of trying to appeal to the hawks and pacify the doves

what goals of LBJ’s did operation rolling thunder accomplish

• militarization

• leverage to force peace negotiations

• appealing to hawks and pacifying doves

robert mcnamara and his views on the war

• Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam

• Didn’t like US involvement in Vietnam

• Resigned and stepped down from Secretary of Defense

• Later wrote that “we were wrong, terribly wrong”

General Westmoreland

Commanded US military operations in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968

general westmoreland’s goals for the war and his impact

• used attrition and requested increased troop deployments

• Wanted heavy casualties on the enemy through search and destroy operations

• his strategies led to escelation of the conflict

napalm

jellied gas/mixture of chemicals that used to bomb structures and kill people

agent orange

mixture of herbicides used to deforest land and kill crops

• used to disrupt enemy lines and lmit Viet Cong movements

senator william fulbright

• led opposition of the vietnam war in congress

• staged televised hearings where people talked about anti war views

• created the credibility gap

  • people did not believe in the winability of the war

credibility gap

senator william fulbright spread anti-war sentiment

• created a credibility gap, where citizens were unsure of the winability of the war

light at the end of the tunnel

LBJ’s tactic to reassure the public and continue support for the war

draft and public perception of ot

drafting young men to fight in vietnam

• denounced because of the brutality of the Vietnam War

• increased amount of draft dodgers

college deferment

full-time college students were exempt from the draft

• beneficial for mid/upper-class americans because college was expensive

avoiding the draft

• fleeing to canada, faking illness, college deferments, etc

• some faced legal consequences

• stemmed from fear of death or not supporting americas involvement in the war

my lai massacre

American troops murdered innocent women and children in the village of My Lai

lt. calley

• Army officer convicted of murdering 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre

how was lt. calley punished

• Dismissed from the US miliary

• Released to house arrest by President Nixon 3 days after his conviction

• Initial life sentence was reduced to 20 years, then later to 10 years, then to 3 years of house arrest

“living room war”

• People were watching and experiencing the war live from their living rooms

• Used TVs and radios to see what was happening in Vietnam from their living rooms

what did the living room war do for citizens

• Allowed people to form their own opinions about the war

• Shift in public perception about the war compared to other previous wars

homefront and public views on the war

• split views

• protests over vietnam, draft, and civil rights

• started hippie movement to dissent from the gov

• READ MORE ABOUT PROTESTS ON THE STUDY GUIDE THERES TOO MUCH TO PUT ON HERE

doves vs hawks

doves wanted the war to end/slow down, while hawks wanted to increase fighting in vietnam

tet offensive

• Happened during Tet, the Vietnamese new year

• Americans thought that the Viet Cong and Northern Vietnamese would be at ease to celebrate the new year

• Viet Cong made a surprise attack on 27 major South Vietnamese cities

• Over 100 towns, 12 US air bases, and the US embassy were attacked

• Viet Cong supporting Villagers from smaller towns came into bigger cities with weapons

• Viet Cong lost the battles and were driven away

impact of tet offensive

• Americans lost politically and people criticized Johnson’s strategy of gradual escalation

• Led to more antiwar support in the US

election of 1968

• Hubert Humphrey gained the Democratic nomination

• Republicans nominated Richard Nixon as their nominee

struggle for democratic party election of 1968

• Johnson challenged as the Democratic nominee by Eugene McCarthy

  • McCarthy was antiwar and campaigned on going “clean for Gene”

• Johnson stepped out of the running for presidency in his speech on March 31, 1968 because of the toll the Vietnam War took on him and the challenges to his leadership

who did robert kennedy appeal to in election of 1968

• Robert Kennedy also campaigned for president also supporting antiwar sentiments

  • Mostly appealed to workers and minorities

Assassination of Bobby Kennedy and impact

• Assassinated in 1968 after winning the California primary

• Shot by a young Arab immigrant because of Kennedy’s support of Israel

• Assassination was part of the reason why there was a riot at the DNC in Chicago

Democratic Convention and riot

• Martin Luther King Jr.’s views on antiwar and Kennedy’s assassination led to a riot breaking out during the DNC in Chicago

  • Most rioters were antiwar

• police and the national guard got involved

• People threw cans and bags of poop at the police

• Police responded with clubbing and beating innocent and guilty 

• Also used tear gas to disperse the crowd

Final candidates and Election results 1968

• Humphrey was the main Democratic nominee

• Nixon was the main Republican nominee

• George Wallace was an independent candidate who ran for continued segregation

  • Wallace prevented 2 black students from entering the University of Alabama in 1963 and directly challenged the federal government

• Nixon won the election against Humphrey with a close popular vote

• Wallace only won the deep Southern states

Silent Majority

• After protest in October 1969, Nixon attempted to appeal to the silent majority who he thought supported the war

• Wanted the support of those who were silent about their support for the war

• Term generally refers to Americans who were not part of protests against the Vietnam War

who proposed vietnamization

nixon

Vietnamization

• A policy meant to withdraw the 540,000 US troops in South Vietnam over a period of time

• Aimed to shift the fighting and burden of the war to the South Vietnamese

• Basis for the Nixon Doctrine that claimed that other countries would have to fight their own wars without the support of American ground troops

nixon and Cambodia

• Nixon expanded the war in 1970 by attacking Cambodia

• North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were using Cambodia to move weapons and troops

• Nixon ordered American forces to clean out the enemy from Cambodia which as officially neutral from the war

how were nixon’s actions in Cambodia perceived and responded to

This action was highly controversial and deepened divisions between hawks and doves

Kent State shootings

• Students became angry with the expansion of the war, leading to vandalism

• At Kent State, the National Guard fired into a noisy crowd of students killing 4 and wounding more

Christmas Bombings

• Known as operation Linebacker II

• 12 day bombing campaign on North Vietnam

• Targeted military and other sites

why were the Christmas Bombings commenced?

• Happened because peace talks stopped and Nixon wanted to pressure the North Vietnamese back into peace talks

results of christmas bominbings

• Led to the resumption of peace talks and the Paris Peace Accords were signed at the end of January 1973

what were the peace accords and what led them to be signed

• Paris Peace Accords was a way for the US military to end its involvement with the Vietnam War

• Its signing was forced by the christmas bombings

what happened with the Pentagon Papers and what were the effects

• A former official at the Pentagon leaked the Pentagon Papers

• Fueled antiwar feelings and distrust over the government 

what information did the Pentagon papers hold

• Papers were a secret study done by the Pentagon about the history of US involvement in the Vietnam War

• Revealed information that Kennedy and Johnson kept from the public about their intentions and goals for the war

• Papers suggested that the government made a bigger deal out of the Gulf of Tonkin incident to gain support for the Vietnam War

who was Henry Kissinger

• Nixon’s national security advisor

what did henry kissinger do for Nixon?

• Began secret meetings with North Vietnamese officials on Nixon’s behalf

• Met to negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam

• Also began preparing Nixon’s path to Beijing and Moscow to improve relations with China and Russia despite their communism

Paris Peace Accords

• Also known as the Treaty of Paris

• A treaty to commence a cease fire and allowed for the US to withdraw its remaining troops and prisoners of war

• Allowed North Vietnam and South Vietnam to negotiate a political settlement and end the civil war

• Was really a retreat of the United States

Fall of Saigon

• Saigon the capital of South Vietnam was taken by North Vietnamese forces and marked the end of the Vietnam War

• North Vietnam violated the ceasefire of the Paris Peace Accords and launched an offensive to capture Saigon

what did the fall of Saigon lead to

• Led to the reunification of Vietnam under communism and US evacuation from the country

War Powers Act

• Congressional opposition to the expansion of presidential war powers by Johnson and Nixon

• Passed in November 1973 and passed over Nixon’s veto

• Required the president to report to Congress in 48 hours after committing to a foreign conflict where US troops were fighting in

26^th Amendment

• Lowered voting age to 18

• Allowed soldiers to vote for the leader that would send them to war

• Eased opposition to government involvement in Vietnam slightly

The Wall (1981)

• The wall was a memorial to Vietnam veterans in Washington DC

changes in civil rights activism

• became bloodier and less peaceful than before as people wanted immediate chang

• White people threatened to retaliate against the rioters in a “blacklash” against arsonists and killers

Watts riots

• Watts was a black ghetto in Los Angeles

• Blacks enraged by police brutality burned and looted their own neighborhoods for about a week

• 31 blacks and 3 whites died with more than a thousand people injured and hundreds of buildings destroyed or burned

chicago riots

• The riot at the DNC

newark riots

• black cab driver was arrested by two white cops

• rumors spread that he died in custody

• riots grew, resulting in 26 deaths, hundreds of injuris

malcolm x

• First inspired by the militant black nationalists in the Nation of Islam

• Changed his surname to say how he lost his African identity in white America

• Advocated for black separation

• Malcom X distanced himself from Elijah Muhammed and the Nation of Islam, preaching more towards mainstream Islam

• Killed in 1965 by rival Nation of Islam gunmen while speaking to a crowd in NYC

Black Power

• Racial pride of black identities

• Also demanded black studies programs in schools and universities

what did people think about the black panther party

• Some advocates said it was a front to exercise the political and economic rights gained from the Civil Rights movement and integrate into American society

• Others claimed it as a way to stay distinct from white Americans and promote their own “Afro” hairstyles, dresses, and shed their white names for African identities

Black Panthers 

• Founded in 1966, the Black Panther Party viewed the war as an extension of America’s imperialism

• They thought the resources going towards the war could help them instead

• Organized and participated in marches and rallies against US military involvement

• Encouraged Black Americans to resist the Vietnam War draft, arguing that Black soldiers did not benefit from the war and only risked their lives

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 1968

• MLK spoke out against the war restating the struggle for civil rights and denounced the imperialism in Vietnam 

• He argued that America was spending resources on the war while neglecting issues like poverty and racial injustice in its own country

• He delivered a speech in April 1967 where he condemned the war as immoral and argued that it disproportionately affected poor communities 

• Killed by a sniper in Memphis Tennessee on April 4, 1968

• His assassination in April 1968 sparked widespread protests and outrage as many saw his murder as an end to his efforts

• Became a martyr whose legacy would forever be for the equality of races

• Assassination was a contributing factor for the riot at the DNC in Chicago of 1968

Anti-authority

• Many young Americans opposed the government’s authority to force them into military service through a draft

• Activists burned draft cards, fled to Canada, and protested.

• Many were imprisoned and killed on college campuses, which further intensified the public’s distrust and dissatisfaction with the government - Kent State

• Anti-war sentiments were popular among the youth in the late 1960s

• Hippie movement or flower children were also popular

hippie movement

• advocated for peace, love, and idealistic values

• against Vietnam war

• They rejected mainstream values including a clean look, conformity, materialism, traditional values, and wanted a laid back lifestyle

Hippies vs. Mainstream

• Many hippies, or those associated with counterculture, organized marches, sit-ins, and rallies to demand peace

• Hippies were inspired by pacifist ideals that opposed militarism and violence

• Hippies focused on mainstream values

• Hippies were mainly young and liked psychedelic music and used drugs including LSD

• Mainstream, especially the older generation, supported the war, which fostered a generational gap

did Nixon appeal to hippies or mainstream?

mainstream

Haight-Ashbury

• It was a hub for anti-Vietnam War protests

• Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco became the epicenter of the hippie movement

• It was known for its vibrant counterculture, music scene, and the summer of love in 1967

• Attracted thousands of young people seeking freedom, self-expression, and a different way of life