8.8 - Vietnam War

- Communist Minh (N) vs Anti-Communist Diem (S) (not popular and later overthrown)

- Vietcong & Saigon government

- Domino theory: If S Vietnam fell to communism, then other nations would fall too

- Secretary of State Dulles put together SEATO - regional defense pact

- Tonkin Gulf Resolution - North Vietnamese gunboats fired on US warships in the gulf, gives Johnson right to protect US interests

- US was failing the war, but General William Westmoreland says he can see the end

- Credibility gap - Johnson was not being completely honest to US citizens

- Hawks vs Doves: supporters / non-supporters of the war

- Tet Offensive - effective in demoralizing the American public, although not actually successful for Vietcong

- Election of 1968:

- Johnson doesn't rerun which ends escalation

- Robert Kennedy (shot after winning Cali)

- Wallace + Nixon who wins, both Republican (Humphrey is the Democrat now)

- Nixon's Vietnam policy:

- Henry Kissinger

- Vietnamization: "peace with honor" by training SV and withdrawing US

- Nixon Doctrine: Asian allies would be supported, but no troops

- National Guard troops killed at Kent State protesting Cambodia

- US massacre in My Lai village

- Pentagon Papers leaked, revealing mistakes of government in Vietnam

- Paris Accords that promised cease-fire was ineffective

- War Powers Act: requires president to report and approve military action to Congress

- Saigon and Cambodia fell to communism