Addy's Notes For Unit 11

Geography

• Location of Vietnam

  • The easternmost country of Southeast Asia 

• The countries that surround Vietnam

  • South of China, bordered by Laos and Cambodia 

• Capital of North Vietnam, South Vietnam 

  • North Vietnam 

    • Hanoi

  • South Vietnam

    • Saigon (previous city name)

    • Ho Chi Minh City (present-day capital)

Colonial History

• “IndoChina”

  • Region in Southeast Asia

    • Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

    • Colonized by France in the 19th century 

• France

  • Controlled Vietnam in the late 1800s

  • Wanted Asian trade + Catholic converts 

  • Japan occupied Vietnam during WWII, and when they surrendered and left, the French came back and reestablished their control over Vietnam 

  • Truman sided with the French during Vietnam’s battle for independence 

    • 1. Viewed France as a vital ally against the spread of communism

    • 2. Ho had communist connections, fear of communism spreading 

• Ho Chi Minh — influence, actions, ideology 

  • Communist revolutionary who led North Vietnam

    • Thought communism was the country’s last hope for independence 

    • Wanted the French gone 

      • Created Vietminh 

• U.S. stance on Vietnam after World War II (President Truman)

• “Domino Theory”

  • The belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would too

    • It was used to justify U.S. involvement in Vietnam

  • Lessons of WWII

    • You must stop dangerous ideologies like communism before it’s too late - do not follow appeasement 

• Vietminh 

  • Communist-led nationalist group under Ho Chi Minh that fought for Vietnam’s independence from France

  • “Guerrilla tactics”

    • Hit and run, and disappear into the jungle, wore no uniform, were disguised like civilians 

• Dien Bien Phu (1954)

  • Major French defeat by the Vietminh, leading to the French withdrawal from Vietnam

• Geneva Conference (1954)

  • An international meeting that split Vietnam into Communist and Anti-Communist

    • Elections were supposed to unify the country in 1956, but never happened

  • Split the country at the 17th parallel 

    • North Vietnam

      • Hanoi

      • Ho Chi Minh

        • Communist 

    • South Vietnam

      • Saigon

      • Diem 

        • Anti-communist but authoritarian 

        • Roman Catholic 

  • Discussions about having elections to reunify the country, but America refused because Ho Chi Minh would have won

• “Vietcong”

  • Communist guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam who supported North Vietnam’s cause.

    • Communists in the south 

    • Gave military assistance from the North to the South 

  • Wanted to overthrow Diem 

  • Formed the National Liberation Front (NLF)

President John F. Kennedy

• JFK’s policy on Vietnam

  • Wanted to provide military aid to prevent communism 

  • Assert U.S. power 

  • Sends military advisors to South Vietnam 

  • Wants to redeem the U.S. - wants a victory against communism since the Bay of Pigs was humiliating 

President Lyndon B. Johnson

• Tonkin Gulf incident and resolution

  • Incident: In August 1964, the U.S. claimed that North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin (first incident confirmed; a second was likely misinterpreted).

  • Resolution: Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving LBJ broad military powers in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.

  • It allowed him to escalate U.S. involvement, marking a turning point.

• LBJ’s escalation of the war

  • LBJ greatly increased the U.S. military presence in Vietnam.

  • By 1965, he ordered Operation Rolling Thunder—a massive bombing campaign in North Vietnam.

  • Deployed the first combat troops (Marines) to Vietnam in March 1965.

  • By 1968, over 500,000 American troops were in Vietnam.

• Who served?  Demographics and characteristics of the American soldier

  • The average age was 19 years.

  • Mostly working-class and poor, disproportionately from minority communities, especially African Americans.

  • College students and middle/upper-class men often avoided service through student deferments.

• The draft 

  • The Selective Service System drafted men aged 18–26.

  • Many Americans viewed the draft as unfair, especially due to deferments for college students and professionals.

  • Draft resistance grew, with many burning draft cards, fleeing to Canada, or facing prison.

• Ho Chi Minh Trail

  • Weapons and supplies from North Vietnam were carried to South Vietnam by this trail

  • A confusing and secretive network of routes that supplied the North Vietnamese Army 

• New weapons of war

  • Napalm - gasoline mixture 

  • Cluster bombs - metal fragments everywhere 

  • Defoliants - strip the land of vegetation

  • Agent Orange - sprayed from airplanes - would burn vegetation 

• Media coverage of the war

  • First televised war, exposing Americans to the brutal reality of combat, which fueled growing anti-war sentiment

• The anti-war movement

  • A broad coalition of students, veterans, clergy, and average citizens protesting the war’s morality and effectiveness

• SDS

  • A major student activist group that opposed the war and called for participatory democracy

• Civil rights activists and Vietnam

  • Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. opposed the war, arguing it diverted resources from domestic issues and disproportionately affected Black Americans.

• Tet Offensive

  • Surprise attacks by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong on major South Vietnamese cities

  • Although a military failure for the communists, it was a psychological victory that shook the U.S.'s confidence and support

• Democratic primary of 1968 — candidates and views on Vietnam

  • Eugene McCarthy: Anti-war candidate

  • Robert F. Kennedy: Also anti-war, assassinated

  • Hubert Humphrey: LBJ’s VP, supported the current policy

• LBJ does not seek the nomination — why?

  • Worn down by the war’s unpopularity and internal party challenges, LBJ declined to run again

• Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy

  • Both assassinated in 1968, deepening national unrest

• Democratic National Convention 1968 (Chicago)

  • Held in Chicago, it became infamous for massive anti-war protests and police violence, seen live on TV

President Richard M. Nixon

• 1968 presidential election

  • Nixon won

    • Defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey and third-party candidate George Wallace

• The “silent majority”

  • Nixon appealed to Americans who supported the war or opposed the protest movement but weren’t outspoken

• Nixon and Cambodia

  • Secretly expanded the war into Cambodia, targeting the Ho Chi Minh Trail

    • Sparked outrage

• Kent State (May 4th, 1970)

  • National Guard troops shot and killed 4 students during a protest against the Cambodian invasion

    • The famous picture of the woman on the floor, dead with their friend

• The Pentagon Papers (1971)

  • Leaked government documents showed officials had misled the public about the war’s progress and that most of the presidents had doubted potential American success

    • Damaged trust in the government

• Saigon (1975) and leaving Vietnam 

  • The capital of South Vietnam fell to North Vietnamese forces, marking the end of the Vietnam War

    • U.S. evacuated its last personnel and allies