Vietnam War
War Begins
-War divides country; in the name of fighting communism
South Vietnam:Ngo Dinh Diem
North Vietnam:Ho chi Minh
-After an armistice,VIetnam was divided at the 17th parallel separated by demilitarized zone
-Rights revolution occurring at this time placed strain on the democratic coalition
-JFK said it’s up to South Vietnam if “THEIR WAR” would be won or lost
-Vietnam had a Catholic government; SV suppressed Budhists and monks would martyr themselves; Diem’s rule turned into dictatorship and JFK had to do something
-JFK believed giving up on VIetnam would weaken America’s credibility; said US would support a military coup in Saigon
-JFK sent green berets and trained the SV; destroyed NV–used agent orange
-in fall of 1963, JFK lost patience with Ngo Dinh Diem (dictator of SV)
-JFK hoped that Diem could be replaced by a popular general and create a stable government strong enough to repeal the SV National Liberation Front (NLF)/Vietcong
-Nov 1, SV generals overthrew Diem and his brother; coup caused chaos
-JFK assassinated in late Nov and did not live to see the consequences of Diem’s murder
US aims:
70%—To avoid a humiliating US defeat (to our reputation as a guarantor).
20%—To keep SVN (and then adjacent) territory from Chinese hands.
10%—To permit the people of SVN to enjoy a better, freer way of life.
Also—To emerge from a crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used.
Not—To “help a friend,” although it would be hard to stay if asked out.
War
-Vietcong are guerrilla fighters supported by north vietnam and infiltrate SV
-They dissent/destroy trains; not normal army with open warfare
-First American war we were in that was a guerilla warfare
Escalation under Johnson
-Claimed only massive American intervention could prevent the collapse of SV
-LBJ vowed “I am not going to lose Vietnam”
-Summer 1964: LBJ got reports that NV torpedo boats fired on US destroyer Maddox in Gulf of Tonkin
-First attack 8/2: one bullet hole; second attack 8/4: misread radar sightings
-2nd attack was probable but not certain
-didn't matter to president bc he anticipated wider war
-LBJ issued a call to arms; sending his national approval rating from 42 to 72%
-only 2 senators votes against Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (gave Johnson the freedom to conduct operations in Vietnam as he saw fit)
-LBJ was cautious about revealing his plans to Americans “that day would be the beginning of the end of the Great Society”
-Gulf of Tonkins resolution turned into an all out attack instead of what it was initially supposed to be: retaliatory strikings; LBJ widened war
-vowed (although he privately doubted): no American boys would be fighting Vietnam’s fight
-this led LBJ to send group troops–smith he wanted to avoid
American Escalation
-began in 1965 through 2 forms: deployment of American ground troops and intensive bombings of NV
-March 8, 1965 the first marines were ashore at Da Nang
-by 1968 there were 536k soldiers stationed in Vietnam
-General William Westmoreland and Robert McNamara ( Secretary of Defense) pushed LBJ to Americanize the found war in attempt to stabilize SV
-LBJ made reference to appeasement by saying “I can’t run and pull a Chamberlain at Munich”
-LBJ authorized Operation Rolling Thunder, a massive bombing campaign against NV that began in 1965 and lasted 3 years
-US dropped twice as many tons of bombs on Vietnam as the Allies had dropped in both Europe and the Pacific during WW2
-bombing had little effect on the Vietcong’s ability to wage war in the South; NV quickly rebuilt roads and bridges
-Unfortunately, ORT hardened NV’s will to fight instead of destroying morale
-destroyed Vietnam’s countryside
-”it became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it”
-policymakers searched for middle ground between all out invasion of NV which included the possibility of war with China and disengagement; “the only alternative is a war of annihilation”
Ho Chi Minh Trail
-The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a network of supply routes that ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War
-named after Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam
-complex network passed through Laos and Cambodia, connecting North Vietnam to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces operating in South Vietnam.
-transport troops, equipment, and supplies from North Vietnam to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces fighting in South Vietnam
-Efforts to interdict and disrupt the trail through aerial bombardment were only partially successful, as the trail could be quickly repaired and adapted.
Public Opinion and the War
-Both Demos and Repubs approved LBJ’s escalation in 65/66
-Shift in public opinion midway into war (1967) as television and broadcasting was more widespread
–journalists wrote about a credibility gap; they charged the LBJ administration with concealing bad news about war’s progress
-War cost taxpayers 27 billion (pushing federal deficit from 9.8 to 23 billion)
-following the escalation in 65, groups of students, clergy, civil rights advocates, antinuclear proponents, and Dr. Benjamin Spock began to protest (April march in DC 15k people) “mad war”
-They charged that invitation was antithetical to American ideals; that an indepence, anticommunist SV was unattainable
Student Movement
-College students were inspired by civil rights movement
-Ann Arbor, MI the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1960
-2 years later there was convention in Port Huron, MI
-Tom Hayden penned the Port Huron Statement (expressing student's disillusionment with the nation’s consumer culture and the gulf between rich and poor
-Points from Statement: critique of pol/soc/economic systems, criticized Cold War/nuclear weapons, criticized racial discrimination/economic inequality/big business/trade union, and provide solutions for more democracy and was willing to achieve this by working with any groups even Communists
-Legacy of Statement: framed anti-war movement, added to discussion of LBJ’s Great Society, and inspired some university reforms(more voice for students)
-Who Agrees with Statement? Fellow civil rights groups, radical liberals, progressives
-Who DIsagrees with Statement? Mainstream America, conservatives, older generation
-”We are people of this generation bred in at least modest comfort, horses now in universities, looking uncomfortably at the world we inherit.”
The New Left
-The SDS used this term to distinguish themselves from Old Left (communists and socialist of 30s/40s)
-middle/upper class white college kids and supported big government/didn't like big business
-this movement hit major university towns first like Madison and Berkeley
-fall 1964 at UC at Berkeley adminstaros banned student political activity
-formed the Free Speech Movement and sit in; students had js returned from Freedom Summer in MS
-in 1965 the Vietnam War Students were on the front lines as campaigns against the war escalated
-1967, Mobilization to End the War brought 100k protesters to San Francisco while 250k followed MLK to UN in NY and 100k marched to Pentagon
-one spur to student protest as the Selective Service System which in 1967 abolished autormic student deferments; to avoid this, men enlisted in National Guard/ left country
-they burned draft card, picketed education centers, and broke into SS offices to destroy records
-be ready to contrast old and new left for the test: Old Left: Often characterized by a focus on class struggle, workers' rights, and traditional Marxist ideas. New Left: Expanded its focus to include social and cultural concerns/addressed civil rights, anti-imperialism, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Old Left: Often associated with large, hierarchical organizations such as labor unions and communist parties. New Left: Characterized by a more decentralized and informal structure, with a focus on grassroots activism, protests, and student movements.
Conservative Students
-less noisy than New Left
-inspired by Young Americans for Freedom YAF- conservative students asserted their faith in God-given free will and their concern that the federal government accumulates power which tends to diminish order and liberty
-YAF (largest student political organization in country)- defended free enterprise and supported war
-opposed counterculture movement
-principles outlined in Sharon Statement (Sharon, CT)
-Statement explained conservative fundamentals: limited government, religious freedom, free market economy, and opposition to international forces of communism
Counterculture
-young Americans embarked against authority and middle class respectability
-Hippies symbolized the counterculture
-roots in 1950s Beat Culture of NY’s Greenwich Village and San Francisco’s North Beach
-^they were not all out like hippies; explored themselves; slight changes in hairstyles and clothing from 1950s
-^enjoyed music, art, writing, etc.
-roots in 1960s- largely white youth alienated from the staid predavlity of older generations
-seeking personal freedom
-folk music
-Pete Seeger set tone with songs (antiwar ballad: “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”
-Birmingham civil rights demonstrations and JFK assasination’s demonstration impatience of ppl
-Judy Collins, Joan Baes, Bob Dylan were folk artists
-Beatles emerged (rebellious)
-LSD use was common
-Summer of Love- young dropouts,drifters, teenage runaways “flower children”
-media made it seem like all American youth was rejecting the nations social and cultural norms
-days of rage: riots, city and campus unrest, counterculture