8.8 The Vietnam War

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain the causes and effects of the Vietnam War

INTRODUCTION

• French tried to retake Southeast Asian Indochina

  • Vietnamese & Cambodians resisted

    - French imperialism increased support for nationalist & communist leader Ho Chi Minh

EISENHOWERS DOMINO THEORY

• Anticolonial war—→ Cold War rivalry between communism

  • Truman gave military aid to French

  • China & Soviet aided Viet Minh guerrillas led by Ho Chi Minh

• French army at Dien Bien Phu was forced to surrender

  • French tried to convince Eisenhower for US troops (denied)

    - French agreed to give up Indochina at Geneva (1954)

    - Indochina was split up into Cambodia, Laos, & Vietnam

DIVISION OF VIETNAM

• Vietnam was to be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel

  • New nation remained divided (two hostile govs took power)

    - North Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh became a communist dictator)

    - South Vietnam (led by anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem)

  • General election to to untie Vietnam was never held

    - South Vietnamese gov feared communist victory

  • Eisenhower justified sending aid through the domino theory

    - if south vietnam fell—→ other southeast nations would fall

SEATO

• John Foster Dulles created Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

  • SEATO

    - was meant to prevent Indochina countries from falling

    - countries agreed to defend each other in case of attack

    - signed by US, Britian, France, Austrialia, NZ, Phillipines, Thailand & Pakistan

ESCALATION OF THE VIETNAM WAR IN THE 1960S

• Vietnam was hardly mentioned in election debates

  • US involvement was minimal at time

    - loomed larger & dominated thoughts of nation

  • Vietnam became most tragic divisive issue

    - 2.7 millions Americans served in the conflict

    - 58,000 died in effort to prevent takeover

    - deaths ranged 2 million to 4 million

BUILDUP UNDER KENNEDY

• President Kennedy adopted the domino theory

  • Continued military aid to vietnam & increased advisers

    - 16,000 troops served in support roles

    - troops provided training & supplies to South Vietnam

  • Ngo Ding Diem was not popular

    - steadily lost support of peaseants in the countryside

    - Buddhist monks set themselves on fire to protest against him

    - Kennedy questioned South Vietnams victory

  • Kennedy was assassinated & Diem was overthrown & killed

    - South vietnamese generals that killed Diem acted w knowledge of the Kennedy adminsitration

TONKIN GULF RESOLUTION

• Johnson became president as things fell apart in South

  • Country was ran by 7 different governements

    - Candidate Barry Goldwater attacked Johnson administration for giving weak support against Veitcong

  • Johnson & Congress took turn in policy

    - North vietnam gunboats fired at US in Gulf of Tonkin

    - President persuded congress for military response

  • Tonkin Guld Resolution

    - gave president blank check to take necessary measures

    - Johnson used naval incident to secure sending forces

    - critics called this an illegal war (Congress never decalred war)

    - congress never had concern to withdraw its resolution

  • Most Americans supported efforts to contain communism

    - Johnson was caught in political dilemma (no solution)

    - wanted to stop defeat of weak South Vietnam wo war

    - Johnson would be seen as weak & lost support if he pulled out

AMERICAS WAR

• US military & foreign-policy advisers recommened expanding operations

  • Vietcong attack—→ Operation Rolling Thunder

    - prolonged air attacked using B-52 bombers in North Vietnam

    - President decided to use US combat troops for first time

    - 184,000 troops were in vietnam, enagaging w comabt

  • Johnson continued US involvement

    - hoped to win war of attrition (used search & destroy tactics)

    - further alienated peaseants

    - US had more than 485,000 tropps in vietnam

    - General William Westmoreland assured light at the end

CREDIBILITY GAP

• Msinformation from military & reluctance to speak from Johnson

  • Created credibility gap

    - Johnson hoped military pressure bring North to peace table

    - knowledge gap within inner cirlcles of gov were damaging

    - leaders failed to understand both the enemy & war

HAWK VERSUS DOVES

• War hawks (for war)

  • Believed war was Soviet-backed communist agression to take over Southeast Asia

• War doves (against war)

  • Viewed Vietcong as those who wanted to unite their country

    - believed war cost lives & money (focused on domestic issues)

    - College students were biggest opponents (could be drafted)

    - anti-war movement gained political leader (Senator Eugene F. McCarthy challenged Johnson for presidental nomination)

TET OFFENSIVE

• Vietcong launched surpise attack on Lunar New Year (Tet Offensive)

  • Attacked provincal capital & American bases in South

    - took fearful toll in cities—→ US counterattack

    - US inflcited heavier losses & recovered territory

  • Tet Offensive failed but still impacted US

    - millions of Americans watched destruction (setback policy)

    - Vietcong won political victory in demoralizing American public

    - antiwar sentiment increased

JOHNSON ENDS ESCALATION

• Joint Chiefs of staff responsed to Tet

  • Requested 200,000 more troops to win the war

    - Cold War diplomat advisers turned against further escalation

    - Johnson told TV he would limit bombing & negotiate peace

    - Johnson would not run for reelection

• Peace talks between North, South, & US started

  • Quickly deadlocked bc of minor issues

    - war continued, thousands more died

    - escalation of troops stopped (slowly reversed next presidency)

COMING APART AT HOME, 1968

• History outside civil war became troubled/violent

  • Martin Luther King Jr was murdered, riots purged cities

• Americans wondered if their nation was coming apart

  • nternal conflict, war issues, race issues, generation gaps

ELECTION OF 1968

• Robert F. Kennedy became a senator for new york

  • Decided to eneter president race after McCarthy

    - was more effective in blue-collar & minority vites

    - won major victory as California primary

    - was shot & killed by Arab nationalist for support of Israel

  • Election turned into a three-war race

    - Conservatives George Wallace & Richard Nixon

    - Liberal Hubert Humphrey

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN CHICAGO

• Democrats met in Chicago for party convention

  • Hubert Humphrey had enough delegates to win

    - loyally supported Johnson domestic & foreign policies

  • Antiwar demonstraters were eager to control the streets

    - Mayor Richard Daley had police out—→ violence on TV

    - Humphey left convention as nominee of divided Democrats

WHITE BACKLASH AND GEORGE WALLACE

• George Wallace took advanatage of white anger towards desesgeration, antiwar protest, & race riots

  • Criticized liberals & two-party system

    - ran as thrid party candiate (American Independent Party)

    - hoped to win enough electoral votes for House of Reps

RETURN OF RICHARD NIXON

• Nixon became front-runner in Republican primaries

  • Was favorite of party regulars

    - had little trouble getting nominations at Republican convention

    - Sprio Agnew was his running mate

    - Nixon was a ¨hawk¨ on the Vietnam War

RESULTS

• Nixon won the 1968 election with electoral votes

  • Comvined votes of Nixon and Wallance

    - showed Americans wanted more conservatice leadership

    - Americans were tired of protest, violence, & social change

    - marked shift away from New Deal liberalism

RICHARD NIXONS VIETNAM POLICY

• Nixon promised to bring Americans together

  • Suspicious & secreative nature—→ imperial presidency

    - Nixons first interest was international policy, not domestic

    - Henry Kissinger & him fashioned pragmatic foreign policy

    - reduced tensions of cold war

VIETNAMIZATION

• Nixon wanted to reduce US involvement & avoid condeding defeat

  • Process of Vietnamization

    - plan to graudally reduce troops in Vietnam

    - trained & equipped South Vietnam to fight alone

  • Nixon Doctrine

    - declared future Asian allies would receive US support (without the use of gound forces)

OPPOSITION TO NIXONS WAR POLICIES

• Nixons gradual withdrawl reduced number of antiwar protest

  • President expanded war

    - invaded Cambodia to attack Viet communist bases

    - sparked major protest (led to deaths at Kent & Jackson state)

    - US voted to repeal Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

  • My Lai Massacre

    - massacre of women & children by US troops in My Lai

    - further fueled antiwar sentiment

    - Pentagon Papers (leaked documented mistakes of gov)

PEACE TALKS, BOMBING ATTACKS, AND ARMISTICE

• Nixon pushed for secret peace talks with North Vietnam

  • Talk failed at first—→ Nixon ordered heavy bombings in North

    - Nixon pressured North to agree to settlement

    - North agreed to armistice (US withdrew troops for POW)

  • Paris Accords (1973)

    - promised cease-fire & election

  • War did not end between South & North

    - thousands of enemy troops were still in South

    - death toll numbered more than a milliom

    - armistice allowed US to remove itself from war

    - $118 billions spent—→ infaltionary cycle for US

WAR POWERS ACT

• Nixon was poltically damaged by news of secret bombing raids

  • Puplic uproar—→ attempts to limit Presiden power over military

    - War powers act was passed over Nixons veto

    - required presidents to report to congress before military action

    - congress would have to approve of action lasting 60+ days

  • Congress & Americans were ready to put breaks on Presidents

DEFEAT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

• South continued to face attacks from communist forces

  • Ford was unable to get additonal funds to support

FALL OF SAIGON

• US-supported gov in Saigon fell to enemey

  • Vietnam was reunified under Communist gov in Hanoi

    - US eveacted 150,000 who support US & faced persectrion

    - fall of South marked low point in American prestige

GENOCIDE IN CAMBODIA

• US-supported gov in Cambodia fell to communist Khmer Rouge

  • Killed up to 2 million people (brutal relocation to rid western infl)

    - wars in southeast—→ millions of refuges fleeing to US

FUTURE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

• Fall of Cambodia reflected domino theory

  • Rest of Southeast Asia did not fall

    - Singapore, Thailand, & Malaysia emerged as little tigers

    - vigorously grew their economy

  • Some agrued US support of South was not wasted

    - bought time for other nations to develop & resist communism