THE U-2 INCIDENT

The Soviets shot down a U-2 spy plane flying over the

Soviet Union

THE U-2 INCIDENT

The Soviets captured

the pilot, and

Khrushchev

demanded an

apology

THE U-2 INCIDENT

Eisenhower was

forced to admit that

the U.S. had been

spying (espionage)

on the Soviet Union

for years

THE U-2 INCIDENT

Through spying, the U.S. learned that the Soviet

Union’s nuclear capabilities were much weaker

than they bragged

THE U-2 INCIDENT

This event broke off

peace talks between

the two nations

JOHN F. KENNEDY

• Bay of Pigs Invasion

• An army of U.S. trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba (a

Communist country)

• Hoped to overthrow Fidel Castro

• The invasion failed

What mistake(s) did Kennedy make?

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

• The Cuban Missile Crisis

• To prevent another attack, the Soviets placed nuclear

weapons in Cuba

• “The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.”

• The U.S. blockaded Cuba

• The Soviets withdrew the weapons upon the U.S. promise to

not invade Cuba

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

• The Berlin Wall (1961-1989)

• People were fleeing East Berlin to escape Communism

• Nearly 3 million!!!

• The Communists built the wall to attempt to stop this

• They claimed they built it to keep out “fascists” from West

Germany

• Before, Germans would cross the border daily for work,

shopping, and even entertainment

• On the East German side, there was a “Death Strip” with soft

sand (to show footprints), floodlights, vicious dogs, trip-wire

machine guns, and soldiers with orders to shoot

• More than 100 people were killed trying to escape

• Kennedy said, “a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JOHN F. KENNEDY

THE VIETNAM WAR

• French Indochina (controlled by France from 1887 – 1940) • Vietnam

• Cambodia

• Laos

• Japan invaded and took control

• Following WWII, these nations became “independent”… sort of…

THE VIETNAM WAR

• North Vietnam• Ruled by Communist

leader Ho Chi Minh

• Created the Viet Minh to free Vietnam from foreign control

• Fought against Japan DURING WWII (with the support of the U.S.)

• Fought against France and the U.S. AFTER WWII

• South Vietnam• Ruled by Anti-

Communist leader Ngo Dinh Diem• Cruel, violent, and

corrupt

• Supported by the French

• Supported by President Eisenhower

THE VIETNAM WAR

Ho Chi Minh Ngo Dinh Diem

THE VIETNAM WAR

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THE VIETNAM WAR

• The 17th Parallel

THE VIETNAM WAR

• The election of 1956• Meant to determine the

fate of Vietnam (Communist or Democratic or…?)

• Ho Chi Minh = popular

• Ngo Dinh Diem = not so much

• Diem refused to hold elections in South Vietnam

• Eisenhower supported this decision

• The U.S. provided 16,000 “advisors” a.k.a. military forces (brinkmanship)

THE VIETNAM WAR

• North Vietnam• Sent Vietcong (small

bands of South Vietnamese fighters who supported the North) that used guerilla warfare• They mixed with the

general population and were difficult to identify

• They used quick surprise attacks and would quickly flee

• Diem arrested more than 100,000 of his people, tortured, and executed many of them

THE VIETNAM WAR

THE VIETNAM WAR

• November 1, 1963: Diem was overthrown by his own people and assassinated

• Three weeks later: President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald

• President Lyndon B. Johnson increased U.S. military support

THE VIETNAM WAR

Nguyen Van Thieu

THE VIETNAM WAR

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• The United States

belief: the domino

theory

• If one Southeast

Asian country fell to

Communism, many

would follow

THE VIETNAM WAR

• The Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin were “attacked”

• “Repeated acts of violence against the armed forces of the United States must be met not only with alert defense, but with a positive reply. That reply is being given as I speak tonight!”

THE VIETNAM WAR

• North Vietnam

didn’t attack the

U.S. ships

THE VIETNAM WAR

• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Passed by Congress, this gave President Johnson the power to declare war

• The U.S. began Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing raids)

THE VIETNAM WAR

• The United States strategy: limited war• They feared the

Chinese would join North Vietnam

• Napalm• A flammable liquid that

sticks to skin and is difficult to put out

• Agent Orange• A herbicide sprayed on

North Vietnam’s agricultural fields

THE VIETNAM WAR

THE VIETNAM WAR

THE VIETNAM WAR

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THE VIETNAM WAR

• The Ho Chi Minh Trail: an extensive trail used by the North Vietnamese army to transport supplies and soldiers

• “There were thousands of trails, thousands of rest spots along the way where enemy troops could seek refuge and build up.”

THE VIETNAM WAR

• A frontless war• Instead of trying to gain

territory, the U.S. adopted a strategy known as attrition (kill as many enemy troops as possible and wear them down over time)

• Areas in South Vietnam became “free-fire zones”• Civilians were supposed

to have evacuated

• Anyone became a target

The My Lai Massacre

THE VIETNAM WAR

• “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.”

• President Johnson had escalated the number of troops to 500,000

• American casualties had reached 15,000 killed and 109,000 wounded

• Despite the losses, the government claimed the war was being won

• Horrific war images were regularly broadcasted on television

Americans began to view the war as “senseless”

THE VIETNAM WAR

• The draft• One year of service

• Average age: 19

• Most soldiers were inexperienced

• Many avoided the draft by enrolling in college

• Civil rights issue: the poor, which were often minorities, were drafted in greater numbers since they couldn’t afford to attend college

THE VIETNAM WAR

• Hawks v. Doves

• Hawks: Prefer military

engagement

• Doves: Oppose entry

into war

• Anti-War protests

began to spread

(mostly on college

campuses)

THE VIETNAM WAR

• Pentagon protest

(1967)

• 35,000 protestors

• 2,500 armed guards

THE VIETNAM WAR

• Kent State University shooting• The National Guard was

called in to stop protests

• The ROTC building was burned down by protestors

• The next day, the National Guard opened fire on the protestors (most shot into the air, but several fired into the crowd)

• Four students were killed

ACTIVITY: THE MEDIA

a. A terrorist group that is holding an American hostage

sends your news organization a videotape of the hostage

denouncing American foreign policy. The accompanying

note states that the hostage will be released if you air the

videotape on the evening news. Do you air it, refuse to air

it, or agree to follow whichever course the U.S.

government advises?

ACTIVITY: THE MEDIA

b. One of your reporters has been given secret

government documents that show the government

has tortured foreigners arrested for involvement in

terrorist plots against Americans. Do you provide this

information to the public?

ACTIVITY: THE MEDIA

c. A wanted terrorist grants one of your reporters an

exclusive, face-to-face interview, but on the

condition that you do not reveal his hiding place -- or

any other sensitive information you learn in the course

of holding the interview -- to the government. Do you

refuse these terms and reject the interview, agree to

the terms and abide by them, or agree to the terms

but then violate them after the interview?

ACTIVITY: THE MEDIA

d. One of your reporters has written a story, based

entirely on unclassified information, that describes

some aspect of the government's anti-terrorism

policies. A government official asks you not to publish

the story because it might help terrorists avoid

capture and plan future attacks. Do you run the story

as is, kill the story, or run the story but only after

deleting any sections the government objects to?

ACTIVITY: THE MEDIA

e. One of your photographers takes a powerful,

graphic picture of a child accidentally killed by U.S.

forces during a major anti-terrorist operation. Do you

print the photograph on the front page, on a less

prominent page, or not at all? (Would you give a

different answer if the child had been killed by a

terrorist attack, or if the child had been killed during a

newsworthy event that was unrelated to terrorism,

such as a major flood or tornado? If so, why?)

YOU DECIDE

Write one paragraph explaining what role YOU

believe the media should play in a time of war.

THE VIETNAM WAR

• The Tet Offensive• North Vietnam invaded

during the Vietnamese New Year (January 30 –31)

• Surprise attack on more than 100 towns

• Killed soldiers, teachers, doctors, and priests

• 45,000 Viet Cong were killed

• No cities were captured

THE VIETNAM WAR

• Even though the U.S. “won” the Tet Offensive, Americans were worried and furious when they heard about the attack

• President Johnson’s popularity plummeted

• New tactic: PEACE!

• The problem? President Nixon won the election

THE VIETNAM WAR

• President Nixon, “Peace with honor”• Supported

“Vietnamization” (turning the war effort over to the South Vietnamese)

• More and more Americans protested

• Soldiers began to desert the military

• “Draft Dodgers” fled to Canada to avoid being drafted

THE VIETNAM WAR

• January 27, 1973, The U.S. and South Vietnam agreed to a ceasefire with the North

• March 29, 1973, American troops left South Vietnam

• The U.S. continued to “fund” the war

• By 1975, North Vietnam had captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City

THE VIETNAM WAR

• South Vietnamese fled

• More than 1.2 million South Vietnamese refugees came to

the U.S.

THE VIETNAM

• Lasting effects• The U.S. spent more than $120 billion

• Congress lowered the voting age to 18

• The War Powers Act limited the amount of time soldiers could be sent into action

• Americans began to distrust the government

• 3 million deaths (half of which were civilians)

• Vietnam became a united Socialist nation

• Veterans were greeted by protestors who didn’t support the war and protestors who believed they lost the war

• Approximately 500,000 American soldiers suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which in many cases, led to divorce, suicide, alcoholism, and drug addiction

• 58,200 American soldiers had died

ACTIVITY: THE VIETNAM WAR TIMELINE

Group 1: 1954-1963

Group 2: 1964-1967

Group 3: 2968

Group 4: 1969-1973

Group 5: 1974-Present

ACTIVITY: VIETNAM WAR FINAL PROJECT

THE END OF THE COLD WAR