The End of the WarChapter 31 Section 4

OUR LAST

SECTION!

Points to Ponder• How did President Nixon’s policies lead to

American withdrawal from Vietnam?• Why did President Nixon campaign promising

to restore law and order?• What happed in Vietnam after the withdrawal

of American forces?• What was the legacy of the Vietnam war?

Nixon’s Policies• Secret plan to end the war

– _____________• Remove US soldiers and

replace them with SV soldiers– Between 1968 and 1972, numbers

dropped from 543,000 to 39,000

• Wanted to _____ not _____ the war

– Kept secretly bombing NV

• Invading ____________– Planned to destroy Communist

Camps – Hoped for bargain in Paris for a

better end to the war– Actually brought

• chaos and civil war in Cambodia• US protest movements

Nixon’s Call for Order• Nixon had promised ______ and _______

– “Weathermen”-a facet of the SDS• Violent rebellion in Chicago

– Americans are alarmed• How will Nixon respond?

The Silent Majority• Nixon realized that most Americans did

not agree with the ____________– Most. . .

• Did not participate in the protest movements• Credited counterculture with the rise in drug

use and crime• Supported gov’t decisions about the war

Kent State and Jackson State

• College Protest Movement Fueled by actions in __________– Kent State University, Ohio– Jackson State, Mississippi

• Showed great division in the Nation

American Withdrawal

• As the 1972 elections came near, National Secretary Advisor ______ ________ announced: “PEACE IS AT HAND”– Actually, the settlement was not

final– But after Nixon won the election

and more bombs were dropped on NV, peace did come

• Jan. 1973, the US, NV and SV met in ______ to sign a peace agreement (pg. 1047)

• 1. America would withdraw from SV within 60 days• 2. All POWs would be released• 3. All military actions in Laos and Cambodia would

stop• 4. the 17th parallel would divide the Vietnams until it

could be reunited

The Agreement

• ______ __________ falls– War still remained between the two Vietnams

for 2 more years– April 29, 1975: The Fall of _________

• Helicopters airlifted 1,000 Americans and nearly 6,000 Vietnamese to aircraft carriers

– April 30: Saigon surrendered and Vietnam became united under communism

• SE Asia after the War– America had joined the war because of the

“_______ _________”• After the war, 2 dominos fell: Laos and Cambodia

– South Vietnamese were forced to enter “re-education camps” to learn communist ways

• 1.5 million escaped by boat, seeking a better life

Legacy of the War• Counting the Cost

– 58,000 American dead and 300,000 wounded– Cost: $150 billion– The losses were higher for the Vietnamese

• More bombs were dropped on them than on all the Axis power during WW2

• Dead and wounded soldiers were in the millions, with countless civilian casualties

• US after the War– “Truman Doctrine” assumption was proved incorrect– Returning soldiers returned home to a country that did

not recognize their service• 1979:

– plans began to build a memorial for the veterans, It was completed in 1982

• 1994: Trade with Vietnam was restored• 1995: Full diplomatic relations were reinstated

So….• What was accomplished through

America’s involvement in Vietnam?

• Can anything positive be taken out of the experience?

Points to Ponder• How did President Nixon’s policies lead to

American withdrawal from Vietnam?• Why did President Nixon campaign promising

to restore law and order?• What happed in Vietnam after the withdrawal

of American forces?• What was the legacy of the Vietnam war?