The Vietnam War and Presidency of Richard Nixon

The Cold War lasted from 1945-1991. The Cold War was…..

The US adopted the policy of containment to prevent the spread of communism.

President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. The vice-president Lyndon Johnson became president.

Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia on the continent of Asia.

Vietnam is below China.

Vietnam was controlled by France from 1887-1954. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

File:Map_of_Southeast_Asia.png

A peace conference was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1954 to decide what to do in Vietnam after France lost control of the country.

The US feared communist leader Ho Chi Minh would take power and establish a communist government. .

At the conference, Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vietnam1954.jpg

The domino theory was the belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would fall to communism too.

Eisenhower adopted this theory in the 1950s and sent a few thousand military advisors to help South Vietnam fight off the North Vietnamese communists.

President Kennedy sent 20,000 military advisors to South Vietnam in the early 1960s.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Domino_theory.svg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Asia.svg

In 1964, President Johnson told Congress that two US destroyers were bombed in the Gulf of Tonkin in North Vietnam.

In response, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to authorize the President to “take all necessary steps including armed conflict,” in Vietnam.

By late 1964, 184,000 US troops were in Vietnam. At the height of the war, in 1968, there were over 536,000 US troops in the country. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

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US troops were fighting the North Vietnamese army as well as the Vietcong.

Vietcong were South Vietnamese who wanted to be part of North Vietnam.

US troops were not able to determine who was a friend and who was an enemy among those they were fighting and the Vietnamese people.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MPs_escort_a_Vietcong_captive_out_of_the_US_Embassy_on_31_January_1968.jpg

The US used guerilla warfare. Guerilla warfare is the use of

surprise attacks with a quick retreat.

The US used chemicals to clear the jungle Napalm is a chemical based

gasoline that stuck to and burned everything it touched.

Agent Orange is chemical pesticide used to burn the leaves off trees . By 1967, 1.5 million acres were being doused annually

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agent_Orange_Cropdusting.jpg

http://www.ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2012/AP-napalm-girl-photo-from-Vietnam-War-turns-40

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/napalm.htm

On January 30, 1968, known as TET, the Vietnamese New Year, a ceasefire was called.

Communist guerillas launched a major offensive against the US and South Vietnam violating the cease-fire.

The US embassy in Saigon was attacked.

This event turned many Americans against the war, as new coverage showed the battles and thousands of US soldiers bodies returning home.

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War protests spread across the country.

The Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS helped organize protests on college campuses.

The Vietnam War became known as the “living room war” because Americans watched coverage on television.

Due to media coverage, Americans were more aware of the war and voiced their opinions, which influenced US government policies.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Student_Vietnam_War_protesters.JPG

On March 16th 1968, the My Lai massacre occurred.

US troops killed 300 unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly in the village of My Lai.

News of the event, spread like wildfire through the US media and was misrepresented as the norm for how US soldiers behaved in Vietnam.  

The My Lai Massacre increased anti-war protests across the nation. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:My_Lai_massacre.jpg

President Johnson lost the 1968 Presidential election to Richard Nixon.

Vietnamization: Nixon’s two part plan to end the war. 1. Phased withdrawal of US

troops 2. Training and equipping

South Vietnamese to replace US troops

January 23, 1973—a cease fire was signed and most US troops were removed from South Vietnam.

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The End of the War officially occurred in January 1975.

The North Vietnamese launched an attack and took over the capital of Saigon in South Vietnam.

As the North Vietnamese moved into Saigon, supporters of the US scrambled to get out of the capital.

On July 2, 1975, North and South Vietnam were united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a communist country.

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• 58,220 American soldiers were killed.

• 2 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were killed.

• Thousands of American soldiers were wounded both physically and mentally.

• American soldiers were treated poorly when they returned home.

• Soldiers were harassed, spit on, called “baby killers.”

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DétentePentagon PapersWatergate Scandal

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Détente is the easing of tension between nations.

In 1972 President Nixon visited China and Soviet Union.

Nixon eased tension with these nations.

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In 1971 the New York Times began to publish the Pentagon Papers.

The Pentagon Papers were secret documents that exposed the manipulation of the government and the office of the presidency, to sell the war to Congress and the public.

President Nixon tried to stop the publication of the Pentagon Papers.

The Supreme Court ruled that the documents could be printed.  

The result was a lasting distrust of the US government and the office of the presidency.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nixon_in_Pres_cabin_of_AFO.jpg

The Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) ran Nixon’s election campaign in 1972.

Members of CREEP broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

The CREEP burglars were caught and Nixon tried to cover up the break-in. (Verbally mention why he tried to cover it up)

The break-in and the attempts to cover it up became known as the Watergate Scandal.

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Nixon was facing certain impeachment.

Impeachment is the process of bringing formal charges against a president who is in office.

On August 8, 1974, Nixon resigned as president (Resigns means to give up your job).

The Pentagon Papers and the Watergate Scandal cast a lasting suspicion over the office of President and the US government.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RNresignspeech.jpg

Vietnam was divided into communist north and non-communist south.

The domino theory is one a reason the US went to war in Vietnam.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was the official starting point of the war in Vietnam.

Guerilla and chemical warfare were used in Vietnam. The TET Offensive turned Americans against the war and

war protests spread throughout the US. Richard Nixon ended the war with his policy of

Vietnamization. President Nixon established détente with China and the

Soviet Union. The Pentagon Papers revealed deception by the US

government in the Vietnam War.