US Support and the US Support and the Turning Point of Turning Point of

VietnamVietnamChapter 19, Section 2 & 3

The War in the Air

• Bombing Campaign of North Vietnam– Operation Rolling

Thunder- March 1965– Attacked bases, airfields,

bridges, roads, train tracks, power plants, factories

– Major Target: Ho Chi Minh Trail• Way to get supplies to

Vietcong

• Destroying the Trail– Most of the trail was

through the jungles and forests of Laos and Cambodia• US started spraying the

trees to kill the plants so they could see the ground

• Other Air Weapons– Napalm– Cluster Bombs– Carpet Bombing

• Having no target

• This didn’t work– Supplies continued to

get to the Vietcong– Soviet Union and China

helping the North– Bombing increased in

the North, Laos, Cambodia, and South• This caused South

Vietnamese to join the Vietcong

War on the Ground

• The US Fight– William Westmoreland

• Commander of the US ground troops in South Vietnam

• Ordered search and destroy missions

– Pacification• “win the hearts and

minds” of the South• Relocate people and burn

the village

US Forces on the Move

• The Draft– Only about 45% of

registered men were called to duty• 25%- Bad Health• 30%- Deferments• Poorer families sent

troops

– Picked by B-Day– Ended in 1973

• Not Everyone Fought– Many Americans were

engineers, doctors, transportation

– Just because they didn’t have to fight doesn’t mean they were safe

– Women were there too

Public Opinion Changes

• Media Coverage– Reporters and

Photographers followed troops• This brought the war into

the living room

– Government thought TV coverage would help show that the US was doing good• Showed Vietnamese

villages being burned

• Hawks and Doves– Doves opposed the war– Hawks supported the war– Both groups criticized

LBJ’s approach to war

• Anti-War Movement– Student protest

• People fought against the draft and ROTC programs

• Students for a Democratic Society

– Opponents rallied for war

The Tet Offensive

• It Gets Started– Vietcong attacked the US

Embassy– Next, US notice more

movement on the trail– Attack on Khe Sanh by

the NVA and Vietcong• 77-Day siege• Americans still had the

base

• The Main Attack– January 30th, 1968 was

the beginning of Tet• Vietnamese New Year• In the past, there had

been a cease-fire so the Vietnamese could go home and celebrate

– No Celebration This Year• 84,000 North Vietnamese

troops attack 12 different US bases and 100 Southern Cities

– US fought back

Effects of the Tet Offensive

• People Were Upset– Communism wasn’t as

weak as the government told everyone

– Walter Cronkite went on TV and gave his opinion

– More and more media were showing doubts

– Robert S McNamara, Sec. of Defense, was discouraged

• Problem with the Party– Election of 1968, who

was going to be the democratic nominee• 3 out of 4 opposed

Johnson’s Vietnam policies

– Eugene McCarthy was very against Johnson and ran

– So did Bobby Kennedy– With all the people

against him, Johnson decided not to run

Johnson Seeks a Solution

• Westmoreland wanted to send more troops– 206,000 more– Americans found out

and were mad– Johnson said no– Delegates from the US

and North Vietnam met in Paris to talk about peace

Election of 1968

• With Johnson out of the race, his VP Hubert Humphrey ran– Against McCarthy and

Kennedy– People were afraid

things were going to get ugly

• The Democratic Primary– Kennedy wins major

primaries early on• Everyone was pretty sure

that he was going to be the nominee

• They were days away from the DNC

– Another Kennedy was shot• Sirhan Sirhan was a

Jordanian mad over Kennedy’s support of Israel

• 1968 DNC– Delegates met to debate

over McCarthy and Humphrey

– Neither were amazing choices

– Protests outside over the war• Became very violent• TV coverage showed

police brutality

• The Race Was On!– Nixon- Republican

• Easily won the nomination

• He had a secret plan to end the war

– Humphrey- Democrat– George Wallace-

Independent• Very conservative• Against civil rights

movement

• Nixon won!– Close popular vote

Get Out Your Books• Turn to page 619– Into groups of four or five– Do either Critical Thinking or Focus on Speaking in the

Section 3 Assessment– Work together on this and pick ONE person to come and

present your graphic organizer or news report