vietnam war
DESCRIPTION
Vietnam War. Background. Communism. Economic system Government control of property and resources Single political leader No individual rights. Containment. The idea that America should keep communism “contained” and not allow it to spread to any more areas in the world. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
![Page 2: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
![Page 3: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Communism
• Economic system• Government control of property
and resources • Single political leader • No individual rights
![Page 4: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
The idea that America should keep communism
“contained” and not allow it to spread to any more areas
in the world
![Page 5: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
• 34th President
• 1953 – 1961
• Republican
• New York
![Page 6: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
“The loss of any single country in South East Asia could lead to the loss of all Asia, then India and Japan, finally endangering the security of Europe. . . . You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one and what will happen to the last one is a certainty, that it will go over very quickly.”
U.S. President Eisenhower
![Page 7: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
• American leaders believed that if the communists captured one country, nearby nations would also fall to communism, like dominoes falling
![Page 8: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
• France had controlled Vietnam since 1858
• The colony became known as Indochina
• Vietnamese fiercely resisted French control, demanding independence
![Page 9: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Indochina consisted of
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
![Page 10: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Ho Chi Minh
![Page 11: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
• Born May 19, 1880 in Vietnam
• Son of a government official who resigned in protest against French rule
• Worked as a cook on a French ocean liner
• Lived in London and Paris after WWI
• Helped found the French Communist Party
• Soviet Communist Party summoned him to Moscow to be trained as a spy
![Page 12: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
• Using various aliases, and disguised as a Buddhist monk or a Chinese journalist, he organized a revolutionary movement among Vietnamese exiles in China
• In 1929 he organized the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) in Hong Kong
• Soon exiled by authorities in Hong Kong• Returns in 1930 and writes this statement of
his goals:
![Page 13: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
To overthrow French imperialism, feudalism, and the capitalist class
To make Indochina completely independent To establish a worker peasant and soldier
governmentTo confiscate all of the plantations and
property belonging to the imperialists and the capitalist class and distribute them to poor peasants
![Page 14: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
To implement the eight hour working dayTo abolish poll tax and unjust taxes for the
poor To bring back all freedom to the massesTo carry out universal education To implement equality between men and
women
![Page 15: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
• 1940 – The Japanese enter Vietnam• Ho Chi Minh returns to Vietnam (after 30
years)• Leads followers to fight both the Japanese
and the French• Organizes the Viet Minh• Takes the name Ho Chi Minh (Bringer of
Light)
![Page 16: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Vietnamese Independence League
Created by Ho Chi Minh in 1940
Supported the liberation of Vietnam from outside control
Seized power in 1945 when Japan surrendered at the end of WWII and set up a government in Hanoi
![Page 17: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
• Military Assistance Advisory Group• President Eisenhower sends the first
military advisors to Vietnam in the 1950s to gather intelligence on the situation
• America gives the French $25 million to help maintain control of the country
• Advised U.S. leaders that it would be unwise to get involved in Vietnam for the following 3 reasons:
![Page 18: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
1) The conflict was more about nationalism than communism since 80% of the Viet Minh were NOT communists
2) The Viet Minh were extremely popular with the people
3) U.S. soldiers were not trained for guerilla warfare in jungles
![Page 19: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
• May 6, 1954
• French forces were gathered in the fortress of Dien Bien Phu
• Vietnamese forces surrounded the compound and began raining artillery
• Eventually the French surrendered (similar to the Alamo)
![Page 20: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Dien Bien Phu
![Page 21: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
• May, 1954• After the French defeat at Dien Bien
Phu, world leaders met at Geneva, Switzerland
• Agreed to divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel
• Elections were to be held in 1956 on the issue of unification.
![Page 22: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
• But in 1956 the South refused to hold elections, claiming that the communists would prevent fair elections.
![Page 23: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
• DRVN
• Democratic Republic of Vietnam
• Communist dominated
• President - Ho Chi Minh
• Capital city - Hanoi
![Page 24: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
![Page 25: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
• RVN• Republic of Vietnam
• Anti-communist• President - Ngo Dinh Diem
• Capital city - Saigon• America backs South Vietnam to
prevent a communist takeover
![Page 26: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
![Page 27: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
• South Vietnamese rebels who organized to remove Diem from power and re-unite Vietnam as one nation
• Carried out assassinations of Diem’s officers
![Page 28: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
• Our name for the Communist military wing of the National Liberation Front
• A major difficulty throughout the war was to identify and eliminate Vietcong in South Vietnam
![Page 29: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Flag of the National Liberation Front
![Page 30: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Aerial view of the jungle canopy in Vietnam
![Page 31: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
Vietnam
![Page 32: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Vietnam
![Page 33: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
How many soldiers can
you find hidden in the
jungle?
![Page 34: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
![Page 35: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
• Elected President in 1960
• Increased spending on RVN’s efforts to repel the Vietminh
• Increased U.S. military involvement in Vietnam
• Wanted to prove to his critics in the U.S. that he was not weak on fighting the communists
![Page 36: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
• But he was reluctant to become deeply involved in Vietnam
• Top ranking military leaders advised him that the situation in Vietnam was growing worse daily - it was only a matter of time before the RVN fell to communist control
![Page 37: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
• Reluctantly, the U.S. military engaged in training RVN forces to be able to defend their own country against the communist forces
![Page 38: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
![Page 39: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
• January 2, 1963• Ap Bac was a village 40 miles southwest
of Saigon in the Mekong Delta• RVN (South Vietnam) forces
outnumbered the Viet Cong 4:1• The Viet Cong were well-supplied with
captured American M-1 rifles and 30 caliber machine guns
• RVN was poorly led and unprepared
![Page 40: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
• 5 U.S. helicopters were shot down
• 3 U.S. advisors were killed and 8 wounded
• First major victory for Viet Cong
• VC used the victory for propaganda purposes
• VC began to plan for full scale war against the RVN
• U.S. realized we would need to send additional support for the RVN
![Page 41: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Downed chopper at
Ap Bac
January 2, 1963
![Page 42: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Ap Bac
January 2, 1963
![Page 43: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
Downed choppers (flying bananas)
January 2, 1963
![Page 44: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
Ap Bac (January 2, 1963)
![Page 45: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
Ap Bac Casualties
![Page 46: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
![Page 47: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
• 1954 -appointed prime minister of RVN• He was seen as a U.S. puppet leader • This alienated many South Vietnamese • He refused some basic land reforms• He seized peasant land and gave it to
friends/family• He was Catholic• He persecuted the Buddhists
![Page 48: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
• U.S. advisors stated that even the non-communists preferred Ho Chi Minh
• By 1963, we learned that Diem had been secretly trying to create a coalition government that would include the communists
• U.S. helped to arrange a coup (the overthrow of a government)
![Page 49: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
• May 8, 1963
• On Buddha’s birthday, Diem banned the display of religious flags
• Buddhists raised their prayer flags to celebrate anyway
• Diem orders RVN troops to disperse the crowd
![Page 50: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
Buddhist Prayer Flags
![Page 51: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
Buddhist Prayer Flags
![Page 52: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/52.jpg)
• 8 Buddhist monks were killed • On June 11, the first of seven monks
sets himself on fire in the street of Saigon to protest Diem’s leadership.
• This becomes the symbol of Diem’s leadership to the American public.
![Page 53: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/53.jpg)
T. Quang Duc
First Buddhist Monk to
commit self-immolation
June 11, 1963
![Page 54: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
Warning:
Graphic disturbing images follow. Look away if you might be offended.
![Page 55: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
Douses himself with gasoline and sits calmly in the lotus position
![Page 56: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
Ignites the flame
![Page 57: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
![Page 58: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
![Page 59: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)
![Page 60: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/60.jpg)
The remains are carried away
![Page 61: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/61.jpg)
The unburned heart is
displayed in a Buddhist Temple
![Page 62: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/62.jpg)
• Nov. 1, 1963, RVN forces overthrew Diem’s leadership
• He and his family were supposed to be exiled to France
• RVN army executed Diem and his brother
• Kennedy had approved the assassination
![Page 63: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/63.jpg)
• Created chaos in RVN and instability in the government
• 12 governments in 18 months
![Page 64: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/64.jpg)
Diem and his brother found murdered in the back of a van in Saigon
![Page 65: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/65.jpg)
• 36th President• 1963 – 1969• Democrat• Texas• Became President
when Kennedy was assassinated
• Substantially increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam
![Page 66: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/66.jpg)
Sworn in on Air Force One by Judge Sarah T. Hughes
![Page 67: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/67.jpg)
• American general in charge of U.S. forces in Vietnam
• Continually pushed for increasing troop levels in Vietnam
![Page 68: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/68.jpg)
![Page 69: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/69.jpg)
• August 4, 1964• U.S. patrol ships off the coast of
Vietnam claimed to have been attacked by DRVN torpedo boats.
• President Johnson addressed the nation about the attacks and ordered retaliatory air strikes for the “unprovoked attack.”
![Page 70: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/70.jpg)
Gulf of Tonkin
![Page 71: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/71.jpg)
![Page 72: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/72.jpg)
• August 7, 1964
• Legislation that allowed LBJ to take “all necessary measures to prevent further aggression” in Vietnam
• Johnson said that “it was like Grandma’s night-skirt. It covered everything.”
• It would be used to drastically escalate American involvement in the war
![Page 73: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/73.jpg)
LBJ signs the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
![Page 74: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/74.jpg)
• Increasing military pressure on an enemy’s forces
• By 1967, we had over 470,000 troops in Vietnam.
![Page 75: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/75.jpg)
![Page 76: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/76.jpg)
![Page 77: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/77.jpg)
![Page 78: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/78.jpg)
![Page 79: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/79.jpg)
![Page 80: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/80.jpg)
![Page 81: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/81.jpg)
• February, 1965• A U.S. Army base in RVN was mortared
while National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy visited
• 9 Americans died, and 126 more injured • It showed how unstable the situation was:
we couldn’t even protect our high-ranking officials.
![Page 82: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/82.jpg)
Pleiku, 1965
![Page 83: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/83.jpg)
Pleiku airfield in 1967
![Page 84: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/84.jpg)
![Page 85: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/85.jpg)
• McGeorge Bundy: “Pleikus are like street cars.” (If you wait a while, another one will come along.)
• LBJ responded by authorizing bombings of North Vietnam.
![Page 86: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/86.jpg)
Aerial bombings of North Vietnam which began in
March of 1965
![Page 87: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/87.jpg)
The U.S. wished to avoid a ground war in the mountainous
jungle terrain of Vietnam
![Page 88: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/88.jpg)
Gen. William Momyer, 7th Air Force commander, meets with President Johnson
![Page 89: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/89.jpg)
LBJ boasted, “I won’t let those Air Force generals bomb the
smallest outhouse without checking with me.”
![Page 90: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/90.jpg)
![Page 91: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/91.jpg)
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
– some able to carry 30 tons of bombs at a time
![Page 92: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/92.jpg)
![Page 93: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/93.jpg)
B-52 Bomb
Bay
![Page 94: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/94.jpg)
May, 1965 – Bomber carrying 1000 pound bomb
![Page 95: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/95.jpg)
![Page 96: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/96.jpg)
• Lead Sled, Thud
• Flew 75 % of the strikes and took more losses over North Vietnam than any other kind of aircraft
• When Rolling Thunder ended, more than half of the Air Force’s F-105s were gone.
![Page 97: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/97.jpg)
At first, bombing missions were not
allowed in areas around
Hanoi or Haiphong
![Page 98: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/98.jpg)
“Rolling North”
Bombing raids
authorized farther north later in 1965
and 1966
![Page 99: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/99.jpg)
• Policy of wearing away an enemy’s forces until they cannot continue to fight
• The U.S. strategy in Vietnam
• We would bomb the VC until they could not continue replacing their casualties; then they would surrender
![Page 100: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/100.jpg)
• November 1965
• First major battle between VC and U.S. troops
• The U.S. 7th Cavalry delivered a substantial defeat to a VC unit
• 2000 North Vietnamese killed
• 300 American troops killed
![Page 101: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/101.jpg)
• U.S. saw it as proof that attrition works
• The VC claimed that they had forced the U.S. into combat to inflict casualties and learn about U.S. tactics.
• VC did not consider this a defeat.
![Page 102: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/102.jpg)
![Page 103: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/103.jpg)
U.S. Infantry disembarks
![Page 104: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/104.jpg)
Scene from 2001 motion picture, We Were Soldiers
![Page 105: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/105.jpg)
Starring Mel Gibson
![Page 106: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/106.jpg)
• U.S. assassination program
• We tried to eliminate VC leaders
• Thousands died in these related attacks.
![Page 107: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/107.jpg)
• North Vietnamese supply line from DRVN and ending at various points near the South Vietnamese border
• A honeycomb of routes through jungle and grassland areas that totaled 12,000 miles of trail
• Although Laos was supposedly neutral (per the Geneva agreement of 1954), 100’s of miles of the trail passed through that country
![Page 108: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/108.jpg)
![Page 109: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/109.jpg)
![Page 110: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/110.jpg)
• Before 1964, the trail was used by bicycles that were specially modified to carry pallets of rifles and ammunition weighing 400 pounds.
• In 1964 the trail was upgraded with bridges, way stations, underground barracks, storage facilities, workshops, and fuel depots
• In 1965 80,000 laborers were building 2 miles of new road each day
![Page 111: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/111.jpg)
![Page 112: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/112.jpg)
• 2,294 trucks passed through from Jan to May of 1965
• 12,000 DRVN soldiers infiltrated into the South in 1965
• 24,000 DRVN soldiers in 1966• It became of primary importance to stop
this infiltration along the trail• April 1965, the U.S. began air strikes
against the trail called “Steel Tiger”
![Page 113: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/113.jpg)
![Page 114: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/114.jpg)
• This led to the secret expansion of the war into Laos in 1965
• In March of 1970 President Nixon finally admitted U.S. military operations in Laos, claiming that the North Vietnamese had violated the Geneva Accord “before the ink was dry” and that over ½ million North Vietnamese troops had entered the South though Laos
![Page 115: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/115.jpg)
The Cu Chi Tunnel
• Of major importance during the Vietnam War
• About 250 kilometers long
![Page 116: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/116.jpg)
• Destructive gelled gasoline chemical that burns uncontrollably
• Sticks to bodies and sears off flesh
• Burns at 800 to 1200 degrees Celsius
![Page 117: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/117.jpg)
![Page 118: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/118.jpg)
![Page 119: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/119.jpg)
![Page 120: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/120.jpg)
![Page 121: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/121.jpg)
• A deforesting agent that killed jungle life, exposing VC hiding places
• Contained dioxin – extremely toxic• Reported to cause death, debilitating
diseases, and genetic defects to those exposed
![Page 122: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/122.jpg)
![Page 123: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/123.jpg)
![Page 124: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/124.jpg)
![Page 125: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/125.jpg)
C 123 “Supplier” of Agent Orange
![Page 126: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/126.jpg)
Service Patch awarded for flying Agent
Orange “Ranch Hand”
missions
![Page 127: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/127.jpg)
![Page 128: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/128.jpg)
![Page 129: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/129.jpg)
![Page 130: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/130.jpg)
![Page 131: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/131.jpg)
![Page 132: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/132.jpg)
![Page 133: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/133.jpg)
![Page 134: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/134.jpg)
• May 1967 – CIA estimates that 430,000 Viet Cong had infiltrated the South
• Dec 1967 – 45% of American public said our involvement in Vietnam was a mistake
![Page 135: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/135.jpg)
• Nov 1967 – Vice President Humphrey says on the “Today Show” – “We are on the offensive. Territory is being gained. We are making steady progress.”
![Page 136: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/136.jpg)
• Nov 21, 1967 – General Westmoreland says that DRVN was “unable to mount a major offensive . . . I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing.”
• Westmoreland says in interview with Time Magazine, “I hope they try something, because we are looking forward for a fight.”
![Page 137: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/137.jpg)
• Tết Nguyên Dán – January 31 - the lunar new year– most important Vietnamese holiday
• Both North and South Vietnam had announced on national radio that there would be a three-day cease-fire during the Tet celebration
![Page 138: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/138.jpg)
• Jan 31, 1968 - The VC launched a series of unexpected highly coordinated attacks all across South Vietnam.
• 80,000 VC troops struck more than 100 towns and cities – including Saigon
• U.S. embassy in Saigon was invaded
• The largest military operation by either side in the war up until then
![Page 139: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/139.jpg)
![Page 140: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/140.jpg)
Saigon burns
![Page 141: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/141.jpg)
• The North Vietnamese had hoped to spark a nationwide Communist rebellion among the people of South Vietnam.
• They were unsuccessful.
• But it showed the American public that our government had not been truthful about the situation in Vietnam.
![Page 142: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/142.jpg)
• Attacks continued until September 1968.
• Ended U.S. hopes of winning the war
• After Tet, we were looking for a way out.
![Page 143: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/143.jpg)
Vietcong Prisoner 1966
![Page 144: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/144.jpg)
A Vietcong Prisoner
![Page 145: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/145.jpg)
Saigon police chief murders a VC in 1968
![Page 146: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/146.jpg)
• March 16, 1968
• “Search and destroy” mission
• A small village in South Vietnam where 250 VC were rumored to be hiding
• When we arrived, we found only women and children
![Page 147: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/147.jpg)
• Lt. William Calley ordered all of the inhabitants rounded up and executed
• Only one U.S. chopper crew flew in and stopped the slaughter.
• 407 villagers were killed
• American public was shocked and outraged
![Page 148: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/148.jpg)
![Page 149: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/149.jpg)
![Page 150: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/150.jpg)
![Page 151: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/151.jpg)
![Page 152: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/152.jpg)
• Lt. William Calley was tried for murder• Claimed he was only following orders to kill
everyone in the village• Dishonorably discharged and received a life term
in prison • His sentence was later reduced by President
Nixon• Released on parole in November 1975
![Page 153: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/153.jpg)
![Page 154: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/154.jpg)
Lt. Calley escorted to Ft. Benning stockade March 31, 1971
![Page 155: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/155.jpg)
My Lai Memorial at the site of the
massacre
![Page 156: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/156.jpg)
• The U.S. launched secret attacks on Cambodia starting in 1969, looking for rumored VC headquarters.
• By 1975, the VC continued to use Cambodian supply lines
• Protests erupted across the U.S. when the public found out about these bombings.
![Page 157: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/157.jpg)
Cambodia
![Page 158: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/158.jpg)
• February 1971
• RVN forces were to attack the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos to cut off VC supply lines.
• Would prove that Vietnamization was working
![Page 159: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/159.jpg)
• But as the RVN forces prepared, the VC attacked.
• Only U.S. B-52 bombers saved the day. • It was a disaster that proved that the
RVN existed only through massive U.S. support.
![Page 160: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/160.jpg)
![Page 161: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/161.jpg)
• Sit-ins
• Marches
• Burning of draft cards
• Blocking troops trains
• Self-immolation
• Teach-ins
![Page 162: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/162.jpg)
Video: 1965, Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”
Social Protest in Song – Then and Now
![Page 163: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/163.jpg)
• Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee
• Helped organize many of the war protests on college campuses
![Page 164: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/164.jpg)
Students would pick public businesses or college campuses and simply sit there in protest of the war. Made national news as they were dragged out by police.
![Page 165: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/165.jpg)
University of Berkley 1965
![Page 166: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/166.jpg)
University of Berkley 1965
![Page 167: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/167.jpg)
• A series of nationwide debates and lectures about U.S. presence in Vietnam
• The goal was to educate the public and increase pressure on the government to change its Vietnam policy.
![Page 168: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/168.jpg)
• American youth movement that blamed “the establishment” for
the war• The establishment – old
white men
![Page 169: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/169.jpg)
Beliefs included: – questioning authority
– seeking personal pleasure
– alternative lifestyles
– different clothing styles
– rock music
– drugs
![Page 170: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/170.jpg)
• A group that was part of the counterculture
• Valued youth, individuality, spontaneity, “living for today”
• Promoted non-materialism, peace, love of nature, and sexual freedom
![Page 171: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/171.jpg)
![Page 172: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/172.jpg)
![Page 173: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/173.jpg)
![Page 174: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/174.jpg)
• August 1969
• 3 day music festival at Max Yazgur’s farm in upstate New York
• Organizers expected 10,000 – 20,000
• 400,000 counterculture youth showed up
• Concert organizers abandoned the plan to set up fences and made the concert free
![Page 175: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/175.jpg)
![Page 176: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/176.jpg)
![Page 177: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/177.jpg)
![Page 178: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/178.jpg)
![Page 179: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/179.jpg)
Jimi Hendrix
![Page 180: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/180.jpg)
• Youth International Party• “Anarchist hippies” – Planned several
fictional events to alarm the public• Planned to go the Democratic Convention
in 1968 and protest by nominating a pig named “Pigasus” for president and then eating him
• Invaded Disneyland in August of 1970, where they planned to barbeque Porky Pig
![Page 181: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/181.jpg)
Yippies invade Tom Sawyer’s
Island at Disneyland during
the “Yippie Invasion”
![Page 182: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/182.jpg)
Yippies are arrested and the Disneyland closes 5 hours early
![Page 183: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/183.jpg)
• November 1969
• Thousands marched on Washington D.C. to protest the war
• At night they lit candles and marched silently in honor of the dead
![Page 184: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/184.jpg)
• Even government officials’ families participated, such as Vice Pres. Agnew’s daughter.
• Showed that mainstream Americans were opposed to the war, not just Hippies
![Page 185: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/185.jpg)
Video: Protestors for Peace, Washington D.C., Nov. 1969
7:50
![Page 186: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/186.jpg)
• An Ohio working-class commuter university
• May 2, 1970 - Students gathered on the grounds to protest the war
• A fire broke out in the ROTC building
• The Ohio National Guard was called in
![Page 187: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/187.jpg)
• On May 4, the National Guard threw tear gas into the crowd of students and ordered them to disperse.
• Students responded by throwing rocks at the armed guards.
• The guards fired into the crowd of students
• 4 killed; 13 wounded – some not even participants in the protest
![Page 188: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/188.jpg)
![Page 189: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/189.jpg)
“Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,We're finally on our own.This summer I hear the drumming,Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to itSoldiers are gunning us downShould have been gone long ago.What if you knew herAnd found her dead on the groundHow can you run when you know?
![Page 190: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/190.jpg)
Video: “Ohio” cover by 4 Way Street
![Page 191: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/191.jpg)
Video: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sing “Ohio” (1974)
![Page 192: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/192.jpg)
![Page 193: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/193.jpg)
Those who favored the war
![Page 194: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/194.jpg)
Those who favored peace
![Page 195: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/195.jpg)
• LBJ announced that he would not run for reelection, mainly because of the war in Vietnam.
• The election was highly turbulent as Americans protested and debated the war.
![Page 196: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/196.jpg)
• JFK’s younger brother
• U.S. Attorney General under JFK
• Entered Presidential race when LBJ announced he would not run again
• Supported civil rights and the end of the war in Vietnam
![Page 197: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/197.jpg)
Assassinated while campaigning in LA, California
June 5, 1968
Age 42
![Page 198: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/198.jpg)
Video: Final interview and assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, June 5, 1968
2:00
![Page 199: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/199.jpg)
• Democrat - Governor of Alabama (16 years total)
• Opposed integration – “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”
• Physically stood in the doorway to block entry of two black students to the University of Alabama in June 1963
![Page 200: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/200.jpg)
• 1968 - Ran as an American Independent Party candidate in the Presidential election
• Took away enough votes from the Democrats to allow Nixon to win the election.
• Ran for President again in 1972 and was shot and paralyzed by a attempted assassin
![Page 201: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/201.jpg)
Governor George Wallace
![Page 202: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/202.jpg)
• Eisenhower’s Vice President
• Republican • Ran against JFK
in 1960 and lost an extremely close election
![Page 203: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/203.jpg)
• Won Presidency in 1968 by promising a “secret plan” to win the war in Vietnam
• Secretly widened the war in Vietnam into Cambodia and Laos
![Page 204: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/204.jpg)
• Passed in 1971
• Lowered the voting age to 18
• People believed that if a young person is old enough to die for his nation at age 18, then he is old enough to vote.
![Page 205: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/205.jpg)
• Nixon’s term• U.S. forces would be used to train RVN
forces • Eventually, the U.S. would scale back our
troop levels until the RVN could function self-sufficiently
• By 1972, U.S. troops in Vietnam had been reduced to 24,000
![Page 206: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/206.jpg)
• Secretary of State under Nixon
• Helped ease tensions between the U.S., China and the USSR
• Helped negotiate the peace settlement in Vietnam
![Page 207: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/207.jpg)
• Began May 1968• Made little progress• Stalled over various important issues
– Permanent international boundary between North and South Vietnam
– Withdrawal of all American troops– Continued American aid to the South– Return of all American prisoners of war– Continuation of President Thieu in the South
![Page 208: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/208.jpg)
• Paris Peace Talks had stalled and the 1972 election was approaching.
• Jan. 1972, Nixon announced that the North Vietnamese had refused to accept our settlement offer.
• Just days before the election, Kissinger announced that “Peace is at hand,” even though the settlement was not final.
• Nixon was re-elected in Nov 1972.
![Page 209: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/209.jpg)
• Dec. 1972 - “The Christmas Bombings”• The last American battle of the war• Nixon’s goal was to force the North
Vietnamese back to the Paris peace talks• Originally planned as a 3 day attack (Dec.
18 -20) on Hanoi and Haiphong• Operation was planned by SAC (Strategic
Air Command) Headquarters in Omaha
![Page 210: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/210.jpg)
• They attacked at night in waves timed just a few minutes apart
• About100 B 52’s approached Hanoi in groups of 3, traveling in straight lines of exactly the same altitude, making it easy for SAM’s (Surface to Air Missiles) to track and shoot them down
• In the first 3 nights, 8 American B52’s were shot down
![Page 211: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/211.jpg)
• On Dec. 21st Nixon ordered the attacks be extended past the original 3 days
• SAC reviewed and revised its tactics to reduce further losses of aircraft
• Bombings continued everyday (except Christmas) until Dec. 29th
• North Vietnam finally agreed to return to the Paris negotiations
![Page 212: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/212.jpg)
• 729 night time B52 sorties and 650 daytime smaller fighter craft flown
• Over 40,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the Hanoi/Haiphong area.
• Over 2000 killed• 1600 civilians killed• 15 B52s lost / 12 smaller aircraft lost• 33 crew members killed/ 33 became POWs• World leaders denounced the bombings.• Nixon’s approval rating in U.S. fell to 39%.
![Page 213: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/213.jpg)
• The North Vietnamese insisted that Americans are told the bombings were not the reason they returned to the peace talks.
• Jan. 1973 – final agreement signed:– U.S. would withdraw all troops within 60 days– All prisoners of war would be released– Ended military activities in Cambodia and Laos– 17th parallel would remain a “temporary”
dividing line• Nixon believed he had achieved “peace with
honor.”
![Page 214: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/214.jpg)
• 58,000 dead
• 300,000 wounded
• 2,500 POW’s and MIA’s
• $150 billion spent
![Page 215: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/215.jpg)
• Prisoners of war
• Hundreds of U.S. soldiers had been captured and detained by VC forces.
• Some had been executed and some were tortured before being returned at the end of the war.
![Page 216: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/216.jpg)
• “Missing in action”
• Hundreds of U.S. soldiers remained unaccounted for at the end of the war.
• We weren’t sure if they had been killed, captured, had deserted, or something else.
![Page 217: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/217.jpg)
Many people wore POW/MIA bracelets to honor those captured or missing
![Page 218: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/218.jpg)
• 1974 – 1977• Republican• Became Vice President
when Agnew resigned• Became President
when Nixon resigned in Aug. 1974
• Brought Vietnam War to a final conclusion
![Page 219: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/219.jpg)
• North Vietnam continued to invade the South after American troops withdrew
• In 1972, Nixon had secretly promised President Thieu of South Vietnam that America would begin bombing the North again if they violated the Paris peace agreement.
• In 1974, Ford asked Congress for aid, but they refused to send any more money or troops to help the South
![Page 220: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/220.jpg)
• April 29, 1975 Communist forces surrounded Saigon.
• The U.S. frantically evacuated our embassy.
• Helicopters airlifted over 1,000 Americans and 6,000 Vietnamese out of the city to aircraft carriers.
• April 30, 1975 – Saigon government officially surrendered to the North
• Vietnam became a single Communist nation
![Page 221: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/221.jpg)
Video: BBC report on the fall of Saigon, April 1975
4:48
![Page 222: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/222.jpg)
• In 1975, Laos and Cambodia fell to Communism
• Cambodia was overtaken by the Khmer Rouge, a radical Communist group
• They killed 1.5 million Cambodians – anyone they believed was tainted by “Western” ways
• Over 1.5 million Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians fled their countries, many coming to the U.S. as refugees
![Page 223: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/223.jpg)
• 1973 - A law designed to limit a President’s ability to wage war without Congressional approval. Passed over Nixon’s veto– Requires a President to notify Congress within
48 hours after deployment of troops, including reasons for and the expected length of the mission.
– Limits troop involvement to 60 days without Congressional approval.
– Congress can demand that the President bring the troops home.
![Page 224: Vietnam War](https://reader038.vdocuments.mx/reader038/viewer/2022102702/56812c81550346895d913288/html5/thumbnails/224.jpg)
Video: Charlie Daniels Band sings “Still in Saigon”