End of the Cold War
World History
Events Leading Up To The End of the Cold War • Escala:on in Vietnam (LBJ) • Tet Offensive • Cambodian Genocide
– Pol Pot • 1969: America (lost the space race…but…) got to the moon in 1969! – Inspired by President Kennedy – though he did not live to see it happen.
• Soviet Union invades Afghanistan • 1979: Iranian Hostage Crisis • Mikhail Gorbachev elected in 1985 to Soviet Union • 1989 – Fall of the Berlin Wall • 1991 – Soviet Union Dissolves
• Vietcong - Communists group that formed in South Vietnam, began attacks on the Diem government
• They used guerilla warfare • Received support from Communist Ho
Chi Minh • Ho Chi Minh Trail: Paths the Vietcong
used to distribute arms and lead surprise attacks
The Vietcong
Opening to Vietcong Tunnel System
Underground view of tunnels
1965: Gulf of Tonkin Resolu:on: Congress gave US President authority to take any measures necessary to keep peace an Asia (where Vietnam is!)
• President Johnson (LBJ) escalates the number of American troops in Vietnam
Fighting in Vietnam
Fighting in the Jungle
Fighting in the Jungle
• Vietcong: hit-and-run tactics • Land mines • Vietcong receiving supplies from China
and U.S.S.R. • New weapons: Napalm and Agent Orange • Search and Destroy Missions • Helicopter
Napalm
Agent Orange
U.S. At War With Vietnam
• 1965: Operation Rolling Thunder: first sustained bombing of North Vietnam
• William Westmoreland: American commander in South Vietnam
• Expect war to take 8 weeks
1968 A Tumultuous Year
• Tet Offensive - Vietcong attacks civilians and U.S. troops for one month starting on Vietnamese New Year
• Clark Clifford - New Secretary of Defense: says war is unwinnable – LBJ’s popularity drops by 60%
The Tet Offensive
1968 a Tumultuous Year
• Robert Kennedy (Bobby) enters presidential race along with Eugene McCarthy for Democratic nomination
• Robert Kennedy wins California Primary but is assassinated after his victory speech
Robert Kennedy Shot
1968
• August of 1968, Democrats met in Chicago for the convention
• Hubert Humphrey got the nomination: This angered many anti-war activists
• Violence erupted outside the DNC in Chicago between police and anti-war demonstrators (Grant Park)
The End of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam.
• Richard Nixon gets elected to the presidency • Pledged to end American involvement in
Vietnam • Henry Kissinger: National Security Advisor • Vietnamization: plan of gradual withdrawal of
U.S. troops and for the South Vietnamese to take over fighting.
• By August of 1969, the first 25,000 troops returned home. Over the next 3 years went from 500,000 to less than 25,000
Nixon did not want to lose the war in Vietnam
• As Nixon pulled troops out of Vietnam, he ordered massive bombing attacks on North Vietnam
• Also ordered bombings of Laos and Cambodia (Vietcong bases)
U.S. Bombing of Cambodia
Nixon May Not be Telling the Truth????
• Silent Majority: - Mainstream Americans who supported Nixon’s strategy of war
• My Lai Massacre - November 1969, Americans learned that U.S. troops killed more than 100 unarmed Vietnamese
• April 1970, Nixon announced that the U.S. had invaded Cambodia. College protests exploded!
• Kent State Massacre in Ohio
Kent State University Protest
Kent State University
America’s Longest War Ends • 1972: election year. Nixon wants to win
reelection. • Nixon calls on Henry Kissinger (advisor on
foreign affairs) to negotiate a peace settlement with the North Vietnamese
• Kissinger announced peace was close at hand. Nixon reelected.
• South Vietnam objected to peace settlement. Peace talks stopped, bombing against North Vietnam resumed.
Cold War Tension – Vietnam Ends • Peace talks had stalled • Nixon announces he will go to China!
– Travels to China (first American president to do so) because they were suppor:ng North Vietnam • China was COMMUNIST!!!
– Travels to Russia (ALSO COMMUNIST – ALSO OUR ENEMY -‐) because they were suppor:ng Vietnam
• Promises to end War in Vietnam
• Running for reelec:on • Wins!
America’s Longest War Ends • Peace talks resumed again in 1973.
Signed a peace agreement. • March 1973, the last of the U.S. combat
troops left. • North and South Vietnam resumed
fighting. • April 1975, North captures the South’s
capital, Saigon. Soon after, South surrendered to North Vietnam.
How Did The War Affect America • 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam • 303,000 wounded • 2 Million Vietnamese dead • War resulted in many policy changes:
– Congress passed War Powers Act in 1973 – Prevented the president from committing
troops in a foreign conflict without approval from Congress
– Left many Americans with a feeling of mistrust towards their government
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Located in Washington D.C.