September 20, 2011

VietnamNote location of

Hanoi and SaigonNote infiltration

routes from North to South via Laos and Cambodia

War in mountains and forests vs. war in rice paddies

Guerrilla WarCombatants try to

blend into population.

Large-scale battles avoided until end of war.

War of attrition via:sabotageassassinationsniper attackshit-and-run warfare

Key Events in the U.S. Intervention in Vietnam1954 -- defeat of the French in the

Battle of Dien Bien Phu1956 -- Geneva Accords1961-62 -- JFK supports a coup d’etat against

Ngo Dinh Diem and increases U.S. military commitment to S. Vietnam

1964 -- LBJ decides to increase U.S. troops in Vietnam to 160,000

Ho Chi Minh Leader of the

Vietnamese nationalists in their struggle against the reassertion of French colonial power after World War II.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ)LBJ assumed the

presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

LBJ decided to greatly increase the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam.

He was never able to explain this decision adequately to the U.S. public.

Key Events (Continued)The Tet Offensive (1968)LBJ decides not to run for reelectionRFK assassinated, Nixon wins in 1968Nixon “Vietnamizes” the war, major antiwar

protests beginChristmas bombing of Hanoi (1972)Paris Peace Accords (1973)Saigon falls, war ends (1975)

Nixon Vietnamizes the WarIn 1969, Richard

Nixon announced that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam and replacing them with Vietnamese fighters.

He claimed he was seeking “peace with honor.”

End of the War, 1975 Pictures show

helicopters leaving U.S. Embassy in Saigon; and Vietnamese allies trying to get inside the embassy gate.

Francis Ford Coppola: Selected FilmographyThe Godfather

(1972)The Conversation

(1974)Apocalypse Now

(1979)The Cotton Club

(1984)Tucker: The Man

and His Dream (1988)