the vietnam conflict2shortvers
TRANSCRIPT
The Vietnam Conflict1950-1975
• What do you know about the Vietnam War?
• What were the goals of the United States in this war?
• What was the goal of the communist North Vietnamese?
Key Terms and People• Geneva Conference 1954• Ho Chi Minh• Escalation• Viet Cong• Guerilla Warfare• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• President Lyndon Johnson• General William Westmoreland• Tet Offensive• Pentagon Papers• Operation Rolling Thunder• Ho Chi Minh Trail
Key Terms and People• Agent Orange
• Napalm
• My Lai Massacre
• Vietnam War Protestors
• Kent St. University Protest/Massacre
• President Richard Nixon
• Vietnamization
• Paris Peace Accords-1973
The French Connection• France had gained control of Indochina in a
series of colonial wars in the mid-late 1800’s• During World War II, Vichy France worked with
Japanese forces in controlling Indochina during WWII
• After the Japanese surrender, the French fought to retain control of their former colony against the Viet Minh independence movement, led by Communist Party leader Ho Chi Minh
• After the Viet Minh defeated the French colonial army at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the French withdrew, and the colony was granted independence
Ho Chi Minh
Dien Bien Phu
French Withdraw/Viet Minh Celebrate
Geneva Conference-1954
• Vietnam was partitioned temporarily into a Northern and a Southern zone of Viet-Nam at the 17th parallel.
• The North was to be ruled by Ho Chi Minh, while the South would be under the control of Emperor Bao Dai.
• In 1955, Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem became President of a new South Vietnamese republic.
Ho Chi Minh, Bao Dai and Ngo Dinh Diem
North and South Vietnam
Geneva Conference• The Geneva Conference (1954) set up
elections to unify the country by July, 1956.
• Such elections were never held because neither side wanted to lose.
Who Fought?
• The United States Armed Forces
• The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN—the South Vietnamese Army)
• Vs.
• The NLF, a group of South Vietnamese guerilla fighters(Vietcong)
• The People's Army of Viet Nam (PAVN—the North Vietnamese Army, pronounced Pahvin)
Escalation-Truman through Johnson
• President Truman began US involvement by sending money to help the French
• President Eisenhower continued US support by sending military advisors to give temporary support to Diem’s government in the South
• President Kennedy continued sending advisors as well as special operation forces(green berets)
• President Johnson sent more and more combat forces
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution-• Several US ships were supposedly
attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• Most experts today do not think the ships were attacked.
• This was Johnson’s ploy to get more involved in Vietnam.
• On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving President Johnson the power …'to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression' and ...'to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom'.
• Only two people in Congress voted against it.
• During Johnson’s 1964 presidential campaign, he promised that “We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves”.
• Johnson easily defeated Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election.
• President Johnson and General William Westmoreland kept saying that with more troops we will win the war.
• Most Americans tended to believe this at first.• The American public's faith was shattered, on January
30, 1968, when the enemy, supposedly on the verge of collapse, unleashed the Tet Offensive in which nearly every major city in South Vietnam was attacked.
• Although we crushed the enemy militarily, the huge offensive attack from an enemy that was supposedly almost defeated convinced many Americans that victory was impossible and that the gov’t had been lying to them.
General William Westmoreland and President Johnson
Losses during Tet Offensive
Country/Force Killed Wounded Missing
US, Korea, Australia 1,536 7,764 11
South Viet Nam 2,788 8,299 587
North Viet Nam and Viet Cong
45,000 not known not known
Civilian 14,000 24,000 630,000 homeless
• There was an increasing sense among many people that the government was misleading the American people about a war.
• When General Westmoreland called for more troops to be sent to Vietnam after the Tet Offensive, more and more people started protesting.
• The support of the government and war effort suffered even more when the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers.
– It was a top-secret historical study about the war, that showed how the government was misleading the US public in all stages of the war.
Operation Rolling Thunder• Operation Rolling Thunder
was the code name for the non-stop bombing raids in North Vietnam by US
• Its purpose was to destroy the will of the North Vietnamese to fight, to destroy industrial bases and air defenses and to stop the flow of men and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
• Was not successful
Anti-War
• Why were so many people against the war?1. Tet Offensive-US gov’t lied to people
2. Pentagon Papers-distrusted US government
3. Injuring/killing innocent people(My Lai Massacre)
4. Supporting a bad government in South
5. The power of the press
6. Questioned why we were over there
Diem vs. the Buddhists
•
Napalm
Napalm Attack
Agent Orange
“Hanoi Jane” Fonda and John Kerry
Fonda’s Radio Hanoi SpeechJohn Kerry’s Senate Speech
• Jane Fonda
• John Kerry(34m)
My Lai Massacre March 1968
• US soldiers killed 504 Vietnamese civilians.
• The dead civilians included fifty age 3 or younger, 69 between 4 and 7, and 27 in their 70s or 80s.
• Women were raped and bodies mutilated.
My Lai Massacre March 1968
Kent St.-1970
How did people get out of serving?
1. Went to Canada or Sweden
2. Went to college(student deferment)
3. Got married
4. Medically unfit for service
5. Joined the National Guard or Peace Corps
6. Claimed to be homosexual
7. Being rich
Nixon and Vietnam• Nixon called for the “vietnamization” of the
war.
• “Peace with Honor”
• Gradually pull US troops out and train the ARVN to take our place in fighting the North.
• Expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia leading to college protests(Kent St.)
• On January 15, 1973, President Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
• The Paris Peace Accords were later signed on January 27, 1973 which officially ended US involvement in the Vietnam conflict.
1. Fighting stopped
2. US would pull out of Vietnam
3. North and South Vietnam would recognize each other’s independence
Peace???• The peace agreement did not last.• In March, 1975, the North invaded the South.• Saigon, the South’s capital fell on April 30,
1975. • US did not live up to it’s promise to come to
their aid if the North attacked.• North Vietnam united both North and South
Vietnam on July 2, 1976 to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• Saigon was re-named Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the former president of North Vietnam.
• Vietnam is still communist today.
Vietnam Deaths
• US: 58,202
• ARVN: 223,748
• NVA/VC: 1,100,000
War Powers Act1973
• Limits the power of the President of the US to wage war without the approval of the Congress.
• It requires the President to consult with Congress prior to and during any hostilities as well until U.S. armed forces are no longer needed.
• President must remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities if Congress has not declared war or passed a resolution authorizing the use of force within 60 days.
Vietnam Remembered
• Vets were not treated well upon their return to the US.
• The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial(The Wall) was built as a remembrance to those that died in the Vietnam War.
USO Tour
Raquel Welch Entertains
Knife of type that would be carried Flashlight Colt .45 Auto Smith & Wesson .38
Tunnel Rat Weapons