The Vietnam Era

Chapter 22

Vietnam:Roots of the conflictCan be traced back to WWIIResistance to French colonization

Ho Chi Minh, who is a communist and will eventually become dictator of North Vietnam, supports independence

U.S. under Truman and Eisenhower pays for French war in exchange for French support in Europe (80% by 1954)

Kennedy increases U.S. involvement with “military advisors” Do just enough to avoid “losing” Vietnam

JohnsonAmericanizes the War

Escalation (1964) LBJ announces that N. Vietnamese have attacked 2

American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. LBJ claims attacks were unprovoked. U.S. destroyers were monitoring S. Vietnamese raids

against N. VietnameseAsks Congress for Gulf of Tonkin

Resolution which gives Johnson power to act in Vietnam. Authorized the president to “take all necessary

measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”

The Road to Vietnam

Rolling Thunder Air strikes First sustained American

bombings of N. Vietnam. Designed to stop

soldiers and supplies from going into the South.

Goal in Vietnam

The Domino Theory Southeast Asia would fall to Communism if American

forces withdraw.U.S. military involvement must not

reach levels that would provoke the Chinese or Soviets. Military victory in any traditional sense of the term was

never possible.America’s goal in Vietnam was to keep

the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong from winning and thereby force a truce.

Combat Troops

In 1965, General William C. Westmoreland named American army commander in Vietnam

Receives first installment of combat troops (to defend American airfields) 184,000 by end of 1965 385,000 by 1966

As combat operations increased, so did American casualties.

Opposition in U.S.

Casualty rate reached 500 per week, which showed to most Americans that U.S. was not winning the war. Announced on the nightly news.

Vietnam was the first war to receive extended television coverage. “living room war”

American public support for the war eroded. Draft Dodgers Protests

Tet Offensive (Jan 1968)

The Viet Cong and N. Vietnamese defied a holiday truce to launch a wave of surprise assaults. (Vietnamese New Year)

Within a few days, American and S. Vietnamese forces organized a devastating counterattack.

Psychological Impact Stops escalation Ruins Johnson politically

The Unraveling: Tet Offensive

1968: A Traumatic Year March - Johnson announced a limited halt

to the bombing of North Vietnam and that he would not seek reelection. The quest for military victory had ended. How could we get out with a minimum of damage to our

prestige?

April – Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated

June – Robert Kennedy assassinated after victory in California Democratic primary

Election of 1968

Democratic Convention in Chicago VP Hubert Humphrey nominated Riots broke out and were televised nationally. “The whole world is watching”

Republican Victory Richard Nixon wins with anti-war campaign. Offered a vision of stability and order that a

majority of Americans (“the silent majority”) wanted desperately.

Nixon insisted on “peace with honor”

                                         

Vietnamization

Nixon starts the process of ending direct U.S. involvement.

The United States began to gradually withdraw its troops as a way to advance the peace talks in Paris.

The burden of fighting would then shift to South Vietnamese soldiers.

In an attempt to force the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table, Nixon enlarged the war by invading Cambodia in 1969 and 1970.

The Counterculture

The events of 1968 led activists away from radical politics.

The “hippies” Long hair, tie-dyed shirts, recreational drugs, rock music,

and group living were more important that revolutionary ideology or mass protest.

The Woodstock Festival (1969 in New York)

Many of the flower children grew tired of their riches-to-rags existence and returned to school.

Divisionsat HomeMy Lai massacre (story broke in

1969) Army Lieutenant William Calley Ordered the murder of more than 200 unarmed

Vietnamese civilians in My Lai village (1968). 25 officers charged with complicity; Calley charged

and convicte4d of murder. Nixon granted him parole.

Nixon’s “incursion” into Cambodia, known as “Operation Menu,” was announced in 1970.

Kent State

Campuses saw a new wave of protests in 1970.

At Kent State University, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on the demonstrators, killing four students.

Polls indicated that the American public supported the National Guard. “got what they were asking for”

Pentagon Papers

In 1971, the New York Times began publishing excerpts from a secret Defense Department study on the Vietnam War.

Confirmed what many critics of the war had suspected. Congress and the public had not received the full

story on the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964. Johnson was developing attack plans while

promising the American people that combat troops would never be sent to Vietnam.

War without EndOn January 27, 1973, the U.S., North

and South Vietnam, and the Viet Cong signed an “agreement on ending the war.” The North Vietnamese were allowed to keep troops in

the South.On March 29, 1973, the last combat

troops left Vietnam.In 1975, the North Vietnamese launched

a full-scale invasion of the South to unify Vietnam under one government.

Vietnam’s Legacy

The longest war in American history was finally over.

Between 1961 and 1973, the war claimed 58,000 Americans and left more than 300,000 wounded.

It cost $150 billion.Americans simply wanted to “put

Vietnam behind us” and revert to a noninterventionist foreign policy.

Vietnam’s Legacy

Showed that democracy was not easily transferable to Third World regions.

Starts the decline of postwar liberalism – shattered the optimism of the early 1960s

Turns people against the government.Eroded respect for the military.Eroded the post WWII prosperity – U.S.

slid into a long recession

Nixon:Domestic AffairsContinued to support the American

Space program. In 1969 American astronaut Neil Armstrong became

the first person to walk on the moon.Democratic Congress

(1971) 26th Amendment – 18-year-olds the right to vote

Pushed desegregation Environmental programs

Clean Air Act Environmental Protection Agency

Nixon turned his attention to foreign policy.

Nixon TriumphantChina – Ping Pong Diplomacy

(1971) Henry Kissinger secretly visited China. (1972) Nixon visited China and made recognition an

official and public act. U.S. Ping Pong team visits China. U.S. ends restrictions on travel to China, ends trade

embargo, UN admits PRC and expels Taiwan.Détente

An easing of tensions. (1972) Nixon visited Moscow and met with Leonid

Brezhnev. Signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

The 1972 Election

Nixon’s foreign policy achievements allowed him to stage the campaign as a triumphal procession.

Democrats nominated George McGovern of South Dakota. Former college history professor. Liberal who had crusaded against the war and for

social welfare programs.Nixon won the greatest victory of

any Republican presidential candidate in history.

Nixon: 520 electoral votes and 60.7% of popular votes

McGovern: 17 electoral votes / 37.5% of popular votes

Watergate

During the campaign McGovern had complained of “dirty tricks” by Nixon. In the summer of 1972, burglars were caught breaking

into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, reporters for the Washington Post discovered that the burglars had connections to the White House.

Nixon assured the public in a televised address, “I’m not a crook.”

Uncoveringthe Cover-up

Senate hearings were held and Nixon began firing White House staff members. White House counsel John Dean testified that

Nixon had been personally involved.Nixon was forced to turn over

transcripts of secret recordings of conversations and phone calls from the Oval Office.

No evidenced surfaced that Nixon had ordered the break-in; however, Nixon participated in the cover-up.

Nixon Resigns

The House Judiciary Committee adopted articles of impeachment against Nixon.

Before the House could meet to vote on impeachment; however, Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974.

V.P. Gerald Ford becomes president. Ford pardoned Nixon.

Effect of Watergate Public cynicism toward government.

1945 Ho Chi Minh unifies Vietnam

Significant Events

1954 French defeat at Dien Bien Phu 1963 Diem assassinated 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution 1965 Rolling Thunder begins bombing of North

Vietnam 1967 March on the Pentagon 1968 Tet Offensive

Johnson withdraws from raceRiots at Chicago Democratic Convention

1969 “Vietnamization” leads to reduction of American forces

1970 Killings at Kent State 1973 Vietnam peace treaty