The Vietnam War

Out of ManyChapter 29

Pages 1050-1060 & 1078-1088

Early American Involvement in Vietnam

Although little was known about Vietnam in the late 1940s & early 1950s, American officials felt Vietnam was important in their campaign to stop the spread of communism

Vietnam’s History• French colony, sought independence in the early 1900s• Several political parties formed during the reform• One of the leaders of the nationalist movement was Ho

Chi Minh– Became an advocate of communism

after his travels to the USSR– 1930, formed the Indochinese Communist

Party– Worked to overthrow the French– Exiled to the USSR & China

• 1941, Japan had control of Vietnam– Minh had returned from exile– Formed the nationalist group Vietminh (Communist & non-

Communist) to force Japan out

Vietnamese Fight for Independence

• 1945, Allies defeat Japan in WWII & Vietnam declares independence– France sent in troops to regain control– France asked US for help

• American officials didn’t agree w/ French controlling Vietnamese, but also didn’t want the country to be Communist either

• US, under Truman & Eisenhower, supported the French military– Truman felt that the fall of China to communism & the Korean

war was enough evidence that Asia was falling to communism – Eisenhower defended the US policy in Vietnam with the Domino

Theory• The belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, other nations in Southeast

Asia would do the same

The Vietminh Drive Out the French• Despite aid from the United States, the French

struggles against the Vietminh• Guerrilla tactics were frequently used

– Irregular troops who usually blend into civilian population and are difficult for regular armies to fight

– Used hit-and-run and ambush tactics

• 1954, Dien Bein Phu, site where French commander was forced to make peace & withdraw from Indochina

• Negotiations to end the conflict, called the Geneva Accords, divided Vietnam between the Vietminh (North) and a pro-Western regime (South)– Accords also recognized Cambodia’s independence

• 1956, elections were held to form a single gov’t– US stepped in to protect the new gov’t in the South led

by Ngo Dinh Diem– Tensions between North & South Vietnam escalated w/

the US caught in the middle…..

American Involvement Deepens• After Diem refused to hold nat’l elections, Minh created a new

guerrilla army know as the Vietcong– Goal was to reunify North & South

• US continued to send aid to the South• Vietcong’s power continued to grow because

many Vietnamese opposed Diem’s gov’t• Unpopularity increased due to Diem’s

corrupt gov’t– Strategic hamlets: special fortified villages

protected by machine guns & various otherweaponry

– Discriminated against Buddhism• Diem was overthrown and later executed

– Further weakened South’s gov’t forcing the US to become more involved

– After JFK’s assassination, Johnson inherited the problem

Johnson & Vietnam• At first, Johnson was cautious, yet was determined to prevent

South from becoming Communist• Politically, Democrats needed to keep South from being

communist, or the Republicans would use it against him• August 2, 1964 – Johnson announced the North torpedo boats

fired on 2 American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, then another similar attack occurred 2 days later

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: authorized the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack on US forces– IMPORTANCE: congress had given its war

powers to the president• Vietcong began attacking bases where

American advisers were stationed in theSouth

• February 1965, Johnson sent aircrafts toattack the North

• March 1965, troops increased

A Bloody Stalemate• 1965, some 180,000 American combat troops were fighting in

Vietnam• Number doubled by 1966• Many Americans believed they

could win Vietnam• To take Vietcong's hiding places

away, American planes droppednapalm and Agent Orange (chemicalthat strips leaves from trees &shrubs)

• Americans underestimated Vietcong’s strength, stamina, & morale• Johnson refused to order a full invasion, fearing China would get

involved• As American causalities increased, many Americans questioned

the US’s involvement in the war

The US was also never entirely successful in shutting down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a supply line that ran between North and South Vietnam via difficult jungle terrain, often underground and through neighboring nations like Cambodia

A Growing Credibility Gap

• When American troops first entered the Vietnam War, many Americans supported the military effort

• As the war in Vietnam continued to drag on, public support decreased– Leading commander continually said

that the enemy was almost defeated– Reports on television…

• Americans began to question the gov’t and believed a credibility gap had developed– Made it difficult to believe what LBJ’s

administration said about the war

An Antiwar Movement Emerges• As the casulaties increased, Americans, especially

college students, began to publicly protest the war• March 1965, University of Michigan– Faculty & students abandoned their classes and formed a

teach-in where they informally discussed issues of the war & why they opposed it

– Triggered teach-ins at many other colleges• Many protesters focused on why they thought the

draft was unfair– College students could delay military service– Low-income & limited education were called to serve– Minorities, especially African Americans, were called to war– Many draftees refused to serve; some moved to Canada

Hawks & Doves

• By 1968, the nation seemed divided into two camps• Doves: wanted the United States to withdraw from

the war• Hawks: felt the United States should stay and fight

1968: The Pivotal Year

• January: During Tet (the Vietnamese New Year), the Vietcong launched a surprise attack known as the Tet offensive– Guerilla fighters hit American

airbases in the South as well as the South’s major cities & capitals

– Militarily, the attack was a disaster. Politically, the approval ratings of Minh increased

• April: MLK Assassinated

1968: The Pivotal Year

• 1968 Presidential elections– Doves: Eugene McCarthy & Robert

Kennedy (RFK assassinated in May)– Johnson withdrew from the race in

March– Democrats: Hubert Humphrey– Republican: Nixon – promised to

regain order in Vietnam– Independent: Governor George

Wallace (AL)• Johnson attempted to help the

Democratic party by proposing a cease-fire, Humphrey lost by more than 100 electoral votes & Nixon became president

Nixon Moves to End the War• Nixon chose Harvard professor

Henry Kissinger to be special assistant for national security affairs

• Nixon began Vietamization – gradual withdrawal of American troops, allowing South to assume more of the fighting

• As peace negotiations were underway, Nixon increased air strikes against North to maintain American strength

Turmoil at Home Continues• War continued to stir up protests

and violence in the US• More stories…

– 1968, an American platoon under the command of Lt. William Calley massacred 200+ South Vietnamese civilians in the hamlet of My Lai

– Most of the victims were old men, women, & kids

• April 1970, US troops entered Cambodia– Purpose was to destroy Vietcong

military bases– Americans saw this as an expansion

of the war• Same year, Congress repealed the

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Kent State - Timeline• Thursday, April 30

– Nixon announces to the nation about invading Cambodia

• Friday, May 1– About 500 students lead a protest

on the Commons– Planned another protest for the

4th– Later, fights break out in bars &

vandalism occurs• Saturday, May 2

– City officials receive threats– Mayor calls Governor & requests

that the Natl’l Guard be sent in– ROTC building burned; arsonists

never caught– Police & Firemen hit with rocks

• Saturday, May 2 (con’t)– Students slash fire hoses– Nat’l Guard made numerous

arrests & used tear gas; one student slightly wounded w/ bayonet

• Sunday, May 3– Gov. called protesters “Un-

American”– Some students went downtown

to help w/ cleanup– Curfew set into place– Sit-in in the streets; wanted

meeting w/Mayor & college president

– Guards enforced curfew; a few students bayoneted

Kent State Massacre• Monday: protest was scheduled to be held at noon• University officials tried to cancel the event by passing out flyers• 2,000 gathered anyways on the Commons• Nat’l Guard came in to break up the rally• Protestors responded by throwing rocks, so guard retreated• Guard returned & ordered dispersal; used tear gas when most of the crowd

refused– No effect – Too windy!– Rock throwing began again– Students threw the tear gas canister back at the guards

• Shots fired by 29 of the 77 guardsmen– Total of 67 shots taken in approx. 13 seconds (though some report it was

longer)– Unclear as to why the shooting began in the first place– 4 killed & 9 wounded

• Also known as the May 4 Massacre

Pentagon Papers• Leaked by Defense Dept. worker, Daniel Ellsberg• Secret document showed that many gov’t officials

had privately questioned the war while publicly defending it

• Also showed how the various administrations deceived the public about Vietnam

United States Pulls Out of Vietnam• By 1971, nearly 2/3 of

Americans wanted the war to be over

• Nixon had been waiting for the North to evacuate the South before signing a peace treaty, but decided to quit waiting

• A month before presidential elections, announced that peace was at hand – Nixon won by a landslide

Peace Talks

• Negotiations broke down when South’s president Nguyen Van Thieu refused any plan that left North troops in the South

• US began a bombing campaignthat eventually led to theresumption of peace talks

• January 27, 1973 – both sidesagreed to end the war & restorepeace– Never resolved what would happen with South…

• After eight years of fighting, the US ended its direct involvement in Vietnam

Not Over Yet….• March 1975, North Vietnamese army launched a full-

scale invasion of the South• Theiu asked the US for assistance• New president, Gerald Ford, went to Congress for

approval• April 30, North

Vietnamesecaptured Saigon,united Vietnamunder Communistrule, and renamedthe city Ho Chi Minh City

The Legacy of Vietnam• Cost = over $170 billion• 58,000 soldiers died• Many soldiers who made it home

faced psychological problems• Some families left uncertain about

POWs and MIAs• 1973 – War Powers Act– Reestablished limits on executive power– Required the president to inform Congress of any commitment of

troops abroad w/in 48 hours– Troops had to be withdrawn in 60-90 days unless Congress

approved the troop commitment• The war increased American cynicism about their gov’t &

made them question their leaders

The Growth of the Youth Movement

• 1960s = one of the most chaotic decades in US history

• During the 60s, a youth movement developed that challenged American politics, its social system & the values of the time

• No other time in history has witnessed such a protest

Roots of the Movement

• Movement actually began in the 50s• Nation had a boom in its economy that not all

Americans enjoyed• Some writers were openly criticizing American

society• Dramatic increase in college enrollment– Gave opportunities to share feelings & fears– Concern about future led many to join in civil rights

movement or the Peace Corps– Newfound sense of freedom & independence

Students for a Democratic Society

• Formed by students concerned about injustices in political & social issues

• Also called the SDS• Views were written in the 1962 declaration

known as the Port Huron Statement– Written by Tom Hayden, editor of the student

newspaper at University of Michigan– Called for an end to apathy– Urged citizens to shop accepting a country run by

corporations & big gov’t

• Group focused on protesting the Vietnam War, but also addressed issues like poverty, campus regulations, nuclear power & racism

The Free Speech Movement• Led by a group of activists at the University of

California at Berkeley• Leader was Mario Savio• Staged a sit-in at the administration

building• Around 700 protestors were arrested• Triggered a campus-wide strike which

stopped classes for 2 days• Administration gave in to student’s

demands• Supreme Court upheld the students’

rights to freedom of speech & assemblyon campus

• IMPORTANCE: The Berkeley revolt became the model for college demonstrations around the country

The Counterculture• Some young Americans did not challenge the system• Instead, they created their own society• The counterculture, or hippies, were

mostly white youths from middle- andupper-class backgrounds

• Lived a life that promoted flamboyantdress, rock music, drug use, & free/independent living

• Ideals that society was free, closer to nature, & full of love, empathy, tolerance, and cooperation

• As the movement grew, newcomers didn’t understand the roots– Focused on the outward signs of the movement– Long hair, Native American headbands, shabby jeans, & drugs

were common

Decline of the Counterculture

• Began to decline as some hippie communities became a place where criminal activity was common

• Drug use declinedas the excitementfaded & as morepeople becameaddicted or diedfrom overdoses

A Weakened Women’s Movement• A new feminist movement had begun in

the 1960s, though it had originally begun as early as the 1920s– Feminism is the belief that men and

women should be equal politically, economically, and socially

• During WWII, many women joined the nation’s workforce as many men went off to fight

• Those same women lost their jobs when the men returned

• Women gradually returned to the workforce

• By 1960, made up almost 1/3 of the workforce

Women’s Movement Groups• League of Women Voters– Promoted laws to protect women & children– Limiting the hour they could work

• National Women’s Party (NWP)– Opposed protective legislation for women– Thought it reinforced workplace

discrimination– Introduced the first Equal Rights Amendment

in Congress• Forbade local, federal, and state laws from

discriminating on the basis of gender• Because the women’s movement was divided,

Congress could afford to ignore the legislation at the time

The Women’s Movement Reawakens

• By the early 1960s, women became increasingly resentful of old stereotypes & the protest for equality increased

• President’s Commission on the Status of Women– Group headed by Eleanor Roosevelt– Urged JFK to study the status of women– Found problems in the workplace– Helped create feminist networks who lobbied Congress

• 1963, Equal Pay Act was passed• Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed job

discrimination– Importance: became the legal basis for the women’s movement

• Attitudes about what kinds of work were proper for women took time to change– The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) still held

that jobs could be distinguished by gender

Betty Friedan & The Feminine Mystique• Friedan travelled around the country

interviewing women who had graduated with her from Smith College in 1942

• Friedan found that while women reported that they had everything they could want, they still felt unfulfilled

• 1963, the book stirred up women all over the country & became a best-seller

• June 1966, Friedan felt it was time for a national women’s organization to promote women into mainstream America– National Organization for Women (NOW)– Responded to many issues facing women,

including greater educational opportunities & denouncing the exclusion of women from certain professions

Women’s Movement: Successes

• Greater equality in the educational system– Legislation banned sex discrimination in education– Title IX: prohibited federally funded schools from discriminating against

girls in nearly all aspects of their operations, from admissions to athletics

• States adopted liberal abortion laws regarding a woman’s mental health or in the case of rape or incest– 1973, Roe v. Wade ruled that state gov’t could no longer regulate

abortion during the first 3 months of pregnancy– Ruled it was the time of a women’s constitutional right to privacy– Gave rise to the right-to-life movement

• More women pursuing college degrees & careers outside the home

• Employers began to offer family-friendly options to their employees

• By 2000, over 40% of Americans graduating with law or medical degrees were women

Women’s Movement : Failures• 1972, Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)– Protected against discrimination based

on gender– In order for it to became part of the

constitution, 38 states had to ratify it• Opposition to the ERA began to grow

as many saw it as a threat to traditionalAmerican values & social patterns

• Phyllis Schlafly, was one of the mostvocal critics of the movement,organized the national Stop-ERA campaign

• Amendment failed to be ratified by 38 states& died in 1982

Nixon’s Presidency:New Federalism Program

• Nixon’s constituency also favored dismantling a number of federal programs and giving more control to state & local gov‘ts– Called this New Federalism

• Congress passed a series of revenue-sharing bills that provided federal funds to state & local agencies– Though it was intended to give those agencies increased power, it

actually led to a greater dependency on federal funding– For programs he didn’t like, Nixon would impound (refuse to release)

the funds – Supreme Court later deemed unconstitutional • 1969, Nixon proposed replacing Aid to Families with Dependant

Children (AFDC) welfare program with the Family Assistance Plan– Give needy families a guaranteed yearly grant of $1,600– Won House approval, but not Senate– Never passed

Nixon’s Foreign Policy

• Nixon’s administrations main focus• Henry Kissinger– Former Harvard professor– Chose as national security adviser

• Attempted friendlier relations with the Soviet Union & China– Nixon was anti-communist, but came to reject he idea of a

bipolar world w/ the US & USSR confronting each other– Created the approach of détente, or relaxation of tensions

between the US & its two major Communist rivals– Nixon argued that the US had to build a better relationship

w/ its rivals to ensure world peace

International Relationships• To ease tensions w/

china, Nixon lifted trade & travel restrictions

• Also, withdrew the Seventh Fleet from defending Taiwan

• February 1972, Nixon to a historic trip to China– Both leaders agreed to

better relations between the nations

International Relationships

• USSR suggested an American-Soviet summit, or high-level diplomatic meeting, in May of 1972– Nixon became the first

president to visit the USSR– Signed the first Strategic

Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I)• Purpose was to limit nuclear

arms• Agreed to increase trade &

the exchange of scientific information

The Roots of Watergate• The Watergate scandal began as the Nixon

administration attempted to cover up its involvement in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters

• Watergate, along w/ other illegal actions, occurred during Nixon’s re-election campaign

• Nixon had become defensive, secretive, & resentful of his critics

• Worried he might not get re-elected because of Vietnam

• Nixon & his team looked for ways to gain an edge anyway they could in an effort to win re-election

June 17, 1972

• 5 Nixon supporters broke into the Democratic Party’s headquarters

• Purpose was to locate campaign info & install wiretaps on telephones

• Burglars discovered by a security guard & arrested• James McCord, one of the burglars, was an ex-CIA

official & a member of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP)

• Most Americans believed the president when he claimed he had no involvement in the break-in

• He went on to win re-election in 1972

The Cover-Up Unravels

• As the questions about the break-ins began, the cover-up started

• Though it is thought hat Nixon did not order the break-in, it is believed that he did order the cover-up

• 1973, the Watergate burglars went on trial• Defendant James McCord agreed to cooperate with the

grand jury investigation– Testimony created a floodgate of confessions– Officials & White House staff exposed illegalities

• John Dean leveled allegations against Nixon– Testified that Attorney General John Mitchell had ordered

the break-in & Nixon was active in its cover-up

Executive Privilege• July 16, White House aide

testified that Nixon had• ordered a taping system

installed in the WhiteHouse to record allconversations to helphim write his memoirsonce he left office

• Tapes were sought by all groups investigating the scandal

• Nixon refused to hand over the tapes– Pleaded executive privilege

VP Resigns

• Fall 1972, Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign

• Discovered he had taken bribes from state contractors while he was governor of MD

• Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Gerald Ford, became the new VP

Hand Them Over!• Nixon released edited transcripts of the tapes in April

1974, claiming they proved him innocent• Investigators went to court to force him to turn over

the unedited tapes• The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach on

charges of presidential misconduct• Supreme Court ruled Nixon had to turn the tapes over

to the court• One tape, known as the

smoking gun, had evidencethat Nixon had ordered theCIA to stop the FBI’sinvestigation of the break-in

Resignation

• Days later, on August 9th, Nixon officially resigned from office

• Gerald Ford became the 38th president– First president to take

office that was not voted into the office of VP or President

The Impact of Watergate• Watergate prompted the implementation of several new

laws limiting the power of the executive branch & reestablishing a greater balance of power

• The Federal campaign Act Amendments limited campaign contributions

• The Ethics in Government act required financial disclosure by high gov’t officials in all three branches of gov’t

• The FBI Domestic Security Investigations Guidelines restricted the bureau's political intelligence-gathering activities

• Watergate left American’s distrustful of public officials• Many felt that it proved that in the US, no one is above the

law