1. Vietnam War

3. SSUSH20.d Describe the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive, and growing opposition to the war.    SSUSH20.e Explain the role of geography of the U.S. containment policy, the Korean War, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, and the Vietnam War. USH24.c Analyze the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Why are we there?

4. In a nutshell…. What war are we currently in?
What does America want to fight against?
Ho Chi Minh rebels against French rule, embraces communism.
Truman wanted France as a friend so….
Eisenhower continued this
Give France $$, Truman Doctrine & domino theory
France lost, gave up Vietnam in 1954, divided into two on 17th parallel
North Vietnam – communist, Ho Chi Minh
South Vietnam – anti-communist, Ngo Dinh Diem

5. Cold War : Vietnam
May 5, 1961
President John F. Kennedy announces it may be necessary to send U.S. troops to Vietnam. In his inaugural address four months earlier, Kennedy had declared that Americans will be ready to "...bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." There were already 800 U.S. advisers in Vietnam; by November 1963 there were 16,700.

6. December 8, 1961
U.S. State Department publishes a “white paper” claiming that South Vietnam is threatened by “clear and present danger” of Communist aggression.

7. February 7, 1962
Two U.S. Army air support companies arrive in Saigon, bringing total of U.S. troops in South Vietnam to 4,000.

8. May 1, 1963
Buddhists gather in the city of Hue to protest a decree prohibiting them from flying their flag. Several months of rioting break out.
Tensions between Buddhists and the Diem government are further strained as Diem, a Catholic, removes Buddhists from several key government positions and replaces them with Catholics.
Buddhist monks protest Diem's intolerance for other religions and the measures he takes to silence them.
In a show of protest, Buddhist monks start setting themselves on fire in public places.

10. May 8, 1963
Diem’s troops fire on 20,000 Buddhists gathered in the city of Hue to celebrate Buddha’s birthday, killing 8 children and 1 woman.

11. August 24, 1963
Washington cables Saigon embassy, recommending that Diem be removed.

12. November 1, 1963
With approval from the United States, operatives within the South Vietnamese military overthrow Diem.
He and his brother Nhu are shot and killed in the aftermath. Diem is replaced by Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Tho and General Duong Van Minh.

13. November 22, 1963
John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Kennedy's death meant that the problem of how to proceed in Vietnam fell squarely into the lap of his vice president, Lyndon Johnson.

14. January 30, 1964
In a bloodless coup, General Nguyen Khanh seizes power in Saigon. South Vietnam junta leader, Major General Duong Van Minh, is placed under house arrest, but is allowed to remain as a figurehead chief-of-state.

15. August 2, 1964
Three North Vietnamese PT boats allegedly fire torpedoes at the USS Maddox, a destroyer located in the international waters of the Tonkin Gulf, some thirty miles off the coast of North Vietnam. The attack comes after six months of covert US and South Vietnamese naval operations. A second, even more highly disputed attack, is alleged to have taken place on August 4 against another U.S. destroyer, the Turner Joy. The U.S. retaliates with an air strike in North Vietnam.

16. August 7, 1964
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizes President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The resolution passes unanimously in the House, and by a margin of 82-2 in the Senate. The Resolution allows Johnson to wage all out war against North Vietnam without ever securing a formal Declaration of War from Congress.

17. January 31, 1968
In a show of military might that catches the US military off guard, North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces sweep down upon several key cities and provinces in South Vietnam, including its capital, Saigon. Within days, American forces turn back the onslaught and recapture most areas. From a military point of view, Tet is a huge defeat for the Communists, but turns out to be a political and psychological victory. The US military's assessment of the war is questioned and the "end of tunnel" seems very far off.

18. March 16, 1968
As Johnson’s popularity plummets, Sen. Robert Kennedy announces that he will run for the presidency. On the same day in Vietnam, Lt. William Calley orders his men to fire on the village of My Lai, killing nearly 500 villagers. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said their superior officers. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the US political establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American public.

19. March 31, 1968
With his low approval ratings and dismayed by Senator Eugene McCarthy's strong showing in the New Hampshire primary, President Lyndon Johnson, in a televised address, stuns the nation and announces that he will not be a candidate for re-election.

20. October 31, 1968
Johnson halts bombing of North Vietnam. Seven days later Richard Nixon, running on a platform of "law and order," defeats Hubert H. Humphrey to become U.S. president.

21. March 15, 1969
In an effort to destroy Communist supply routes and base camps in Cambodia, President Nixon gives the go-ahead to "Operation Breakfast." The covert bombing of Viet Cong sanctuaries in Cambodia, conducted without the knowledge of Congress or the American public, will continue for fourteen months.

22. June 8, 1969
Nixon announces first U.S. troop withdrawal of 25,000 soldiers.

23. July 25, 1969
The president announces the “Nixon Doctrine.” He calls for sending more economic and military aid to South Vietnam to strengthen the South Vietnam military. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird described the policy of "Vietnamization" when discussing a diminishing role for the US military in Vietnam. The objective of the policy was to shift the burden of defeating the Communists onto the South Vietnamese Army and away from the United States.

24. October 15, 1969
Thousands of Americans participate in demonstrations against the war. Two weeks later, Nixon appeals to what he calls the “silent majority,” Americans who support the war, claiming that total withdrawal from Vietnam would harm U.S. interests.

25. April 29, 1970
U.S. forces invade Cambodia to attack North Vietnamese and Viet Cong sanctuaries.

26. June 13, 1971
A legacy of deception concerning US policy in Vietnam on the part of the military and the executive branch is revealed as the New York Times begins publication of leaked portions of the Pentagon Papers. The Nixon administration, eager to stop leaks of what they consider sensitive information, appeals to the Supreme Court to halt the publication. The Court decides in favor the Times and allows continued publication.

27. January 27, 1973
A cease-fire agreement that, in the words of Richard Nixon, "brings peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia," is signed in Paris by Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho. The agreement is to go into effect on January 28. Later that year the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Kissinger and Tho. Kissinger accepts the award, while Tho declines, saying that a true peace does not yet exist in Vietnam.

28. March 29, 1973
North Vietnam releases 60 American prisoners of war, who leave Vietnam along with the last remaining U.S. forces.

29. August 8, 1974
Nixon resigns to avoid being impeached for his role in the Watergate scandal. In May, impeachment hearings against Nixon had begun by the House Judiciary Committee. Among the articles of impeachment introduced was a resolution condemning Nixon for the secret bombing of Cambodia

30. April 23, 1975
Anticipating the fall of Saigon to Communist forces, President Gerald Ford, speaking in New Orleans, announces that as far as the US is concerned, the Vietnam War is "finished."

31. April 30, 1975
South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh delivers an unconditional surrender to the Communists in the early hours. North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin accepts the surrender and assures Minh that, "...Only the Americans have been beaten. If you are patriots, consider this a moment of joy." As the few remaining Americans evacuate Saigon from the roof of the U.S. embassy, the last two US servicemen to die in Vietnam are killed when their helicopter crashes.

32. January 21, 1977
In a bold and controversial move, newly inaugurated President Jimmy Carter extends a full and unconditional pardon to nearly 10,000 men who evaded the Vietnam War draft.

33. November 11, 1982
Designed by Maya Ying Lin, a 22 year-old Yale architectural student, the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial opens in Washington, DC. The quiet, contemplative structure consisting of two black granite walls forming a "V", lists the names of the 58,183 Americans killed in the Vietnam War. The memorial itself stirred debate as some thought its presentation was too muted and somber, lacking the familiar elements of war-time heroics found in most war memorials.

35. What else is going on???

36. SSUSH24.b
Describe the National Organization of Women and the origins and goals of the modern women's movement.
SSUSH24.d
Analyze Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers movement.
SSUSH24.e
Explain Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, Earth Day, the creation of the EPA, and the modern environmentalist movement.

37. SSUSH25.a
Describe President Richard M. Nixon's opening of China, his resignation due to the Watergate scandal, changing attitudes toward government, and the Presidency of Gerald Ford.
SSUSH25.b
Explain the impact of Supreme Court decisions on ideas about civil liberties and civil rights including such decisions as Roe v. Wade (1973 and the Bakke decision on affirmative action).

38. What’s up ladies?

39. President #39 James Earl Carter, Jr.
SSUSH25.c
Explain the Carter administrations efforts in the Middle East including the Camp David Accords, his response to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and Iranian hostage crisis.

40. Jimmy Carter’s Administration
Jimmy Carter was an excellent presidential candidate.
He preached openness and decency, and people believed him.
He came out of Plain, Georgia.
Unfortunately, the President Carter’s term saw many unforgivable issues.

41. Jimmy Carter’s Administration
Raging Inflation
Stagnant Economic Growth
The Iranian Hostage Crisis
Islamic revolutionaries in Iran led by the Ayatolla Khomeini toppled the U.S. supported gov’t of Shah Pahlevi.
In Nov of 1979, a mob attacked the U.S. embassy in Teheran, taking ninety people hostage.

42. Iranian Hostage Crisis
The Iranians demanded that the Shah, then undergoing cancer treatment in NY City, be returned to Iran in exchange for the hostage’s release.
Shortly after the standoff began, the Iranians released twenty-four non-American hostages and fourteen others, including several ill hostages, women, and blacks.
The fifty-two embassy workers who remained in captivity were repeatedly blindfolded and paraded in front of TV cameras.
Carter first tried to free the hostages through diplomatic efforts, all of which failed.
In April 1980, approved a military rescue mission, but this also failed when helicopter problems led to a crash and the death of eight servicemen.
Carter finally obtained the hostages’ release on January 19, 1981, his last full day in office
The hostage would be released during the Inauguration of Ronald Reagan the next day. They had been held hostage for 444 days.