1. Vietnam War Objective Questions – 1) Briefly explain what happened in Vietnam that caused the US to get involved (include France, Ho Chi Minh, and the Geneva Conference) – 2) Explain why the US felt that it had to get involved in Vietnam? – 3) Evaluate if the US took the correct stance in supporting France and trying to prevent the spread of Communism into Vietnam

2. Vietnam War – First televised war (on TV every night and helped split the nation on what was the proper thing to do) – Who was the enemy? The enemy looked and dressed like the Vietnamese because they were Vietnamese making it difficult for our soldiers to id and kill the enemy – Poor man’s war- war was fought by poor whites, blacks, and Latino’s who were primarily drafted (forced to fight)

3. Indochina- French colony, Japan took over during WWII, after WWII French took over again – *Vietnamese want independence (fight a guerilla war against the French after WWII ends) Ho Chi Minh- Communist revolutionary leader of Vietnamese – *US helps the French to stop the spread of Communism Evaluate who the US should have sided with? The Vietnamese who were fighting for independence against a European colonizer (sound familiar) or with the French, who was our ally in WWII and against Russia during the Cold War?

4. – Dien Bien Phu (1954) battle when the French lose to the Vietnamese Geneva Conference- Vietnam is to be split into two countries (North and South), each to hold free elections – *North elects Ho Chi Minh and becomes Communist – *South elections are cancelled by the US (afraid Communists would win), US appoints a dictator Ngo Diem Dinh Is Communism so evil that the US should keep people from voting for it even if they think they want Communism?

5. South Vietnam- location of a Civil War between those that support the US backed dictator Ngo Diem Dinh, and those that support Ho Chi Minh and Communism called Vietcong Vietcong (SV communist guerillas) begin fighting Civil War against SV troops – *US sends US troops to help train SV to fight against Vietcong (5000 troops in 1960) 1964 Vietcong control 40% of SV (US feels it needs to send more troops to prevent Communists from taking over) Why is it so important to keep Vietnam from becoming Communist? Why should the US care so much about Vietnam? Domino Theory- belief that if one country falls to Communism, all countries in around will fall

6. How the US gets involved Gulf Of Tonkin Incident (1964)- two US ships claim to have been attacked by North Vietnamese boats in international water – *President Johnson says this is an attack on America and asked Congress to give him the authority to take “All necessary measures” Problem- there is little to no proof that the attack took place or was carried out by the N. Vietnamese navy (probably a small boat with small arms firing at a US ship) Gulf of Tonkin Resolution- passes giving the President power to wage war in Vietnam – Analyze if you feel the vote to increase the conflict in Vietnam, a small country 12k miles away that very few Americans could find on a map, had very strong support or tepid/weak support? Explain Passes House 414-0, Senate 88-2 (*Few are against going to war) *No formal declaration of war