The Vietnam War Essential Questions: Why did the U.S. go to war? Why did the U.S. lose? Why did this war divide the U.S.?

The Vietnam War- Historical Background Vietnam controlled by outside powers for centuries. China (111 BC- 1771) France ( ) Japan ( )

French Colonial Rule Vietnamese were second class citizens Vietnamese “nationalist” Uprisings against French

Japanese Occupation Japan occupied Indochina in 1941 Ho Chi Minh & Vietminh- Vietnamese Independence League Japan out by 1945 In 1946, France comes back to reclaim Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh Nationalist 1st/ Communist 2nd War hero in Vietnam (fought the French, the Japanese & later the Americans)-- very popular

Independence Movement Vietnamese D of I --Sept 2, 1945 (read this) France rejected D of I Leads to 8 year war “French Indochina War” ( )

Role of U.S. Ho Chi Minh sends Truman 8 letters asking for support Continues under Eisenhower Admin –Harry Truman –Dwight Eisenhower –John F. Kennedy –Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) –Richard Nixon –Gerald Ford

End of French-Indochina War France loses in 1954 Geneva Accords –Divide Vnam along 17th parallel –Calls for elections in 1956

Eisenhower’s policy coins phrase “Domino Theory” installs Diem to head the South Elections cancelled Introduces special forces & advisors

JFK & Vietnam Continues Eisenhower’s policy –CIA in Vietnam –Aids Diem –Increases involvement: –Increases # of military “advisors” & special forces Read “importance of Vietnam”

JFK and Importance of Vietnam What is the “domino theory?” Why does JFK think that Vietnam requires American attention?

US’ deepening involvement Diem oppressed Buddhist majority Made the US look bad Killed in a coup on Nov. 1st, 1963

Tonkin Gulf Incident Pretense for war Leads to passage of “Tonkin Gulf Resolution”

Operation Rolling Thunder 1st phase of war –Bombing raids –Introduction of 200,000 ground troops into Vnam war is “escalated” each year until 1968

Nixon “Vietnamization policy” Increased bombing campaigns Secretly started bombing Cambodia Kent State

Pentagon Papers Secret study of the war Daniel Ellsburg released to NY Times

End of War Paris Peace Talks January 1973 Nixon resigns No more funding for SVM Vnam united on April 30, 1975

Role of Anti-War Movement in ending war Exerpt from Nixon ’ s Memoirs “ Although publicly I continued to ignore the raging antiwar controversy … I knew, however, that after all the protests and the Moratorium, American public opinion would be seriously divided by an military escalation of the war. ”

Long-term consequences of War (Veterans) 58,000 Americans died/ 300,000 wounded 20, ,000 committed suicide PTSD--30%

Effect on budget War cost $200 billion Jeopardized LBJ’s poverty programs Created inflation of 1970s

Cambodia & Khmer Rouge

Lesson for US Gov’t Exerpt from In Retrospect by Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. “ If we had had more Asia experts around us, perhaps we would not have been so simple minded about China and Vietnam. We had that expertise available during the Cuban Missile Crisis; in general, we had it available when we dealt with Soviet affairs; but we lacked it when dealing with Southeast Asia. ”

Quote from Melvin Laird, Sec of Defense under Nixon “ Both the Vietnam War and the Iraq war were launched based on intelligence failures and possibly outright deception. The issue was much more egregious in the case of Vietnam, where the intelligence lapses were born of our failure to understand what motivated Ho Chi Minh in the 1950s. Had we understood the depth of his nationalism, we might have been able to derail his communism early on. ”