Vietnam War Chapter 29

Moving Toward Conflict Where's Vietnam? Where's Vietnam? French rule in Vietnam & Indochina (late 1800s included Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) France battles the Vietminh -Ho Chi Minh: leader of the Vietnamese (Indochinese Communist Party) -Vietminh drive out French in 1954 Domino Theory: idea that if a nation falls under Communist control, nearby nations will also fall under Communist control. U.S., Soviet Union, G.B., France, Laos, Cambodia, and China meet in Geneva, Switzerland: Geneva Accords: divided Vietnam along the 17 th parallel >North Vietnam: Communist (Ho Chi Minh) >South Vietnam: Anti-Communist (Ngo Dinh Diem) -guerilla fighters w/ Communist ties known as the Vietcong attack South Vietnamese government While situation in S. Vietnam escalates, President Johnson escalates the Vietnam War with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution=granted broad military powers in Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Buddhist monks in 1963

U.S. Involvement & Escalation 1965: 180,000 Americans in Vietnam -U.S. commander in S. Vietnam  General Westmoreland 1967: 500,000 troops w/ Westmoreland’s advice American troops..people like you or me A War in the Jungle: *elusive enemy *knowledge of terrain, ambush tactics *role of spies *booby traps, land mines *elaborate tunnel system Cu Chi tunnelsCu Chi tunnels *war of attrition

 Agent Orange/napalm: leaf-killing toxic chemical that destroyed the landscape (and humans)/gasoline- based bomb that set fire to the jungle; search and destroy missions also popular (“We had to destroy the town in order to save it”)  Morale of troops deteriorates Morale sinks (link); Why…….?Morale sinks  nightly television news with videos of the war  the “living-room war”  the credibility gap: difference between what the Johnson administration was saying and what was truly happening

1968: “The Year Everything Went Wrong” WHY????? 1.Tet Offensive 2.Johnson Withdraws 3.Dem. National Convention -Chicago & Mayor Daley -Nixon triumphs 4. MLK JR./RFK assassinations

The End of the War & its Legacy o Nixon as President:  Vietnamization: the plan called for the gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops in order for the South Vietnamese to take on a more active combat role in the war.  My Lai Massacre: 347 innocent Vietnamese citizens killed in village  Kent State: killing of 4 college student “protesters” by Nat’l Guard  Pentagon Papers: 7,000 page document about the dishonesty of the govt. in regards to the war  Final push: Christmas bombings & March 29, 1973  Fall of Saigon: S. Vietnam surrenders to N. Vietnam~1975…War Powers Act