U.S. Intervention and Escalation in Vietnam

1. French Indochina France ruled Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos since the late 1800s.

1. French Indochina Nationalism (a desire for independence) spread through Vietnam.

1. French Indochina During WWII Japan took Indochina from France.

2. Ho Chi Minh Founded the Vietminh during WWII to defeat Japanese forces.

2. Ho Chi Minh The Vietminh used guerrilla tactics to defeat Japanese and then French troops.

2. Ho Chi Minh Guerrillas blend in with civilians and use hit-and-run tactics as well as ambushes.

2. Ho Chi Minh Guerrillas used booby traps and dug extensive tunnel networks to hide in.

2. Ho Chi Minh

3. Domino Theory If Vietnam falls to communist rule, then so will its neighboring countries.

3. Domino Theory Truman and Eisenhower aid France after China falls to communism and North Korea invades South Korea.

4. Geneva Accords The French are defeated by the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu and leave Vietnam

4. Geneva Accords Geneva Accords split Indochina into Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

4. Geneva Accords Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh control North Vietnam Pro-Western govt. controlled South Vietnam.

5. Ngo Dinh Diem Installed as leader of South Vietnam by western powers, Diem, refuses to hold nationwide elections in 1956 as called for by Geneva Accords.

5. Ngo Dinh Diem Ho Chi Minh forms the Vietcong to overthrow the government of South Vietnam.

6. Escalation Under Kennedy Kennedy sends in the Green Berets to conduct counterinsurgency missions against the Vietcong.

6. Escalation Under Kennedy Kennedy increases aid and military advisors (from 900 to 16,000 by 1963).

6. Escalation Under Kennedy Ngo Dinh Diem was widely unpopular and Buddhist monks protest in summer 1963.

6. Escalation Under Kennedy Kennedy allows condones the assassination of Diem by Vietnamese generals. Competing factions lead to social and political instability in South Vietnam

LBJ TAKES CHARGE LBJ takes over after Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963.

7. Escalation Under LBJ President Johnson claims U.S. ships attacked in Gulf of Tonkin in summer of 1964.

7. Escalation Under LBJ Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution- handing the president a “blank check” for war.

7. Escalation Under LBJ Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizes Johnson to: “Take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”

7. Escalation Under LBJ LBJ wins 1964 presidential election by a landslide.

7. Escalation Under LBJ The draft is reinstated to increase troop levels Yet most are still volunteers.

7. Escalation under LBJ Operation Rolling Thunder commences in 1965- dropping more bombs than in all of WWII.

7. Escalation Under LBJ U.S. soldiers went on “search and destroy” missions to find and defeat guerrilla forces. What problems would there be with this tactic?