Vietnam Conflict USH-8.3

I. Beginnings After WWII, France tried to take back colony of Indochina Fight the Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh Even w/US aid, France loses Geneva Accords said Vietnam would be split on the 17th parallel until elections could be held

I. Beginnings US backed corrupt and unpopular gov’t in South Vietnam (SV) Claimed Domino theory Claimed Ho was backed by China and USSR SV didn’t hold elections b/c Ho would have won US supported NOT having elections

I. Beginnings Viet Cong was resistance movement in SV Backed by NV US sent aid, money, and advisors to SV Under Eisenhower and Kennedy Containment!

II. Expansion Johnson became president in 1963 Gulf of Tonkin (1964) US ship was fired on by NV 1 bullet from a fishing vessel Used to send in more troops More than 500,000 by 1967 Began bombing NV to not be soft on communism Tet Offensive (1968) NV and VC simultaneous attacks all over SV

II. Expansion Nixon is elected in 1968 b/c he was gonna end war Began Vietnamization SV would take over from American troops Began secretly bombing Laos and Cambodia Trying to stop the Ho Chi Minh trail used by the VC/NV Went to China to undermine their relations with NV

III. End Just before 1972 election, Nixon announces US troops are withdrawing Troops and POWs are home by 1973 In 1975, NV swept down and conquered SV Killed anyone working w/US during the war

IV. Protests Draft TV coverage Staying in college to avoid going to Vietnam AA served in large numbers Many returning vets joined protests TV coverage Divides nation People see footage on the new every night

IV. Protests Johnson withdraws from presidential nomination in 1968 Kent State Massacre Invading Cambodia upset people 4 students are killed by National Guardsmen My Lai Massacre US troops murder an entire village and cover it up

IV. Protests Pentagon Papers Mistreatment of returning vets Gov’t lied to the public about the war Mistreatment of returning vets Most did their job and were ridiculed for it