TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

· Between 1961 and 1973 over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War. Vietnam Balance Sheet · During the same time period, over 1,500,000 Vietnamese died as well. Vietnam War Memorial, Washington, D.C.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

The Vietnam War

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. The United States wanted France as an ally in the Cold War. The United States also wanted to support any government that was fighting communism. The United States became involved in Vietnam for several reasons. Origins of the War

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. French colonial governments had ruled most of Indochina since the 1800s. The French exploited Indochina’s wealth by owning plantations, claiming mineral rights, and imposing high taxes.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh worked to free Vietnam from colonial rule. Unable to get support from western nations, he embraced communism and received support from Soviet communists. Do we favor Vietnamese independence? NO! We send $2.6 billion to aid the French Communist North Vietnam

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In 1954, President Eisenhower introduced the domino theory, which said that if Vietnam became communist, its closest neighbors would follow. If communism spread throughout the region, Eisenhower feared, it could threaten Japan, the Philippines, and Australia.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Reasons for U.S. Involvement Seen as a “battle” in the Cold War CONTAINMENT: stop the spread of Communism

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. The Vietminh hammered at French forces and laid siege to the base for 55 days. After suffering more than 15,000 casualties, the French surrendered on May 7, Despite U.S. financial support, the French were defeated by Vietminh forces at Dien Bien Phu. In the peace accord that followed, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam gained independence from France.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Vietnam was divided into two countries. Ho Chi Minh’s communist government ruled North Vietnam. An anticommunist government, supported by the United States, ruled South Vietnam.

WHO? Ho Chi Minh: North Vietnam leader/ communist Ngo Dinh Diem: South Vietnam leader/ backed by U.S.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. South Vietnam’s president, Ngo Dinh Diem, was not a popular leader. A group of rebel guerilla fighters formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to oppose the Diem government and unite Vietnam under communist rule. Corrupt Banned Buddhist religion Protests ensued

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In 1961, President Kennedy sent Special Forces (Green Berets) to help fight the Vietcong, the guerilla fighters of the National Liberation Front. The Diem government remained unpopular, however, and the Kennedy administration worked behind the scenes. CIA led an assassination that killed Diem. Kennedy and Vietnam

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In 1964, President Johnson faced his first crisis in Vietnam. North Vietnam attacked an American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. Johnson ordered an airstrike against North Vietnam. He then asked Congress to authorize the use of force to defend U.S. troops. In response, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution The US Govt. claimed:

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave Johnson tremendous war powers. It allowed him to commit U.S. troops to South Vietnam. It enabled him to fight a war against North Vietnam without asking Congress for a declaration of war. Johnson’s Blank Check 500,00 in 1967

Nixon Administration “Honorable” end to the war Vietnamization Secretly bombing Cambodia –Ho Chi Minh Trail Peace negotiations (Henry Kissinger) –U.S. troops withdrawn in 1973 –South Vietnam “fell” 1975 Nixon Doctrine War Powers Act of 1973

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. · As the fighting escalated, the U.S. relied on the draft for raising troops. · By 1968, over half a million Americans were fighting in the Vietnam War.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. This Pulitzer Prize winning photograph is of Kim Phuc Phan Thi, (center) running down a road after a napalm bomb was dropped on her village by a plane of the Vietnam Air Force.Kim Phuc Phan Thi The village was suspected by US Army forces of being a Viet Cong stronghold. Kim Phuc survived by tearing off her burning clothes.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Phuc sustained third-degree burns to half her body and was not expected to live. After surviving a 14-month hospital stay and 17 operations, Phuc eventually recovered. "Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine," said Kim Phuc. “Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Napalm generates temperatures of 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius.“

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. · In addition, it was very difficult to identify which South Vietnamese were our allies and which were supporting the Vietcong. · Jungle warfare was difficult, and it was hard to locate the enemy. The Uncertain Enemy Ex Vietcong showing secret tunnels, November 7, 2004secret tunnels

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Agent Orange was the nickname given to a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. Cropdusting in Vietnam during Operation Ranch Hand lasted from 1962 to Operation Ranch Hand

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. A guerrilla in the Mekong Delta paddles through a mangrove forest defoliated by Agent Orange (1970).

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Effects of Agent Orange Images Images taken from Agent Orange: "Collateral Damage" in Vietnam by Philip Jones GriffithsAgent Orange: "Collateral Damage" in Vietnam

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

· Many South Vietnamese distrusted Diem and joined the Vietcong, a communist guerilla group supported by North Vietnam. An execution of a Vietcong prisoner Feb. 1, 1968

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. The Tet Offensive: A Turning Point · In January of 1968, the Vietcong launched surprise attacks on cities throughout South Vietnam. · The American embassy was attacked as well in the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. · The Tet Offensive proved to the world that no part of South Vietnam was safe, even with the presence of half a million American troops. · The attacks were known as the Tet Offensive because they occurred during Tet, the Vietnamese News Year’s holiday. Walter Cronkite

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Protests at Home · Thousands of Americans protested against the war, especially on college campuses. Anti-Vietnam War protests, Ohio State University

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. · However, the U.S. continued to send billions of dollars in support of the South Vietnamese. Peace Without Victory · In January 1973, the U.S. reached a cease-fire agreement with North Vietnam and brought their troops home.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. · In April of 1975, the communists captured the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, renamed it Ho Chi Minh City, and reunited Vietnam under one communist flag. Leaving Saigon

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Civil War in Cambodia · The U.S. and South Vietnamese began to secretly bomb communist bases in Cambodia used by the North Vietnamese.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. · The Khmer Rouge were brutal leaders, killing approximately two million people in just a few short years. · Cambodia soon fought a civil war, which was won by the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975, whereupon they changed the name of the country to Kampuchea. Cambodia: Khmer Rouge 1975 to 1979 (2:55)

Reaction at Home

Early Response Americans supported efforts in Vietnam. It was the right thing to do. Patriotic!

Feelings about the War Hawks: fully support the war Doves: those who oppose the war –Some oppose all war –Others felt that war is an acceptable tool but that we had done all that we could in Vietnam. More and more doves over time.

Change in Support Media coverage of the war –Tet Offensive (January, 1968) –My Lai Massacre (March, 1968) –Bombing of Cambodia (May, 1970) –Pentagon Papers (1971) The Draft –Deferments –Exemptions –Conscientious objectors –Who actually fought? Demand the vote (26 th amendment)

University Protest University of California at Berkeley –Free Speech Movement –Mario Savio University of Michigan –Students for a Democratic Society –Tom Hayden Kent State Massacre –Response to bombing of Cambodia –4 Killed, 9 Injured

Consequences of the War 58,000 Americans died 300,000 Americans wounded $150 billion spent Ecological damage –Napalm, Agent Orange Psychological damage –Post-traumatic Stress Disorder –Drugs, alcohol, unemployment Level of trust in U.S. government?