Overview NorthCommunist Ho Chi Minh – leader Viet Minh – political party NVA - army SouthRepublic Ngo Dinh Diem - leader AVRN – army Viet Cong – our term for guerilla soldiers in SV

Vietnam before the war: Vietnam was a French colony starting in the mid 1800s. (before that it was independent or ruled by China)

Ho Chi Minh HCM was seen by many Vietnamese as a leader of the people, a freedom fighter, the “George Washington” of Vietnam.

Our Interactions with HCM before the war: * At age 20, he was at the Treaty of Versailles, and President Wilson told him we wanted to help Vietnam become free from France. * During WWII, HCM gave aid to America to help fight Japan, and the US sent equipment and men over to train the NVA.

* Roosevelt said he wanted to help Vietnam gain independence from France. * When Truman was president, the French came back into Indochina, and we did not intervene. We actually encouraged the French. HCM was angry at us for not helping.

After WWII, NV fought for almost 8 years to gain independence from France. By 1954, we were giving France over $1 billion a month to help them fight NV

Fear of Communism: When China fell under Communist rule and Communist North Korea invaded South Korea, we feared the Domino Effect (red scare) Countries divided by Communism after WWII: China, Germany, Korea, Vietnam

The Defeat of the French France was losing, so they agreed to leave Vietnam Communist forces were instrumental in defeating of the French; the ideology of communism and nationalism were closely linked.

Vietnam was divided into North (Communist) and South (non-communist). The DMZ (demilitarized zone) was the dividing line. Many viewed the South Vietnamese leadership as a French colonial, and later, an American puppet regime.

Compromise Geneva Accords: Vietnam would remain split into 2 “countries” for two years, then they would hold an election to decide which form of government would unite the country This was a huge compromise and caused a lot of controversy. Eisenhower was president. We were deep into the Cold War at the time. We backed SV, and we did not sign the Geneva Accords.

Ngo Dinh Diem * We helped choose a leader for SV, Ngo Dinh Diem to replace emperor B ả o Đ ạ i * We wrote the constitution for the new country. * Diem was a former Catholic priest, wealthy, pro-French, not in touch with the people of Vietnam. * Diem ran SV as a tyrant, and we supported him.

Fighting Begins * HCM encouraged communists living in SV to fight against the SV government, and this group came to be known as the Viet Cong. * At this point, we were not officially fighting in Vietnam, but we had over 15,000 service men there as “advisors”

NV began to invade SV, and the US kept increasing aid to SV. * Diem was assassinated by his own generals. * 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin – we were attacked (maybe?) and we needed to retaliate – controversial. * Lyndon Johnson sent Marines into SV, and we were officially a part of the war.

* 1968 – we had about 300,000 troops, Tet Offensive – NV attacked everywhere, even in the deep South of Saigon, attacked US Embassy. * Feelings in the US changed – what are we doing there?? * By the early 70s we were pulling troops out (1973 we withdrew all but some advisors). * 1975 Saigon (SV capital) fell, and NV took over entire country.

Cost of the War * Approximately 58,000 American lives were lost in Vietnam * The estimated cost of Vietnam in current dollars was $584 billion, according to the Congressional Research Office

Vietnamese casualties are far less specific, and they were deliberately falsified prior to 1995, leading to some of the confusion. According to the French Press Agency, "...the true civilian casualties of the Vietnam War were 2,000,000 in the north, and 2,000,000 in the south. Military casualties were 1.1 million killed and 600,000 wounded in 21 years of war. These figures were deliberately falsified during the war by the North Vietnamese Communists to avoid demoralizing the population."