1. Roots of The Vietnam War

2. French Indochina France had colonized Vietnam since the late 19 th century. Also included Laos and Cambodia. Established valuable rubber plantations. (why so valuable?) Took peasant land, suppressed dissent. Dissidents organized independence movement from exile in China.

3. Ho Chi Minh Organized the Communist Party in 1930 and led the Vietnamese independence movement. Fought the: –French –Japanese –Americans Died in 1969, before Vietnam was united under communist rule in 1975. Southern capital, Saigon, renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

4. Japanese Occupation Word War II. France conquered by Nazis. 1940: Germany agrees to let ally Japan take over Asian colonies, including French Indochina. Japanese defeated 1945. Ho Chi Minh proclaims Vietnam independent – forms Vietminh.

5. War with France End of 1945, France sends troops Occupies southern Vietnam France relies on U.S. to pay for war ($1 billion) US had once given aid to Ho Chi Minh (why?) Now U.S. fighting him (why?) Despite U.S. aid, France defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

6. Domino Theory Explained by Eisenhower in 1954. Countries like dominos: if one country falls to communism then so can its neighbors. U.S. had just ended the war in Korea with stalemate. Resolved to stop communism worldwide (Truman doctrine).

7. July 1954 -Geneva Accords Players: –Great Powers, Capitalist: US, Britain, France –Great Powers, Communist: USSR, China –Former French Colonies: Laos, Cambodia –Vietnamese Communists and Nationalists Agreed to divide Vietnam at 17 th parallel Communists in North (Capital: Hanoi) Capitalists in South (Capital: Saigon) Elections to unify country called for 1956

8. Ngo Dinh Diem President of South Vietnam. Strong anti-communist. By 1957 a communist opposition group formed in the South – the Vietcong. 1961 – JFK increases aid to fragile government. 1963 – 16,000 “advisors” sent to Vietnam.

9. Video – Gulf of Tonkin Incident

10. Tonkin Gulf Resolution August, 1964 - An attack on the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. LBJ asks Congress for power to “repel any armed attack” on the U.S. By mid 1965 50,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam.

11. Increasing US commitment Johnson advisors supported escalation –Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense –Dean Rusk, Secretary of State American people supported escalation ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam (S. Vietnamese army) needed support Gen. William Westmoreland: US commander in Vietnam. US troop numbers climbed to 500,000 by 1968.

12. Asymmetric Warfare Military situation in which two warring parties of unequal power interact and attempt to take advantage of their opponents' weaknesses. US: –Air superiority –Massive firepower –Technology Vietcong: –Guerilla tactics Hit and run Constant harassment –Tunnel networks –Attacks within cities and secure areas –Booby traps, mines –Using terrain and jungle to their advantage

13. US tactics to Overcome Vietcong Body count: if you killed enough of the enemy, you had to win –Problem with this? –VC willing to take millions of casualties, any price for victory –U.S. inflated body count to sell the war back home Hearts and minds: give aid and support to ordinary Vietnamese –Problem with this? –Aid stolen via corruption –Napalm, Agent Orange and other weapons of ecological destruction destroyed the countryside –Search and Destroy targeted villages, making the people refugees. –“We had to destroy the town in order to save it”

14. Feedback cycle of Declining U.S. Morale Reasons? Guerilla warfare Jungle conditions Lack of progress Drugs, alcohol Fragging Declining support at home Little support among S. Vietnamese for their own government Unfair “manipulable” draft

15. Credibility Gap What official sources said about the war was questioned by the realities observable in Vietnam 5 O'clock Follies: press conferences claiming the enemy is ready to surrender, “Light at the end of the tunnel” Living Room War: ugly pictures of an ugly war on TV US troop casualties mounting (58,000 by end of US involvement in 1973)

16. Inequities in the Draft Selective Service: Guys have to register now. “Manipulable” Medical exemptions. Coast Guard/National Guard service. College Deferment. Working class war: lower economic classes, African- Americans disproportionately represented.

17. Opposition Begins Most Americans originally supported the war College students formed core of growing opposition New Left: not the old socialist or communist movements of the 19 th /early 20 th century –Students for a Democratic Society (SDS): criticized corporate and big government, for participatory democracy –Free Speech Movement: began in Berkeley, against school authorities that prohibited any political activities on campus except Democratic and Republican party fundraising

18. Anti-war Protests 1965: teach-ins against the war Draft Resistance –Burning of Draft Cards –Fleeing to Canada Marches in Washington: –30,000 in 1965 –75,000 in 1967 –30,000 marched on the Pentagon

19. Reasons to oppose the War Opponents called “Doves” Vietnam war a civil war, not U.S. business S. Vietnam regime as bad or worse than N. Vietnam, why support it? U.S. not “World’s Policeman” Destructive to U.S. in “blood and treasure” Destructive to Vietnam War itself unjust

20. Supporting the War Supporters called Hawks US should use military power to win Citizens should not criticize war (disloyal) –Saps morale –Emboldens the enemy Communism must be fought To oppose the government and war is to be against America Class resentment: rich kids get deferments, go to college and badmouth their country; poor kids go to war and die for theirs America—Love it or Leave it!

21. Chaos at Home and the End of the War

22. Tet Offensive “Tet” January 30 Vietnamese Lunar New Year Weapons in coffins, firecrackers masked gunfire Simultaneous attack by Vietcong Driven back eventually with massive losses “Defeat” for Vietcong? Militarily—Yes Politically? No

23. Tet/Turning point Public turned against the war –Credibility gap: lied to about impending victory –Constant reporting of attacks by enemy –Press spoke out against the war –Presidents advisors believed it was a “sinkhole” (later we hear the term “quagmire”) President Johnson on hearing that news anchor Walter Cronkite believed the war was unwinnable: “If I’ve lost Walter, then it’s over. I’ve lost Mr. Average Citizen.”

24. Tet Offensive Video

25. Johnson Withdraws from Presidential Race Johnson’s popularity in the polls goes way down after Tet. 60% of Americans disapprove of his handling of the war. “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”

26. Turbulence Martin Luther King Jr. killed on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN by James Earl Ray. Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy killed on June 5, 1968 in LA by Sirhan Sirhan. Riots after King’s Death - 40,000 students involved in 200 demonstrations in first 6 months of 1968. Riots at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Republican Richard Nixon wins the Presidency.

28. Vietnamization Nixon: promised/planned to end the war Draw down U.S. troops while encouraging South Vietnamese military to take on more active role From 1969-1972, US troop numbers drop from 500,000 to 25,000 But, Nixon expanded the bombing of N Vietnam Ordered bombing of Laos and Cambodia

29. Further Shocks My Lai: US troops massacred 200 villagers: old people, women and children –Commander convicted, then pardoned –Order: kill anything that breathed Invasion of Cambodia –Even while supposedly winding down US participation in the war, Nixon ordered an invasion of Cambodia –Sparked massive protest Killings at campus protests –National Guard killed students at Kent State (“four dead in Ohio”) and Jackson State (2 killed)

30. Ohio Video

31. Political support collapses Congress repeals Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Pentagon Papers leaked by Daniel Ellsworth –Detailed war plans before Tonkin, even while Johnson promised (before his 1964 election) not to send US troops –No plans to end war, despite Nixon’s promises U.S. begins plans to negotiate withdrawal on N. Vietnamese terms –U.S. troops out All the while, U.S. kept up massive bombing of N. Vietnam (Christmas bombing—100,000 bombs in 11 days)

32. Endgame in Vietnam Kissinger says, “Peace is at Hand” US withdraws on March 29, 1973 N. Vietnam takes over S. Vietnam on April 30, 1975—Fall of Saigon Vietnam united as an independent nation 58,000 US dead 2 million Vietnamese dead

33. Political Fallout Draft abolished. War Powers Act: The President must inform Congress within 48 hours of military action without formal declaration of war. Cynicism about government honesty and effectiveness.