1. The Vietnam War
Going to War

3. Vocab List 37 P 400 CH 17
-Domino Theory -Napalm -Guerilla -Agent Orange -Ho Chi Minh (P 400) -Ho Chi Minh Trail (P 405)

4. I. What we already know:
1) Containment - we are trying to stop the expansion of communism
2) The presidents during this era: → Eisenhower: Threatens nuclear war but never acts. → Kennedy: Cuban Missile Crisis scared the world. Assassinated → Lyndon B Johnson: Takes over for Kennedy. Vietnam is his baby.
3) Korean War - China & Korea both fall into communism. We now are worried about the Domino Theory.
Idea: if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia) would too.
We worry for our only allies - Japan and S Korea.
Don’t write this: See Map on P 401.

6. II. Big Picture Vietnam Lasts from 1965 - 1973
We send 500,000 troops to Vietnam
Mostly lower class men because you would not get drafted if going to college.
We will spend $100,000,000,000 (100 Billion) in Vietnam
We will use more bombs than both Allies & Axis powers combined (in WWII) in Vietnam… :(
Death tolls:
58,000 US Troops will die (20% are African American)
4,000,000 Vietnamese will die.
Wikipedia: Agent Orange :(

7. Horrifying :( Agent Orange

9. III. A Bit of History...
A) Vietnam was France’s colony until the 1950s.
B) Then Vietnam is split in two
***N Vietnam = Communist led by Ho Chi Minh***, supported by China & Russia
S Vietnam = Capitalist, led & supported by USA
Just like Korea!
C) We never declared war…
Instead, in 1963, JFK “sends advisors”
Advising quickly became shooting...

11. IV. Gulf of Tonkin
In 1964 during Lyndon B Johnson’s presidency-- the public is told about:
“A North Korean Patrol Boat Attacking US Warships in the Gulf of Tonkin”
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Congress then tells president “take all necessary measures to repel attacks”
President then increased troop levels and bombs the North
Funny thing though:
THE GULF OF TONKIN INCIDENT NEVER OCCURRED
WE ENDED UP IN A WAR FOR NO REASON.
Should remind you of The U.S.S Maine in Spanish-American War

12. General admits:
DID NOT HAPPEN

13. Famous Vietnam Photos:

15. Banksy

17. Buddhist protesting

18. V. Vietnam War sucked All jungle fighting
Enemy used guerilla fighting tactics and then would blend into towns
We used body counts to see who was winning war
Whoever had more dead was “losing”... ><
We used chemical weapons and napalm against 3 million civilians…
+ All of this was on television

19. Vietnam Intro