1. History Through Literature: Unit 4
Chapter 10: Vietnam

2. French Indochina Vietnam was a colony of the France
After Franc fell in WWII, the Japanese and Vichy France continued to rule it
US with the OSS (CIA) began helping Ho Chi Minh fight
After the war China invaded (occupied) North Vietnam until the French could take over.
Vietnamese preferred the French

4. French Indochina War
Vietnamese decided that they wanted there own country.
Ho Chi Minh declared independence in 1946
Purges political parties
Gets Emperor Bao Dia to abdicate
1946 – 1954
1950 – Ho Chi Minh gets communist support from USSR and China
French defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu

5. Geneva Accords 1956 End of the French Indochina War.
Divided Vietnam on 17th Parallel
Unification to be decided in a country wide vote
French allowed (US pressure) for Ngo Dinh Diem to become non-communist dictator of South
US and Diem fear communists would win election
Vote never happened

6. Lu Duan Ho Chi Minh looses power – Lu Duan becomes Prime Minister
Ho Chi Minh becomes President (figurehead)
Lu Duan wants to go to war in South against Diem and US

7. Ngo Dinh Diem US puppet leader of South Vietnam Anti-communist
Harsh and unpopular
US turned a blind eye when a coup was carried out to remove him in 1963.
Military dictatorship took over

8. Vietminh and Vietcong
Vietminh – political party of the North that wanted independence from the French.
Vietcong – revolutionaries (communists) and guerilla fighters in Southern Vietnam.
Vietcong started attacking targets in South Vietnam

9. US Involvement 1963 – Diem killed
1963 (few weeks later) Kennedy killed
1964 – Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – gave President Johnson authority for military action (declaration of war)
1965 – US starts bombing North Vietnam
Tet Offensive – North Vietnam and Vietcong have a massive attack throughout Vietnam – US won – US public opinion low
1968 – Johnson pulls out of Presidential race and Nixon wins
1969 – Vietnimization – Nixon’s plan to pull out and train the South to fight on
1970 – US invade Cambodia (Ho Chi Minh Trail) – to little to late

10. Nixon and Protests and the End of the war
Kent State Massacre/Ohio State Guard
Not friend of the Peace movement
He did keep the nation from falling apart
Nixon escalates air war – Hanoi most bombed city
1972 – US troops drop from 500,000 to 20,000
Nixon re-elected
US signs the Paris peace accords (Kissinger) and all US participation ends in 1973.