1. Do Now: 4/19 Identify: All Countries; Bodies of Water
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Dienbienphu
Hanoi
Saigon
Hue
Da Nang
My Lai
17th Parallel

2. Essential Questions Vietnam War
What are the effects of the media on foreign conflicts?
Why was the Vietnam war unlike any war the U.S. had ever fought in?
Why are some wars unifying and some wars divisive?

3. The Vietnam War

4. Recall the events of the Vietnam War from 1945-1963
Japanese Occupation
France reoccupies
Vietminh fight French forces
French defeated at Dienbienphu in 1954
Geneva Accords-
Elections cancelled 1956
Ngo Diem Diem fighting Vietcong in South Vietnam ( )
Diem assassinated Nov 1963
U.S. troops in Vietnam- 16,000 (1963)

5. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
August 2 and August 4, 1964
American destroyer “Maddox” was patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam
Feared torpedo attack false alarm
Ordered to retaliate against N. Vietnam for torpedo attack that did not occur
Lyndon B. Johnson ordered bombing strike on N. Vietnamese naval bases to widen political support- Election of 1964

7. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
August 7, 1964
Gave president the authority to
“…take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the U.S. and to prevent further aggression.”
Allowed Johnson to send forces into combat without seeking formal declaration of war against N. Vietnam
"It's like grandmother's nightshirt. It covers everything."

9. 1965 Operation Rolling Thunder
Air Force Joint Chief of Staff Curtis Le May
The U.S. should “bomb North Vietnam back to the Stone Age.”
Secret bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail (Laos) supply routes
Expanded to systematic bombing of North Vietnam
Failed to stop stream of soldiers and supplies via the Ho Chi Minh Trail

10. Operation Rolling Thunder
1965 20,000 U.S. Troops
End of 1965 200,000 U.S. Troops
1968 540,000 U.S. Troops

12. Who fought in Vietnam Young men 18-26 Men who volunteered
Men who were drafted
Lower income men
Minorities

13. Men who volunteered Most never heard of Vietnam
Felt it was their duty to stop the spread of communism
Idealistic

14. Selective Service Classfications
1-A Ready for immediate induction. (no deferment)
1-Y Qualified for military service only in time of national emergency (classification eliminated 10-Dec-1971)
2-S Student deferment (temporary delay)
3-A Extreme hardship to dependents
4-F Unqualified for military service (exemption)

17. December 1, 1969 marked the date of the first draft lottery held since This drawing determined the order of induction for men born between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1950.  A large glass container held 366 blue plastic balls containing every possible birth date and affecting men between 18 and 26 years old

18. Attrition General William Westmoreland
West Point graduate (WWII and Korea veteran)
Was not impressed by ARVN- Army of the Republic of Vietnam (S. Vietnamese troops)
Attrition- killing so many of the enemy that they no longer had the ability or the will to fight
Vietcong or innocent civilian?

19. Battle for “Hearts and Minds”
Americans had to keep the Vietcong from winning the support of S. Vietnamese rural villagers
“Just remember this. Communist guerrillas hide among the people. If you win the people over to your side, the communist guerrillas have no place to hide.”

20. Saw war as battle for their own existence…
Vietcong Tactics
Saw war as battle for their own existence…
Hit and Run/ Ambush tactics
Enemy lived amidst civilian population
Elaborate tunnels
Booby traps and land mines
Keen knowledge of jungle terrain
leeches
heat

23. “We had to destroy the town in order to save it.”
American War Tactics
Napalm- is a flammable, gasoline-based weapon which sticks to skin and burns badly (800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius)
Agent Orange- a toxic chemical to kill plants. Poisons soil, destroys food chain, causes cancer, and other birth defects/diseases
Search-and-Destroy missions- uprooting suspected Vietcong, killing livestock, burning villages
“We had to destroy the town in order to save it.”

26. “The Girl in the Picture”- Kim Phuc
June 8, 1972
South Vietnamese planes dropped a napalm bomb on Trang Bang
Bombing killed two of Kim Phuc's cousins and two other villagers
Kim Phuc was badly burned and tore off her burning clothes
Associated Press photographer Nick Ut captured image
4-month hospital stay and 17 surgical procedures

29. Villagers Resentment
South Vietnamese started to resent U.S. soldiers because they were killing villagers and kicking them of their ancestral land
Am. planes dropped leaflets warning civilians they would be bombed if they hid Vietcong

30. ( turned to drugs and alcohol)
Sinking Morale
Soldiers frustrated with guerilla warfare
Jungle Conditions
Some didn’t support the war to begin with
( turned to drugs and alcohol)
South Vietnamese gov’t corrupt and unstable (civil war within a civil war)

31. “The Living Room War” Media- combat footage appeared nightly
Quoting body-count stats
16,000 dead between
Credibility gap- growing between what Johnson administration reported and what was really happening