1. The Vietnam War

2. Indochina
Background
French control –> Japanese control -> French control
Freedom?
Ho Chi Minh establishes the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945
Quandary: anti-colonialism versus anti-communism

3. US Backs Anticommunism
US aid to the French to oppose Ho Chi Mihn
By 1953, $1 billion a year
Domino Theory justification
China and Korea

4. Geneva Accords May-June 1954
Laos and Cambodia Neutral
Vietnam divided at the 17th Parallel with a DMZ
Ngo Dihn Diem
US trained authoritarian
Rejects united Vietnam in elections
Unpopular with the people

5. Kennedy Escalation
When JFK became President there were about American military advisors in S. Vietnam
By the time of his death there were over 16,000 advisors in Vietnam supporting the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem
1. He desperately wanted to save face after the Bay of Pigs, Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis
2. “monolithic communism”
3. He supported “limited brushfire wars” in the age of a nuclear threat

6. Gulf of Tonkin August 2 and August 4,1964
President Johnson called these attacks “as devious as Pearl Harbor” and “open aggression on the high seas.”
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
“all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” 
Passes 88-2 in Senate and in the House
Congress continued to appropriate funds

7. LBJ Escalates 5 regime changes in S.V. by 1965 Rolling Thunder
Success for Westmorland= 10-1 body count

8. Wind down with Nixon Vietnamization Kissinger and Cambodia
Slow but immediate withdrawal of 500,000 troops
Kissinger and Cambodia
Invasion of a “neutral” country
Khmer Rouge
Pentagon Papers
1971 unofficial release of a secret study of the war. published in the New York Times on July 1
War Powers Act
Paris Peace Agreement – January 1973
Announced right before 1972 election but fell through
Increase in bombings of civilian areas over Christmas
Fall of Saigon in 1975

9. Cost to the “American Dream”
Before the Vietnam War there had been a general consensus about the United States as a champion of freedom against communism
The Vietnam War shattered the long-held belief that American money and American technology could accomplish just about anything
The Credibility Gap
Tet Offensive, My Lai, Pentagon Papers, Cambodia, etc…

10. Anti-War Movement Draft Dodgers 1968 DNC and “Chicago 8” VVAW
206,000 delinquent reporters
1968 DNC and “Chicago 8”
VVAW
Kent State and Jackson State

11. “Vietnam Syndrome” Failures “No more Vietnams” Lost on the home front
Westmorland and Generals fight the wrong war
Politicians set unrealistic limits on Pentagon
Victory = devastation of NV
Human cost outweighed gain
“No more Vietnams”
Clear and compelling political objectives and realistic means to accomplish goal
Sustained public support
Advance national interest

12. Human Costs - Operation RANCHHAND
Agent Orange
20 million gallons of chemicals
Leaked into soil and water supply
Continues to cause chromosomal diseases
Rashes, stomach disease, birth defects, lung disease, 14 others
Compensation in 1991

13. Human Costs – Napalm Powder mixed with gas = gelatinous mixture
Sticks to surfaces
Results in extreme burns and suffocation