2. Quiz
Time!

3. Ngo Dinh Diem
- Who was he?
- What did he want?

4. Why
War in
Vietnam?

5. Indo-China - Claimed by France in the late 1800’s.
- Occupied by Japan during WWII.
- Indo-Chinese nationalists rose up to challenge Japanese control.
- The U.S. helped supply the Indo-Chinese in their fight against Japan.

6. This group of Indo-Chinese nationalists were known as the Vietminh.
- Led by Ho Chi Minh
- Communists!
- Why was America willing to support them in their fight against Japan?

7. When WWII was over, two important things occurred.
1. Communism became America’s new enemy.
2. The French decided they wanted to reclaim their colony of Indo-China.

8. To convince the people of Indo-China to accept this “recolonization” France offered partial independence and local rule for each of the three major areas of the nation:
Laos
Cambodia
Vietnam

9. The Vietminh rejected the French proposal and pushed for outright independence from France. They had fought to remove Japanese control during WWII and had no interest in returning to rule by the French.

10. France rejected full independence for Indo-China and vowed to crush Ho Chi Minh and Vietminh resistance.

11. President Dwight Eisenhower supported France in this fight against the Vietminh by providing weapons and supplies to the French forces.
Why?

12. The Vietminh, with the support of China, were able to fight the French to a stalemate winning a decisive battle at Dien Bein Phu in may 1954.

13. Following that loss, France turned to the United Nations for help in arranging a peace settlement with the Vietminh.

14. Laos and Cambodia were given their independence.
Geneva Accords of 1954:
Laos and Cambodia were given their independence.
Both were expected to remain neutral during the cold war.

15. The North became communist, and the South remained capitalist.
Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh’s homeland, was split in half along the 17th parallel.
The North became communist, and the South remained capitalist.

16. All Vietnamese, both North and South, were then supposed to vote for a single all-Vietnam government by the end of 1956.

17. The United States refused to endorse the settlement and the government of South Vietnam refused to sign the agreement. Why?

18. The government of South Vietnam was led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
- He feared a communist victory in the proposed elections.
- If that happened, he would lose power. So…
- Diem canceled those elections and moved to strengthen his control.

19. Groups of South Vietnamese communists, known as the Vietcong, rose up to fight against Diem.
Also known as:
- V.C.
- Victor Charlie
- Charlie

20. In their efforts, the Vietcong were supported by Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese communists. (NVA)

21. In this battle, U.S. officials worried that if Vietnam fell, the rest of Southeast Asia would also fall to communism. This is known as:
The
Domino
Theory

22. Thus, the U.S. government decided to make a stand against communism in Vietnam. If not, the longstanding policy of containment would fail.

23. The problem, was that Diem wasn’t a very nice guy.
To carry out this plan the U.S. was forced to support the South Vietnamese capitalists and Diem.
The problem, was that Diem wasn’t a very nice guy.

24. Diem's Rule His family held all of the key government positions.
Power was dominated by the wealthy minority.
Buddhists, the majority of the Vietnamese population, were persecuted by the Christian Diem.
He used torture, and a lack of political freedom to maintain power.

25. Given all of that, why did the U.S. work with him?
He shared America’s goal of stopping the spread of communism in South Vietnam.

26. Some went to extreme lengths to protest Diem’s government.

27. John Kennedy sent over 15,000 U. S
John Kennedy sent over 15,000 U.S. military advisers to the South Vietnamese Army, but he quickly became displeased with many of the policies of Diem’s government.
Why was he so concerned?

28. Coup - S. Vietnamese generals overthrew Diem’s government Nov 1, 1963.
- Kennedy knew about the plan before it happened.
- Diem was assassinated on November 2.
- Whatever his methods, Diem HAD prevented the spread of communism in S. Vietnam.
- Began a period of instability in South Vietnamese government.

29. Lyndon Johnson - Inherited U.S. involvement in Vietnam from Kennedy.
- Oversaw the formation and failure of seven different governments for South Vietnam in 1964.
- Attacked by the Republican Party in the 1964 Presidential campaign for not doing enough to help the South Vietnamese.

30. If he was going to win the presidency on his own in 1964, he needed to convince voters that he was the man to lead American efforts in Vietnam.

31. Gulf of Tonkin Incident - August 1964
- U.S. ships were fired on by North Vietnamese gunboats.
- Johnson believed the incident necessitated a military response.
Gulf of
Tonkin

32. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
This gave Johnson, as commander in chief, the ability to take “all necessary measures” to protect American interests in Vietnam.

33. Johnson had to make a choice:
- Do nothing. Don’t respond to the attack. Continue to do what we had been doing.
- Escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam to prevent the fall of the South Vietnamese government to communism at the risk of loss of life and money.

34. Because of America’s long standing commitment to containment, but more importantly because he wanted to get re-elected, Johnson made his choice to strike back against the communists in Vietnam.

35. US Troops in Vietnam
Kennedy’s advisors were clearly fighting a covert war by 1963.
MacNamara has suggested that he believes Kennedy would have pulled the U.S. out, but evidence in inconclusive.
JFK realizes Diem is a liability; offers quiet support to a Vietnamese military coup d’etat.
The coup results in the brutal murders of Diem and his brother
The Vietnamese generals overthrow one another. A relatively stable, but tyrannical government emerges. It is little better than Diem’s.

36. Fin.