1. US History: Spiconardi
Vietnam: Part I ( )
US History: Spiconardi

2. How did we get involved?
After WWII, the Truman administration rejected Vietnam’s independence in favor of French rule because…
US wanted Frances support in Cold War
Vietnam’s rice could feed the rebuilt Japan
Largest producer of natural rubber
Strategic location near Philippines & Japan
Ho Chi Minh was a communist
US believed he would aid Soviet expansion

3. Dienbienphu (1954)
Despite American aid ($), Ho Chi Minh is able to defeat French and end their colonial rule

4. Geneva Accords The Path to War
A conference in Geneva divides Vietnam into a communist north and non-communist south in 1954 at 17° Latitude North
Ho Chi Minh governs the north
US and French backed government in the south
By 1956 elections were to be held in order to reunite Vietnam, but…

5. Backing the Diem Regime
The US backed South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem prevents elections from taking place
US was fearful communists would win elections and communism would spread through out SE Asia
Domino Theory

6. Backing the Diem Regime
Rebels in South Vietnam called the Vietcong plan to overthrow the government of Diem

7. Kennedy’s Escalation
Kennedy sent 16,000 advisors to help Diem government fight Vietcong
To hinder Vietcong support, US rounds up peasants and puts them in barbed-wire compounds
Anti-Diem sentiments increase
Buddhist monks protest Diem regime by burning themselves alive

10. Johnson’s Escalation
US plans a coup to assassinate Diem and replace the government
New government was just as unpopular
Vietcong and Ho Chi Minh become more popular in South Vietnam
Reassessment of situation called for Diem and JFK’s assassinations
Lyndon Johnson vowed to prevent a communist takeover of “this damn little pissant country.”

12. Johnson’s Escalation
August 4, 1964: Johnson announces to US on television that the U.S.S. Maddox had been attacked unprovoked by North Vietnam
The Truth:
Two days earlier the Maddox was on an intelligence finding mission
On the day of the Maddox & another destroyer move towards North Vietnamese waters
Report of torpedo attacks and start firing back
Later informed Washington that reports of torpedo attacks were incorrect

13. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
Johnson asks Congress to pass a resolution that authorizes the president: “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”
US NEVER DECLARES WAR
Gives president extraordinary powers as Commander-in-Chief

14. The Vietnam War Begins US starts bombing Vietnam and Laos
Laos, which had many communist supporters, supplied Ho Chi Minh
Vietcong controlled more than half of South Vietnam by 1965
US begins Operation Rolling Thunder
Drops more bombs on Vietnam that American aircraft had dropped in World War II
Bombing doesn’t work due to guerilla warfare

15. Guerilla Warfare Vietcong fight a guerilla war
Hide in shelters underground
No uniform
Superior military technology of the United States is ineffective

18. Napalm & Assassination
To combat guerilla warfare
US uses napalm to destroy jungles and locate tunnels
Phoenix Program
CIA assassinates over 60,000 Vietcong leaders
US strategies kill thousands of civilians

19. My Lai Massacre
US army unit enters village of My Lai and for 4 hours rape, sodomized, & killed over 300 unarmed Vietnamese civilians
Why?
Soldiers trained to kill
Anticommunism
“I looked at communism as a southerner looks at a Negro…It’s evil.”

20. Tet Offensive
During Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year, Vietcong & North Vietnamese forces attack all across South Vietnam
Even penetrate the American embassy in Saigon
MAJOR TURNING POINT IN AMERICAN PUBLIC OPIONION ABOUT THE WAR

21. Tet Offensive Made the following apparent
Vietcong and North Vietnamese could attack at will
Vietcong had homefield advantage
Vietcong & North Vietnamese will to fight harder than South Vietnamese
If our tactic thus far haven’t worked, will anything?
War probably could not be won

23. Tet Offensive (1968)

24. Exhausted & realizing it was a losing battle, Johnson drops out of 1968 presidential race and announces that US stopped the bombing of most of North Vietnam and would begin peace negotiations

25. To be continued…