1. 33.2 The War Escalates

2. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution

3. President Johnson needed Congressional backing before he could increase U.S. military commitment in Vietnam

4. Tonkin Gulf Resolution was overwhelmingly passed by Congress. It gave the President authority to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the U.S.

5. LBJ claimed attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin were unprovoked, however in reality the U.S. destroyer Maddox had been spying for the South Vietnamese and had also fired first.

6. A claimed second attack on the Maddox probably never occurred, but LBJ had gotten what they wanted, authority to expand the war

7. Senator Morse of Oregon said, “I believe that history will record we made a great mistake…We are in affect giving the President war making powers in the absence of a declaration of war.”

8. U.S. forces in Vietnam

9. LBJ called for an escalation, or build up of U.S. military forces in Vietnam

10. In April of 1965 the Selective Service notified 13,700 draftees

11. More than 2 million Americans served in Vietnam

12. The Average U.S. soldier was younger, poorer, and less educated than those who severed in WW II and Korea

13. Due in most part to college deferments young men from higher income families were less likely to be drafted

14. African American and Hispanics severed in some of the most dangerous ground units.

15. In 1965 African American accounted for almost 24% of all battle deaths, even though they made up just 11% of the U.S. population

16. Soldiers cut their way through jungle, where they heard but seldom saw the enemy

17. Administration, communications, medical care, etc were rarely safe as well. Enemy rockets and mortars could and did strike anywhere

18. 10,000 women served in Vietnam, mostly as nurses.

19. They did not carry guns but nurses faced the horrors of the combat daily

20. The Air War

21. LBJ hoped an air power could secure a quick victory

22. In March of 1965 Operation Rolling Thunder was launched

23. It was a bombing campaign against military targets in the North. The goal was to weaken the enemy’s will to fight

24. A key target of the campaign was the Ho Chi Minh Trail

25. This trail was used to bring weapons and supplies into South Vietnam

26. Parts of the trail went through Laos and Cambodia and were repeatedly bombed

27. The Vietcong were able to repair the trail very quickly

28. By 1967 the U.S. was dropping a daily average of 800 tons of bombs on North Vietnam

29. When the bombing did not produce the desired results LBJ broadened the air to areas in Laos and much of South Vietnam

30. Weapons of the war

31. The U.S. Military also used a variety of new weapons in Vietnam Napalm- Jelled gasoline mixture, used in fire bombs Cluster Bombs- Sprayed razor sharp metal fragments when they exploded Defoliants- Chemicals to strip the land of vegetation, most widely used was agent orange

32. Napalm

34. Cluster bombs

35. Defoliants

37. The Ground War

38. The U.S. bombing actually led to more South Vietnamese joining the Vietcong

39. Soon the U.S. was facing more South Vietnamese than North Vietnamese

40. To counter this the U.S. launched a ground war

41. U.S. forces in Vietnam in 1965 were 185,000 by the end of 1967 the forces grew to 486,000

42. However the Vietcong’s use of guerilla tactics proved very effective against the greatest military in the world

43. Vietnamese peasants who appeared peaceful during the day sided with the Vietcong at night

44. Ground patrols would first locate the enemy and then call air support to kill them

45. To provide security in rural areas U.S. forces began a program called pacification

46. When these security forces were not enough U.S. forces moved the residents to secure locations a burned the villages

47. Progress of this type of warfare could not be shown on a map, so instead daily body counts of the enemy became the only measure of success.

48. The U.S. would inflate this numbers by counting all Vietnamese dead the as the enemy

49. One officer said, “If its dead and Vietnamese, its VC.”

50. U.S. morale declines

51. Optimism of the soldiers began to fade as the hazards of fighting a nearly invisible foe in an alien landscape became apparent

52. The soldiers became frustrated when the enemy continued to fight despite massive casualties

53. U.S. planners of the war expected U.S. technology would win the war, but it has not

54. Ho Chi Minh warned the French, “You can kill ten of my men for everyone I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.”

55. It appears that same warning was apply to the Americans as well

57. By the end of 1967 more than 16,000 Americans had been killed in Vietnam

58. American homes were bombarded by nightly newscasts of terrified Vietnamese civilians and dead or injured soldiers

59. Because of the coverage some American wanted that the U.S. do what ever takes to win the war and some Americans wanted the U.S. to pull out of the war

60. Journalist also started to report that the U.S. government had been inflating body counts to give the appearance of progress

61. Johnson found his administration criticized by both doves, people who oppose the war and hawks, people who support the war

62. The Antiwar Movement

63. The antiwar movement attracted a broad range people like doctors, teachers, and other professionals

64. The Students for a Democratic Society was radical antiwar student group

65. By 1965 SDS had members on 124 college campuses

66. SDS members held antiwar rallies and debates, they also protested the draft, ROTC on campus, and recruitment efforts

67. The SDS organized the first national antiwar protest, it was held in Washington D.C.

68. More than 20,000 people participated, there were speeches, marches to the capital, and delivered petitions to Congress members

69. Civil rights activists like Martin Luther King said that the war was stealing from poverty programs

70. Civil rights activists also said that they were sending great numbers of African Americans off to war yet did little to end discrimination at home

71. Despite its high visibility, antiwar protestors made up a small percent of the U.S. population

72. Young men and women who tired to avoid the draft angered many veterans of past wars