US FOREIGN POLICY SINCE 1945: THE VIETNAM WARS

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US FOREIGN POLICY SINCE 1945THE VIETNAM WARS

• April 23, 2007

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Why Vietnam?

• "You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock
  over the first one, and what will happen to the
  last one is the certainty that it will go over
  very quickly.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954

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The French War, 1945-54

• 1945 Ho declares independence, British land,
  French return
• 1946 Franco-Vietnamese accord war begins
• 1949 Bao Dai and Elysee agreement
• 1950 US begins to aid French

• 1954 Dienbienphu
• GENEVA 1954
• - 17th parallel
• - Ho north
• - Diem south
• - French out
• SEATO

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AMERICAS VIETNAM, 1954-1975
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Nation-Building, 1954-61

• Bao Dai head of state until 1955
• Republic of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem wins elections
  (133 of vote in Saigon) becomes president, no
  unification
• 1955-1961 1 billion US aid (5th in the world)
• 1959 North approves armed struggle
• 1960 National Liberation Front

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Guarding the New Frontier, 1961-63

• JFK increased America's troop number from 500 to
  16,000
• Finger in the dike
• 1963 Buddhist Revolt, Student Revolt, Battle of
  Ap Bac

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CHOOSING WAR, 1963-65

• Two assassinations in November 1963
• Enough, But Not Too Much
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 1964
• Rolling Thunder, March 1965
• July 28, 1965 50,000 troops to Vietnam

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Strategies of War

• Ground War
• - Search and Destroy
• - Pacification
• Air war
• Rolling Thunder, 1965-1968
• 7,078,032 tons  of bombs dropped (3-1/2 times
  WWII tonnage)

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The Tet Offensive, January 1968

• Military victory but Political Defeat?
• Mounting protest vs. More troops
• Johnson quits, March 1968
• Nixon elected

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Nixons War, Nixons (Kissingers?) Peace

• Vietnamization 1969 -1972 US troops down from
  540.000 to less than 20,000
• Escalation Cambodia, Laos
• Triangulation
• Paris Peace Accords

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April 30, 1975 SAIGON
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LESSONS LEGACIES

• CASUALTIES
• R.V.N.
• dead 230,000wounded 300,000
• U.S.
• dead 58,209wounded 153,303
• DRV/NLF
• dead 1,100,000wounded N/A
• 2007 Vietnam joins WTO

• VIETNAM SYNDROME?
• "the ghosts of Vietnam had been laid to rest
  beneath the sands of the Arabian desert."
• -- G.Bush (Sr.), 1991
• Vietnam and Iraq?
• Dropping public support
• Questions about rationale
• No End in sight
• And no one wants to be the one to pull the plug