Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire

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Vietnam Great Society to Great Quagmire
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Lesson Objectives
  Describe and analyze the changes in the
American home front and their impact on US
conduct of the war prior to and after the Tet
1968 offensive.   Describe and analyze the
impact of technology in the Vietnam War.  
Describe and analyze the significance and history
of the bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
  Be able to describe the Ho Chi Minh Trail
and analyze its significance in the Vietnam War.
  Describe the operational and strategic
significance of the Tet Offensive (1968) and
analyze is impact on US foreign policy since.
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Review
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Phase I Targeted state stronger militarily
Revolutionaries avoid combat Guerrilla war
raids, ambushes, sabotage, terrorism Political
conflict predominant
Phase II Rough military parity
Combined guerrilla and conventional war
Military and political conflict equally important
Phase III Revolution stronger than targeted
state
Revolutionary forces go to totally conventional
war General Offensive linked to political
Great Uprising
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Review
Timeline
Mar 64
Secret CIA bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos
began
Civilian pilots (Air America) flying old U.S.
aircraft
May 64
LBJ staff begins drafting Congressional support
resolution
Temporarily shelved due to lack of support in
Senate
Summer 64
Guerilla warfare spreading throughout South
Vietnam
Now supported by NVA regulars
2-4 Aug 64
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
7 Aug 64
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress
Authorizes president to use force to protect
U.S. forces
President orders retaliatory strikes against
North Vietnam
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Review
LBJs Dilemma
In later years Johnson lamented
'I knew from the start that I was bound to be
crucified either way I moved.
If I left the woman I really loved, the Great
Society, in order to get involved in that bitch
of a war on the other side of the world, I would
lose everything at home. All my programs.
... But if I left that war and let the communists
take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as
a coward and my nation would be seen as an
appeaser, and we would both find it impossible to
accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the
entire globe.
Joshua Zeitz "1964 - The Year the Sixties
Began" American Heritage, October 2006
Source
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Timeline
16 Oct 64
China explodes its first nuclear weapon
I Nov 64
VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base
First directt attack on Americans five Gis
killed
3 Nov 64
Lyndon Johnson elected to presidency
Defeats Barry Goldwater by a landslide
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Attacks on US Airfields
I Nov 64
VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigom
First direct attack on Americans five Gis
killed
6 Feb 65
VC attack US base at Pleiku (central Highlands)
Eight Americans killed, ten aircraft destroyed
President orders air strikes against North Vietnam
7 Feb 65
Operation Flaming Dart continues to 24 Feb 65
7 Mar 65
President authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder
Progressively escalating air attack against
North Vietnam
gt send a message
Dual military and political objectives
Ran until 2 Nov 68
At LBJs order, Marines land at Da Nang
8 Mar 65
To protect airfield
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Marines land at Da Nang
March 8, 1965
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Expanding the War
July 28, 1965
Excerpt
( click image )
( Full Speech 0 2108 )
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Troop Levels
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A Flashback in Time
August 22, 2013
( Lesson 2 )
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Review
Operation Desert Shield

General Schwarzkopfs dilemma

With limited mobility resources, do you first
or
Deploy fighting forces to defend Saudi Arabia?
Deploy logistics infrastructure to prepare for
a bigger fight?
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Review
Operation Desert Shield
dilemma
decision
General Schwarzkopfs

Deploy forces to defend Saudi Arabia
and very aggressively!
(This would later have an adverse impact on the
buildup of forces for an offensive capability)
Scott W. Conrad Moving the Force Desert Storm
and Beyond, p. 26
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Review
Operation Desert Shield
Some who questioned our policy in the Gulf felt
this deployment was overkill, but General Norman
Schwartzkopf had learned from Vietnam the
problems of gradual escalation. Andrew
Leyden Summary of the Gulf War Operation Desert
Shield Gulf War Debriefing Book Grants Pass, OR
Hellgate Press, 1997
What was different?
Vietnam 1964 1968 (536,100 troops) Gulf War
Aug 1990 - Jan-Mar 1991 (533,600 troops)
22 Feb 1991 Source The Whirlwind War
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Buildup In Vietnam
Why was our buildup in Vietnam so slow?
Vietnam 1964 - 1968
(536,100 troops)
(533,600 troops)
Gulf War Aug 1990 - Jan-Mar 1991
Gradual escalation?
Fear of Soviet or Chinese intervention?
Lack of infrastructure?
Probably a little of each!
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Vietnam The Helicopter War
"What would we do in Vietnam without
helicopters? We would be fighting a different
war, for a smaller area, at a greater cost, with
less effectiveness.
We might as well-have asked 'What would General
Patton have done without his tanks?
General William Westmoreland Quoted by Lieutenant
General John J. Tolson, USA Airmobility
1961-1971, Chapter 13
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The Helicopter War
Why did the U.S. Army adopt the Airmobile
doctrine?
Concept not specifically developed for Vietnam
Conceived to move forces around an atomic
battlefield
Ideally suited for Southeast Asia
using helicopters to move forces around the
battlefield
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The Helicopter War
The problem in Vietnam is terrain jungles,
mountains, rivers. Maneuver's a nightmare. That's
why we came up with a plan to use helicopters.
Leap in and out of battle.
Dialogue from the movie We Were Soldiers (2002)
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Battle of Ia Drang Valley
November 1418, 1965
Battlefield Mobility
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Battle of Ia Drang Valley
November 1418, 1965
( 2656)
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Battle of Ia Drang Valley
November 1418, 1965
( 503 )
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Significance of Ia Drang
First employment of Airmobile concept
First major combat between US and NVA units
Communist shift from Phase I to Phase II in
Strategy of Revolutionary War
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Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965 Phase I (guerilla warfare)
1961-1965 Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967 Phase II (combined guerilla
conventional warfare) Increased large unit
actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
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Timeline
NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam
Early 1960s
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
7 Aug 64
Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing of North)
begins
2 Mar 65
8 Mar 65
Marines land at Da Nang
1966-67
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) increases pressure on
South
Siege of Khe Sanh Begins
Spring 67
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Siege of Khe Sanh
Spring 1967 - March 1968
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Siege of Khe Sanh
YouTube
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Timeline
NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam
Early 1960s
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
7 Aug 64
Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing of North)
begins
2 Mar 65
8 Mar 65
Marines land at Da Nang
1967
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) increases pressure on
South
Siege of Khe Sanh Begins
Spring 67
Tet Offensive begins
31 Jan 68
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Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965 Phase I (guerilla warfare)
1961-1965 Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967 Phase II (combined guerilla
conventional warfare) Increased large unit
actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
1968 (early) Phase III (Tet Offensive)
(conventional warfare)
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Tet Offensive 1968
Began January 31, 1968
Country-wide combined VC NVA offensive intended
to inspire popular uprising
Attack on Khe Sanh began earlier as a diversion
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Tet Offensive 1968
US Embassy Saigon attacked by VC
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Tet Offensive 1968
Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
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Hué
The Historic Cultural Capital of Vietnam
In February 1966, LBJ asked Gen. Westmoreland,
the US commander in Vietnam, what he would do
next if he were the enemy commander
Capture Hué, Westmoreland immediately replied.
Hué Citadel
Almost two years to the day later, North Vietnam
did just that
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Tet Offensive 1968
Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
In February 1966, LBJ asked Gen. Westmoreland,
the US commander in Vietnam, what he would do
next if he were the enemy commander
Capture Hué, Westmoreland immediately replied.
Hué The Historic Cultural Capital of Vietnam
Almost two years to the day later, North Vietnam
did just that
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Tet Offensive 1968
Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
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Tet Offensive 1968
Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
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Battle of Hué
Video Pt 2 - 909
Pt 4 - 910
Pt 3 - 848
Pt 5 - 702
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Tet Offensive 1968
Turning point of the war
politically
Saigon police chief executes Viet Cong
Terrorist Photograph by Eddie Adams
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Tet Offensive 1968
Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News anchor, visited
Vietnam Feb1968
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Post-Tet
Walter Cronkite
Upon his return to the US, Cronkite delivered an
unprecedented editorial comment on this trip
(February 27, 1968)
To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the
only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.
LBJs reply on hearing this If Ive lost
Cronkite, Ive lost middle America.
On March 31, 1968, President Johnson announced he
would not seek re-election.
Source
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Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965 Phase I (guerilla warfare)
1961-1965 Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967 Phase II (conbined guerilla
conventional warfare) Increased large unit
actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
1968 (early) Phase III (Tet Offensive)
(conventional warfare)
Military disaster (VC destroyed) General
Uprising did not occur Strategic victory none
the less
1968 (mid) Phase II
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Vietnam The Final Chapter
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Lesson Objectives
Understand the goals, provisions and
consequences of President Nixon's Vietnamization
policy. Describe the efforts of President
Nixon to change global strategic alignments and
the implications of his initiatives. Describe
and analyze changes in the military situation in
Vietnam from 1969 to 1973. Describe and
assess the impact of US political developments
from 1969 through 1975.
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End
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