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Vietnam%20War

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Vietnam War U.S. Involvement ... sends 600 green berets and helicopters 1962- South Vietnam hold ... Slide 1 History of Vietnam Vietnam War Slide 4 Slide 5 Vietnam ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Vietnam%20War


1
  • Vietnam War
  • U.S. Involvement

2
History of Vietnam
  • China repeatedly tried to control Vietnam since
    ancient times
  • Had been under foreign rule since the later half
    of the 1800s
  • Had been partially taken over by the Japanese
    during WWII
  • Wanted the US to help them fight off the French
    after the war

3
Vietnam War
  • 1954 Civil war ended between communist North
    Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh and weak neutral
    government in South Vietnam
  • 1956 - War begins again and by 1960 the South
    Vietnam forces were confined to the cities

4
Ngo Dinh Diem
5
Communist Forces
  • Southern Communist forces formed the Viet Cong by
    1960
  • Northern Communist forces were known as the
    Vietnam Peoples Army or the North Vietnamese Army

6
Vietnam War
  • 1960-confilict spreads to Laos2 sides in Laos
    one U.S. and other communist
  • 1961- U.S. sign an agreement creating a coalition
    government in Laos
  • 1961- May- Kennedy sends 400 Green Berets to help
    train South Vietnamese in guerilla war fare-it
    fails

7
Vietnam War
  • 1961-August- U.S sends 600 green berets and
    helicopters
  • 1962- South Vietnam hold their own in battles
  • 1963-Vietcong emerge from jungle and chew up
    inept South Vietnamese

8
Vietnam War
  • Without massive American intervention the war
    would be lost

9
Tonkin Gulf
  • August 2, 1964- American destroyer Maddox
    claimed to be attacked by communist patrol boat
    in Tonkin Gulf, off the coast of North Vietnam
  • August 4- Maddox and another ship, C Turner Joy
    claimed to have been attacked-neither ship saw
    enemy vessel or suffered any damage.
  • Johnson ordered air raids against torpedo boats
    and oil storage tanks

10
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
  • Johnson asked and got more power when congress
    passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
  • Basically gave the president the authority to
    take the nation to war without congressional
    approval
  • Article 1 of constitution says congress has that
    power
  • 1973- congress placed restriction on the
    resolution

11
Gulf of Tonkin
12
More trouble in Vietnam
  • Spring 1965-South Vietnam regime had completely
    lost control of the countryside and huddled in
    the cities

13
More Involvement
  • Presidential advisor said without American
    intervention South Vietnam government would
    collapse
  • Johnson decides to get involved deeper

14
Vietcong Attacks
  • Feb 7, 1965-Vietcong raids camp of American
    military advisers
  • Killing 8, wounded 100
  • The raid gives Johnson excuse to order air strikes

15
More Involvement
  • April 1965-35,000 American troops
  • June-doubled
  • 2 years 500,000 troops
  • 20,000 deaths

16
Guerrilla war
  • Vietnam was a guerrilla war
  • Every village as a potential battleground
  • 150,000 civilians died annually

17
  • 1966-cost 8 billion
  • 1968- cost 27 billion

18
Unpopular
  • Three causes that made the Vietnam War to be the
    most unpopular in U.S. history.

19
T.V., Cost, Lies
  • Television- First time Americans could see a
    child running down a street of thatch-covered
    houses her clothes aflame.
  • LIES - Government Falsehood- Statement
    contradicted one another reported only 103,000
    Vietcong and suffered 79,000 casualties-Jan1,1966
    237,000 Vietcong.
  • Cost- Every Vietcong communist killed cost the
    U.S. 322,000

20
Television and the War
21
Protest
  • New Left- Antiwar movement by college students
    and intellectuals.
  • Beginning in 1964 and Berkeley, Cal. Students
    wreaked havoc at American universitiescalled for
    non-negotiated demand and class disruption.

22
Non-violence
  • April 1967- 125,000 students surged through the
    streets of New York to the United Nation building
    to ask the U.N. to intervene.

23
  • October 1967- 75,000 descended on the Pentagon
  • They blocked the building entrance in a massive
    act of non-violence disobedience.

24
Discontent
  • Only 29 of the American people thought the
    President was doing a good job.
  • Burning of draft cards gesture of opposition of
    the war.
  • New Left destroy itself by its violent methods
    that antagonized everyone else in the country.

25
Tet Offensive
  • Jan. 1968-Tet is the Vietnamese New Year
  • Vietcong made a surprising move and came down on
    every city of substantial size in South Vietnam
    and dozens of American bases
  • Thousands of guerrillas enter the heart of
    Saigon, captured the American Embassy for 6 hours
  • City was leveled by US bombers to regain control
    of cities

26
1968 Election
  • Democrats were divided
  • Nixon promised to end the draft
  • Nixon was not associated with the Johnson
    Administration

Nixon and Agnew
27
Vietnam Withdraw
  • Nixon and Kissinger dictated a final withdraw of
    Vietnam.
  • It was clear the war could not be won and its
    continuance hampered negotiation elsewhere in the
    world.
  • It was important that the withdraw not appear to
    be a surrender.

28
Vietnam Pull-out
  • Peace talks opened up in Paris in 1968
  • Vietcong demanded a role in the gov.
  • South Vietnam military leaders in Saigon had
    little popular support to stay in power had to
    keep fighting
  • US to win the war had to send million of troops
    to Southeast Asia
  • To withdraw was to confess that the tens of
    thousands of lives lost in Vietnam had been lost
    for nothing

29
U.S. Had 3 Choices
  • Continue the war at the present level--lead
    nowhere
  • Pull out quickly and let the South Vietnamese
    take care of themselves--cause political reaction
    at home
  • Begin a slow pull out, while trying to negotiate
    a settlement
  • Nixon chose the third---allowing South Vietnamese
    to fight on the ground and US forces to supply
    air power

30
1970
  • March 18-a right wing general seized control of
    the government in Cambodia
  • North Vietnamese troops moved in the defense-less
    country
  • April 27-Nixon ordered combined American and
    South Vietnam troops to remove the Vietcong in
    Cambodia

31
Kent State Massacre
  • Kent, Ohio
  • May 4th, meant to be a protest rally
  • Police arrive to disperse them but students
    retaliate by throwing rocks
  • 4 Students killed by the National Guard

32
The Truth
  • Tet offensive demonstrated that in 3 years of
    war, the Vietcong was still a military power
  • Also demonstrated that the Vietnamese people had
    turned against their government
  • Thousands of peasants must have known about the
    moves of the Vietcong forces yet the government
    knew nothing

33
End of Vietnam
  • Kissinger and North Vietnamese finally come to
    terms
  • U.S. agreed to permit the North Vietnam army to
    remain in South Vietnam after cease-fire
  • Nixon calls is peace with honor
  • Help Nixon get re-elected

34
1972 Election
  • Democratic nominee George McGovern
  • Nixon wins by a landslide
  • Electoral vote
  • 520 to 17

35
More Trouble in Vietnam
  • December-Nixon unleashes new B-52 attacks on the
    North because of haggling over details at peace
    talk
  • Bombing causes world outcry but it works
  • Final cease-fire was signed on Jan. 27, 1973

36
The Real End
  • Neither side obey peace settlement
  • Nixon orders air raids over Cambodia
  • August 15, 1973-Congress passed resolution for
    ceasing all American military activity in S.E.
    Asia

37
Aftermath for Veterans
  • Average age around 19
  • Did not fit clearly identified soldiers
  • They were not coming back from a victorious war

38
Vietnam Falls
  • Spring 1975-Communist mounted a massive attack
  • April 30 communist forces force Saigon South
    Vietnam to surrender

39
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