The Vietnam War

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The Vietnam War

• 1954-1975

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Prelude to the War

• France controlled Indochina since the late 19th
  century
• Japan took control during World War II
• With U.S. aid, France attempted re-colonization
  in the postwar period

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• The French lost control to Ho Chi Minhs Viet
  Minh forces in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu
• President Eisenhower declined to intervene on
  behalf of France.

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• International Conference at Geneva
• Vietnam was divided at 17th parallel
• Ho Chi Minhs nationalist forces controlled the
  North
• Ngo Dinh Diem, a French-educated, Roman Catholic
  claimed control of the South

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U.S. Military Involvement Begins

• Repressive Dictatorial Rule
• Diems family holds all power
• Wealth is hoarded by the elite
• Buddhist majority persecuted
• Torture, lack of political freedom prevail

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The U.S. Response

• The U.S. aided Diems democratic government in
  an effort to stop the spread of Communism.
• Eisenhower sent financial and military aid.
• 675 U.S. Army advisors sent by 1960.

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Early Protests of Diems Government

• Self-immolation by a Buddhist Monk

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U.S. Military Involvement Begins

• Kennedy elected 1960
• Increases military advisors to 16,000
• 1963 JFK supports a Vietnamese military coup
  detat Diem and his brother are murdered (Nov.
  2)
• Kennedy was assassinated just weeks later (Nov.
  22)

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President Johnson Sends in Ground Forces

• Tonkin Gulf Incident 1964(acc. to Johnson, the
  attacks were unprovoked)
• Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• The Blank Check

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The war escalates U.S. Troop Deployments in
Vietnam
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The Ground War 1965-1968

• One major difference was that there were no
  territorial goals.
• The Viet Cong received supplies over the
• Ho Chi Minh Trail

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The Ho Chi Minh Trail

• What is REALLY interesting about the Ho Chi Minh
  Trail?
• Pssst.
• Ill give you a hint
• Where is it?

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ENTER THE MEDIA
Another major difference was that body counts
were reported on TV every night ( know as the
first living room war)

• Walter Cronkite reporting live from Vietnam ?

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DEATH FROM ABOVEThe Air War1965-1968

• 1965 Sustained bombing of North Vietnam.
• Operation Rolling Thunder begins (March 2)

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• -1966-68 Ongoing bombing of Hanoi non-stop for 3
  years! Esp. the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
• -Downed Pilots became P.O.W.s
• (Prisoners of War)

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Carpet Bombing

• The intensive bombing of a designated area in a
  close pattern by many aircraft, usually B-52s, as
  though laying a wall-to-wall carpet.

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NAPALM

• Napalm (trade name) is a powder. Mixed with
  gasoline, it is a tactical weapon used to remove
  vegetative cover and instill fear.
• Fire bomb fuel gel mixture (napalm) is a mixture
  of fuel and gelling solution that are combined to
  produce a thickened mixture. The fuel gel mixture
  is stringy and sticky, and readily adheres to
  most surfaces.

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• This Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph was taken
  in 1972, The child is running naked down a road,
  screaming in pain from the napalm that was
  burning through her skin.
• The photograph has come to epitomize the tragedy
  of the Vietnam War and had a profound negative
  impact on the American publics support of the
  war.

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A new set of rules

• Vietcong
• South Vietnamese farmers by day guerillas at
  night.
• Very patient people willing to accept many
  casualties.
• The US grossly underestimated their resolve and
  their resourcefulness.
• The U.S. soldiers had no idea who was a friend or
  an enemy.

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Who is the enemy?
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• -After Nguyen Ngoc Loan raised his sidearm and
  shot Vietcong operative Nguyen Van Lem in the
  head he walked over to the reporters and told
  them that, "These guys kill a lot of our people,
  and I think Buddha will forgive me."

-Captured on NBC TV cameras and by AP
photographer Eddie Adams, the picture and film
footage flashed around the world and quickly
became a symbol of the Vietnam Wars brutality.
-Eddie Adams picture was especially striking,
as the moment frozen is one almost at the instant
of death. Taken a split second after the trigger
was pulled, Lems final expression is one of pain
as the bullet rips through his head. A closer
look of the photo actually reveals the bullet
exiting his skull.
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The tet offensive

• -N. Vietnamese Army Viet Cong attack South
  simultaneously (67,000 attack 100 cities, bases,
  and the US embassy in Saigon)
• -They take every major southern city

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• -U.S. ARVN beat back the offensive
• -Viet Cong destroyed
• -N. Vietnamese army debilitated
• -BUTits seen as an American defeat by the media

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American Morale Begins to Dip

• -Disproportionate representation of poor people
  and minorities.
• -Severe racial problems.
• -Major drug problems.
• -Officers in combat 6 mo. in rear 6 mo.
• -Enlisted men in combat for 12 mo.

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THE MY LAI MASSACRE

• My Lai Massacre, 1968
• 200-500 unarmed villagers killed by U.S.
  Soldiers, led by Lt. William Calley,Platoon
  Leader

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My Lai Massacre Aftermath

• Lt. Calley was the only U.S. soldier convicted of
  crimes related to the My Lai Massacre
• Calley was sentenced to 40 months, most of which
  spent in his apartment on his military base.
• However, when the news of the massacre reached
  the states, support for the war among the
  American people greatly decreased.

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HERE COME THE HIPPIES!

• The youth of America, and around the world, began
  to openly protest the war in Vietnam.

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Flower Power Spreads
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The Protests Turn Ugly

• KENT STATE PROTEST
• May 4, 1970
• 4 students shot dead.
• 11 students wounded

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THE PROTESTS CONTINUE

• Jackson State University
• May 10, 1970
• 2 dead 12wounded

• Democratic National Convention
• In Chicago 1968

• Student Protestors at Univ. of CA in Berkeley,
  1968

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