8.3: Explain the development of the war in
Vietnam and its impact on American government
and politics.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Viet Minh
Containment
Domino Theory
Viet Cong
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Tet Offensive
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Vietnamization
Napalm and Agent Orange
Pentagon Papers
War Powers Act
1.
2.
3.
Location – Indochina Peninsula
Before WW2 French controlled this area
After Japan is defeated, French want it back
1.
China becomes communist, 1949
a. Proximity influences Vietnam also
b. Nationalist support grows
2.
Ho Chi Minh becomes nationalist
leader
a. Comes to US for assistance, but is rejected
due to our French alliance
b. Organizes the Viet Minh – armed forces
c. Northern part of Vietnam becomes
communist
d. Southern part under French control
e. US provides arms and money to help
France
f. French withdraw after massive defeat at
Dien Bien Phu
1.
Divides Vietnam in two
a. North Vietnam – Communist, Ho Chi Minh
b. South Vietnam – Democratic
1) US helps support South Vietnam
2) Containment
3) Domino Theory – if one Asian country becomes
communist, the rest will follow suit.
2.
US involvement
a. US supports South Vietnam
b. Government is corrupt
c. Viet Cong – resistance group in South Vietnam
supplied by North Vietnam to wreak havoc in
S.Vietnam
d. US presidents continue to increase US activity as
Vietnam is seen as a “line in the sand.”
1.
Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 1964
a. 3 Vietnamese torpedo boats attack USS Maddox.
b. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1) Congress gives president power
to use US forces to assist any
SE Asian country dealing with
“Communist aggression.”
2) Becomes basis for whole war effort
3) 500K US troops in Vietnam by 1967
4) US officially begins bombing North Vietnam
c. Congress never formally declares war
1) War declarations typically give Congress power
2) “Unofficial wars” tend to give president more power
1.
Massive media coverage of war
a. Government reports frequently differed from media
b. Public support wanes
1)
2)
3)
4)
“Poor Man’s War” – medical exemptions, college deferments
High percentage of African-Americans as ground troops
Public Protests against war
Draft required – hugely unpopular
c. Public divided into “hawks” and “doves”
d. College campuses become epicenter of protests
2. Tet Offensive – massive N.Vietnamese
attacks into S.Vietnam
a. Tet is Vietnamese new year – cease fire
b. Ho Chi Minh Trail – series of paths and
tunnels from North Vietnam through Laos
and Cambodia to move troops and weapons
to Viet Cong in South Vietnam.
c. Guerilla warfare throughout
d. Media coverage reveals that US is not
winning the war – contrary to gov’t reports
3. My Lai Massacre
a. US company of troops kills 500 old men,
women and children in My Lai village
b. Reports shock US citizens
c. Many question the point of the war
3.
Politics and the War
a. Election of 1968
1) Pres. Johnson refuses to run for pres. again
2) Republican Richard Nixon elected
a) Democratic party greatly divided over Vietnam
b) Nixon promises to end the war
b. “Vietnamization” of war
1) Begin turning fighting over to Vietnamese
2) Nixon replaces draft with lottery system
3) Nixon approves bombing of Laos/Cambodia
a)
Military pressure to destroy Ho Chi Minh Trail
4) Massive protests begin due to bombing
c. Kent State Massacre
1) Protestors riot and burn ROTC building
2) National Guard shoots protesting college
students
3) Four killed, nine injured
d. Nixon announces US troop withdrawal
1)
2)
3)
4)
US forces begin leaving Vietnam in 1973
Communist forces soon begin invading
South Vietnam overrun in 1975
Ho Chi Minh unites a communist Vietnam
1. 58,000 American deaths in failed effort
2. American values and ethics in war
a) My Lai Massacre, use of napalm and
Agent Orange, troop drug usage
b) Mistreatment of veterans
3. American public distrust of government
1. Pentagon Papers – released after war
2. US government lied to American people
4. War Powers Act
1. President must notify Congress within 48
hours of ordering US troops to fight
2. Cannot operate more than 60 days
without approval from Congress