The Vietnam War
Notes: American Involvement in the Vietnam War!
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United States History 11
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Operation Rolling Thunder:
February 1965, North Vietnamese troops launched attacks on American advisors in South Vietnam killing 7
and wounding more than 100.
LBJ responds by ordering American aircraft to attack targets in North Vietnam.
In March 1965, LBJ expands the roll of military in enacting Operation Rolling Thunder (sustained bombing
campaign of targets in North Vietnam to weaken the will of the Vietcong without provoking their greatest
allies, the Soviet Union and China).
Military leaders urged the President to bomb targets essential to crippling the enemies ability to wage war,
but the President feared too much air power could cause the Soviets and Chinese to intervene; objective
became the weakening of the will of the North Vietnamese.
Rolling Thunder did not have the sustained success the President wanted and by the end of 1965, the
administration had limited the targets to be attacked.
Fighting a Different War and Different Enemy:
Vietcong did not have the firepower to directly engage American forces, so they relied on guerilla tactics as
they did against the French. They used ambushes, booby traps, and other alternative “terrorist” measures,
but most importantly, they used the environment.
Many Vietcong infiltrated into South Vietnamese society and lived among
its general population.
American forces started using “search and destroy” missions to hunt out
the enemy; idea was to force the Vietcong out of hiding and make them
fight in the open.
Use of Napalm and Agent Orange to destroy the landscape of the
jungles of SE Asia.
United States underestimated the strength and resolve of the Vietcong.
Believed by killing large numbers of Vietcong would demoralized the
enemy and cause them to surrender.
Vietcong in the South had to be sustained by supplies from the North.
North Vietnamese provided arms, advisors, and significant leadership to
mount attacks against American and South Vietnamese forces.
Eventually as the number of Vietcong began to grow thin as a result from
American attacks, the North Vietnamese began to send regular troops in
from the North.
Ho Chi Minh Trail: North Vietnamese began sending arms and supplies
down to the South using a system of paths through Cambodia and Laos.
Since the two nations were not involved directly in the war, LBJ refused to
allow a full-scale attack on the trail to shut it down.
The American Fighting Soldier:
More than 2.5 million American men served during the Vietnam War.
Slightly younger that those that fought during World War II and Korea; not as educated; volunteers at the
beginning, and eventually a draft was instituted by the government.
Draft: lasted from 1969-73; 25% turned away for health reasons, 30% received postponement of service;
College students had their service postponed; most drafted were African Americans; 3% escaped draft by
fleeing the United States.
Battle of Ap Bac:
December 1962; Vietcong dug in behind trees, grass, and shrubs along a canal
near Ap Bac.
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) attacked the Vietcong positions; ARVN
outnumbered the Vietcong three-to-one, but was defeated due to resolve of
Vietcong and poor leadership and morale of ARVN officers.
Vietcong would flee from their positions, but engagement showed how difficult a
guerilla war would be and how much the United States would have to learn
about fighting a war in Southeast Asia.
Tet Offensive:
January 30, 1968 (Vietnamese New Year) - Vietcong and North Vietnamese
Army launched surprise attack.
Primary targets were American airbases throughout South Vietnam as well as
largely-populated cities.
Militarily, the offensive turned out to be disastrous for the Vietcong and North Vietnamese.Politically, it was
a major victory for the Vietcong and North Vietnamese; the American people could not understand how an
enemy on the verge of defeat could launch such a large assault and Westmoreland’s request for more
troops made many Americans believe the nation was admitting they could not win the war.
Mainstream media began publishing stories about how the effort in Vietnam was looking bleak and victory
was a thought of the past.
Tet Offensive crippled LBJ’s approval ratings. March 31, 1968, LBJ addressed the nation and promised he
would not seek or accept his party’s nomination for President in the upcoming election.
Richard Nixon (R), won the 1968 Presidential election under the promise to devise a plan to end the war in
Vietnam.
My Lai Massacre:
Spring 1968, an American platoon under the command of Lt. William Calley
had massacred possibly more than 400 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians
at My Lai; no Vietcong were found in the village
Calley was courtmartialed for the incident and would go to prison; he was
sentenced to life in prison (paroled in 1974).
Invasion of Cambodia and the Protests that Follow:
April 1970, Nixon announced the United States had invaded Cambodia to destroy Vietcong bases.
Many Americans saw this as a widening of the war (against what Nixon promised) and launched protests.
Kent State University - (May 4, 1970) Ohio National Guardsmen fired on demonstrators without orders to
do so. Four students killed and nine wounded.
May 14 - police killed two African American students at a demonstration on the campus of Jackson State in
Mississippi.
Fall of Saigon:
April 6, 1972, the United States Air Force launched massive air assaults on targets in North Vietnam
(Operation Linebacker).
Vast improvement over Operation Rolling Thunder; hit tactical and strategic targets like airfields, fuel
supplies, communications, and power plants to disrupt the flow of supplies into South Vietnam.
Air assault allowed American troops to continue to withdraw from South Vietnam without further attacks
from North Vietnamese or Vietcong.
Henry Kissinger (special advisor to the President on national security) had been secretly meeting with
North Vietnamese officials to work a peace deal; claimed “peace is a hand.” Peace talks eventually break
down when South Vietnam’s president Nguyen Van Thieu refused to allow Northern troops in the South
after the war. January 27, 1973 - two sides signed an agreement “ending the war and restoring the peace
in Vietnam.”
March 1975, North Vietnam launched massive assault into the South; Nixon’s promise to respond with full
force if the North invaded was not met by new president Gerald Ford. Ford asked Congress for funds to
assist the South Vietnamese, but Congress refused to appropriate funds.
April 30, 1975 - Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces and the city was remained Ho Chi Minh City.