Vietnam
War
1954-1975
President Eisenhower
Cold War Policies
Truman started Containment Policy 1947-1953
Eisenhower’s Domino Theory
Sent aid and advisors to help French against
North Vietnamese
France lost at Dien Bien Phu
France signed peace treaty and left Vietnam
1954 Geneva Accords
US jumped in to help secure South Vietnam
Republic of Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem
Pro-Catholic
President of South Vietnam
1955-1963
Treated Buddhist monks and
Montanards (natives) badly
Buddhist Monk: 1963 Self-Immolation
Protest against President Diem
North Vietnam
Leader: Ho Chi Minh
Communists
Viet Cong guerilla
fighters Vietminh
“Nationalists fighters of
Independence”
NVA North
Vietnamese Army
Diem Assassinated
Coup d'état (Quick
overthrow of government)
November 1, 1963
ARVN Generals took control
of government and killed
Diem and his brother
John F. Kennedy Assassinated
November 22, 1963
Kennedy was replaced by V.P.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Kennedy’s advisor Robert McNamara
continued to advise Johnson
President Johnson 1963-1968
Lyndon Johnson
Democrat
Advisors told him to
keep involved in
Vietnam
Robert McNamara
Secretary of
defense 1961-1968
Anti-Communist
US strategy must
be in Vietnam!
Gulf of Tonkin Incident 1964
America worried that North Vietnam was
winning against the Republic of Vietnam
(South)
Johnson ordered the USS Maddox to gather
intelligence on North Vietnam
Operation 34B
North Vietnam launched patrol boats to
attack the USS Maddox
US retaliated and sunk boats and launched
aircraft to support US ship
Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions
August 7, 1964
U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed the socalled Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Enabled Johnson to employ military force as he
saw fit against the Vietnamese Communists.
In the first months of 1965, the President ordered
the deployment to South Vietnam of major U.S.
ground, air, and naval forces. Thus began a new
phase in America's long, costly Vietnam War.
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
New President of South
Vietnam
Worked with whatever
US wanted in Vietnam
1965-1975
Escalation of Vietnam in 1965
General Westmoreland
General in charge of US
forces in Vietnam
Told media that US forces
were continually winning the
war
US won most battles and
engagements but lost the war
Created vast buildup from
16,000 troops when he arrived
to more than 500,000 in 1968,
Johnson relieved him in 1968
Bad strategy!
Operation Rolling Thunder 1965
US forces bomb Hanoi,
North Vietnam!
Navy and Air Force
planes hit bridges, road
and rail junctions, truck
parks and supply depots
Lasts until 1968!
Anti-War Movement 1965-1975
Attracting members from
college campuses, middleclass suburbs, labor unions,
and government institutions,
the movement gained
national prominence in
1965, peaked in 1968, and
remained powerful
throughout the duration of
the conflict
Kent State May 4, 1970
The guardsmen fired 67
rounds over a period of 13
seconds, killing four students
and wounding nine others,
one of whom suffered
permanent paralysis.
hundreds of universities,
colleges, and high schools
closed throughout the United
States due to a student
strike of four million students
Add to Anti war movement
Election of 1968:
Richard M. Nixon
Beat H. Humphries and George Wallace
301/191/46 electoral votes
Nixon promised to pull US out of Vietnam
Paris Peace Talks
Trip to China 1972
Paris Peace talks 1973: War is over!
Americans must pull out all forces by 1975
Tet Offensive 1968
Vietnamese New Year
North Vietnam launched several
attacks on South Vietnam
Highest casualties for US in 1968
My Lai March 1968
U.S. Charlie Company
kills about two
hundred civilians.
Adds to Anti-war
effort
More Vietnamese
want US out!
Khe Sahn April 1968
Operation Pegasus
Largest battle of Vietnam
War
77 day battle
US Marines fought
against Vietnamese
army and won.
Napalm
is a mixture of a thickening,
gelling agent and petroleum or a similar
fuel for use in an incendiary device. It
was initially used against buildings, and
later was used primarily as an antipersonnel weapon that sticks to skin
and causes severe burns when on fire.
US forces used to clear vegetation to
find Vietcong and NVA troops in the
jungle
Operation RanchHand: Agent Orange
Between 1962 and 1971, the
United States military sprayed
nearly 20,000,000 US gallons
(76,000,000 l) of material
containing chemical
herbicides and defoliants
mixed with jet fuel in
Vietnam, eastern Laos and
parts of Cambodia,
Operation Menu 1969
Nixon authorized secret
bombing of Cambodia
North Vietnam had been
using the “Ho Chi Minh Trail”
to bring supplies through
Cambodia into South
Vietnam!
Pentagon Papers: New York
Times report 1971
Papers revealed that the U.S.
had secretly enlarged the
scale of the Vietnam War with
the bombings of
nearby Cambodia and Laos,
coastal raids on North
Vietnam, and Marine
Corps attacks, none of which
were reported in the
mainstream media
26th Amendment
Voting age lowered to 18 years old.
Vietnam hot and men were drafted at 18
but could not vote.
Congress passed the 26th Amendment in
1971
Henry Kissinger
Secretary of State
Advised Nixon and Ford
Advised US foreign policy
from 1969-1977
Led US efforts to end the war
with détente and talk with
North Vietnam
Cease Fire! January 27, 1973
All sides stop war; cease
fire
Peace talks ended war
(détente)
Us Combat Soldiers go Home!
March 1973
The last American combat soldiers leave
South Vietnam, though military advisors and
Marines, who are protecting U.S. installations,
remain.
For the United States, the war is officially over.
Of the more than 3 million Americans who
have served in the war, almost 58,000 are
dead, and over 1,000 are missing in action.
Some 150,000 Americans were seriously
wounded.
War Power’s Act 1973
Federal law intended to check the
president's power to commit the United
States to an armed conflict without the
consent of Congress.
President can send troops into combat for
60 days but must notify Congress within 48
hours
Remember, only Congress can declare
war!
Fall of Saigon,
Vietnam 1975
South Vietnamese evacuate
through US Embassy in Saigon
to US Navy offshore
US Marines last servicemen in
Vietnam
North Vietnamese pour
through Saigon
End of US involvement in
Vietnam!