The Vietnam Conflict

1. The Vietnam Conflict • Today, I will learn … • About the expansion of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam under President Johnson from 1965 and 1968. • I will learn it by … • Cornell Notes Strategies, intentional listening, asking appropriate questions. • I have learned it when I can … • Develop a flowchart that illustrates reasons and outcomes of the Vietnam War.

2. Essential Question • What were the major issues and events of the Vietnam War such as the escalation of forces and the Tet Offensive? (TEKS US.8E)

3. The Vietnam Conflict Original Text by Lindy Carpenter, Class of ’04 Updated by Mr. Hataway March 18, 2006 Revised by Mr. Hataway March 20, 2012

4. Following the Geneva Accords ending the First Indochina War in 1954, French Indochina was divided into the nations of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. • Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at 17th parallel. • North Vietnam – Communists • South Vietnam – “Democracy” French Indochina

5. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese revolutionary and president of North Vietnam, once worked on a French steamship, which brought him to the United States where he visited Boston, New York, and other American cities.

7. Fighting in vietnam(1964-1968)

8. Commitment to Containment • John F. Kennedy had considered withdrawal. • Lyndon B. Johnson vowed “I am not going to lose Vietnam.”

9. Johnson’s War • August 2, 1964, LBJ’s announced N.V. torpedo boats fired on two US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

10. Johnson’s War • Asked Congress for “power to protect American interests.”

11. Johnson’s War • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution • Gave President Johnson authorization, without formal declaration by Congress, to use conventional military force in Southeast Asia. • Deepen American involvement in Vietnam.

12. Johnson’s War • Ground War • Viet Cong used guerrilla warfare tactics – sneak attacks, sabotage, underground tunnels and booby traps

13. Johnson’s War • Air War • B-52 bombers smashed roads and bridges • Saturation bombing F-4 Fantom if I’m not mistaken

14. “We moved through the boiling heat with 60 pounds of weapons and gear, causing a typical Marine to drop 20 percent of his body weight while in the bush. When we stopped we dug chest-deep fighting holes and slit trenches for toilets. We slept on the ground under makeshift poncho [tents]. . . . Sleep itself was fitful, never more than an hour or two at a stretch for months at a time as we mixed daytime patrolling with night-time ambushes, listening posts, foxhole duty, and radio watches. Ringworm, hookworm, malaria, and dysentery were common, as was trench foot when the monsoons came.” • James Webb, Marine

15. Ho Chi Minh Trail • North Vietnamese troops and supplies poured into the south using Ho Chi Minh Trail – a supply route through Laos and Cambodia.

17. Escalation of the War • Escalation refers to increase of U.S. forces by Johnson Administration. • Following attack by Viet Cong, General Westmoreland requested more soldiers. • Jan. 1965, 25,000 American soldiers in Vietnam. • Dec. 1965, increased to 184,000.

18. Escalation of the War “Over this war – and all Asia – is another reality: the deepening shadow of Communist China. The rulers in Hanoi are urged on by Peking (Beijing). This is a regime which has destroyed freedom in Tibet, which has attacked India and has been condemned by the United Nations for aggression in Korea. It is a nation which is helping the forces of violence in almost every continent. The contest in Vietnam is part of a wider pattern of aggressive purposes.” • President Lyndon B. Johnson, Address to Johns Hopkins University, April 7, 1965 What American foreign policy theory was President Johnson describing?

19. Jimmie Lee Hataway • July 25 1963 Jim enlisted in the Navy. • Signed to be a Seabee after completing basic training • Dec 2 1963 for next 14 weeks went to electrician class in Port Hueneme (sounds like Yneme) • Completed training March 20 1964. 7th out of 20.

20. Jim Hataway • Da Nang, Vietnam • Deployed May 1965 • MCB 6 made a 314 foot pier despite fighting going on all around. Completed by June 20 1966. • They built tinned huts to house 12,000 Marines who had been sleeping on the ground and in leaky tents. • They built galleys to feed 5,000 Marines 3 hot meals a day. • October 1966 transferred by helicopter Japan for surgery

21. The SeaBees built these tinned huts for the Marines in Da Nang.

22. Escalation of the War • “Operation Rolling Thunder” • LBJ’s escalation of war in 1966. • A sustained bombing of N. Vietnam. • 1965, 1,200 Americans died; in 1967 when the Ground War opened 9,400 Americans died.

23. Escalation of the War • “Search and Destroy” missions failed when civilians became the enemy.

24. Escalation of the War • Dropping of napalm on Vietcong hiding places.

25. Escalation of the War • Agent Orange used to strip leaves from trees and shrubs – farmland and forests turned into wastelands.

26. Tet Offensive • Jan. 30, 1968: • Tet – Vietnamese New Years, annual truce • Full scale offensive by regular, North Vietnamese Army and irregular forces against targets in South Vietnam. • Towns and military bases • American embassy and presidential palace • Intent was to create a general uprising to overthrow the Saigon government. • Troop strength increased to 550,000.

28. The Pattern of the Tet Attacks

29. Tet Offensive • Americans eventually pushed Viet Cong and North Vietnamese out • Americans lost only 1,600 compared to 40,000 North Vietnamese. • Marked major turning point of war. • Public Opinion turned against the war