Key Events of the Vietnam War

1. Key Events of the Vietnam War

2. Central Idea For the United States the war was first a "crusade" then a "challenge" and finally, a "burden.”

3. Historical Background

4. Vietnam: Historical Background • Vietnamese people resisted • Chinese control for a millennium • French colonialism in the 19th and 20th century • U.S. power in the 20th century • French colonial policies violently uprooted Vietnamese society • Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969): “father of the Vietnamese revolution,” • Helped found the French Communist Party • organized the Vietminh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) • During World War II the Vietminh worked to liberate Vietnam from the Japanese: rescuing downed airmen and passing intelligence [Sources:

5. The First Indochina War, 1946-1954 • 1946: outbreak of French-Vietminh war • Eight-year guerilla war, ended with decisive French defeat at Dienbienphu in 1954 • By 1954 U.S. paid about three-quarters of the financial cost of the French war against Ho Chi Minh • Between 1950 and 1954 the U.S. gave $3 billion in aid to the French • U.S. sent 300 men as part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group • April 5, 1954: President Eisenhower coined “domino theory” • Suggested that if one country in Asia became Communist others would fall too • Basis for US involvement in Southeast Asia to prevent the spread of Communism

6. The Crusade Against Communism Begins

7. The Crusade • Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy make commitments to the French and then to democratic forces in Vietnam • US involvement begins mid-1950’s as part of US anti-communist foreign policy: • Containment • Domino Theory

8. Eisenhower and Diem • American Military Dividedo what kind of support to provide • 1954 Geneva Conference: • Temporary division of Vietnam at 17th parallel • National elections in 1956 • After 1955: U.S. supported government of Ngo Dinh Diem even though it had little support in South Vietnam • U.S. provided $300 million per year (mostly for South Vietnamese military) • US sent 740 uniformed soldiers • Diem refused to hold elections • Illusion of Nation Building: military security over economic and political reform

9. Kennedy and Diem • JFK increased U.S. support to South Vietnam • $41.1 million in military aid in 1961 • Military advisors grew from 900 in 1961 to 16,700 in 1963 • Strategic Hamlet Program (1961-64): • South Vietnamese peasants were uprooted and concentrated in fortified villages to counter Vietcong political and military influence • 1963 Buddhist Crisis: self-immolation of Buddhist monks to protest Diem’s brother who was head of the government’s police and security forces • 1963 Military Coup against Diem • South Vietnamese killed both brothers • U.S. intelligence agents knew of plotting, but did not warn Diem

10. Defeating Communism

11. Challenge Johnson vows a quick solution to growing communist strength in Vietnam Growing anti-war sentiment follows the increasing body count Greater losses and inability to “break” the enemy frustrate soldiers, politicians and citizens

12. Gulf of Tonkin Incident • The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was a pair of alleged attacks by North Vietnamese gunboats on two American destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS C. Turner Joy, in August of 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin. • Although information obtained well after the fact indicates that there was actually no North Vietnamese attack that night, U.S. authorities and all of the crew at the time said they were convinced at the time that an attack had taken place.

13. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution • That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression. • Section 2. The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. Consonant with the Constitution of the United States and the Charter of the United Nations and in accordance with its obligations under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, the United States is, therefore, prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom. • Section 3. This resolution shall expire when the President shall determine that the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured by international conditions created by action of the United Nations or otherwise, except that it may be terminated earlier by concurrent resolution of the Congress.

14. Escalating the war Operation Rolling Thunder America’s Commitment Support for South Vietnam increases in cost and in troops. McNamara and other Johnson policy makers now become focused on the need to prevent a Communist victory in South Vietnam, believing it would damage the credibility of the U.S. globally. The war in Vietnam thus becomes a test of U.S. resolve in fighting Communism America's prestige and President Johnson's reputation are on the line. • Operation Rolling Thunder was a bombing campaign that began on 24 February 1965 and lasted until the end of October 1968. • The campaign was designed to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam. • The operation began primarily as a diplomatic signal to impress the NV with America’s determination • It was also intended to bolster the sagging morale of the South Vietnamese

15. Battle of Khe San • KheSanh was a United States Marines military base in the Republic of Vietnam ("the south") • near the border with Laos and just south of the border with North Vietnam • became the scene of a large offensive operation by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, also known as the North Vietnamese Army or NVA) and US Marines in 1968. • The defense of the base was codenamed Operation Scotland

16. Tet Offensive 1968 • A series of crucial battles beginning on Jan. 31, 1968, the first day of the celebration of the lunar new year, Vietnam's most important holiday • The Vietnamese Communists launched a major offensive throughout South Vietnam. • It took weeks for U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to retake all of the captured cities • Although the offensive was not militarily successful for the Vietnamese Communists, it was a political and psychological victory for them. • It dramatically contradicted optimistic claims by the U.S. government that the war had already been won.

18. Events in Vietnam and at home worsen

19. Burden Nixon must bring about “peace without victory” as protests and violence at home increases over the US involvement in Vietnam. Events at home like the Kent State shooting and the riots at the Democratic Convention become an outlet for generalized frustration over an extended war

20. My Lai Massacre 1968 • The My Lai Massacre was a massacre committed by U.S. soldiers on hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children, on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War.

21. Why? • Insurgents were sometimes housed and sheltered by civilians, and American soldiers were frustrated with the complicity of the local people. • On the eve of the attack, Charlie Company was advised by US military command that any genuine civilians at My Lai would have left their homes to go to market by 7 a.m. the following day. • They were told that they could assume that all who remained behind were either VC or active VC sympathizers. • They were instructed to destroy the village.

22. Outcome of Mai Lai • Created world wide outrage • Weakened support for the war at home • Conviction of Lt. Calley (he served 4 ½ months)

23. Pentagon Papers 1971 • Officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a DOD history of the US political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. • The Papers "demonstrated...that the Lyndon Baines Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance". • Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara created the Vietnam Study Task Force on June 17, 1967, for the purpose of writing an "encyclopedic history of the Vietnam War". • The study comprised 3,000 pages of historical analysis and 4,000 pages of original government documents in 47 volumes, and was classified as "Top Secret - Sensitive".

24. The Papers get Leaked Daniel Ellsberg leaked the papers to the New York Times for publication Nixon’s administration charged him with a Felony under the Espionage Act of 1917 and sought injunctions against several newspapers to cease printing the documents. The Supreme Court heard the case and denied the government’s claim, quashing the injunctions

25. Impact First Amendment protection for the press Lead to the Watergate Scandal when it was revealed that Nixon’s administration had illegally wiretapped Ellsberg

26. The Beginning of the End “Vietnamization” 1970 Fall of Saigon 1976 The capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period leading to the formal reunification of Vietnam into a communist state. • After Nixon's election in 1968, this became the policy of the US. • The policy was designed to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops."

27. References Vietnamese Declaration of Independence Source: Domino Theory Failure of Strategic Hamlet Program Source: Geneva Conference Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Summary and Chapter I Advising the Viet Minh