Vietnam

transcript

• Spring Break review: answer the following ?’s

• 1. What country was Kim Jong Il in charge of?

• 2. What is the DMZ?

• 3. What imaginary line divides Korea?

• 4. How did the Korean war end?

Ho Chi Mihn

Nguyen Minh Triet

: “B

• The North Vietnamese threw out the French in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu.

• The United States was heavily supporting the French and President Eisenhower was worried if one fell they all would – Domino Theory

My Doctrine to the RESCUE!

• Stated in the Truman Doctrine, the United States would have to step in here. – This was our major justification

for U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War

• Geneva Conference– Vietnam then becomes divided

at the 17th parallel with a Communist North and a Democratic South

– Authorized the President to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression.”

– This essentially gives the war powers of Congress to the president

• The Communist North led by Ho Chi Minh

• “Democratic South Vietnam” led by Ngo Dinh Diem

• Vietcong – These are Communist Guerillas who were South Vietnamese.

• By 1963, Diem is assassinated and America’s military commitment rose.

• By 1965, we have 185,000 troops in Vietnam under President Johnson. Bullet marked walls from

President Diem's assassination.

• We were fighting a guerilla war in unfamiliar territory.

• The South Vietnamese government we were defending was very unpopular.

• We could win every battle and still lose the war.

• U.S. bombing raids only strengthened people against the South Vietnamese government.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZoI6EeBNd8

• Agent Orange is an herbicide (plant killer) used by the U.S. during the Vietnam War

• An estimated 21,136,000 gal. of Agent Orange was sprayed across South Vietnam

• 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects

Agent Orange

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXu2KmzAX-A

• New Calvary • The attack helicopter

became a vital new weapon

• Mobility allowed for quick movement of soldiers

• Smaller space needed to land soldiers

• By 1968, the American people had been told we were winning and then came the Tet Offensive

• News broadcasts said we are “mired in stalemate” with no end in sight.

Officer shoots man (An execution of a Vietcong prisoner) February 1, 1968

• When Richard Nixon was elected, his plan of Vietnamization (The gradual withdrawl of U.S. troops) was a promise.

• The last U.S. forces left in 1973 and within two years, Communists overran South Vietnam.

• 58,000 Americans died during the war.

Time to LEAVE!

USAViet Cong

• “Search and destroy” missions– bring the enemy into the open to fight

by bombing and cutting off supply lines

• Agent Orange– Chemical that strips plants of leaves;

ruins farmland and destroys jungle• Important in the thick jungle areas

of Vietnam

• Napalm– Jellied gasoline that explodes on

contact; ruins farmland and destroys jungle

• Ambushes• Booby traps• Guerrilla tactics• Blended in in with

general population• Ho Chi minh Trail

– Trail that the Viet Cong used to transport arms and supplies to armies in the South; transported through various countries via the jungle

American boys playing soldier

Vietnam

Education