The Vietnam War1953-1973

Players

ALLIES

France United States Pres. JFK Pres. Lyndon B.

Johnson Gen.

Westmoreland Robert McNamara Pres. Richard

Nixon

COMMUNISTS

VietnamSoviet Union

Ho Chi MinhVietcong

(communist guerilla fighters)

Background

French Colony

Independence Movement

French troops surrender

Vietnam ÷

N Vietnam=CommunistS Vietnam=non-

communist

Causes for U.S. Involvement

•Keep France as an ally

•Contain the “spread of Communism”

•Afraid of the domino theory

U.S. Actions

$$$ to S. Vietnam through SEATO

1961=Pres. JFK sends

U.S. Military Advisors

“Gulf of Tonkin Resolution” (gave Pres. Johnson power to commit troops to warw/out approval of

Congress)

U.S. Actions…

Napalm: jellied gasoline

Agent Orange-defoliant

The Draft College-bound

students exempt

1965=Pres. Johnson

More More groundairstrikes

troops

strategy ofSec. of Defense, McNamara & Gen.

Westmoreland

Strategies & Tactics

UNITED STATES

Napalm

Agent Orange

My Lai American troops

killed over 400 unarmed Vietnamese in My Lai village.

VIETCONG

Guerilla Warfare

“booby traps”

Tet Offensive Attack by Vietcong & N.

Vietnamese on S. Vietnam & U.S. forces at the beginning of Tet (New Year), 1968

Homefront

•Hawks: Supported war

•Doves: Questioned war

•SDS (Students for a Democratic Society):

•Against racism•Against poverty•Against war•Became leading anti-war group

Kent State University

Members of the National Guard fired into a group of protesters, killing 4.

“Credibility Gap”

Differences between realistic journalists’ reports

& optimistic government reports

regarding the war.

The Pentagon Papers

Documents that showed that the government had been dishonest

with the American public

and with Congress

regarding the Vietnam War.

End of War

“Vietnamization” Pres. Nixon’s belief that the South

Vietnamese Army should fight on its own.

Paris Peace Accords, 1973 Signed by U.S., S. Vietnam, N. Vietnam &

Vietcong agreeing to the withdrawal of U.S. troops in S. Vietnam

Effects of Vietnam War

South Vietnam united with Communist North Vietnam

›58, 000 Americans killedReturn to “isolationism”Distrust of government leaders1973 War Powers Act

Restricted the President’s authority to commit troops to foreign conflicts