Chapters 29 pages 731-732

Chapter 31 pages 778-780 + 786-788

Vietnam Veterans MemorialVietnam Veterans Memorial

1:24 min.

Vietnam #1 Reading QuizVietnam #1 Reading Quiz1) Who was Ho Chi Minh?1) Who was Ho Chi Minh?

2) Who was Ngo Dinh Diem?2) Who was Ngo Dinh Diem?

3) What was Dien Bien Phu?3) What was Dien Bien Phu?

4) What did the Geneva Accords of 1954 do?4) What did the Geneva Accords of 1954 do?

5) What religious group burned themselves alive in 5) What religious group burned themselves alive in opposition to Diem?opposition to Diem?

6) What is the nickname of the National Liberation 6) What is the nickname of the National Liberation Front?Front?

7) What happened to Diem?7) What happened to Diem?

8) What did Kennedy do to support South Vietnam?8) What did Kennedy do to support South Vietnam?

Vietnam and World War II

• By 1940 Japan had conquered French Indochina.

• The Vietnamese resistance leader by 1945 was Ho Chi Minh

• Ho would lead the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945

• However, the French began to demand the return of their former colonies and replace Ho with a puppet government

• In 1948, the French re-installed Bao Dai as head of state of Vietnam, which now comprised of central and south Vietnam.

Ho Chi Mihn

Emperor Bao Dai

French in Indo-ChinaFrench in Indo-China

:57 min.

• Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh begin to fight the French.

• The U.S regard Ho Chi Minh as communist and move to support the French

• The French struggle was going badly. The turnover of French governments left France unable to prosecute the war with any consistent policy. France was increasingly unable to afford the conflict in Indochina.

• Chinese communists meanwhile increased help to Viet Mihn

U.S Involvement in French Indochina War- Truman

• President Harry Truman began covertly authorizing support for the French in their attempt to retake Indochina, giving money and supplies in an effort to suppress the rebellion, and in July 1950 he announced publicly that the U.S. was doing so.

America and the Vietnam WarAmerica and the Vietnam War

5:26 min.

U.S Involvement in French Indochina War- Eisenhower

• 1950- U.S. begins to help the French with money and arms.• 1953- Eisehower asks for $60 million in aid to French.• 1954- The U.S. is paying for 80% of the war between the

French and the Vietnamese communists.

Former General Dwight D. Eisenhower became President of the United States and first advanced the so-called domino theory, warning that if America did not support France in stopping the Communists in Indochina, all of the Eastern, India and Southeastern Asia would fall to the "Communist Bloc".

Dien Bien Phu- "57 Days of Hell". • Began March 13, 1954• Fought near the village of Dien Bien Phu

in northern Vietnam and became the last battle between the French and the Vietnamese in the First Indochina War.

• After seven years of bloody conflict, the French made their last stand at Dien Bien Phu, where they were engaged by the forces of General Vo Nguyen Giap. But contemporary military tactics were unable to defeat successive human wave attacks and the subsequent siege of the base; the French were defeated with devastating losses

• At least 2,200 members of the 20,000-strong French forces died during the battle. Of the 100,000 or so Vietnamese involved, there were an estimated 8,000 killed and another 15,000 wounded, almost half of the attacking force.

Geneva Conference• The on July 21, 1954 recognized the 17th parallel as a "provisional

military demarcation line" temporarily dividing the country into two states, Communist North Vietnam and pro-Western South Vietnam.

• The Geneva Accords promised elections in 1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam. However only France and the North Vietnamese government (DRV) signed the document. The U.S. and the government in Saigon refused to abide by the agreement, believing that the election would result in an easy victory for Ho Chi Minh. Emperor Bao Dai from his home in France appointed Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister of South Vietnam. With American support, in 1955 Diem used a referendum to remove the former Emperor and declare himself as president of the Republic of Vietnam

• Thus the competition for the whole of Vietnam began; Diem's military was unable to prevail in the civil war which escalated, as a result of international intervention, into the Vietnam War.

Kennedy and Indochina

• Laos and the coalition government (Pathet Lao)• Problems in Vietnam• 1956 National Elections- Geneva Accords• Civil War• President Diem• Government Opposition- many groups, Buddhists,

Communists all joined the NLF- National Liberation Front (“Vietcong” nicknamed by Diem)

• Overthrow of Diem- “Coup”, and military junta.• Kennedy sending supplies, money and advisors (16,000

by 1963.)