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Occupation of Vietnam
• Late 1800’s – WWII – Japan controlled
Vietnam
• After WWII: France• Ho Chi Minh
– Leader of the Indochinese Communist Party
– Confessed Marxist
Roots of Involvement
• French condemned Uncle Ho to death in ’30– Ho Orchestrated ind.
movement from Russia and China = Communist States
• ’41 – Ho/ Vietminh fought against the Japanese
• Allied Victory in WWII = Japanese out, French back in
Battles With France
• Tiger vs. Elephant
• 1950 = U.S. enters the struggle
• Truman = $15 million in aid to help France
• Cold War in full swing– Stop the spread of
Communism
Domino Theory
• Ike committed to stop the spread of Communism– Domino Theory: one
nation falls to Communism, nearly all nations will do the same.
Fall of the French
• W/U.S. $, French could not take back ‘Nam
• May ’54, Battle of Dien Bien Phu.– Gen. Nguyen Giap
lead the Vietminh
– Two month siege of the French outpost
Geneva Accords
• May – July ’54 France, U.S., G.B., S.U., China, Laos, Cambodia decided on a peace agreement
• Geneva Accords: temp. divided ‘Nam at the 17th parallel
• Ho Chi Minh, Communists in the North
• Anti-Communists in the South
U.S. Steps In
• Ngo Dinh Diem – South Vietnam’s President
• U.S. cancelled elections outlined in the Geneva Accords– Knew Communists
would win
• U.S. $ to Diem
Mounting Problems
• Ike gave Diem $ and training in exchange for a stable gov in the south– Diem failed – corrupt gov
and no land to peasants
• Diem was a devout Catholic – restricted Buddhist practices
• Madam Nhu: “Bonz BBQ”
The Vietcong
• Communist opposition group = Vietcong (Charlie)– Assassinated Diem’s gov.
officials – Later called the National
Liberation Front (NLF)
• Ho Chi Minh Trail– Network of paths that
started in Hanoi that went into the south
– Supplied the V.C. with supplies
JFK and Vietnam• Increased $ to Diem
– Upheld “Sink or Swim.”
• Diem = Strategic Hamlet Program– Moving all villagers to
protected areas
• Diem = increased oppression of Buddhists
• JFK was failing like Ike• Nov., ’63, U.S. supported
coup took out the Diem regime– Diem executed (against JFK’s
wishes)
LBJ’s War
• JFK wanted out of Vietnam – LBJ escalated the effort
• Did not want to be “soft” on Communism
• The South was completely unstable
• When LBJ assumed the presidency, 16,000 U.S. troops, when he left, more than 500,000
Gulf of Tonkin
• USS Maddox and Turner Joy “attacked” by a Vietnamese gunboat on Aug. 2, 1964– Unclear on whether the
attack was provoked
– Gunboat sank
• Second attack (supposedly)
Draft• Draft #’s are “hot” for one year
• College deferrment: 3.0 gpa
• Over 33,000 young men went to Canada
• Drafted: 2 year obligation
• Enlisted: 4 year obligation
– Choice of branch of defense
• Flunking Physicals
– Wear women’s underwear
– Eat sugar cubes / salt
– Drugs
– Cut off trigger finger
– Flatten your feet
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
- LBJ bombed the north
- Tonkin Gulf Resolution
- Gave LBJ “all necessary measures” to repel attacks against U.S. forces in Vietnam
- Power to wage war w/o Congressional declaration
Operation Rolling Thunder
• Feb, ’65 Continual bombing of North Vietnam
• Bombing was “cheaper and less costly in lives than ground fighting.”
• U.S. dropped more bombs in Vietnam than in both theatres of WWII combined
• By June, ’65 – 50,000 U.S. troops in country
Mai Lai Massacre: March 16, 1968
• Lt. William Calley
• 200 civilians murdered
• Creates animosity towards U.S. troops in and out of Vietnam
Nixon, 1969• Vietnamization:
– Process of increasing funding and training to the S.Vietnamese army in order to make them capable of fighting the NVA / Charlie
• Operation Menu
– Bombing of Vietnamese and VC bases in Cambodia
August 9, 1974
• Nixon resigns as a result of the mounting evidence that he was fully aware of the planned break-in at the Watergate Hotel
April 29, 30 1975• Massive airlift of S.
Vietnamese and American civilians out of Saigon– 1000 Americans / 7,000
South Vietnamese
• Apr. 30: NVA take Saigon ending the 15 year conflict.