aim: why did the us become further involved in vietnam and how did american policies change?
TRANSCRIPT
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Aim: Why did the US become further involved in Vietnam and how did American policies change?
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Daisy Nuclear Ad• Why are the stakes “too high” to not vote?
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Combating Communism in Two Hemispheres
• February 1965 bomb raids in South Vietnam after Viet Cong guerrillas attack American air base
• March 1965 “Operation Rolling Thunder”
• Vietnam War = American war?– By 1968 more than 500,000
troops in SE Asia and the cost of war was over $30 billion
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Credibility Gap • Vietnam: America was
floundering in Vietnam and was being condemned for its actions there
• Antiwar demonstrations: “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”
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Tet Offensive • January 1968: Viet Cong attacked
almost every capital and American base in South Vietnam on the “Tet” (Vietnamese New Year)
• Tet Offensive: ended when the US counterattacked and recovered the lost territory
• Victory or failure?
• March 1968: LBJ refused to sign an order for more troops to Vietnam and announced he would NOT run in the 1968 election
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Victory for Nixon• A minority president, he
owed his presidency to protests over the war, the unfair draft, crime, and rioting
• Evaluating LBJ: damned if he did and damned if he didn’t
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Vietnamization • "Vietnamization”: withdrawing 540k US troops and
turning the war over to the Vietnamese – "Nixon Doctrine”: U.S. would honor its
commitments, but the Vietnamese would have to go at it without massive American troop numbers
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Cambodianizing the Vietnam War
• "Ho Chi Minh Trail”: North Vietnamese attacking from Cambodia (NEUTRAL) and channeling supplies to N. Vietnam from Cambodia – In April 1970, Nixon ordered
the U.S. to invade Cambodia to put a stop to the uneven playing field
•Pentagon Papers: NY Times secret study that showed goof-ups by JFK and LBJ in dealing with Vietnam
-Adding to the credibility gap
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Détente with Beijing • Clash of the communists: China & Soviet
Union were fighting (literally at times) over what it means to be a communist. Nixon saw this as a chance to step in and play one against the other
• Détente: reduction of Cold War tensions
• 1972: Nixon visits with Mao– 1979 US recognizes communist gov’t
in China
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– Grain Deal of 1972: U.S. would sell $750+ million grain to the Soviets.
– ABM treaty: anti-ballistic missile reduction – SALT: "Strategic Arms Limitations Talks”
• Froze the number of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads
Détente with Moscow
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1. North Vietnam attacked across the dividing line Nixon responded by ordering the heaviest, massive bombing of the war to force an agreement
2. Paris Accords (Jan. 1973): N. Vietnam agrees to cease-fire and give back US POWs, US withdraws troops, war continues b/t North & South
Armistice
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Born in the USABruce Springsteen
• Did the end of Vietnam signify the end of the Cold War?