Vietnam
Mr. G ies lerAmer ican H istory
Do Now –
Describe the term containment
Letter to President Harry Truman, February 16, 1945
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
“Our VIETNAM people, as early as 1941, stood by the Allies' side and fought against the Japanese and
their associates, the French colonialists. From 1941 to 1945 we fought bitterly, sustained by the patriotism,
of our fellow-countrymen and by the promises made by the Allies at YALTA, SAN FRANCISCO and
POTSDAM…..But the French Colonialists…have come back, and are waging on us a murderous and
pitiless war in order reestablish their domination….. This aggression is contrary to all principles of
international law and the pledge made by the Allies during World War II…..It violently contrasts with the
firm stand you have taken in your twelve point declaration…..The French aggression on a peace-loving
people is a direct menace to world security….It is with this firm conviction that we request of the United
Sates as guardians and champions of World Justice to take a decisive step in support of our
independence….What we ask has been graciously granted to the Philippines. Like the Philippines our goal
is full independence and full cooperation with the UNITED STATES. We will do our best to make this
independence and cooperation profitable to the whole world.”
Respectfully Yours,
Ho Chi Minh
What To Expect During This Unit
Listen to a few tracks enjoyed by the “Grunts”
Dissect Plenty of Primary Sources
A lot of video and audio sources
Examine the Evolution of American Culture
Examine the Vietnam Experience
Plenty of Group Work
What I Know About Vietnam
What I Want to Learn About Vietnam
What I Learned About Vietnam
K-W-LTTYN
Refer to notes packet
The Origins of the Vietnam War
T T Y N : Why Vietnam?
The expulsion of the Japanese in 1945 led not to
independence but a revival of French colonialism
Anticommunism rhetoric
A logical extension of Cold War policies and
assumption
The Origins of the Vietnam War
U.S. funneled billions of dollars in aid to bolster French
efforts
1954, the U.S., refusing to send in troops and/or use a
nuclear bomb in an effort to help the French, France was
left with no alternative but to agree to Vietnamese
Independence
The Origins of the Vietnam War
Victory for Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist forces
Geneva Peace Conference divides Vietnam into two
districts, with elections in 1956 to unify the country
Ngo Dinh Diem – American puppet government
The Origins of the Vietnam War
1960s, the U.S. was committed to the corrupt regime
of Diem and the South Vietnamese
1963, U.S. approves a military coup that led to Diem’s
death
1963, 17K American Advisors in S. Vietnam
The Key Personalities of the Vietnam Conflict
Lyndon Baines Johnson, President of the United States, November 22,
1963 – January 20, 1969
John F. Kennedy, President of the United States January 20, 1961 –
November 22, 1963
Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense of the United States January 21, 1961 –
February 29, 1968
Ho Chi Minh, President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) 19
February 1951 – 2 September 1969
The Key Personalities of the Vietnam Conflict
William Westmoreland, American Army General and commander of the US forces deployed in Vietnam
between 1964 to 1968
Walter Cronkite. anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81).
“The Most Trusted Man in America”
You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.--Ho Chi Minh to the French, late 1940s
This is not a jungle war, but a struggle for freedom on every front of human activity.--Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964
We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.--Lyndon Johnson, Oct. 1964
I must question the wisdom of involvement in Vietnam--JFK, 1963
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident
August1964, N. Vietnamese vessels perhaps fired upon an
American spy ship off its coast
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed
Authorizing the president to take “all necessary measures
to repel armed attack”
Passed without any discussion of American goals and
strategy in Vietnam
“I am not going to be the president who saw
Southeast Asia go the way China went.” –
LBJ
American Escalation
1964 reelection campaign, Johnson insisted he had no
intention of sending American troops into Vietnam
After reelection, U.S. begins airstrikes and introduce
American troops in the south
1966 – 380K troops
1967 – 485K
End of 1968 – 540K (peak deployment)
American Escalation
America remains quiet
Prior to 1968;
Support 56%
Opposition 28%
“Hearts and Minds”
American Escalation
“Search and Destroy” missions
“Operation Rolling Thunder” 1965-1968
Bombs, bombs, and more bombs – American planes
dropped more tons of bombs on the small country of
North and South Vietnam that both sides used in all of
WWII
Spread chemicals
Napalm
American Escalation
TTYN: What does the following quote tell you about the
resolve of the North Vietnamese?
“You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.” --Ho Chi Minh to the French, late 1940s
The Vietcong: The Other Enemy
The People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF)
Created by the North Vietnamese communists to
escalate the armed struggle in South Vietnam.
The VC were guerrillas,
They wore no uniforms, dressed in the same type of
clothing as the local peasants, and blended into the
landscape when their mission was complete.
The Vietcong: The Other Enemy
The Viet Cong were supported and trained by the
government of communist North Vietnam.
The Viet Cong tried to create a popular uprising in
South Vietnam during the Vietnam War with their 1968 Tet
Offensive, but were able to seize control of just a few
small districts in the Mekong Delta region
What I Know About Vietnam
What I Want to Learn About Vietnam
What I Have Learned So Far About Vietnam
K-W-LTTYN
Refer to notes packet
The Tet Offensive
Refer to your notes packet
The Tet Offensive Refer to your notes packet
Summarizing the Tet
This military action was a major turning point in the
way many Americans perceived the war.
On the morning of January 30, 1968, Communist
forces in North Vietnam and Vietcong squads in the
South took advantage of a truce during Tet (the
Vietnamese new year holiday) to launch a massive
offensive.
The Tet Offensive – Turning Point??
Summarizing the Tet
Major cities and provinces were captured, and heavy
fighting ensued.
Although turned back by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces
in a matter of days, the Communists nonetheless claimed a
major political and psychological victory.
U.S. observers were stunned by the size and coordination
of the Communist forces.
Declared over April 1, 1968
The Tet Offensive – Turning Point??
The Tet Offensive – Turning Point??
Public opinion after the Tet Offensive
Support 41%
Opposition 42%
TTYN: Why did public support for Vietnam shift so
dramatically?
Photo Journalism
Eddie Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken on the streets of Saigon during the Tet Offensive sent shock waves through America
Photo Journalism
Photo Journalism
1972 file photo, 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, runs down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack.
Photo JournalismTTYN – How did the images below cause a seismic shift in the way Americans interpreted the war?
Cronkite Reports on Vietnam
Refer to your notes packet
The Mai Lai Massacre
On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of
Charlie Company entered the Vietnamese village of My
Lai
“This is what you've been waiting for -- search and
destroy -- and you've got it," said their superior officers.
The Mai Lai Massacre
As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it soon
degenerated into the massacre of over 300 apparently
unarmed civilians including women, children, and the
elderly.
Men were ordered to enter the village firing, though
there had been no report of opposing fire.
The Mai Lai Massacre
According to eyewitness reports offered after the
event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women
and children were shot in the back of the head, and at
least one girl was raped and then killed.
According to reports, a group of the villagers, ordered
them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of
machine gun fire.
McNamara Reflection
Refer to your notes packet
The Counter Culture
The Antiwar Movement
Casualties mount
Americans bombs rain down on Vietnam
Images and stories hit the front pages and the front porches
SNCC and SDS tip the scales (Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee and Students for a Democratic Society)
MLK condemns the war and the Johnson Administration
By 1967, men were burning their draft cards or fleeing to Canada
The Counter Culture
Refer to your notes packet
1967, Antiwar demonstrator outside the Pentagon
The Counter Culture
October of 1967, 100K protestors assemble at Lincoln
Memorial
By the late 1960s, millions of young people openly rejected
the values and behaviors of their elders
For the first time in American history, flamboyant rejection
of respectable norms in clothing, language, sexual behavior,
and drug use became the basis for a mass movement
Rallying cry was “Liberation”
The Counter Culture
What they were after
Emphasized the ideal of community
Independence from authority
The Free individual
1967, The Summer of Love
“Give peace a chance”
The Weather Underground: The Weatherman
Splinter group of SNCC
the Weathermen were widely criticized for their use of
violence as a means of social and political change.
Many accused the group of terrorism, while others
accused it of giving all activists, both militant and more
mainstream, a bad name.
“ When you feel you have right on your side, you can do some pretty horrific things.” - Brian Flanagan, former Weatherman
The Weatherman
Refer to your notes packet
The Weatherman
The Weatherman believed that violent action was a
necessary evil in a time of crisis, a last-ditch effort to grab the
country’s attention.
The Results - a widespread revolt against the status
quo: against previously upheld structures of racism,
sexism and classism, against the violence of the
Vietnam War and America’s interventions abroad.
Kent State
The Vietnam war heightened awareness and protest,
which spread to college campuses
In May 1970, Kent State students protesting the
bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces
Kent State
Clashed with Ohio National Guardsmen on the Kent
State University campus.
Guardsmen shot and killed four students on May 4
The Kent State Shootings became the focal point of a
nation deeply divided by the Vietnam War.
Kent State
Refer to your notes packet
Kent State
TTYN: You Predict. What effect, if any, do you believe that the Kent St. shooting would have on America?
The shootings helped convince Americans that the anti-war
protestors were not just hippies, drug addicts, or promoters of free
Rather than causing a decline in protests, the Kent State
Shootings actually escalated protests.
Many colleges and universities across the United States
cancelled classes and actually closed their doors for the remainder
of the academic year in fear of violent protests erupting on their
campuses.
Woodstock
500,000 people from all over the U.S. traveled to
Woodstock
Woodstock signaled the merger and ambivalence of the
counterculture and protest.
The festival was billed as "three days of peace and love,"
in contrast to the war and hatred in Vietnam.
Woodstock
Refer to your notes packet
Problem -- Spread of Communism: The Vietnam War
Result
Solution
Sm
all G
ro
up
Ac
tiv
ity
What I Know About Vietnam
What I Want to Learn About Vietnam
What I Have Learned About Vietnam
K-W-LTTYN
Refer to notes packet
In this April 29, 1975 file photo, U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS Blue Ridge push a helicopter into the sea off the coast of Vietnam in order to
make room for more evacuation flights from Saigon.
Evacuation of Americans during Operation Frequent Wind, 29th April 1975.
Assessment