Origin and Escalation of the Vietnam “Conflict”

History of Imperialism

• China (independence in 1000 C.E.)

• French in the 1600s

• Creation of Indochina

• Japan 1940-45

• China and England 1945

• French Part Deux! (1946-1954)

Fork in the Road

• Ho Chi Minh declared independence in 1945

• US DOS was divided

• France asks for and gets the return of its colonies

• Viet Minh defeat in the French in 1954: Battle of Dienbienphu

• What if?

And the U.S. picks...Ngo Dinh Diem!

• Catholic

• Friend of the French

• Torturer

• Corrupt

• Boycotts Elections 1956

Fear of Communism

• Truman Doctrine (1945-53): containment

• Eisenhower (1953-1961): domino theory

• 1960 U.S. Presidential Elections

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

the Democrats take control of the White House

JFK: A New Path?

• his appearance was symbolic

• view towards Diem

• boots on the ground (increase to 16,000 “advisors”)

• Diem and the power of the press

• McNamara’s (DoD) belief about the future of Vietnam

Change of Plans

• Fall Assassinations

• JFK’s plans for next term?

Kennedy Quotes About Vietnam

• “But I can’t do it until 1965--after I’m reelected...or there would be a wild conservative outcry against [my reelection]”

• “If I tried to pull out completely now from Vietnam, we would have another Joe McCarthy red scare on our hands...”

• “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us.”

Lyndon Baines Johnson

• relationship with JFK

• LBJ maintains the status quo--the U.S. had “to win [the] contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy.”

• Gulf of Tonkin resolution (July 1964)

• Election in 1964

Escalation Part II

• Operation Rolling Thunder

• “search and destroy” raids

• implementation of the draft (1965)

• Operation Phoenix (1967)

54,791 sorties in 1965 (Frankum 34)

Ronald B. Frankum Jr. Like Rolling Thunder. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, INC., 2005.

Effects of Escalation• increased protests in the U.S.

• Tet Offensive (1968)

• LBJ decides not to run for reelection