Vietnam: America’s Longest War

LBJ taking the oath of office on Nov. 22, 1963

LBJ’s concerns prior to the 1964 election…• Avoid a military set back that would make him look

weak and not in control• Don’t get bogged… Similar to HST & Korea

LBJ promised to help SV win…“a contest against the externally directed and supported

Communist conspiracy”

LBJ makes a case for restraint in the 1964 election…

“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”

Johnson’s War

Changes in US troop strength… 1965: 184,0001966: 389,0001967: 486,0001968: 537,000

Monthly Casualties

average…

1965: 172

1966: 412

1967: 770

1968: 1,200

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident• North Vietnamese gunboats fire on two

American destroyers• LBJ orders retaliatory air strikes against NV

The USS Maddux

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• LBJ asks Congress for a resolution giving him the authority to take whatever steps necessary to protect American troops and end the communist aggression.

August, 1964: LBJ signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 

Robert McNamara- “ The Fog of War”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AaGVAipGp0&feature=related

Deeper Into the QuagmireOperation Rolling Thunder

In reaction to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident... Massive air attacks designed to crush the NV and make the deployment of ground forces unnecessary

Vietnam Airstrikeshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFBZb-B3Vo

General Westmorland

General Westmoreland:

“The war of attrition”...

Destroy the enemy with relentless bombing & superior fire power...

America watches the war unfold on television during

the evening news. It is called the...

“The living room war”

Controversial tactics begin to stir the conscience of the American public…

• “Search & destroy…• 25% of SV are refugees• 3M tons of bombs (3X WW II)

- Napalm… - Operation Ranch Hand…

Search & destroy…

Apocalypse Now Ride of Valkyrieshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30QzJKCUekQ

Napalm

Napalm Attack: Trang Bang, Vietnam,

June, 1972

Napalm attack from “We Were Soldiers...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T6_bpLwTrc

Operation Ranch HandThe military code name for spraying herbicides

in SE Asia

• The military purpose was to remove destroy the foliage that created cover for the enemy

• Agent Orange…

-19M gal sprayed

-7M acres sprayed

-30,000 Sq miles

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgLlkjsg1uo

…Before After…

Loading… Spraying…

The effects of Agent Orange...•Linked to cancer, liver damage, heart disease, reproductive damage, skin diseases & severe nervous disorders. •Linked to physical deformities & mental disabilities in the children of those exposed. •The eco-system of Vietnam has been poisoned... The jungles & rivers of Vietnam are still contaminated.

Ho Chi Minh TrailA major NV supply line connecting NV with SV.

Major portions of the trail ran through countries not

involved in the war

• LBJ & the “credibility gap”...

In 1965, 61% of America supported the war effort in Vietnam. With a lack of progress public support for the war began to decrease. The term “credibility gap” questioned the truthfulness of the Johnson administration’s policies and statements regarding Vietnam. Johnson painted an optimistic view of the war, but the images Americans were seeing on the evening news indicated that the war was not going well.

The American Soldier in Vietnam• Average age 19• Poor • Disproportionately African Amer. & Hispanic• Unable to attend college

American soldiers are frustrated by the circumstances of the war…

• Forced to fight by the draft• Home front protest• Who is the enemy?...Unwelcome by the SV• Difficult fighting: Guerilla War; Jungle;

swamps; Heat; Rain; Leeches; Fire ants; Snakes; Booby traps

• Not welcomed back to U.S… “Baby killers”

What problems accompanied the GIs home?

PTSD

Drugs

June, 1969 at Tan Son NhutEmpty caskets for shipping bodies home await casualties