Today, we talked more about the Vietnam War.
-The Vietnam Conflict 1950- 1975
-About Vietnam War
- First televised war
- Perceived it worse than in was
- A lot of US soldiers killed a lot of innocent people
- Fought in the jungle
- People were hard to tell apart
- Everyone was a part of the war
- The enemy could be anywhere
- People were on edge and a lot of bad things happened
- Press was there documenting almost every move
- Vietnam is still communists today
-Goals of the US
- Stop communism from spreading to the US and around the world
- Didn’t want the domino effect to happen
- Contain the spread
-North Vietnam
- Unite the country under communism
-The French Connection
- France had gained control of Indochina in a series of colonial wars in the mid-late 1800’s
- During WW2, Vichy France worked with Japanese forces in controlling Indochina during WW2
- After the Japanese surrender, the French fought to retain control of their former colony against the Viet Minh independence movement, led by communist party leader Ho Chi Minh
- After the Viet Minh defeated the French colonial army at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the French withdrew, and the colony was granted independence
- Ho Chi Minh was the communist leader
- He became our enemy during the war
- Dressed like he was poor, but was very rich
-Geneva Conference-1954
- Decided to split Vietnam in 2
- Split at the 17th parallel
- Helped kill Diem
- Diem was the leader of South Korea
- Aided and supported the group that wanted to take him down
- He was not a communist that’s why we supported him
- Set up elections to unify the country
- Election never happened because both sides thought they were going to lose, and didn’t want to lose
-Who fought?
- US Armed forces
- Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN--South Vietnamese)
- VS.
- NLF, South Vietnamese guerilla fighters (Vietcong)
- People’s army of Vietnam (PAVN—the north Vietnamese Army, pronounced Pahvin)
-Escalation
- Truman began US involvement by sending money to help the French
- Help aid against the fight against the communist
- Eisenhower continued sending money
- Sent military advisors to give temporary support to Diem’s government in the South
- Kennedy continued sending advisors and money as well as special operation forces (green berets)
- Johnson sent more and more combat forces
- Johnson was the main one that got us into the war
- Kept sending more and more troops over
- the generals said that they needed more troops
- Nixon promised to get us out of the war
-Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Several US ships were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin
-Tet Offensive
- Congress gave Johnson the power to wage the war however he wanted to
- Johnson’s ploy to get more involved in Vietnam
- Johnson said that he didn’t want to go to war during his election
- Johnson behind the scenes wanted to go to war
- Johnson and General William Westmoreland kept saying that with more troops we will win the war
- Most Americans tended to believe this at first
- The American public’s faith was shattered, on January 30, 1968, when the enemy, supposedly on the verge of collapse, mounted the Tet Offensive in which nearly every major city in South Vietnam was attacked
- Although we crushed the enemy militarily, the surprising huge offensive attack from an enemy that was supposedly almost defeated convinced many Americans that victory was impossible
- After the Offensive, General wanted more troops and we said no
-Anti- War
- People were against the war:
- Tet Offensive
- Pentagon Papers
- Injuring/killing innocent people
- Supporting a bad government in South
- The power of the press
-Kent State Massacre
- In Ohio
- One of the worst school shootings
- Kids on strike
- Killed several students
- Made the war more unpopular
-How did people get out of serving?
- Went to Canada or Sweden
- Went to college
- Got married
- Medically unfit for service
- Joined the National Guard or Peace Corps
- Claimed to be homosexual
- Being rich
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