Goal of North Vietnam
- United the country under communism
Ho Chi Minh = communist leader in the North; always dressed like a peasant (dressed like the people)
Geneve Conference (1954)
- Vietnam was split into two; north and south at the 17th parrallel line
- Diem became leader of South Vietnam; the only reason we supported him at first was because he wasn't communist
- The conference set up elections to unify the country; these elections were never held because neither side wanted to give into the other side
Who Fought In Vietnam War?
- United States Armed Forces and South Vietnamese vs. The North Vietnamese and the VIetcong (viet-communists; the villagers of the south that seemed to be on our side but were really on the North's side- regular civilians) This made it hard to determine who the enemy was
Escalation- Truman through Johsnson
- Presdient Truman began Us involvement by sending money to help the french to help them in their fight agains the communist
- Eisenhower continued US support by sending military advisors to give temporary advice to the south on how to fight
- Kennedy continued sending advisors and money; then started sending the Green Berets (special operation groups)
- Johnson sent more and more combat forces; he was the guy in 1964 that really got us involved in this war- this continued through 1968
- We kept sending more troops because the Generals kept saying that the enemy was about to give up but that never happened
Diem vs. The Buddhists- the picture
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Several US shops that were supposedely attcked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin
- After this Congress gave Johsnson the power to wage war, do what he wants even though we never declared war; it was kind of like a declaration of war but it wasn't
- Most experst think that this "attack" was not real that Johnson just needed an excus
1964-1965 How the war turned Negative
- President Johnson and General William Westmoreland kept saying that with more troops we will win the war; most Americans believed this at first
- The Tet Offensive = Jan 30, 1968 American public's faith was shattered when the enemy supposedly on the verge of colapse, attacked nearly every major city in South Vietnam.
- Tet Offensive = even though it seemed like we lost, one of the biggest victory. They actually came out of the jungle and fought us which is what we wanted. We domolished them militarily, but that's not what people think when they look back on it
- After this offensive, General said we needed more troops
US was never given permission to move into the north and invade them so we mostly bombed them; we didn't want to invade them because we didn't want expand the war and so China and Soviets wouldn't get involved
Anti-War Civilian Reasons
- Tet Offensive - felt we were being lied too
- Pentagon Papers- classified documents that proved people were being lied too
- Press taking pictures of innocent people dieing and being injured (incluidng women and children)
- Supporting a bad governement
- The power of the press- showing what was really going on over there
Kent St. (Ohio) Massacre- 11th worth school shooting in history; people were protesting the war and the Army got trapped and starting firing at large crowds of student killing 4 or 5 students
My Lai Massacre- US soldiers killed 504 vietnamese civilians; one of the worst massacres
How people got out of serving?
- Went to Canada or Sweden
- Went to college (student deferment-you'd be pushed down the list)
- Got married (Push you further down the list)
- Medically unfit for service
- Joined the National Guard or Peace Corps
- Claimed to be homosexual
- Being rich
Comments