Today we discussed more about semester tests. Then we talked about Vietnam.
The plan for Vietnam
- United the country under communism
Ho Chi Min = communist leader in the North; always dressed like a peasant (dressed like the people)
Geneva Conference (1954)
- Vietnam was split into two; north and south at the 17th parallel 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 (vie-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 Johnson
- President Truman began Us involvement by sending money to help the french to help them in their fight against the communist
- Eisenhower continued US support by sending military advisers to give temporary advice to the south on how to fight
- Kennedy continued sending advisers 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 supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Gulf of Tomkin
- After this Congress gave Johnson 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 experts think that this "attack" was not real that Johnson just needed an excuse
1964-1965 How the war turned Negative
- President Johnson and General William Forestland 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 collapse, 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 demolished 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
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