1.) Beginnings
- on previous notes
2.) US Involvement - Escalation
- $ and troops to help the french in the 1950's
- sending miliatry advisers to advise the south veitnamese army-60's
- Sent special forces to the south to do small combat operations -60's
- Sending Combat troops to protect south vietnam -60's
- Started sending Combat troops for offensive operations -64
- More troops and more troops -68+
Sides of the War
- United States of America
- South Vietnamese Army
- vs
- The Vietcong- communist in the south
- North Vietnamese Army
5.) Unpopularity
- Media- this was the first war the the media was over seas reporting everything
- Tet Offensive- caused people to question our military and president (people thought that the government was lying to us)
- Diem- discriminating against Buddhists 99% of the people
- Pentagon Papers- It was a top-secret historical study about the war, that showed how the government was misleading the US public
- Injuring/killing innocent people (My Lai Massacre)- killing babies and women
- My Lai Massacre
- US soldiers killed 504 Vietnamese civilians (children and elderly)
- Women were raped and bodies were mutilated
Johnson
- Once Johnson became president troops sky rocketed in Vietnam
- He knew he didn't want
3.) The Gulf of Tonkin
- US ship were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin
- Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution- Congress gave Johnson power to take military action against Vietnam
4.) Tet Offensive
- North Vietnam launches an attack on all the major cities in the south
- We thought the North Vietnam was almost failing
- Named after the lunar new year festival which is the most important Vietnamese holiday
- We demolished them but it goes down in history as a failure because it caused people back home to question our military and president
Operation Rolling Thunder
- Code Name for the bombing campaign of the constant bombing of north Vietnam
- We would never invade North Vietnam because we didn't want China and the USSR involved
Draft Day
- Government would pick a date and anybody born on that day would be drafted
- Ways to get out of drafting
- Went to Canada or Sweden
- Went to college (student deferment)
- Got married
- Medically unfit for service
- Joined the National Guard or Peace Corps
- Claimed to be homosexual
- Being rich
De-escalation +"Peace w/ Honor"
- Nixon called for the "vietnamization" of the war
- "Peace with Honor"
- Gradually pull US troops out and train the South Vietnamese to take our place in fighting the North
- Expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia leading to college protests (Kent St.)
- He bombed them because they were supplying Vietcong in the south with supplies
The End
- On January 15, 1973 President Nixon announced the suspension of offensice action in North Vietnam
- Paris Peace accords were signed on January 27, 1973 which officially ended US involvement in Vietnam conflict
- Fighting stopped
- US would pull out Vietnam
- North and South Vietnam would recognize each other's independence
- 2 years later the North invaded the south and they become communist
- we did not go help Vietnam when they were invaded
- Vietnam is still communist today
Why did we win the Cold war?
- We had close ties with our Allies and the USSR didn't
- China started siding with us after 1972
- The Soviet economy was in shambles whereas the US's was flourishing
- Huge deficit
- High inflation
- Corruption
- Social problems
- Shortage of basic needs (food, housing)
- The strong anti-communist presidency of Reagan
- Gorbachev's willingness for change and reforn
- Glasnost and perestroika (open government and open economy)
- Admitted Soviet mistakes
- took blame for the Cold War
- communist system had failed
- **allowed Eastern Europe to do what they wanted
- Arms Reduction Talks
- SALT, INF, Reagan-Gorbachev meetings
- Soviet Mistakes
- invasion of Afghanistan (they wanted to surround themselves with communist countries)
- ignoring social concerns
- spent everything on military
- In the 1990's, the world seemed to be a much more peaceful place
- President Clinton closed down numerous military bases around the country reducing the size of the US military
- 9/11 caught the US off guard
George W. Bush
Test Review
- Communism vs. Democracy
- Socialism vs. Capitalism
Goals
- stop the spread of communism
- Spread democracy and free trade
USSR goals
- Spread communism
Key terms
Comments