Week of May 23-27

Monday- Finish notes on Nam. Start presentation/notes on the 80s. Notes on bottom. 

Tuesday- Start notes on 80's.

Wednesday- Continue decade presentations (80s)

Thursday- Test day

Friday- Test day 

'Nam 

The Vietnam Conflict 1950-1975 

Goal: Stop communism (domino affect) 

The French Connection 

  • France had control of Indochina until the Japanese took it over
  • After the war was over, we believed Ho Chi Minh would give freedom to his people
  • Vietnamese defeated French
  • Short period of time, Nam was given independence

Geneva Conference 1954 

  • Vietnam was partitioned temporarily into a Northern and a southern zone of Vietnam at the 17th parallel
  • The North was ruled by Ho Chi Minh
  • The South ruled by Diem
  • Conference set up to unify the country by July 1956

Who fought? 

  • US Armed Force
  • Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) (the SouthVietnamese army)
  • The NLF, a group of South Vietnamese guerilla fighters (Vietcong) 
  • People's Army of Viet Nam (PAVN- the North Vietnamese Army, pronounced Pahvin

What we need to know about Nam for Semester Test: 

Nam 

  1. Beginnings 
  2. Gulfof Tonkin 
  • Gulf of Tonkin-Body of water
  • Several US ships were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin
  • August of 1964
  • Congress gave Johnson the power to wage war
  • Only two people in Congress voted against it 

  • Escalation
  • Under escalation, US involvement increased over a period of years. Started with the deployment of non combat military advisors to the South Vietnamese Army
  • Then started using special forces (Green Berets) for commando style operations
  • Started sending regular combat troops but only for defensive purposes ONLY
  • Use of regular troops for combat
  • Once US troops were in active combat, escalation shifted to the adding of more US troops
  1. Tet Offensive  
  • Johnson and General William 
  • Westmoreland (major General in war) kept saying that with more troops we will win the war
  • Most Americans believed at first
  • 1968, a massive offensive was put on by North Vietnamese on the South 
  • Planned for months, stockpiling in cities
  • Tet holiday was celebrated in Nam 
  • US crushed them in Tet offensive  
  • People started protesting 
  • Increased belief that government was misleading American people about a war
  • Pentagon Papers- Under Nixon- 
  • Someone leaked to New York Times information on the Vietnam war-saying that they weren't telling the full story 

Operation Rolling Thunder 

  • Was the code name for the nonstop bombing raids in North Nam conducted by the US armed forces
  • Its purpose was to destroy the will of North Namese to fight, to destroy industrial bases and air defensives 
  1. Anti-war 
  1. Vietnamization De-escalation 
  • Nixon called for the "Vietnamization" of the war
  • "Peace with Honor" 
  • Gradually pull US troops out and train the ARVN to take our place in fighting the north
  • Expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia leading to college protests (Kent St)
  1. Paris Peace Accords
  2. The End

Kennedy and Nam 

  • Kennedy strongly believed in NOT fighting in Nam 
  • We were supporting Diem for he was the only anti-communist 

My Lai Massacre 1968 

  • US soldiers killed 504 Vietnamese civilians
  • Women were raped and bodies mutilated 

Getting out of serving 

  • Went to Canada or Sweden
  • Went to college 
  • Got married 
  • Medically unfit for service 
  • Joined National Guard or Peace Corps
  • Claimed to be homosexual 
  • Being rich

  • On Jan 15 1973 Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action in N Nam

Peace ?? 

  • Peace agreement didn't last
  • March 1975 the North invaded the South
  • South was not strong enough and fell quickly
  • Saigon, the South's capital fell on April 30 1975
  • US did not live up to it's promise to come to their aid if the North attacked
  • NVietnam united both N and SVietnam on July 2, 1976 to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
  • Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the former president of North Bietnam
  • Vietnam is still communist today 

80's 

  • ruled by republicans 
  • Mount St. Helens Erupted - May 18 1980
  • Iran Hostage Crisis
    • January 20 1981
    • Iran had a failed political system
    • US and Britian had great interest in Iran's oil reserves
    • Muhammad Mossadegh wanted to nationalize his country's oil
    • CIA and BIS underwent covert operation to otherthrow him and replace him with Mohammad Reza Shad Pahlavi
    • Known as Shah, he gave US and Britain 80% control of the oil reserves
    • Iranian people overthrew him and learned that the US and British forces put him in power
    • Pro-Iran students learned of this, stormed the Embassy in Tebran, and held 52 people for 444 days
      • Releeased on Jan. 20, 1981
  • Titanic Wreck Found - September 2 1985
  • Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster - April 2 1986
    • One of the worst nuclear disasters in history
    • The plant core explosed after an emergency shutout
    • 31 people died/$13 million to repair
    • Ukraine
    • City is still in shambles
  • Tearing Down of the Berlin Wall - January 20 1989
    • Effective immediately, anyone could travel anywhere without passport
      • BUT it was false
  • War on Drugs, DARE, and Just Say NO - 1981-1989
    • Programs founded by Nancy Reagan
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