American involvement in Vietnam.. “Was it worth the cost?”

American involvement in Vietnam.

“Was it worth the cost?”

The Folly of the French

• French colonialism.• Dien Bien Phu.

Fortified French garrison taken by the Vietminh. French surrender.

• Vietnam is divided at the 17th parallel.

• Containment????

Ho Chi Minh

• “he who enlightens.”• Nationalist or

communist leader of Vietnam.

• Modeled the North Vietnamese Constitution after the Dec. of Indp. and US Constitution.

Ngo Dinh Diem

• President of South Vietnam from 1955-1963.

• Corrupt.

• Became an embarrassment to the US.

• Overthrown in a coup in 1963 and assassinated.

Escalation of the war.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution - 8/64

• Destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy are attacked by NV patrol boats.

• Johnson obtains a “blank check” from Congress allowing attacks on NV without a declaration of war.

“Rolling Thunder”

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning…..”

Air Assault

Airborne

USS Pueblo

Would the US attack North Korea?

• US intelligence gathering ship.

• International waters.• US involvement in

Vietnam.• Released after 11

months of torture.

1968 The Tet Offensive

Impact of the Tet Offensive

• Tactical US victory.• “Light at the end of the

tunnel.” General Westmoreland

• Protests.• Americans lose faith in

the war and in Johnson. 68 election.

• My Lai

“We had to destroy the village to save it.”

Shifting the Burden

Vietnamization: Training and letting the South Vietnamese (ARVN) army fight the war. By 1972, over 500,000 troops were withdrawn.

Cambodian & Laoatian problem:

• 1970. NVA sanctuaries. Nixon orders US troops and planes to attack.

• Strong protest reaction across the country.

American protest movement

The Protest Movement

• Mixture of peace and violence.

• Kent State. May 4th, 1970.

• http://library.thinkquest.org/27942/intro.htm

The end of a long struggle

1973 Paris Peace Agreement.

• Wityhrawal of US troops.

• Reunification by peaceful means.

• Status quo of territory.

Communist victories come to Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos by 1975

The Year: 1968.

• 1968 Tet Offensive.

• 1968 Request for 206,000 more troops.

• 1968 Robert Kennedy enters the presidential race.

• 1968 Johnson announces halt of bombing over North Vietnam and also announces his intention not to run for another term.

68 continues

• 1968 Martin Luther King assassinated, April 4.

• 1968 FBI launches a campaign (Code named COINTELPRO) to counter the growing antiwar movement.

• 1968 Robert Kennedy assassinated.

• 1968 Demonstrations at Democratic convention in Chicago.

68 continues

• 1968 Johnson stops all bombing of North Vietnam.

• 1968 Richard Nixon narrowly defeats Hubert Humphrey in the presidential election.