The Vietnam war

THE VIETNAM WAR29.4 The War Ends

Winning the War During his campaign, Nixon promised he

would end the Vietnam War

Along with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, he devised plans to fulfill this promiseIn 1969, Kissinger began secret peace

negotiations with NV revolutionary Le Duc Tho (LAY duhk TOH)

Vietnamization The goal: “Peace with honor”

Vietnamization – Turning over more of the fighting to the South Vietnamese army while gradually bringing US ground troops homeNixon hoped this would give South Vietnamese

leaders enough time to create a stable anti-communist government ○ This way, he could avoid the appearance of an

embarrassing defeat

Cutting Back Troops in Vietnam

When Nixon took office in 1969, there were 540,000 U.S. troops stationed there

By the end of 1972, the number had been reduced to just over 24,000

While most people opposed Vietnamization because it didn’t end the war immediately, Nixon was convinced that the “silent majority” supported it

Laos & Cambodia While he withdrew troops

from Vietnam, Nixon also secretly expanded the war

In early 1969, he ordered the bombing of Cambodia with the goal of disrupting supply lines to the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Nixon concealed these attacks from the American people – including members of Congress and some key military leaders.

Laos & Cambodia The war expanded further in 1970, when Nixon sent

U.S. and ARVN troops into Cambodia and Laos to destroy Vietnamese army bases

Nixon then renewed the bombing of North Vietnam, hoping to pressure the country’s leaders into seeking peace The Madman Theory – “I want the North Vietnamese to

believe that I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war.”○ Unfortunately for Nixon he, like his predecessor, under-

estimated N.V. resolve, which even survived the death of Ho Chi Minh

The Kent State Massacre May 2, 1970

Antiwar demonstrators at Kent State University set fire to the campus ROTC building

The governor of Ohio sent National Guard troops to control the situation

On May 4, students gathered on campus for a rally but were ordered to disperse

Several students began to shout and throw rocks and the officers opened fire, killing four and injuring nine others○ Some of those who were shot were not even protesting, just passing

by on the way to class

Murder at Jackson State College In Mississippi nine days later, police

fired at protesters inside a dorm, killing two students and wounding nine

Americans were horrified; professors and students went on strike and campuses shut down temporarily

Clearly, the antiwar movement continued to grow, and millions of people took part in a nationwide day of protest Returned veterans even threw down

their war medals to show how strongly they opposed continued involvement

Radical Protests A small minority of

protesters believed that peaceful demonstrations weren’t doing the job

They began turning to violent measuresThe “Weathermen” set off

more than 5,000 bombs in the New York City police department, the Pentagon, and the Capitol building

The Weathermen

The My Lai Massacre is Revealed In late 1969, Americans learned of a

secret search-and-destroy mission in My Lai

The My Lai Massacre took place in 1968, U.S. troops in search of Vietcong fighters ended up killing 450 women, children, and elderly men when none could be found

“We weren’t in My lai to kill human beings . . . We were there to kill ideology that is carried by – I don’t know – pawns.”

- Lieutenant William Calley

The 1972 Election While Nixon campaigned for re-election,

South Dakota Senator George McGovern campaigned for the Democratic nomination

McGovern hoped the passing of the 26th Amendment would increase his chances of winning the election, but it did not

What did the 26th Amendment accomplish?

A Peace Agreement To try and force the North Vietnamese to make

concessions, Nixon ordered round-the-clock bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong in December of 1972The “Christmas bombing” was not successful

In January 1973, the United States agreed to withdraw and help rebuild VietnamIt did not deal with the political future of South Vietnam

The Legacy of Vietnam Two years after U.S. troops left,

North Vietnam invaded the South which surrendered shortly thereafter

The fall of Saigon did not end the fighting in Southeast Asia however, the Khmer Rouge, a communist group, took control of Cambodia and went on a killing rampage referred to as The Cambodian Genocide

Effects on Southeast Asia 185,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and 450,000

South Vietnamese civilians were killed in war

Vietcong and NVA deaths were estimated at about 1 million

After the war, Vietnam suffered from severe environmental devastation as the U.S. dropped more than 8 million tons of bombs

Effects on Veterans 58,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam

600 others were held as POW’s who spent several years in North Vietnam jails and often endured long periods of torture and solitary confinement

2,500 soldiers were reported MIA

300,000 soldiers were injured

Many soldiers were exposed to high levels of dangerous defoliants which later lead to cancer and birth defects in their children

Many soldiers also suffered from PTSD

The War’s Political Impact In the end, the United States failed to

prevent a communist take-over of Vietnam, despite spending $150 billion

The War Powers ActMany Americans sought to contain the power of

Presidents to wage “undeclared” wars after Vietnam

The War Powers Act re-affirmed Congress’s exclusive ability to officially declare war