The War’s End Just a Reminder The Life of a GI – Vietcong were everywhere and nowhere – “We are the unwilling…working for the unqualified …to do the.

The War’s End

Just a Reminder

• The Life of a GI– Vietcong were everywhere and nowhere– “We are the unwilling…

working for the unqualified …to do the unnecessary…for the ungrateful.”

Hardships on Both Sides

• For the US soldiers:– 60 lb. pack– Leeches and

mosquitoes– Jungle rot– 10’ tall elephant

grass– Booby traps,

snipers, and tunnels

• For the Vietnamese:– Everyone could be a

VC– Effects of Napalm

and Agent Orange– Death everywhere– VC target civilians to

discourage dissent– Saturation bombing

My Lai: US Self-Control Breaks

• 16 March 1968 • Charlie Company, 11th

Brigade lead by Lt. Calley entered My Lai, a place supposed to hold 250 VC

• 175-400 men, women, and children rounded up and shot

• Hugh Thompson – chopper pilot who lands between US troops and civilians

Hue Massacre

• 3,000-5,000 anti-communists gunned down by Vietcong

• Other similar mass graves found in Vietnam

Nixon Plans a Pullout• Peace with Honor a

campaign pledge in 1968

• Nixon sent peace delegation to demand North’s communists out of S. Vietnam and return of POWs– National Security

Advisor: Henry Kissinger

The North Digs In

• N. Vietnam demands coalition gov’t with VC in south

• US rejects• Doves are

impatient

US Changes Tactics…Again• Nixon begins

scale-back• VIETNAMIZATIO

N – gradual withdraw of US forces as S. Vietnamese troops assumed more combat duty

• Bombs Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia to force N peace treaty

Frustration Rules the Day• Nixon orders ground troops into

Cambodia to deal with Communist Khmer Rouge and N. Vietnamese bases– Khmer Rouge• Led by Pol Pot • Organized the Cambodian genocide in an attempt to engineer the social structure

– KSU and Hard Hat Riots

The Pentagon Papers• 1971 – Daniel

Ellsberg leaks secret history of Vietnam to NY Times– Shows gov’t

cover-ups and lies

• Anti-War movement gains ground, pressure on Nixon grows

Public Outcry Ends the War• 2/3rds of US want out of Vietnam– Even if the communists win

• Oct 1972 – US and North agree to peace talks– Nixon re-elected in a landslide

Peace Negotiations

• US and Vietnamese argue for five months over the size of the conference table

Peace?• North won’t sign so

Nixon unleashes another bombing and the North reconsiders the deal

• Paris Peace Accords (1973)– VC legitimized – Northern soldiers stay

out of South– S. gov’t stays in

charge until an election

Unification At Last

• US out in 1973 the North waits until 1975 and then invades

• US won’t aid S. Vietnam, even with the USSR aiding the North– Saigon falls

The Results of Vietnam

• 58,000 dead, 300,000 wounded

• 2,000,000-3,000,000 dead Vietnamese– North send south

population to die or be reeducated in camps

• Communism spreads to Laos and Cambodia

• Global doubt of the US resolve and power

It was a big war…

• Veterans treated terribly by anti-war supports

• US confidence takes a hit– Even today, the threat

of another Vietnam scares people (Iraq and Afghanistan)

Long Term Impact

• 26th Amendment – 18 year olds are allowed to vote

• Nixon abolished the draft – switches the US to an all volunteer army

• War Powers Act, 1973 – President must notify Congress within 48 hours of

deploying military– President must withdraw troops within 90 days

(unless Congress approves)

• POW/MIA issue– Disregard veterans because they are “baby killers”

Some American POWs Return from “Hanoi Hilton”

“If we have to fight, we will fight. You will kill ten of our men and we will kill one of yours, and in the end it will be

you who tires of it.”- Ho Chi Minh

The Vietnam Memorial