The War

Amber Mascarenas The Beginning-Before the War

❖ Started on November 1, 1955 ❖ May 7, 1954 ➢ Viet Minh forces won the ■ Ended French involvement in Indochina ■ Led to Geneva Conference ● French and Viet Minh agreed to Geneva Accords

❖ agreed to withdraw its troops in Indochina while Vietnam was temporarily divided into North and ➢ Ho Chi Minh and Bao Dai at the 17th parallel ❖ The accords did not please the US ❖ ❖ Feared that general elections would not be fair and free under communists’ influence ❖ Most importantly ➢ If communists won in Vietnam, could spread throughout Southeast Asia thus creating a greater threat After the Accords

○ October 23, 1954 ■ Prime minister of Bao Dai gov’t and Eisenhower promised American support to his gov’t to ensure a non-communist Vietnam ■ Following through on commitment ● American aid to south vietnam began in Jan. 1955 ● Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) ○ Indochina was reorganized into MAAG, vietnam to train South Vietnamese army ○ Early 1955 ■ Diem consolidated his power and control over South Vietnam ● Launched many political repression and anti-communist campaigns ○ 25,000 anti-gov’t activist and communists were arrested ○ More than 1,000 killed as claimed by communists After the Accords cont.

❖ July 1955 ➢ Diem rejected the nat’l election ➢ Claimed South Vietnam was not bound by the Geneva Accords ❖ October 1955 ➢ Diem ousted Bao Dai and became President of the new Republic of Vietnam (ROV) ➢ His attacks on the buddhist communities made unpopular among the South ➢ established the National Liberation Front (NLF) ■ Viet Cong ◆ Dec. 20, 1960 ◆ Consisted of all anti-gov’t activist (both communist and non-communists) as a common front against Diem ◆ Diem did not show he was capable of defeating the communist insurgency ● 35th President of the ● Assassinated November 22, 1963 ●

John F. Kennedy Supporting the War During the Kennedy Administration

❖ Strong believer of the Domino effect: ➢ If Vietnam fell to communism then other states in the surrounding would as well ❖ Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, and Special Assistant for National Security Affairs Walt W. Rostow returned from Saigon and told Kennedy that Vietnam needed economic and military support ❖ Kennedy sent money to South Vietnam to increase the size of their army as well as sending US military advisors to train them ❖ Kennedy wanted to stop communism but was cautious about the degree of US involvement ❖ During the Kennedy administration the was introduced ➢ Strategic Hamlet: A plan by South Vietnam and the US to combat the communist insurgency by pacifying the countryside and reducing the influence of the communists among the rural population. ■ Strategic Hamlets: Special villages which had barbed wire surrounding to keep Vietcong away ➢ The plan failed badly and caused a lot of South Vietnamese peasants into supporting the communist ❖ Kennedy asked Diem to liberalize his army and institute land reform to gain support of the people, in return for US support ➢ Diem first refused but agreed when a reduction in aid was threatened however, his reforms did not go far enough ❖ Kennedy was convinced Diem would not be able to united South and North Vietnam and agreed that the CIA should have him overthrown by giving $40,000 to his generals ❖ Diem was murdered in a coup by his own generals in November 1963 ❖ Shortly after, Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon B. Johnson took over presidency ● 36th President of the United States ● Took office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson LBJ’s Policies

❖ Promised to bring a quick end to the war and determine to prevent North Vietnam communists from taking over U.S. supported government of South Vietnam ❖ Increased the number of troops in Vietnam hoping to ensure a victory before withdrawing any ➢ The number of troops increased from 16,00 when he took office to more than 500,000 in 1968 ❖ After reports of US naval vessels being attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson asked Congress for a resolution of support ❖ The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution ➢ Authorized the president to take all measures necessary to protect armed forces ➢ Johnson later used this as a “equivalent” declaration of war ❖ Rolling Thunder ➢ Feb. 13, 1965 ➢ The sustained bombing of North Vietnam LBJ’s Challenges

❖ American society bgain to split and there were debates over the war ❖ Anti War activist began to demonstrate publicly against their government ❖ :Six weeks into Johnson’s presidency, the North Vietnamese, staged dozens of near-suicidal attacks all over South Vietnam ❖ Johnson stunned the nation by announcing that he would not seek a second term as President ❖ Weeks before the elections, Johnson announced a stop in the bombings of North Vietnam ❖ Once Johnson’s term was up, took over as President ❖ The 37th President of the United States ❖ Resigned before his term was up in 1974

Richard Nixon Nixon’s Strategy

❖ : a strategy that aimed to reduce American involvement in the by transferring all military responsibilities to South Vietnam ❖ Nixon believed in his Vietnamization strategy which involved building up South Vietnamese armed forces and withdrawing US troops ➢ Would also prepare the South Vietnamese army to act as their own drense ❖ The Vietnamization process however, was flawed from the beginning Invasion of

❖ Nixon’s Vietnamization strategy also featured programs designed to strengthen the South Vietnamese government and expand its political base in rural areas ❖ The Nixon administration escalated US military activity in other parts of Southeast Asia ❖ April 1970 ➢ Nixon secretly authorized bombing campaigns and a ground invasion of Cambodia, a neutral country ➢ When this came public, Nixon it was necessary to keep pressure on the enemy Reactions to the War ❖ Protests against the War have been credited with shortening the war ❖ Opposition to the war’s roots lay in 1950’s peace organizations such as the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) or the Students for a Democratic Society ❖ Johnson’s decision to enter the war fueled the anti-war movement and campus based protests such as the ‘Teach-Ins’ at Michigan State and Berkeley ❖ The televised broadcast of the War spread the anti-war movement rapidly and the war strategy of looked down upon by Walter Cronkite a reporter for CBS ➢ He argued to negotiate peace ath that it was the best outcome available to the US ❖ The successes of the anti-war morvern occurred during Nixon’s presidency ❖ The Moratorium March ➢ Oct. 15, 1969 ➢ 250,000 protesters converge on the capitol to protest the war ❖ The anti-war movements did not have great influence on public opinion, but it was instead the realization and lack of any hope of victory ❖ October 21, 1967 ➢ One of the most prominent anti-war movements ➢ 100,000 protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial ❖ The anti-war movement got a big boost when Martin Luther King Jr. publicly expressed his opposition to the war ❖ https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests Peace Conference

❖ It was a formally signed document agreeing to end the war and restore peace in Vietnam ❖ South Vietnam was unwilling to recognize the Viet Cong’s Provisional Revolutionary Government and they were presented with a separate document ❖ The settlement included a cease-fire throughout vietnam and the US agreed to withdraw all of its troops along with dismantling all US bases ❖ North Vietnam agreed to release all uS and other prisoners of war ❖ Both sides agreed to withdraw all foreign troops from and Cambodia ❖ The DMZ at the 17th Parallel would remain a provisional dividing line, with eventual reunification of the country OPCVL Origin This is a telegram written on April 4, 1968 sent to Irma Valdez from Vietnam

Content: “EXTRA-WASHINGTON DC APRIL 4” “EST 1968” “MRS IRMA VALDEZ” Purpose To inform the wife, Irma Valdez, of the injury her husband, Gregorio J. Valdez, received while in Vietnam. It also is to inform her of the current status of her husband

Content: “THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY HAS ASKED ME TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR HUSBAND… WAS SLIGHTLY WOUNDED IN VIETNAM” “HE IS HOSPITALIZED VIETNAM” Value The telegram shows the danger of the war as well as showing how soldiers were treated when injured

Content: “AS A RESULT OF HOSTILE ACTION. HE RECEIVED RUPTURED RIGHT EAR DRUM AND FRAGMENTS TO THE FACE” “ HE IS HOSPITALIZED” Limitation The limitation is that the telegram is from a soldier who was not seriously injured or killed so it does not evoke as much emotion or show the severity of the war

Content: “SINCE HE IS NOT REPEAT NOT SERIOUSLY WOUNDED NO FURTHER REPORTS WILL BE TARNISHED

Works Cited

crashcourse. “The in Asia: Crash Course US History #38.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Nov. 2013, www..com/watch?v=Y2Y mLk hG0. “Domestic Opposition to the Vietnam War.” History in an Hour, 15 May 2013, www.historyinanhour.com/2012/05/09/domestic-opposition-vietnam-war/. History.com Staff. “Lyndon B. Johnson.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/lyndon-b-johnson. History.com Staff. “Vietnam War Protests.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests. History.com Staff. “Vietnamization.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnamization. “John F Kennedy and Vietnam.” History Learning Site, www.historylearningsite.co.uk/vietnam-war/john-f-kennedy-and-vietnam/. “Kennedy Announces Intent to Increase Aid to South Vietnam.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kennedy-announces-intent-to-increase-aid-to-south-vietnam. Works Cited cont.

“Lyndon B. Johnson: Foreign Affairs.” Miller Center, 18 July 2017, millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/foreign-affairs. “ Signed.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-peace-accords-signed. Shmoop Editorial Team. “Lyndon B. Johnson in The Vietnam War.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, www.shmoop.com/vietnam-war/lyndon-b-johnson.html. “Strategic Hamlet Program.” The Vietnam War, thevietnamwar.info/strategic-hamlet-program/.