Chapter 22

The Vietnam War

Background French Indochina WWII Japanese

– Vietminh and Ho Chi Minh France and the US Domino Theory Dien Bien Phu (1954)

– Geneva Accords (17th parallel)

Conflict gets Worse Ngo Dinh Diem

– National Elections Vietcong (NLF)

– Ho Chi Minh Trail Eisenhower Kennedy

– Coup 1963 Gulf of Tonkin

Resolution

War Begins Containment

– LBJ election 1964 General William

Westmoreland– ARVN

1965 180,000 troops sent

1967 500,000

Fighting An Elusive Enemy

– US on paper– How did we think we would fight?

A War of Attrition – “Winning the Hearts and Minds”

A Soldiers Morale– The Draft

The Credibility Gap

Back Home Vietnam War will

start dividing the nation– Living Room War

Civil Rights The Great Society NASA

Opposition The “New” Left

– Students 1965 “March” on

Washington What were their

reasons?– Beyond the youth

Canada/ Draft Card

1968 Hawks v Doves Tet Offensive

– Public Opinion Election 1968

– Humphrey/ RFK– Nixon

DNC Chicago– George Wallace

The Ending War Nixon and Kissinger

– Vietnamization– 1969/ 25,000 troops are home

“Peace with Honor”– Nixon’s demand

The Silent Majority– Spiro Agnew

Trouble at home My Lai Invasion of

Cambodia– Protests heat up

again in US Pentagon Papers

– What does this do to the US government now?

The Final Pieces 1972 Nixon orders bombing of North Election of 1972

– Nixon uses peace negotiations as a key component (Kissinger)

1973 Agreement is signed– Troops come home

1975 Saigon Falls

What Now Veterans

– The US treatment– PTS

The “Dominoes” – Khmer Rouge

The Wall– Significance

War Powers Act