The Vietnam War

By: Grace Hirsch

Summary

• Occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia• November 1,1955-April 30, 1975• Ended at the Fall of Saigon• Between communist North Vietnam &

government of South Vietnam• North: supported by communist allies• South: supported by United States and

other anti-communist nations

U.S. Enters the War

• To prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam

a. part of their strategies of containment• Military advisors arrived beginning in 1950• U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in

1965

a. Laos & Cambodia heavily bombed

b. Tet Offensive-involvement peaked• Despite Paris Peace Accords, fighting continued

The Ending

• Case Church Amendment: prohibited use of American military after August 15, 1973 unless the president secured congressional approval in advance

• The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnam marked the end of the war

• North & South Vietnam were unified the following year

Background

• France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s/completed it by 1983

• Treaty of Hue: treaty that aloud French colonial rule in Vietnam for the next seven decades

• Most notable by Can Vuong of Phan Dinh Phung the current day nations of Cambodia and Vietnam was made into the colony of French Indochina

• Various opposition movements to the French rule existed during this period

Exit of the French • Korean War convinced many Washington

policymakers that the war in Indochina was an example of communist expansionism directed by the Kremlin

• U.S. created a Military Assistance and Advisory Group to screen French for aid, advise on strategy, and train Vietnamese soldiers

• Talks between French and Americans about 3 tactical nuclear weapons

• Richard Nixon (vice president at the time) suggested putting American soldiers in

• Eisenhower decided against the intervention

• The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of French involvement in Indochina

• It was a loss for the French Union• At the Geneva Conference French

negotiated an agreement with the Viet Minh; independence to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

Transition Period

• Vietnam was temporally stationed at the 17th parallel

a. civilians were given the opportunity to freely move between the two provisional states for 300 days

• Elections were to held to establish a unifies government

a. 1 million northerners, mainly Catholics, fled south fearing persecutions by communists

• French soldiers were sent back to France • PRC went back as well • Around 52,000 Vietnamese civilians moved from

south to north• North: Viet Minh ruled as the DRV and engaged

in a drastic land reform program in which an estimated 8,000 perceived “class enemies” were executed

• South: Emperor Bao Dai’s State of Vietnam with prime minister Ngo Dinh Diem

a. Diem announced that elections would not held

• Diem cleared the decks of any political opposition in the south by launching military operations

a. Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Binh Xuyen • Diem increasingly sought to blame the

communists• Diem rigged the poll supervised by his

brother Ngo Dinh Nhu and was credited with 98.2 & of the vote; 133% of Saigon

• Diem declared the new Republic of Vietnam with himself as president

Diem era 1955-1963

• Domino Theory, hypothesized that it was applied to Vietnam

• Diem: devout Catholic, anti-communist, nationalist, and socially conservative

• Majority of Vietnamese people were Buddhist and were alarmed by actions such as his dedication of the country to the Virgin Mary

• Diem launched the “Denounce the Communists” campaign

a. communists and other ant-government elements were arrested, imprisoned, or executed

• Diem instituted a policy of death penalty against any activity deemed communist in August 1956

• In May, Diem took a 10 day trip to the United States

a. President Eisenhower pledged his continued support

b. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles conceded that Diem had been selected because there were no better alternatives

Insurgency in the South 1956

• The Sino-Soviet split lead to a reduction in the influence of the PRC

a. insisted that the Viet Minh accept a division of the country

• Truong Chinh North Vietnam=demoted/Hanoi authorized communists in South Vietnam begin low level insurgency

• Insurgency in the South begun in response to Diem’s Denunciation of Communists campaign

• Le Duan received position of 1st secretary, replacing Truong

a. urged military line & advocated increased assistance to the insurgency

• The insurgency sought to completely destroy government control in South Vietnam rural villages & replace them with shadow government

• Diem’s paranoia, repression, and incompetence progressively angered large segments of the population of South Vietnam

a. significant part of the south supported communism• Communist had a degree of popular support for their

campaign to bring down Diem and reunify the country

JFK’s administration

• One major issue Kennedy raised: the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S.

• Kennedy disagreed with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev

a. Legacy of the Korean War created an idea of a limited war

• Kennedy faced 3-part crisis: failure of the Bay Pigs invasion, construction of Berlin Wall, & negotiated settlement b/w pro-Western gov. of Laos & Pathet Laos communist movement

a. made JFK believe another failure to stop communism would fatally damage U.S. credibility w/ its allies

• Johnson assured Diem of more aid in molding a fighting force that could resist communist

• Kennedy’s policy toward South Vietnam: Diem & his forces must defeat the guerrilla’s on their own

• He felt that to introduce U.S. forces would lead to political and military consequences

• Frequency of guerrilla attacks on South Vietnam rose

a. S. Vietnam was at the core of crisis

• Maxwell Taylor & Walt Rostow suggested troops be sent disguised as flood relief workers

a. Kennedy refused

b. John Kenneth Galbraith warned JFK of

what happened to the French before could likely happen again

• Strategic Hamlets Program: resettle rural population into fortified groups

a. infiltrated by the guerrillas• July 23, 1962, 14 nations signed an agreement

promising the neutrality of Laos

Coup and assassinations

• Policymakers in Washington began to think Diem was not capable of defeating the communists

• Diem became concerned with only fending off coups

• Became paranoid after attempts in 1960, 1962 which he partly attributed to U.S. encouragement

• Buddhists didn’t go for Diem’s policies

a. Buddhists protested• U.S. officials talked about a regime

change in the summer of 1963• U.S. department was in favor of

encouraging a coup • CIA-in contact with generals planning to

remove Diem

a. they were told that U.S. wouldn’t oppose

b. Diem executed

c. JFK had not approved of his murder

• Chaos followed Diem’s death• S. Vietnam entered a period of extreme

political instability• Each new regime was viewed as a puppet

of the Americans

Lyndon B. Johnson expands the war 1963-1969

• Lyndon Johnson takes over for JFK• Did not commit U.S. troops on Vietnam

land• Johnson chose other means of

involvement with Vietnam

a. USS Maddox & USS Turner Joy

b. fired upon N. Vietnamese boats• Despite what Johnson had said, he sent

over more troops

Escalation and ground war

• U.S. Air Force bases needed more protection• United States Marines were sent to S. Vietnam

a. this marked the beginning of the American ground war

• Primary goal of the war was to reunify Vietnam and secure its independence

• Marines successfully defeated ARVN twice

Allies

• Washington SEATO to contribute troops:

-Australia

-New Zealand

-Republic of Korea

-Thailand

-Philippines

^ all agreed to send troops

New Prime Minister

• Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky- head of the military junta

• 1967 Thieu became president

a. Ky as his deputy• Thieu: mistrusted & indecisive• Remained president until 1975

Tet Offensive

• Turning point of the America’s involvement in the Vietnam War

• On May 10, 1968, peace talks began between U.S. and Democratic Republic of Vietnam

• Richard Nixon, vice-president at the time running for president, told Saigon to refuse to become involved in peace talks until after election

a. claimed he would give a better deal

Vietnamization 1969-1972

• Nixon began troop withdraws • Loaded nuclear weapons to race the

border of Soviet Union

a. convince them that he was capable of anything to end the war

• PRC & S.U. continued to supply N.Vietnam with aid

• September 1969, Ho Chi Minh died

Operation Menu: the secret bombing of Cambodia and Laos

• Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia a. communists used Cambodia soil as

a base• Nixon took the opportunity to launch a

massive secret bombing campaign: Operation Menu

• Prince Sihanouk deposed; pro-American prime minister Lon Nol

a. U.S. & ARVN launched incursions

Operation Lam Son 719

• February 1971/aimed at cutting the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos

a. ARVN fled along roads littered with their own dead

b. retrieved help from helicopters when they ran out of fuel

c. half of the ARVN wee either captured/killed

d. clear failure of Vietnamization

• 1971 New Zealand & Australia• Easter Offensive of 1972; Vietnamization• U.S. troops withdraws continued• Without American airpower S.Vietnam

could not survive• All American ground troops withdrawn in

August

1972 election and Paris Peace Accords

• The war was the central issue of the 1972 presidential election

• January 15, 1973 Nixon announced suspension of offensive action against N.Vietnam

• Paris Peace Accords: signed on January 27, 1973; ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War

Oppositions to the Vietnam War: 1962-1975

• Reasons for withdrawals:

a. no more human bloodshed

b. the Vietnam should work their own problems out w/o help from other countries

• Opposition to the war turned to street protest

a. ended with the withdrawal of troops• S.Vietnam left to fight alone• Many S.Vietnamese fled to the U.S.

Exit of the Americans: 1973-1975

• U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam & prisoners had been exchanged

• Oil price shock of October 1973

a. 2 clashes that had left 55 South Vietnam soldiers dead

b. President Thieu announced on Jan. 4 that war had restarted and the Paris Peace Accord was no longer in effect

Gerald Ford takes over

• December 13, 1974 N.Vietnam forces attacked Route 14 in Phuoc Long Province

a. Ford desperately asked congress for funds to assist S.Vietnam

b. Congress refused• S.Vietnam had more supplies and combat

troops than N.Vietnam a. rising oil prices meant that most of

the supplies couldn’t be used

Fall of Saigon

• S.Vietnam civilians & officials scrambled to leave Saigon

• In U.S., South Vietnam was doomed• A tank had crashed through the gates of the

Presidential Palace a. 11:30 the NLF flag was raised above it• President Duong Van Minh, who had succeeded

Huong days earlier, surrendered• Communists had attained there goal: they had

toppled the Saigon regime

Aftermath

• Events in Southeast Asia: a. Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell

to the Communist Party of Kampuchea; April 17, 1975

b. Vietnam invaded Cambodia; known as the Khmer Rouge in the Cambodian-Vietnamese War

c. China invaded Vietnam d. Since 1975 an estimated 1.4 million

refugees from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian

Effects on the United States• First war the United States lost• U.S. spent $111 billion on the war a. war demonstrated that no power has unlimited

strength and resources• More than 3 million served a. 58,193 killed b. 150,000 wounded c. 21,000 permanently disabled d. 830,000suffered symptoms of posttraumatic stress

disorder e. 125,000 fled to Canada to avoid draft f. 50,000 service men deserted

Chemical defoliation- “Rainbow Herbicides”

- Agent Pink

- Agent Green

- Agent Purple

- Agent Blue

- Agent White

• Agent Orange

- included dioxin

- 12 million gallons

- causes various types of cancer

- effected not only the Vietnamese but the American soldiers as well

Casualties

• Vietnamese government & its military forces suffered 1.1 million dead and 600,000 wounded

• Operation Rolling Thunder range from 52,000-182,000

• U.S. military estimated that b/w 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war