U.S. EscalationChapter 30 section 2

I Escalation of War in Vietnam• LBJ “Not sending American boys to do was

Asian boys should do themselves” eventually sends American troops• Supported because of Cold War policies

• South Vietnamese army = Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)• US military superiority canceled by jungle

terrain stalemate• Guerilla warfare/booby traps/tunnel systems

(PG 891)• US strategy for victory = war of attrition –

destruction of morale by continuous harassment

• Also had to keep Vietcong from winning support of rural poor• If they in the ppl the guerillas have no where to hide

• US military tactics to fight Vietcong also hurt rural population• Napalm used to expose Vietcong in tunnels set fire

to jungle• Agent Orange leaf killing toxic chemical left

landscape destroyed• Search and destroy missions killed livestock and

burned villages of those suspected of helping Vietcong

• American soldier moral sank alcoholism & drugs

II the Early war at Home •As Vietnam escalates it becomes

more costly US econ suffering• LBJ gets congress to approve tax

increase to pay for war BUT has to reduce $6 mil. In funding for Great Society programs Great Society fails•Vietnam = “living room” war ppl

seeing opposite of what LBJ was saying the war was•War protest movement begins to

grow

III a Working-Class War•Most soldiers drafted under Selective Service

System• All males 18 or up had to register with draft board

and were called in case of war• Shift in support for war seen in avoiding the

draft• Medical deferments(corrupt doctors)• Join National or Coast guard • Enrolled in universities – white financially well off

were able to afford university lower class whites or minorities fought

•MLK “cruel irony” of American blacks dying for country that regards them as 2nd class citizensrace riots in mil. camps

IV Protest Movement Emerges• youth of 1950s were now young adults and

rejected the boring conformity of their 50s youth political & social action• New Left = made up of many activist groups who

called for huge changes in American society (NOT SOCIALIST OR COMMUNIST)• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Port

Huron Statement (PG 897)• America taken over by large corporations

restoration of participatory democracy• Free Speech Movement(Ucal @ Berkeley) the

“machine” = powerful business & gov’t

• SDS leads march on wash, civil disobedience at draft centers, & advocated fleeing to Canada to avoid draft more than 300 chapters nationwide• Reasons for you protest = • 1) belief Vietnam was civil war & US no

business in it• 2) draining American strength around the

world• 3) unjust war

• “burn cards, not people” “Hell no, we won’t go!” – NYC Central Park• Protest movement affects music (will talk

about in last section)

• Americans fin themselves in 2 camps regarding Vietnam• Doves= strongly opposed the war & believe the US should withdraw• Hawks= strongly approved of the war & believes the US should increase

military power• People criticized anti-war movement for being disloyal (Pg 900)• All this was still not the height of the Vietnam war years - reaches it

peek and most tumultuous in 1968