vietnam: great society to great quagmire
DESCRIPTION
Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire. Lesson Objectives. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire
![Page 2: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Lesson Objectives
• Describe and analyze the changes in the American home front and their impact on US conduct of the war prior to and after the Tet 1968 offensive.
• Describe and analyze the impact of technology in the Vietnam War.
• Describe and analyze the significance and history of the bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
• Be able to describe the Ho Chi Minh Trail and analyze its significance in the Vietnam War.
• Describe the operational and strategic significance of the Tet Offensive (1968) and analyze is impact on US foreign policy since.
![Page 3: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Phase I: Targeted state stronger militarily
Phase II: Rough military parity
Phase III: Revolution stronger than targeted state
• Revolutionaries avoid combat• Guerrilla war: raids, ambushes, sabotage, terrorism• Political conflict predominant
• Combined guerrilla and conventional war• Military and political conflict equally important
• Revolutionary forces go to totally conventional war• “General Offensive” linked to political “Great Uprising”
Review
![Page 4: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Timeline
Mar 64 Secret CIA bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos began
• Civilian pilots (Air America) flying old U.S. aircraft
May 64 LBJ staff begins drafting Congressional support resolution
• Temporarily shelved due to lack of support in Senate
Summer 64 Guerilla warfare spreading throughout South Vietnam
• Now supported by NVA regulars
2-4 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Incident
7 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress
• Authorizes president to use force to protect U.S. forces
• President orders retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam
Review
![Page 5: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
LBJ’s Dilemma
“In later years [Johnson] lamented:
Source
... But if I left that war and let the communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser, and we would both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.’”
Joshua Zeitz"1964 - The Year the Sixties Began"American Heritage, October 2006
If I left the woman I really loved, the Great Society, in order to get involved in that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, I would lose everything at home. All my programs.
'I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved.
Review
![Page 6: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Timeline
16 Oct 64 China explodes its first nuclear weapon
I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base
• First directt attack on Americans; five Gis killed
3 Nov 64 Lyndon Johnson elected to presidency
• Defeats Barry Goldwater by a landslide
![Page 7: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Attacks on US Airfields
I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigom• First direct attack on Americans; five Gis killed
6 Feb 65 VC attack US base at Pleiku (central Highlands)• Eight Americans killed, ten aircraft destroyed
7 Feb 65 President orders air strikes against North Vietnam• Operation Flaming Dart continues to 24 Feb 65
7 Mar 65 President authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder• Progressively escalating air attack against North Vietnam
• Dual military and political objectives
• Ran until 2 Nov 68
=> “send a message”
8 Mar 65
At LBJ’s order, Marines land at Da Nang• To protect airfield
![Page 8: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Marines land at Da NangMarch 8, 1965
![Page 9: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Expanding the War
( Full Speech: 0 – 21:08 )
July 28, 1965
Excerpt( click image )
![Page 10: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Troop Levels
![Page 11: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
A Flashback in Time
August 22, 2013
( Lesson 2 )
![Page 12: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Operation Desert Shield
General Schwarzkopf’s dilemma:
• Deploy fighting forces to defend Saudi Arabia?
12
With limited mobility resources, do you first:
• Deploy logistics infrastructure to prepare for a bigger fight?
or
Review
![Page 13: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Operation Desert Shield
General Schwarzkopf’s decision:
Deploy forces to defend Saudi Arabia
… and very aggressively!
(This would later have an adverse impact on the buildup of forces for an offensive capability)
Scott W. ConradMoving the Force: Desert Storm and Beyond, p. 26
dilemma:
Review
![Page 14: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Operation Desert Shield
14
“Some who questioned our policy in the Gulf felt this deployment was overkill, but General Norman Schwartzkopf had learned from Vietnam the problems of gradual escalation.”
Andrew Leyden“Summary of the Gulf War: Operation Desert Shield”Gulf War Debriefing BookGrants Pass, OR: Hellgate Press, 1997
* 22 Feb 1991Source: The Whirlwind War
What was different?
Vietnam: 1964 – 1968 (536,100 troops)
Gulf War: Aug 1990 - Jan-Mar 1991 (533,600 troops)*
Review
![Page 15: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Buildup In Vietnam
Why was our buildup in Vietnam so slow?
Gradual escalation?
Vietnam: 1964 - 1968
Lack of infrastructure?
Probably a little of each!
Fear of Soviet or Chinese intervention?
(536,100 troops)
Gulf War: Aug 1990 - Jan-Mar 1991 (533,600 troops)
![Page 16: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Vietnam: The Helicopter War
"What would we do [in Vietnam] without helicopters? We would be fighting a different war, for a smaller area, at a greater cost, with less effectiveness.
General William WestmorelandQuoted by Lieutenant General John J. Tolson, USAAirmobility 1961-1971, Chapter 13
We might as well-have asked: 'What would General Patton have done without his tanks?’”
![Page 17: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
The Helicopter War
Why did the U.S. Army adopt the Airmobile* doctrine?
* using helicopters to move forces around the battlefield
• Concept not specifically developed for Vietnam
• Conceived to move forces around an atomic battlefield
• Ideally suited for Southeast Asia
![Page 18: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
The Helicopter War
The problem in Vietnam is terrain — jungles, mountains, rivers. Maneuver's a nightmare. That's why we came up with a plan to use helicopters. Leap in and out of battle.
Dialogue from the movie “We Were Soldiers” (2002)
![Page 19: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Battlefield Mobility
Battle of Ia Drang ValleyNovember 14–18, 1965
![Page 20: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Battle of Ia Drang Valley
( 26:56)
November 14–18, 1965
![Page 21: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Battle of Ia Drang Valley
( 5:03 )
November 14–18, 1965
![Page 22: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Significance of Ia Drang
First employment of Airmobile concept
First major combat between US and NVA units
Communist shift from Phase I to Phase II in Strategy of Revolutionary War
![Page 23: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965: Phase I (guerilla warfare)
• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967: Phase II (combined guerilla & conventional warfare)
• Increased large unit actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
![Page 24: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Timeline
7 Aug 64 Tonkin Gulf Resolution
2 Mar 65 8 Mar 65
1966-67
Spring 67
Early 1960’s NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing of North) begins
Marines land at Da Nang
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) increases pressure on South
Siege of Khe Sanh Begins
![Page 25: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Siege of Khe SanhSpring 1967 - March 1968
![Page 26: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Siege of Khe Sanh
YouTube
![Page 27: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
Timeline
7 Aug 64 Tonkin Gulf Resolution
2 Mar 65 8 Mar 65
1967
Spring 67
Early 1960’s NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing of North) begins
Marines land at Da Nang
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) increases pressure on South
Siege of Khe Sanh Begins
Tet Offensive begins31 Jan 68
![Page 28: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965: Phase I (guerilla warfare)
• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967: Phase II (combined guerilla & conventional warfare)
• Increased large unit actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
1968 (early): Phase III (Tet Offensive) (conventional warfare)
![Page 29: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968
Country-wide combined VC & NVA offensive intended to inspire popular uprising
Began January 31, 1968
Attack on Khe Sanh began earlier as a diversion
![Page 30: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968
US Embassy Saigon attacked by VC
![Page 31: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968 Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
![Page 32: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
HuéThe Historic & Cultural Capital of Vietnam
Hué Citadel
In February 1966, LBJ asked Gen. Westmoreland, the US commander in Vietnam, what he would do next if he were the enemy commander
“Capture Hué,” Westmoreland immediately replied.
Almost two years to the day later, North Vietnam did just that
![Page 33: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
HuéThe Historic & Cultural Capital of Vietnam
In February 1966, LBJ asked Gen. Westmoreland, the US commander in Vietnam, what he would do next if he were the enemy commander
“Capture Hué,” Westmoreland immediately replied.
Almost two years to the day later, North Vietnam did just that
![Page 34: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
![Page 35: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968 Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
![Page 36: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
Battle of Hué
Video Pt 2 - 9:09 Pt 4 - 9:10Pt 3 - 8:48 Pt 5 - 7:02
![Page 37: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968
Turning point of the war … politically
Saigon police chief executes Viet Cong TerroristPhotograph by Eddie Adams
![Page 38: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
Tet Offensive 1968
Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News anchor, visited Vietnam Feb1968
![Page 39: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
Post-Tet
Walter Cronkite
Upon his return to the US, Cronkite delivered an unprecedented editorial comment on this trip (February 27, 1968)
“To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.”
LBJ’s reply on hearing this: “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”
On March 31, 1968, President Johnson announced he would not seek re-election.
Source
![Page 40: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965: Phase I (guerilla warfare)
• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967: Phase II (conbined guerilla & conventional warfare)
• Increased large unit actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
1968 (mid): Phase II
1968 (early): Phase III (Tet Offensive) (conventional warfare)
• Military disaster (VC destroyed)• “General Uprising” did not occur • Strategic victory none the less
![Page 41: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Vietnam: The Final Chapter
![Page 42: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Lesson Objectives
• Understand the goals, provisions and consequences of President Nixon's Vietnamization policy.
• Describe the efforts of President Nixon to change global strategic alignments and the implications of his initiatives.
• Describe and analyze changes in the military situation in Vietnam from 1969 to 1973.
• Describe and assess the impact of US political developments from 1969 through 1975.
![Page 43: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
End
![Page 44: Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire](https://reader036.vdocuments.net/reader036/viewer/2022062423/56814405550346895db0982f/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)