Vietnam War“The Televised War”

1964(?)-1973 (1975)

Causes

• French• Korean War• Domino Effect• Dien Bien Phu• U.S. involvement • Nationalist movement• Anti-Diems

Spark

• Gulf of Tonkin (1964)

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution (Aug. 7)

Strategy

• Americans• Bombing, Bombing, Bombing• Win over the people (“hearts

and minds”)• Work with ARVN• Search and Destroy• Attrition (body count)• Stay Alive

North Vietnam

• Guerilla/Jungle Warfare• Ambush• Booby traps• Use villagers• USSR and China support• Get American people to

protest

Important/Turning Point Battles

• Dien Bien Phu (1954) – French defeat

• Operation Starlite (1965) – 1st major battle

• Ia Drang Valley (1965)• Khe Sanh (1968) – 77

day siege

Battles• TET Offensive (1968) –

*Turning point*– 37,000 NVA dead (2500

Americans)– Nearly entire battle seen

on TV– American morale

plunges (LBJ’s approval drops 25% almost overnight)

• My Lai (1968) – over 300 civilians massacred

• Eastertide Offensive (1972) – NVA attempt to take over South Vietnam

• Fall of Saigon (1975)

Heroes and Goats• Americans• Lyndon Johnson• Robert McNamara• Dean Rusk• William

Westmoreland• William Calley• Richard Nixon• Henry Kissinger

Communists

• Ho Chi Minh

• VietCong (VC, Charlie)

• Le Duc Tho

Cost (Lives)

• Americans• Combat Deaths = 47,378• Non-hostile deaths in-

country = 10,824• Total = 58,202 (some

disagreement on non-hostile deaths)

• Wounded = 304,704• MIA = 2,338• CIA = 766 (Hanoi Hilton) –

114 died• Casualties by Year

American Allies• ARVN = 223,748

deaths/1,169,763 wounded (low estimate)

• South Korea = 4,407 deaths/17,060 wounded

• Australia = 469 deaths/2,940 wounded

• Thailand = 351 deaths/1,358 wounded

• New Zealand = 55 deaths/212 wounded

NVA/VC

• 1,100,000 dead

• 600,000 wounded

• 26,000 CIA

• Low estimates - Accuracy difficult

Costs (Money)

• $111,000,000,000• (nearly $500 billion current)• By 1968 the war cost $66

million per day• 8 million tons of bombs

dropped (4x more than WWII)• USSR and China = $3 billion

in aid

Treaty• No Treaty• Cease Fire Jan. 27, 1973• US Troops home March

29, 1973• Provide ARVN with

replacement weapons• All prisoners released

(Lt. Everett Alvarez)• NVA remained in South

Vietnam• Cease Fire collapsed• 1975 Saigon falls

Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel

We met as soul mates on Parris IslandWe left as inmates from an asylumAnd we were sharp, as sharp as knivesAnd we were so gung ho to lay down our lives

We came in spastic like tameless horsesWe left in plastic as numbered corpsesAnd we learned fast to travel lightOur arms were heavy but our bellies were tight

We had no home front, we had no soft soapThey sent us Playboy, they gave us Bob HopeWe dug in deep and shot on sightAnd prayed to Jesus Christ with all our might

We had no cameras to shoot the landscapeWe passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapesAnd it was dark, so dark at nightAnd we held on to each otherLike brother to brotherWe promised our mothers we'd write

And we would all go down togetherWe said we'd all go down togetherYes we would all go down together

Remember Charlie, remember BakerThey left their childhood on every acreAnd who was wrong? And who was right?It didn't matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day in the palm of our handThey ruled the night, and the nightSeemed to last as long as six weeks......On Parris IslandWe held the coastline, they held the highlandsAnd they were sharp, as sharp as knivesThey heard the hum of our motorsThey counted the rotorsAnd waited for us to arrive

Chorus

Non-Treaty/Long Term Results

• United Vietnam (communist)• Communism into Cambodia

(Khmer Rouge – Killing Fields – Pol Pot)

• Boat People• Treatment of Vietnam Vets• PTSD

Results, cont.• Draft abolished• War Powers Act

(troops no more than 90 days without war declaration)

• Vietnam Syndrome• American cynicism

(about war and government)