The Vietnam War

Anh - I bold all the important dates and underlined all the names/terms for easy studying.

Beginning

• Vietnam declares independence in 1945
• Last battle against France in 1954, France pulled out
• The Geneva Accords divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel.
  • North: Ho Chi Minh's Communist. South: Ngo Dinh Diem's Democrat.
• Eisenhower proposed the Domino Theory

U.S steps in

• Election of 1956 was canceled - Communists were favored; Diem lost popularity due to corruption
• U.S wants to prevent a communist takeover - send troops
• The Vietcong & Ho Chi Minh Trail was formed
• Kennedy assassinated, Johnson is president.

Escalation

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution - power to the president
• Rolling Thunder - intensive bombing
• Johnson sent a large number of troops to Vietnam
  • Rusk and McNamara (Sec. of State and Defense), as well as Westmoreland (Commander in Vietnam) supported this
• Napalm & Agent Orange vs. Guerrilla jungle tactics
• Search and destroy missions
• War of attrition

Domestic

• Protest movements & groups against the war and the draft
  • Student for Democratic Society, Free Speech Movement, New Left, …
  • From protest to resistance & violence
• Doves vs. Hawks - Working class vs Aristocrats
• Credibility gap —> loss of morale at the battlefield

The War Turns

• Tet offensive 1968 - Military victory, psychological defeat
• Election of 1968 divided the nation; Johnson withdrew, (Robert) Kennedy shot
• Nixon became president
  • Kissinger and Vietnamization - train Vietnamese to fight, no more U.S troops
• Violent events escalated protests at home & over the world
  • My Lai massacre, Invasion of Cambodia, Kent State University protest, Pentagon Papers,…
• Most American troops were out by 1973
• Last effort - Christmas Bombing 1974
• South Vietnam fell in 1975. War is over

After the war

• War Powers Act - limit the power of the president.