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.
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