5.4 Vietnam

Vietnam War

History, events, and legacy of the U.S. involvement Vietnam

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Learning Goals

Evaluate the factors that led to growing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Observe U.S. strategy in fighting the war in Vietnam. Investigate the lasting legacy of the war on the United States.

Key Vocab

A Quick Review

The United States was committed to preventing the spread of communism throughout the war - containment! After WWII, Indochina, present day Vietnam was returned to the French who had a colonial empire there. During WWII it was occupied by the Japanese. The Vietnamese were tired of being controlled by outside imperialist forces and fought the French. They were led by Ho Chi Minh who was inspired by communism. In 1954, Vietnam defeated France and it was split into a communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam by emperor Bao Dai. The U.S. was fearful that the South would fall into communist rule. This is where the problems begin for the United States.

However, the political situation in South Vietnam was becoming bad. The United States backed a coup where the leader of South Vietnam and his brother were both killed. This sent the South Vietnamese government into chaos between 1963 and 1965 which caused the U.S. to be drawn further into involvement in the region.

Build Up

The United States was providing aid to South Vietnam in the late 50s and early 60s. They provided financial and military aid through training of the South Vietnamese military fighting against the Viet Cong (communist supported) insurgents attacking South Vietnam.

“We do this [escalating U.S. military involvement in Vietnam] in order to slow down aggression. We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Vietnam who have bravely born this brutal battle for so many years with so many casualties. And we do this to convince the leaders of North Vietnam—and all who seek to share their conquest—of a simple fact: We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired. We will not withdraw either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.”—President Lyndon Johnson, speaking to the nation on April 7, 1965 explaining his decision to send U.S. combat troops to Vietnam.

Lyndon B. Johnson

“I am not going to lose Vietnam. I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went.” —Newly inaugurated President Lyndon Johnson at a White House meeting on November 24, 1963 responding to U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. telling him that Vietnam “would go under any day if we don’t do something.”2 days after President Kennedy was killed

Click on the points to learn more about specific events during the Vietnam War and U.S. involvement.

Key Locations

hit and run ambush technique used by the Viet-Cong (North Vietnamese backed insurgents fighting in South Vietnam). Frustrated U.S. military members. Difficulty in tracking the enemy and then consitently engaging with them. A war that the U.S. military was not familiar with fighting.

Guerilla Warfare

Click to watch more about the Pentagon Papers

The Pentagon Papers revealed that the U.S. had secretly enlarged the scope of its actions with raids on the North Vietnamese coast, none of which were reported to the public. These revelations were printed in the New York Times first and they went on to further damage the war effort but also erode the public's confidence in the government - since it was clear they were being lied to about what was really going on in Vietnam.

Opposition to the War

As the Vietnam War dragged on and casualties began to rise reaching a high point in 1968 - the American public became more and more against the war. Protests became more and more regular. President Johnson announces that he will not run for President in 1968 as a result of his unpopularity from the turning tide agains the war. Martin Luther King, Jr. took the position that the war was wrong and African American men make up a greater percentage of the armed forces than the overall percentage of the American population. He argued that the poor could be helped here in the United States with all the money being spent on the war. King also stated that young African American men were sent “to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia or East Harlem”.

The U.S. and North Vietnamese came to a peace agreement in January of 1973. The last American combat solider left Vietnam on March 29, 1973. The North Vietnamese eventually took over all of Vietnam in 1975.

End of War

Vietnamization

The phrase used by President Nixon for his strategy to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. It involved a gradual withdraw of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces.

These were men from all over America, many were drafted to serve, who went and fought in the jungles of South East Asia. Over 58,000 never came back. Always remember their sacrafice. Click the Text to experience the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Remembering the Vietnam War

Tet Offensive - in 1968 a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the attacks, news coverage of the massive offensive shocked the American public and eroded support for the war effort. A credibility gap was growing between what the president was telling the people and what they were seeing in Vietnam in their living rooms each night.

Gulf of Tonkin - President Johnson was looking for a way to increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam but needed congressional support. On August 2, 1964 the U.S.S. Maddox encountered N. Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Further incidents occurred over two days. A couple of days later the House and Senate passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to grant President Johnson the power to do what he wanted in Vietnam. America's war in Vietnam officialy began.

the idea that if a nation falls under communism, then communism will spread to neighboring nations. This is a driving force in the growing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. If Vietnam became a full communist country the threat existed that the rest of South East Asia would also fall into communism, post World War II.

Domino Theory

Operation Rolling Thunder - March 65-Oct. 68. intensive bombing campaign of North Vietnam that was meant to weaken the enemies ability to fight. First sustained American assault on North Vietnamese territory and represented a major expansion of U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War. Designed to put pressure on North Vietnam to not fight the South Vietnamese. Was not successful

Learn more about the Pentagon Papers and their importance in U.S. history.