1. Goal 11Part 6
Vietnam and American Involvement
1965-1973 (75)

2. Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam
-COMMUNIST / Revolutionary leader of Vietnam
During WWII – Ho Chi Minh revolutionizes Vietnam
and formed the VIETMINH =
Main Goal – Win independence from foreign rule!
Success – Japan lost in WWII –
Vietnam is FREE (Ho Chi Minh takes over)

3. Vietnam

4. U.S. Involvement
in Vietnam
 Vietnam foreign Policy / Cold War
CONTAINMENT (Control Communism)
Eisenhower (1952 -1960)
issued his idea of the DOMINO THEORY (1953) –
countries on the brink of communism were like a row of
dominos waiting to fall!

5. Geneva Accords
 1954 – Allies meet in
Geneva, Switzerland to come
Up with peace agreement
Geneva Accords – a temporary
division of Vietnam on the
17th parallel (containment)
North – Ho Chi Minh (Com)
South – Ngo Dinh Diem (Dem)
*Elections were supposed to be held in 1954
*Diem called them off – he knew he would lose to the
communist

6. Vietcong
 1957, a Communist group in
South Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh LOVES this!!!!
- Ho Chi Minh Trail
Ho Chi Minh starts to send
resources to the Vietcong along
pathways via Laos & Cambodia
(neighboring countries)
Purpose: help spread
Communism

7. Problems with Diem
(South Vietnam Leader)
 Persecuted Buddhist
*(attack on Religion is Democracy)
 Repressive Tactics with his people
 1961 – American Coup
assassinated Diem
(Purpose: creates stability for South Vietnam)
Coup D’etat: a sudden overthrow of a government in
order to replace it

8. Lyndon B. Johnson Takes Over
****Tonkin Gulf Resolution**
 1964 – Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson
Story: North Vietnamese boat torpedoes
American destroyer, U.S.S. Maddox
(patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin in North Vietnam) –
Torpedo missed and America FIRES BACK
causing a lot of damage
Days later, a “supposed” attack from North
Vietnam on the Maddox again!
* President LBJ was prompted to launch an
attack on North Vietnam / LBJ asked
Congress and its on!

9. Tonkin Gulf Resolution
 YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS!!!!!!!!!
Congress agrees to support Johnson and the Vietnam War
A declaration of war on North Vietnam /
*Gave LBJ “broad” military powers in Vietnam*
(these are limited powers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
***********Operation Rolling Thunder******************
VERY FIRST operation “attack” on
North Vietnam
After Tonkin Gulf Resolution

10. Fighting in the Jungle

11. 2 New “CHEMICAL” weapons used in
Vietnam / Search and Destroy Missions
Napalm – a gasoline-based bomb
(set fire to jungle)
Agent Orange – leaf-killing toxic chemical
(3rd generation children – still affected today)
*Search-And-Destroy Missions*
Uprooting civilians suspected with ties
to Vietcong
“destroying the town, to save it”
Most Famous: My Lai Massacre

12. Great Society Suffers
 $ from programs were used to pay for
Vietnam / high taxes / high inflation
 Living Room War – nickname for Vietnam
*******Credibility Gap – growing between LBJ
and American people
(LBJ would say one thing, and the American
people would see another)

13. A Divided Nation
New Left - growing “YOUTH” movement in the 1960s that
demanded “sweeping” changes in America (LIBERAL)
Students for a Democratic Society – most famous New Left
organization / focused on “proper” democracy in America
and greater individual freedom!
(1) HAWKS (predator / anger) – support War in Vietnam
(2) DOVES (prey / peace) – supports “Withdrawal” from
Vietnam
VIETNAM CAUSED MORE
“STUDENT PROTESTS”
THAN ANY OTHER WAR
IN U.S. HISTORY

14. Tet Offensive
(Turning Point in Vietnam)
***Tet Offensive - surprise
attacks on American Embassy
in S. Vietnam
(right when we though it was over)
Tet Offensive = changed American “public”
opinion more than anything else in the
Vietnam War*****
American people are fed up with Lyndon B.
Johnson

17. 1968 Presidential Election and
America
 Lyndon B. Johnson DOES NOT run (PRESSURE)
 Popularity plummeted
 “Vietnam killed the lady I really loved….the Great
Society”
- LBJ
 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by
James Earl Ray
 Robert Kennedy
Brother of John F. Kennedy
A Senator from New York
Strong hopeful candidate for the Presidency
Assassinated by a Jordanian Immigrant (Sirhan Sirhan)

18. 1968 Assassinations

19. 1968 Presidential Election
 Richard M. Nixon (Rep.) WINS
 Remember: LBJ decides NOT to run!!!!!

20. Nixon and “VIETNAMIZATION”
 1969 – Nixon announced “Vietnamization” – the
“gradual” withdrawal of American troops from
Vietnam
 WHY? In order to allow South Vietnamese to take
amore active role in the war (rebuild their own
country)
 “Peace with Honor”
- Nixon and Henry Kissinger (National Security Advisor)
- So…just like any politician…he lied!

21. Silent Majority
American people who DO NOT
express their opinions publicly
America during
Vietnam War– 3
Sections
(1) Hawks
(2) Doves
(3) Silent Majority

22. My Lai Massacre
– American troops massacred innocent/
UNARMED civilians in the village of My Lai
“Kill anything that breathed”
Victims: 504 deaths
MOST FAMOUS
*Search & Destroy
Mission

23. Invasion of Cambodia
 Nixon announced another invasion
 Why Cambodia? (Supplied Vietcong)
 Invasion of Cambodia
First bombing – Nixon DID NOT
tell Congress
Major Domestic reaction:
LARGEST STUDENT PROTEST IN AMERICAN
HISTORY
- 1,200 closed universities

24. Violence at Kent State
(Caused by the invasion of Cambodia)
 Kent State
 Massive Student Protest /
burnt down the ROTC building
 National Guard step in
 National Guard fire live
ammunition into the student
protesters
 Killed 4, injured 9

25. Violence at Kent State

26. 26th Amendment
“Voting age is 18” – lowered from 21 to 18 -
passed in response to student activism
against the Vietnam War
(dividing the country)

27. Pentagon Papers
Pentagon Papers =
7,000 page document,
By Robert McNamara,
revealed that the American
government NEVER
intended to withdraw troops from
Vietnam!
American Reaction: ANGER toward government  
   (Credibility gap widened)

28. 1972 Presidential Election
 Nixon is REELECTED!!!!!
 March 29, 1973
*The Vietnam War is OVER
(U.S. involvement)
Result: North Vietnamese troops STAYED in
South Vietnam
North Vietnam was still fighting South
Vietnam without American help!

29. The Fall of Saigon / end of Vietnam
War (1975)
 North Vietnam attacks South Vietnam and S.
Vietnam begs America to send troops (we don’t) but
we do send resources!
 New President , Gerald Ford, (Took over after
Nixon’s Watergate Scandal)
 North Vietnamese tanks took Saigon
(S. Vietnam) – South Surrenders…Vietnam War in
over
 Containment didn’t work!

30. Legacy of Vietnam War
 War Powers Act (1973)
- made the president inform Congress within
48 hours of sending forces into hostile areas
****LIMITED “PRESIDENTIAL” POWERS
(Caused by the first bombings of Cambodia)

33. Vietnam Poster
 Create a poster that visually communicates a
theme or time period of the Vietnam War
 Purpose: To better understand a particular
aspect of the war on its impact