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US Involvement and Escalation

US Involvement and Escalation. 16.2. The Century: 1:35:50 (5 minutes). Objectives. Identify factors that caused President Johnson to increase American troop strength in Vietnam. Evaluate the effects of low morale on American troops and on the home front.

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US Involvement and Escalation

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  1. US Involvement and Escalation 16.2 The Century: 1:35:50 (5 minutes)

  2. Objectives Identify factors that caused President Johnson to increase American troop strength in Vietnam. Evaluate the effects of low morale on American troops and on the home front.

  3. Political Cartoons: The Opposing Forces ANALYZE Analyze: Political Cartoons: The Opposing Forces

  4. Johnson wanted containment of communism, but voiced his opposition to sending troops to Vietnam. Listening to his advisors, Johnson began sending tens of thousands of troops. LBJ’s Campaign Promise

  5. Americanizing the war: • South Vietnamese soldiers accepted a secondary, more limited role in the war. Johnson ordered the start of Operation Rolling Thunder, the first sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

  6. Discuss: • A 1965 poll showed 61% of Americans supported the U.S. Vietnam policy. • Question: What did the strategy of intensive bombing of NV hope to accomplish? • Answer: To convince NV to stop reinforcing the Vietcong in SV and make peace.

  7. Gen. William Westmoreland -American Commander in So. Vietnam • Requested more troops, stated the South Vietnamese army was weak.

  8. Who Is the Enemy? • Vietcong: • Farmers by day; guerillas at night. • Very patient people willing to accept many casualties. • The US grossly underestimated their resolve and their resourcefulness. “The guerilla wins if he does not lose, the conventional army loses if it does not win.” “ Mao Zedong Tiger v Elephant

  9. War Strategies • Guerilla Warfare • Tunnels • Booby Traps • Chemicals • Search and Destroy Missions

  10. Tunnel System: different strategy or warfare than U.S. is used to

  11. Guerrilla tactics frustrating for US forces • The tunnel ratswere American, Australian and New Zealander soldiers who performed underground search and destroy missions during the Vietnam War • Enemy lived amidst the civilian population –friend or foe? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=azxnc1nDkos

  12. Napalm Canister • Napalm is the name given to any of a number of flammable liquids used in warfare, often jellied gasoline. • Napalm bombs were also used in the Vietnam War to clear landing zones for helicopters.

  13. Agent Orange http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgLlkjsg1uo&feature=related • the nicknames given to the herbicide and defoliant used by the United States military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. • increased risk of various types of cancer and genetic defects for soldiers and V citizens.

  14. Agent Orange • U.S. veterans obtained $180 million in compensation in 1984, while Australian, Canadian and New Zealand veterans also obtained compensation in an out-of-court settlement the same year. • However, no Vietnamese have obtained compensation. • Was the spraying of Agent Orange • a war crime? • Why or why not? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXu2KmzAX-A

  15. Search +Destroy Missions • Rooting villagers with suspected ties to the Vietcong, killing livestock, and burning their villages.

  16. Discuss: • Question: What factors led to the low morale of U.S. troops? • Answer: guerilla warfare, jungle conditions, instability of S. Vietnamese govt., Buddhist Monks still protesting against SV government, motivation low

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