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CHAPTER 22 VIETNAM. MR. ALLEN. Roots of the Vietnam War. Vietnam: French Rule. France controlled Vietnam before WWII Japanese occupation during the war France fought to get Vietnam back America supports French control. Ho Chi Minh. Leader of Vietnamese Communist Party
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CHAPTER 22VIETNAM MR. ALLEN
Vietnam: French Rule • France controlled Vietnam before WWII • Japanese occupation during the war • France fought to get Vietnam back • America supports French control
Ho Chi Minh • Leader of Vietnamese Communist Party • Led from exile in China since 1920’s • Snuck back into Vietnam during WWII • Declared independence in 1945 • Creates Vietminh: Freedom fighters
France fights in Indochina (1945-1954) • Tries to keep their colony • U.S. sends money • Ho Chi Minh flees and fights from the North • U.S. Afraid of Domino Theory • If one country falls, all others around will fall • French defeated at Dien Bien Phu (5/54)
Vietnam Split in two • North controlled by communists • South run by Ngo Dinh Diem • Vietcong fights in the South • Communists supported by Ho Chi Minh • Assassinated thousands of gov’t leaders • Kennedy sends 16,000 Americans to Nam • 1961
Diem is unpopular • South Vietnamese hate him • He attacks Buddhism • No land reform • Corrupt • U.S. supprts coup, Diem assassinated • Nov 1, 1963
Tonkin Gulf Resolution • Aug 1964: NVA boat fires on USS Maddox • Not hit • Maddox reports more gunfire • Later said they saw nothing • LBJ orders bombing strikes on N. Vietnam • Asks Congress for military authority
US Escalation • 1965: 180,000 US soldiers in Vietnam • Gen. Westmoreland calls for more troops • Says ARVN can’t fight very well • 500,000 troops by 1967
Jungle Fighting • Hit and run guerilla warfare • Hiding in cities, spies everywhere • Tunnels throughout the country • Booby traps all over the jungle
American tactics • Use of napalm to firebomb the jungles • Agent Orange: Leaf killing toxin • Cancer-causing agent • Search and destroy missions • Destroy villages with suspected NVA spies
War becomes unpopular • Protest movements sprout up • College youth and left-leaning Americans • Protests became resistance
THINK/PAIR/SHARE • Who should be exempt form the draft? • Should people who believe the war is wrong be forced to fight?
LBJ doesn’t run in ‘68 • He is unpopular, war is unpopular • Robert Kennedy runs for president • Going to win Democratic nomination • Assassinated in Los Angeles • Nixon defeats VP Humphrey
“Peace with honor” • Slow pull out of Vietnam • 1968: 500,000 troops • 1972: 25,000 troops • USA pulls out of the war, 1973 • South falls to the communists, 1975