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THE VIETNAM WAR

THE VIETNAM WAR. 1968 TO 1975. The USA Gets Involved in Vietnam. In the 1950s US President Eisenhower had begun sending “military advisors” to South Vietnam Their job was to train South Vietnamese soldiers By 1963 there were 16,000 US troops in South Vietnam

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THE VIETNAM WAR

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  1. THE VIETNAM WAR 1968 TO 1975

  2. The USA Gets Involved in Vietnam • In the 1950s US President Eisenhower had begun sending “military advisors” to South Vietnam • Their job was to train South Vietnamese soldiers • By 1963 there were 16,000 US troops in South Vietnam • After the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, Congress gave LBJ power “to take all necessary measures” in Vietnam • In 1965 LBJ began sending combat troops to South Vietnam (bombing of North Vietnam began also) Operation Rolling Thunder Marines landing at Da Nang

  3. 1968 • January – Vietcong launch Tet offensive • March – LBJ announces he won’t seek or accept nomination for President • April – MLK assassinated • June – RFK assassinated • August – rioting at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago • November – Nixon wins election

  4. Tet

  5. 1969 • Nixon announces Vietnamization strategy • My Lai massacre revealed in press

  6. 1970 • US troops invade Cambodia • Kent State and Jackson State protest killings • Congress repeals Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

  7. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it Soldiers are cutting us down Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her And found her dead on the ground How can you run when you know? Gotta get down to it Soldiers are cutting us down Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her And found her dead on the ground How can you run when you know? Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio. • Got to #14 Billboard Top 100 charts June 1970

  8. 1971 • Daniel Ellsberg leaks Pentagon Papers to the press

  9. 1972 • North Vietnam launches biggest attack on South since Tet • Nixon wins reelection in landslide • Massive “Christmas bombing” of North Vietnam – 100,000 bombs over 11 days!

  10. 1973 Hanoi Taxi • Jan - US and N. Vietnam sign agreement ending the war – N. Vietnamese troops stay in South, Nixon promises response in “full force” to any violation • March - last US combat troops in South Vietnam leave for home • POWs released -Operation Homecoming

  11. 1975 • March – N. Vietnam launches full-scale offensive/invasion of South • US sends economic aid to S. Vietnam but not troops • April – Saigon falls to communist forces • South Vietnam surrenders to North Vietnam • The Vietnam War is over

  12. Vietnam’s Painful Legacy • 58,000 Americans killed, 365,000 wounded • Over 1.5 million Vietnamese (North and South) killed (??) • Southeast Asia destabilized – Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge (over 2 million killed!) • American citizens now more cautious about foreign affairs, and more cynical about their government

  13. Vietnam’s Painful Legacy • About half a million South Vietnamese sent to harsh “reeducation” or labor camps • Nearly 1.5 million fled Vietnam, many were “boat people” • Draft abolished in the USA • War Powers Act (1973) – Congress curbed the president’s war-making powers (???) • The so-called Vietnam syndrome • The USA extended full diplomatic recognition to Vietnam in 1995

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