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Vietnam Warriors

Vietnam Warriors. Circle statistics on the handout that help to prove / disprove these common beliefs: Note any striking statistics!. How did the Home Front React?. Anti-War Movement. No one united movement Represented all aspects of American life Methods marches and demonstrations

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Vietnam Warriors

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  1. Vietnam Warriors • Circle statistics on the handout that help to prove / disprove these common beliefs: • Note any striking statistics!

  2. How did the Home Front React? Anti-War Movement • No one united movement • Represented all aspects of American life • Methods • marches and demonstrations • college sit-ins, teach-ins, blockades • draft resistance…

  3. American Reaction • Music • Woodstock 1969 • Grateful Dead / CCR • Hendrix / The Who • Counterculture • Hippies / Youth International Party Yippies • “The New Left” • SDS and Free speech movement • Social activism / social justice

  4. Home Front Issues • Tinker v. Des Moines • 26th Amendment • Explain the effects of the Vietnam war on the home front? Give and explain at least one social, one economic and one political effect.

  5. 1968… • a BAD year for the US… • Events in Vietnam make things more difficult

  6. Tet Offensive 1968 • Attacks on US and South Vietnam during Tet (new year) • Major turning point in war • Launched by communists • Military defeat for Vietcong • Psychological defeat for US

  7. Do you approve of the way LBJ is handling the situation in Vietnam?

  8. Do you think the US made a mistake sending troops to Vietnam?

  9. Home Front • Continued Protests • “hey, hey, LBJ, how many babies did you kill today?” • Muhammad Ali “I ain’t got no quarrel with the Vietcong…no Vietcong ever called me a n***er” 1966 • Credibility Gap widening • Unpopular war = LBJ done

  10. Democratic National Convention Chicago 1968

  11. Getting Out of Vietnam: Nixon

  12. Nixon’s Plan • Knew war was unwinnable / could not just leave • Vietnamization- give the land back to the SVA • Meanwhile Nixon expands war • *** Secret U.S. bombing / invasion of Cambodia / Laos to destroy “safe havens” • Peace talks – inconsistent and broken "We take these actions, not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam, and winning the just peace we all desire." - Nixon

  13. My Lai Massacre 1968 • Over 300 massacred • Scandal, cover-up and…Court Martial • Expanded anti war movement William Calley “Just outside the village there was a big pile of bodies [of Vietnamese dead]. This really tiny kid - he had only a shirt on, nothing else – he came over to the pile and held the hand of one of the dead. One of the GI’s behind me dropped into a kneeling position thirty meters from this kid and killed him with a single shot.”

  14. Kent State • Peaceful protests turn into days of rioting / burning ROTC buildings • National Guard on Campus • 4 dead, 9 injured, Sparked other protests 1970

  15. Political Issues • Pentagon Papers • revealed war policies… • Congress examines war policy • 1971 – No US troops outside of Vietnam • War Powers Resolution • Limits on presidential power

  16. Paris Peace Accords • Back and forth attacks and many attempted peace talks • January 1973 = peace! • “cease fire” 17th parallel • US troops home by March • PTSD • Felt unwelcome

  17. The Official Fall: • March 1975 - all out offensive by Vietcong • Thieu – begged for US help, Ford said no • Saigon falls unopposed April 1975 • Officially reunified with the North 1976 • communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/fallsaigon30/flash.htm

  18. Immediate Impact on the Region • Vietnam: reeducation camps / collective farms • Huge numbers of refugees “boat people” • 3 M Vietnamese Dead (½ of these civilians) • Destruction of Vietnam • Cambodia: Communist under Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 • “1.7 million people were killed outright or died as a result of torture, disease, overwork and starvation.” • Genocide? • Laos: fell to communism, refugees

  19. Standard # 5 • Explain the long – term legacies of the Vietnam War for the US.

  20. Impact on the US • US - 2.6 Million American served • POWs / MIA (still some) • 58,000 killed • 300,000 wounded

  21. Lessons of Vietnam • Distrust of Government • Credibility gap • Vietnam syndrome • McNamara • Can’t under estimate power of nationalism • Have to include Congress and American public • Avoid long, unwinnable conflicts • Westmoreland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HODxnUrFX6k

  22. Foreign Policy Post - Vietnam • Nixon changes American foreign policy – Détente • Def. A lessening of tensions / avoid confrontations

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