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THE VIETNAM CONFLICT. 1965-1973. Background History. Always a colony Chinese, 900 years! Many ethnic Chinese in Vietnam French, 1800s Plantation owners French culture Japanese, 1940s Raw materials Ho Chi Minh, resistance French, 1945-1954 Vietminh Conflict Dien Bien Phu, 1954.
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THE VIETNAM CONFLICT 1965-1973
Background History • Always a colony • Chinese, 900 years! • Many ethnic Chinese in Vietnam • French, 1800s • Plantation owners • French culture • Japanese, 1940s • Raw materials • Ho Chi Minh, resistance • French, 1945-1954 • Vietminh Conflict • Dien Bien Phu, 1954
American Involvement in Vietnam, 1954-1973 • Geneva Convention, 1954 • Major players…who’s missing? • Cold War conflict • Free elections, 1957? • President Diem • Too many Viet Cong • Military “advisors” • Simply train ARVN • Regular troops, 1965 • USS Maddox Incident, 1964 • Tonkin Gulf Resolution, 1964
The Major Players • US and ARVN versus NVA and Viet Cong • Russia and China involved
TET Offensive, January 1968Turning point of the Conflict • Major NVA Offensive • General Westmoreland • American Forces • Khe Sahn, Marine Field Base • Another Dien Bien Phu? • Battle of Hue, 1968 • Full Metal Jacket • American Embassy in Saigon, 1968 • Viet Cong “Sappers” • Walter Cronkite, anchorman
Vietnamization and “Peace with Honor”, 1970s • Election of 1968 • Humphrey v. Nixon • “Law and Order” • Gradual withdrawal of troops • Leave equipment behind • American build up in Cambodia • “Killing Fields” • Treaty of Paris, 1973 • Saigon becomes Ho Chi Minh City by 1975
Impact at Home • Class Conflict • Poorest drafted first • Draft Laws • 1967 and 1968 • Campus protests • Democratic National Convention, 1968 • Police and demonstrator violence • Kent State University, 1970 • Escalation by Nixon of war into Cambodia