VIETNAM

• Indochina- Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia.

  There was a lot of decolonization from Asian countries at this point by Europeans.

  Ho Chi Minh- communist leader in Vietnam, leader of north Vietnam

  Ngo Dinh Diem- US backs him bc he’s not communist, leader of South Vietnam.

  We leave the north as communist and south as a democracy in Vietnam.
• Ho Chi Minh has NVA (North Vietnamese Army)

  Domino Theory- if one country is communist then all the ones around them are also communist.

  Gulf of Tonkin- there were American ships in the gulf that were fired upon by NVA ships, but the ppl on the ship had no idea what happened.

  No one asks why our ships are on Gulf of Tonkin in the first place. Johnson is rushing this along, telling Congress that an act of war has happened and he asks for more power to do things in Vietnam.
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution- president has the power to do whatever he wants if it is to protect America and its interests.

  He can’t declare war on a country bc its Congress’ job, with the resolution, Johnson can spend as much money and do whatever with troops as long as it protects American interests and helps them.

  Now we’re sending hundreds of troops and spending a lot of money on Vietnam but we don’t even know what is happening in Vietnam.
• People don’t like the draft that Johnson started for Vietnam.

  General William Westmoreland- US general leading troops in Vietnam.

  Gorilla Warfare- not traditional battles (ambush, surprise attacks), VC is recruiting children and elderly so you can’t know who is and isn’t part of the VC.
• Operation Rolling Thunder- bombs all over the place.

  Napalm?- liquid fire, US uses millions of gallons during Vietnam War.

  We use weapons in the war that we didn’t know much about.

  We began bombing Laos for some reason.

  Generals tell Johnson that they think their might be communists in Laos so they’re killing them.
• A VC was arrested by South Vietnam and executed on TV.

  Vietnam was the first Television War, there was no media restrictions.

  Everyone who qualified for the draft was against the war.
• Tet- Vietnamese New Year (1968)

  The night of New Years (Tet Offensive):

  • North Vietnam had hidden weapons and people in barrels of new years decorations.
  • at 3 pm, North Vietnamese soldiers pop out during a celebration of American troops of New Years and attacked the US.
  • We never recover from this.
• We don’t regain the ground we lose in Tet Offensive.

  On the scale of Pearl Harbor.

  Fuels an Anti-War Movement in US.
• Start of Anti-War Movement

  A lot of people protesting against war were soldiers who fought in Vietnam.

  Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)- a student group who are supportive of all different movements and protests. War opposition majority is young people close to the draft age.
• SDS wants marches, protesters want to overthrow the government and blow up the Pentagon.

  Weather Underground- one of the groups that was active in blowing up government buildings INCLUDING THE PENTAGON. It was a terrorist group.

  Most amount of hate directed at Johnson.
• Election of 1968- Nixon elected in 68, introduced 69.

  Start the year with Tet Offensive, April: King Assassinated, June: LBJ steps down from assassinated, 2 weeks later: Bobby Kennedy Assassinated, November: Nixon elected.
• Getting out of Vietnam

  Nixon won the election by telling the people that he was going to end the Vietnam War.

  Vietnamization- the process of us getting out of Vietnam, his goal is to leave Vietnam in good shape so they still win without us being there to ”lose”.
• Nixon tells everyone that he’s going to slowly remove troops from South Vietnam and bring them home, but he’s actually sending them to Cambodia.

  He was getting “intel” that there was VC activity in Cambodia so he agrees to send the troops to Cambodia.
• U.S. bombs Cambodia and keeps soldiers there about a year.

  A year later, Nixon comes clean on live TV and tells everyone he lied to them about bringing soldiers home.

  Kent State Uni

  • students at Kent formed a protest on the main lawn because of Nixon’s lies, around noon they dispersed for class.
  • fights broke out that night between Ohio ppl and students, evolved into a riot.
  • Gov. of Ohio dispatched the Ohio National Guard to “calm the kids down”
  • Nat’l guard tear gases the students, next night someone set fire to a ROTC building, more students are angry with the local gov’t and the school
• • The University canceled the protest scheduled for Monday because of the attacks that occurred during the weekend, but more people showed up than what was expected.
  • Students are unarmed, National Guard start tear gassing them, students throw the tear gas canisters back.
  • Guards advance on students with bayonets, they start firing.
  • 4 students died, two who were not in the protest and just walking to class.
  • Kent State Massacre was the name.
  • SDS organized largest student strikes following the events at Kent State.
  • Most Americans don’t support these students.
• Many Americans blame the students for their own deaths, but this is because these people are not willing to protest because they feel it could be traitor-it’s.
• We find out the war crimes that the U.S. does in Vietnam because soldiers tell reporters everything that happened in Vietnam.

  One soldier said that in My Lai, they were ordered to kill women, children, and elderly because of a superstition that their generals had.

  Lieutenant Calley- the guy who ordered the killing of these people in My Lai, he could have had PTSD but he still got arrested for this war crime.
• More cases come to light about the war crimes and murders of innocent people in Vietnam.

  1972- Nixon is up for his 2nd term, he starts actually moving troops back home in 72, people voted for him and forgot about the lie he told prior to that.

  1973- sign Paris Peace Accords to agree on returning each others prisoners (Vietnam and US) and to agree on ceasefire.

  We get out of Vietnam after spending a TRILLION dollars. 60,000 American troops kills, a million total deaths.
• In the end, the US lost and South Vietnam falls to Communist North Vietnam.