CWiA unit 4

• Johnson's involvement


  Made president 1963 after Kennedy's assassination, elected President in 1964
• Johnson had no popular mandate
• Operation Rolling Thunder


  Johnson began large scale and continuous bombing in Vietnam in early 1965
• VC in ARVN uniforms planted a bomb frequented by US officers, no retaliation


  Xmas eve 1964
• VC attacked huge US camp near Pleiku, 8 US killed and 100 injured


  Feb 1965
• 67% of Americans supported increased air strikes
• Johnson sent lots of ground troops to Vietnam

  March 1965
• Diem's assassination


  ARVN plotters assured they would have America's tacit support in their coup on 2nd Nov 1963
• Lodge, US Ambassador, gave vital encouragement but publicly denied any US involvement
• South Vietnam later taken over by Nguyen Van Thieu
• Gulf of Tonkin


  August 1964 Johnson announced that NV had made two unprovoked attacks on the Maddox and Turner Joy in Gulf of Tonkin
• Johnson asked Congress for support to avenge attacks and they agreed to Gulf of Tonkin resolution
• Gulf of Tonkin resolution said North Vietnamese naval units had violated international law so president authorised to take all necessary steps to aid SV
• Resolution would expire when President believed that peace and security resigned in SE Asia or Congress decided to terminate it
• Gulf of Tonkin resolution passed 88 to 2 in Senate, but only 1/3 of Senate voted
• 3500 troops landed at Danang

  8th March 1965
• 18,000 American support troops approved

  4 weeks later
• Congress granted $700 mil for military operations in Vietnam


  May 1965
• 75,000 troops announced at 12pm when people were at work so TV audiences were minimal

  28th July 1965
• Troop numbers reached 535,000


  1968
• Tet Offensive


  Hanoi broke traditional Tet holiday truce and launched an unprecedented offensive against SV hoping to cause Saigon to collapse
• Attackers hit US embassy in Saigon
• It took 11,000 American and ARVN troops three weeks to clear Hue of communist forces, although other cities were regained within days
• Continuation of bombing


  1. Nixon continued the large scale bombing of Laos + Cambodia

  2. US appeared to increase involvement + ended up sparking protests

  3. Madman theory - could use nuclear weapons to conflict could become full scale nuclear war threat

  4. Strategy of bombing campaign across Cambodia + to destroy Ho Chi Minh Trail

  5. Little success + in April 1970 bombing campaign increased
• US troops gradually withdrew down to 475,000


  Autumn 1970
• US troops down to 335,000, likely due to protests at home


  Summer 1971
• Nixon bombed + mined Haiphong, 1000 died in Hanoi, ceasefire released after


  18th Dec
• Paris Peace talks


  1. Nixon offered Hanoi new peace terms, dropped US insistence that US troops would only withdraw months after PAVN + offered simultaneous withdrawal

  2. Linkage might be working, by spring 1971 detente becoming a reality. Offered Hanoi should stop sending troops to SV. Then would stay in power + US POWS would be returned
• Paris Peace Accords declared ceasefire throughout Vietnam, POWs would be exchanged, PAVN not required to leave South

  27th Jan 1973
• US troops withdrawn to only 159 marines to guard the embassy


  Spring 1973
• Communists began probing, Nixon resigned due to Watergate


  Dec 1974
• President Thieu resigned + fled country

  21st April 1975
• Communists took Saigon, Vietnam now united under communism

  25th April 1975
• Cambodia at start of 20th century


  • Small Buddhist country under French control, 80% peasants + ethnic Khmers
  • Capital Phnom Penh, only 20,000 people
  • Khmers - influence of Chinese traders + Vietnamese workers
• Sihanouk


  • Only 18 when became king 1941, enjoyed demi-god status
  • Encouraged political modernisation and allowed political parties
  • Suppressed the national assembly in 1948 because he found the Democratic Party too challenging
• Sihanouk's policies


  • Kept Cambodia out of the Vietnam war
  • Seemed like a 'normal' man
  • Maintained good relations with Britain
  • Lacked military resources
• Sihanouk's domestic policies


  • Popular - visited villages, tried to unite people
  • Respected - people waited for 2hrs to see him, worked with the people
  • Still wasn't able to get Cambodia to become a modern country
  • Hard to get aid from US - difficult relationship
  • Military still unprepared despite efforts
• Opponents silenced by Sihanouk - ruthless censorship, arrests, executions, rigged referendum
• Peasants in chronic debt - number of landless peasants grew from 4% in 1950 to 20% in 1970
• Sihanouk claimed Cold War neutrality, refused to join SEATO, accepted US military aid from 1954