HIST 2112 1ST Edition Lecture 20 Outline of Last Lecture I Iron Curtain Churchill 1946 Speech II 1947 Greek Crisis III IV V VI VII 1948 Marshall Plan Division of Germany 1949 NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization Fall of China Korea is Divided Outline of Current Lecture VIII The Fear of Communism IX Dulles Massive Retaliation X 1954 Vietnam XI Geneva Accords XII 1955 SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organization XIII 1963 President Diem XIV Military Advisors in Vietnam XV 1968 Tet Offensive XVI 1968 L B J Withdraws XVII Nixon is Elected XVIII April 1970 First Troop Withdrawals XIX 1973 January Peace Treaty Signed Current Lecture The Vietnam War The Fear of Communism Korean war opened the eyes of Americans fighting against a 3rd rate country This brought upon a rationalization maybe our own people are undermining us These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Panic spreads and in 1947 the HUAC House of Un American Activities Committee formed to look at the possibility of subversive activity particularly out of the ordinary political activity Young congressman Richard Nixon apart of a famous hearing for espionage for Alger Hiss 1948 was found guilty of purgery not espionage Incident reinforced communist scare Senator Joseph R McCarthy an almost complete failure in the senate Needed something to boost himself Tackles communist espionage as his cause 57 card carrying communist He redubbed himself Tail Gunner Joe People panicked from his dramatic act 1950 McCarran Act was passed making it illegal to belong to any organization planning to overthrow the government It also required one to reveal their status by telling the government if they belonged to the party This directed violated the fifth amendment 1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted and executed for giving atomic secrets to Russia Dulles Massive Retaliation Eisenhower appoints John Foster Dulles as Secretary of State He creates a plan of Massive Retaliation to deal with communism which did not exclude the use of nuclear weapons Dulles was extremely anti communist and his plan often was referred to as brinksmanship as his ideas would bring the brink of a nuclear war Affects the way policies were made Dulles policy is a reflection of the desire to hold down military spending He showed that it would be cheaper to build up a massive nuclear stockpile than sustain a massive army of soldiers food insurance etc would cost more than the weapons Military Industrial Complex Eisenhower expressed concern at the end of his presidential concern Military Industrial Complex any set of relationships between military policy and industrial production No one wanted to employ Dulles policy because every confrontation would bring brink of nuclear war 1956 in the Hungarian Uprising the US was expected to support Hungary s internal conflict to overthrow communism Soviets crushed the uprising and US never generated support This was an example of the inactability of massive retaliation 1954 Vietnam Vietnam was a French colony taken by Japan in WWII then returned to French after the war Meanwhile Ho Chi Minh was fighting within the country When French regained Vietnam Ho Chi Minh corralled the French at Dien Bien Phu in a bowl shaped area surround by Minh s army Ho Chi Minh was friendly with the Russians and China thus the US was called upon by the French because of their policy with fighting communism in other nations Eisenhower didn t want to employ massive retaliation Instead US gets involved in negotiating a settlement in Geneva Geneva Accords 17th parallel divides North and South Vietnam In 2 years 1956 free elections would be held and the country would reunite 1955 SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organization US organizes SEATO on same premise as NATO to constrain communism Also to prevent the Domino theory as soon as one nation fell to communism adjoining nations would fall likewise 1963 President Diem Ruler from French takeover Roman Catholic leader over mainly Buddhist people He was tyrannical and brutal and caused a wave of terror in Vietnam Order of Buddhist monks would lite themselves on fire in public places to protest against Diem US still tried to support Diem to uphold their policy against communism Diem is killed Military Advisors in Vietnam Meanwhile Eisenhower sent a limited number of military advisors to Vietnam No election was held because of fear of Ho Chi Minh winning US vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin In retaliation Johnson goes to Congress and gets the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964 which allows him to do what ever was necessary to protect armed forces and further the cause for America Shortly after the campaign of bombing started 2 000 advisors were in Vietnam when JFK John F Kennedy took office 16 000 advisors were in Vietnam when JFK was assassinated The message projected to Americans We are kicking ass 1968 Tet Offensive During Tet a Vietnam holiday there was assumed to be a cease fire Early in the morning North Vietnamese troops and Viet Cong forces attacked 100 major towns and cities in South Vietnam breaking the cease fire The size and ferocity of the attack surprised both the Americans and the South Vietnamese Though U S and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks news coverage of the offensive including the lengthy Battle of Hue shocked and dismayed the American public and further eroded support for the war effort This lead to massive escalation at home for anti war protests specifically on college campuses due to young men being drafted Despite heavy casualties North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow painful American withdrawal from the region Animosity develops and there is stimulation to conflict by bombs and troops 1968 L B J Withdraws Johnson withdraws from reelection as president Humphrey the vice president had to support Johnson s policy However Humphrey couldn t stand up against Nixon Nixon is Elected Nixon is very anti communist In 1969 Nixon announces his Secret Plan to end war Anti war march on Washington marks evocation of Nixon Doctrine Henceforth we will continue to support anti communist but only with materials no troops Vietnamizaiton South Vietnam will have to have less US troops and supply more of their own Draft Lottery Draft was highly