The QUagmire of Vietnam 1945 1967 04 29 2014 I The Significance of the Vietnam War late 60s early 70s Transforms post war America in many ways Military and foreign policy o America s first true military defeat Impact on investment policy b c the Great Society is seen as crippled because it drained away resources Johnson had wanted to spend on the Great Society social domestic reforms Johnson was looking to address Post WWII US economy did well into the 1970s o Oil price shocks and competition from recovering Germany and Japan from WWII o WWII was funded by income taxes mostly but Vietnam borrowed which fueled 1970s inflation II The Path to Involvement Why the U S Fought A Key Concepts Cold War Confidence B Turning Points o Result of a lot of small decisions made by a variety of democratic and republican presidents Policies and ideals of cold war are evident o America could be successful where other countries could not 1 Mid 1940s Why Did the U S Support the French Ho Chi Minh declares independence form the French in 1945 quoting the declaration of independence The cold war wasn t yet seen as a global issue but then in 1946 war broke out in Vietnam against French for independence o US is paying 75 of France s end of war b c US wanted France on its side for agreements based on NATO and European decisions regarding rearmament of Germany Sept 1945 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnamese independence from French rule 1946 1954 Vietnamese war for independence rages The French demand American support in exchange for French support of US plans in Europe particularly German rearmament May 1954 French garrison at Dien Bien Phu falls effectively ending French colonial rule of Vietnam July 1954 French and North Vietnamese sign the Geneva Accords They agree to temporarily partition Vietnam at the 17th parallel and to hold national elections to unify the country within two years Neither the U S nor the South Vietnamese sign the pact 1954 1960 The U S moves to unilaterally support South Vietnam With U S backing the South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem subverts the Geneva accords refusing to hold national elections and barring all contact with the North U S dollars and military advisers pour into South Vietnam to train and support its army Meanwhile Diem appoints relatives to his cabinet exiles or arrests anyone who criticizes his government and resists American attempts at social reform After Truman had lost China Americans are afrain of Eisenhower s analogy of communism to dominoes where once one falls all will begin to fall DRV commences terrorist tactics assassinations in South Vietnam 1961 With support for Diem s government crumbling and internal insurgency the Vietcong growing JFK decides to test his new policy of flexible response He orders 500 Green Berets into Vietnam and authorizes clandestine operations The Green Berets are soon followed by helicopters U S piloted aircraft and American advisors By December more than 3 000 US troops are in Vietnam Spring 1963 Buddhists across Vietnam rebel against government repression Diem orders troops to fire into crowds of demonstrators Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in Saigon s streets The uprising prompts the U S to reconsider its options Nov 1 1963 Vietnamese military officers stage a coup approved in advance by the U S Diem is arrested and murdered 1963 64 Vietcong successes in the winter of 1963 64 plus South Vietnamese political instability make Vietnam impossible to ignore LBJ authorizes secret sabotage operations against Hanoi and an increase in American advisors American policymakers conclude that the only way to ensure stability in the South is to carry the war more aggressively to the North Diem 2 1954 Why Did the U S Take Over After the French Pulled Out Dien Bien Phu Geneva Accords Ngo Dinh 3 1964 65 Why Did the US Escalate Americanize the War Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Operation Rolling Thunder Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Expands presidential powers to declare war w o congress Operation Rolling Thunder o massive bombing campaign against Vietnamese Aug 1964 North Vietnamese torpedo boat fires on at least one and maybe two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin LBJ tells Congressional leaders that the attack was a case of blatant aggression on the high seas He doesn t mention that American and South Vietnamese ships had been engaged in covert operations In response Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizing the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States The resolution greatly enlarges the president s power since he can now act without a declaration of war from the Senate This opens the door for scaled up U S involvement in Vietnam 1965 North Vietnam decides to fight a protracted war Feb 1965 Vietcong forces attack American soldiers at Pleiku In response the Pentagon launches Operation Rolling Thunder a long planned massive bombing of the North This is the first sustained attack against a nation that we are allegedly not at war with April 1965 The initiation of a wider air war provides justification for the deployment of American combat troops to Vietnam By mid April there are 50 000 American soldiers in Vietnam 1965 1967 American troop strength in Vietnam slowly creeps up to more than 500 000 By the end of 1967 the Pentagon estimates North Vietnamese casualties at more than 200 000 At the same time nearly 14 000 GIs have been killed in action more than 600 American planes have been shot down and hundreds of air force crews are POWs in the North For all this there is little indication that either the massive bombing campaign or the ground war have achieved any significant military goals LBJ Johnson He learned from history and Harry Truman that you have to take a strong anticommunist foreign policy in order to get anything liberal The only way to get congressional support for social welfare programs was to take a strong stance against communists done at home overseas However financial and political toll that this foreign policy did damage and undermine his political power and influence III Waging the War How the U S Fought US mobilized civilians to move them out of the way but the Vietnamese were using villagers to rebuild and replace anything Iron Sledge Hammer slashing at a Cork War would have been a failure even without the antiwar people at home War was unwinnable War kills social reform once again IV The View from the Ground So many soldiers come out