HIST 106 1st Edition Lecture 28 Outline of Last Lecture I Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962 II Kennedy at home III LBJ comes to office IV LBJ s priorities V Civil rights movement Outline of Current Lecture I Vietnam war 1954 1973 II US involvement in south Vietnam III Johnson takes over the war IV The war escalates V Tet Offensive January 30 1968 Current Lecture Vietnam war 1954 1973 o Dien Bien Phu 1954 A hotbed insurgency and the French said that they needed to establish a base there The French s choice was pretty bad because this place was surrounded by mountains that looked down on this base and could only be resupplied by air The French did not think that the Vietnamese would be able to bring artillery on the mountains because it was too steep and they were wrong Completely bombarded and the casualties were so bad that they had to count casualties by the number of spinal cords because the bodies were basically unidentifiable End of the Indo Chinese war for the French and the agreement was to divide the country by the communist north and the democratic south o North vs south 1956 South led by Ngo Dinh Diem and is very anti communist why the US likes him The US helps Ngo get into office through democratic elections o Ho Chi Min A very big nationalist who asks the US for help to get the French out of Vietnam o Ngo Dinh Diem Staunch anti communist and Catholic Him being Catholic was bad because he was very favored to Catholics the minority in Vietnam Elected in 1953 The CIA and French intelligence rigged an election that allowed him to win Ran an extremely vicious campaign because if you were part of his family or Catholic you got preferential treatment Buddhist Crisis Buddhist monks would set themselves on fire in protest due to the oppression of Diem Coup in 1963 A very bloody coup which would not fare well for Diem and his family US involvement in south Vietnam o Kennedy Actively supports south Vietnam financially Military assistance command Vietnam MACV established in 1962 Indicates a huge change in the amount of military assistance that will be provided to Vietnam o 3400 soldiers acting as military advisors After the division of Vietnam the communist north some of the south were not happy with this and wanted 1 country National liberation force also called Viet Cong were south Vietnamese people fighting against the south Vietnamese government communist group Johnson takes over the war o The Great Society vs Vietnam The great society is basically taken over by the amount of work that goes into helping out south Vietnam o The Gulf of Tonkin Incident Aug 2 1964 The USS Maddox was sunk by north Vietnamese and this ignited a huge reaction from the American population Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave president Johnson to wage war in Southeast Asia without having to go through congress first gave Johnson a blank check o Committing troops in March 1965 3 500 US marines to Da Nang will establish a 15 km radius to protect this base The first commitment of the first US ground troops to Vietnam and the start of the Vietnam war By December 200 000 an enormous escalation and the troops are not only going to be surrounded by bases The war escalates o National Liberation front Viet Cong o Ho Chi Minh Trail This is how the north Vietnamese supply the Viet Cong and went outside of Vietnam to get the Viet Cong supplies The war rules were that warfare was not allowed to pursue the north Vietnamese outside of Vietnam o Battle of La Drang Valley November 1965 Looking for NGA forces in south Korea and will find a lot more NGA forces than what they thought they were going to find Due to US reinforcements and air help they would force the NGA to retreat Start of the body count system keep track of who is winning by how many of the enemy were killed compared to how many of our people were killed This was the first time that the North Vietnamese and the US will fight in a congressional battle The North Vietnamese realize that they cannot fight the US toe to toe and will have to rely on guerilla warfare o Strategic Hamlets Was a British program that separated the insurgents from the population This established special forces outposts that encompassed a village and provided protection for the village Will also have the hill tribes in the war as well because the hill tribes hated communists Hearts and minds Win over their heats and minds and turn the people against the insurgents o Allies in the Vietnam war The Australians have 7500 troops in south Vietnam the south Korean army sends 50 000 troops New Zealanders 520 Philippines 1500 All countries have troops in Vietnam from 1963 until 1965 Tet Offensive January 30 1968 o Viet Kong attacks all over the country Broken the Tet truce over the holiday and attacked the American forces This was a really good tactic for the Americans because the Americans were able to fight back all of the attacks The TV coverage showed the destruction rather than victory of this and the support will dramatically decline o Hue City This had been one of the bloodies battles in the Vietnam war o Saigon o TV coverage There had been a lot of support for Vietnam until people saw what was going on in Vietnam on their TVs This was really the time that a lot of anti Vietnam movements began and the instigator of the anti Vietnam movements All of the TV coverage was uncensored so they saw what the people in Vietnam saw
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