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VIETNAM: A LOOK BACK

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1890’s

  • Indochina part of French Empire
  • Ho Chi Minh begins to rebel

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1930

  • Ho Chi Minh forms the Indochinese Communist Party
  • Don’t forget, he had been shut out at Versailles

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1941

  • Japan takes over Vietnam
  • Ho Chi Minh and others form Vietminh
    • Dedicated to the independence of Vietnam
    • U.S. quietly supports Ho with money and arms
      • WHY?

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1945

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1946

  • French want colony back
  • Regain control of south of Vietnam
  • Ho Chi Minh wages war from North

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1947

  • The Truman Doctrine

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1950

  • Truman sends $15 million to French
  • 1950-1954:$2 billion
  • WHY IS U.S. SUPPORTING FRENCH?

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FEAR

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  • What is U.S. afraid of?
  • CONTAINMENT of Soviet expansionism
  • China, Eastern Europe are already communist. Korean War is about to begin-Korea will go communist
  • WHAT ARE BENEFITS OF SUPPORTING FRANCE?
  • How does Ho Chi Minh view this?

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1953

  • Eisenhower continues aid
  • Domino Theory
  • “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over quickly.”
  • Take a look at maps-Why is region important geographically?
  • Spread of Communism Map
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1954

  • Vietminh beat French at Dien Bien Phu
  • Major players meet in Geneva, Switzerland to try to create a peace
  • Create Geneva Accords
    • Vietnam divided along 17th parallel
      • North=Ho Chi Minh, South=Ngo Dinh Diem
    • Election for unification to be held 1956

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1956

  • Diem refuses to take part in elections
  • U.S. supports cancellation
  • Diem agrees to reform but does not

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1957-1959

  • Communist opposition group is formed in South=Viet Cong (National Liberation Front)
  • Ho Chi Minh Trail to supply
  • Guerrilla attacks begin against South and ARVN (South Vietnamese Army)
  • “Sink or Swim with Ngo Dinh Diem”
  • Look at Ho Chi Minh Docs

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1961

  • Kennedy takes office, also decides to sink or swim.
  • Look back to Kennedy Charts-what clues are there to determine what his policy will be?

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1963

  • Kennedy Letters

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  • 16,000 U.S. mililtary in Vietnam

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  • Diem creates “strategic hamlet program”

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  • Diem attacks Buddhists

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November, 1963

  • Nov. 1: U.S. supports coup against Diem, he is assassinated
  • Vietnam in chaos, VC takes more influence in South
  • Nov. 22: Kennedy is killed.

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Lyndon Baines Johnson

  • LBJ takes over.
  • “If I…let the Communists take over South Vietnam, then…my nation would be seen as an appeaser, and we would find it impossible to accomplish anything…anywhere on the globe.”

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The Things They Carried

  • South Vietnamese?
  • Ho Chi Minh?
  • North Vietnamese?
  • The U.S.?

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The Tonkin Gulf Incident

  • August 2, 1964, the U.S. destroyer Maddox exchanged shots with North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, the Maddox and another destroyer reported once again coming under fire.
  • Served as the pretext for an immediate ramp-up of the Vietnam War. By the end of the day, President Lyndon B. Johnson had ordered retaliatory air strikes
  • Look at Johnson Documents

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