Vietnam Background n Ho Chi Minh n Viet
Vietnam Background n Ho Chi Minh n Viet Minh n Domino Theory n Geneva Accords n Ngo Dinh Diem n Viet Cong n Ho Chi Minh Trail n Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
In the beginning…. n French missionaries went to Indochina in 19 th cen. n Vietnamese persecuted those French Catholics n French sent in troops and eventually took over the country
“Uncle Ho” n 1924 - Ho Chi Minh led a movement to oust the French n n Helped to create the Indochinese Communist Party Worked for a free and independent Vietnam
WWII n 1940 French troops left to defend the homeland n Japanese took over Vietnam n Ho helped to fight Japanese n 1945 - Free and independent Vietnam But…French wanted the country back n F. took control of the South n Ho took control of the north n
First Vietnam War n War between French and Communist n Commies were led by Ho n US sided w/ France n Truman sent $15 million in aid to France n By 1954, $1 billion had gone to help France in Vietnam n Ike continued Truman’s policy
Domino Theory n Why support this war? n Domino theory n Ike said that the countries of SE Asia were like dominos; If one fell to communism, they all would. n French were forced to surrender at Dien Bien Phu
Geneva Accords n Viet Minh & South Vietnam anticommunist nationals n Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17 th parallel n Elections were to be held
Demilitarized Zone (1954) Saigon
Elections n Diem felt that Ho would win the election because of his immense popularity and cancelled the elections n US supported Diem despite his corrupt gov’t n Restricted religion to only Catholicism n Buddhists were persecuted
More Fighting n 1957 - Former Viet Minh living in South began to attack Diem’s gov’t n Diem gave this group a nickname n Viet Cong = “Commie” n Ho supported VC by Ho Chi Minh trail n Supplies sent along the border of Laos and Cambodia-around the DMZ
US gets involved n Ike showed some support for Diem n Sent in military advisors to help the South Vietnamese Army fight the VC and the NVA n JFK showed some support for Diem n 1963 -16, 000 military advisors to S. Vietnam n Diem became more corrupt & cruel
More US n Diem instituted the Strategic Hamlet program n Corralled people into controlled villages n n Controlled by Diem Idea was to deprive VC of support n Actually increased support n VC were fighting using guerilla warfare tactics n Men and women fought
Diem is out n US decided that Diem had to go n Nov. 1, 1963 US led ousting of Diem n Diem was assassinated n Death of Diem made the country even more unstable n Kennedy was prepared to withdraw troops Deteriorated into a Civil War n JFK died and Lyndon B. Johnson took over n
Gulf of Tonkin Incident n USS Maddox fired upon by N. V. patrol boat n Gulf of Tonkin Incident Aug. 2, 1964 n Torpedo missed n Maddox returned fire n Two days later Maddox reported being fired upon n No one saw any gunfire
Gulf of Tonkin cont. n Johnson asked Congress for $$ and support to retaliate n Gulf of Tonkin Resolution n Gave LBJ power to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the U. S. and to prevent further aggression” n Passed Aug. 7, 1964
Vietnam War n LBJ forgot to tell the people or Congress that the US had been conducting raids on North Vietnam n Feb. 1965 “Operation Rolling Thunder” n Bombing mission of N. Vietnam n Troops began showing up in Vietnam in March n By June, 50, 000 troops in South Vietnam fighting the VC
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