Vietnam’s Struggle for Independence,

1945-1975

Viet Cong Soldiers

• What are the origins of the Vietnam War and the goals of the Vietnamese Communists?
  
  
• Why did the United States become involved in the Vietnam War? Why did it fail to achieve its goals?

Key Terms

1) French Indo-China

2) Ho Chi Minh

3) Viet Minh

4) Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)

5) First Indo-China War (1945-1954)

6) Dien Bien Phu

7) Domino Theory

8) Ngo Dinh Diem

9) “Nation-Building”

10) Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

11) Americanization

12) “Rolling Thunder,” Napalm, Agent Orange

13) Mai Lai Massacre

14) Tet Offensive

15) Vietnamization

I. Historical Background: Colonial Legacy, Vietnamese Nationalism, and the Communist Party

• A History of Foreign Domination and Resistance
  
  
• The French Colonial Experience, 1847-1940

o 1847 French demand “free” trading rights

o 1883 Vietnam and Laos become de facto French colonies: French Indo-China

o 1880s-1930s: Resistance, Accommodation, and Vietnamese Intellectuals

• Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese Communist (Workers’) Party, and the Chinese Model

• League for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh, 1941) and World War II
  
  
• Democratic Republic of Vietnam (September 1945)

II. The First Indo-China War and the Origins of American Involvement, 1946-1964

• The First Indo-China War, 1946-1954

• The Cold War, Containment, and the “Domino Theory”: America’s Interest in Vietnam

• Dien Bien Phu, The Geneva Accords of 1954, and The Partition of Vietnam

• “The Best Available Man”: Ngo Dinh Diem (1954)

• U.S. “Nation-Building” in Vietnam

• President Kennedy, the Overthrow of Diem (1963), and the November Assassinations

III. Americanizing the Vietnam War, 1964-1969

• President Lyndon B. Johnson, Vietnam, and “The Great Society”

§ “Peace without Conquest” or “Why We Fight” (April 1965)

• The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 1964, and Viet Cong attacks

o New Evidence (October 2005)

• Operation Rolling Thunder, 1965-1968

§ Napalm (2) and Agent Orange

§ “Napalm Girl” Today

• US Ground Troops Introduced (Feb 1965)

1965: 184,000

1966: 385,000

1967: 485,000

1968: 536,000

• The Mai Lai Massacre (1968) and Tet Offensive (1968),

II. “Vietnamization,” US Withdrawal, and North Vietnamese Victory, 1970-1975

• Nixon’s “Vietnamization”: Turning the War over to South Vietnam

1968: 540,000 1971: 156,000

1969: 485,000 1972: 24,000

1970: 334,000 1973: 50

• January 27, 1973: Peace Declared, US begins final withdrawal
  (January 22, 1973 – Johnson dies)

• North Vietnam’s Victory (1975) and American Humiliation

• Deaths: United States: 58,000

§ Vietnam: c. 3,000,000 (c.2 million during American Phase, 4.5% of total population)

VI. The Legacy of the Vietnam War

• Vietnam since 1975

§ Independence, Communism, and National Identity

§ Invasion of Cambodia and War with China, 1978-1979

§ Rebuilding and the Failures of Communism

§ Liberalizing the Economy (1986-2006): A New Asian “Tiger”

• American after Vietnam

§ Diminished Prestige and Credibility

§ The Vietnam Syndrome

§ Political Polarization: Left vs. Right, Doves vs. Hawks

§ Afghanistan: “Obama’s Vietnam?” Newsweek, July 20, 2009