The Legacy of Vietnam
Tet Offensive
- 1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment - The Tet Offensive was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968, by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian commands and control centers throughout South Vietnam. The name of the offensive comes from the Tết holiday, the Vietnamese New Year, when the first major attacks took place.
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
- On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnsonto take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. - Authority granted by congress to President Johnson in 1964 to approve and support in advance " The determination of the president as commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against the U.S.
Vietnamization
- President Richard Nixons strategy for ending U.S involvement in the vietnam war, involving a gradual withdrawl of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces - Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops."
Vietnam War
War ended on April 30, 1975 when North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon and captured the city ・conflict started between the French and the Vietnamese ・America is terrified of communism - made a huge miscalculation ・Containment policy- hope was to seal and contain communism ・communism must be isolated ・was a first war where throwing Nuc's would be a possibility ・huge anti-war movement happens in US ・music of anti-war ・media goes against the government
Two Opposing Groups
・Hawks- in favor of the war ・Doves- opposed the war (doves=peace) ・Hawks blamed the loss on the anti-war movement (which destroyed American morale) ・Doves blamed the loss on everything from the resilience of the North Vietnamese to the fear of direct conflict with China and the Soviet Union
Legacy of Vietnam
・Vietnam war was very controversial because it never had the full support of the American public like they did in WWII
Vietnam War
・Vietnam was the longest war in American History ・19 years, 180 days ・58,220 American fatalities ・2 million Vietnamese civillians ・America loses big time ・March 29, 1975- last US troops leave Vietnam ・"American can regain its sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned"- ・President Ford (was speaker of the house) ・Nixon's watergate Scandal ・ Nixon's VP resigns ・Ford becomes VP and then Watergate Scandal so Ford becomes President of US