History 167: Vietnamese War

PART 2: 1928-1975 o "For the war against poverty will not be

VIETNAM WAR won here in Washington. It must be won
in the field, in every private home, in
LYDON B. JOHNSON every public office, from the courthouse
1908-1973 to the White House.
Stonewall (Texas) o "Very often, a lack of jobs and money is
1963: becomes President with the assassination not the cause of poverty, but the
of John F. Kennedy symptom. Our aim is not only to relieve
1964 Presidential Election the symptoms of poverty but to cure it
o Lyndon B. Johnson (Blue) and above all, to prevent it.
(Democrat, Texas) (3) Civil Rights
o Barry Goldwater (Red) Civil Rights Act of 1964
(Republican, Arizona) o PASSED: July 2, 1964
o An act to enforce the constitutional right
GREAT SOCIETY to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the
Lyndon B. Johnson district courts of the United States of
NATIONAL SLOGAN:Great Society America to provide injunctive relief
AIM: initiate spending programs to address the against discrimination in public
following: accommodations, to authorize the
1. education Attorney General to institute suits to
2. medical care protect constitutional rights in public
3. urban problems facilities and public education, to extend
4. transportation the Commission on Civil Rights, to
prevent discrimination in federally
(1) Education assisted programs, to establish a
Elementary and Secondary Education Act Commission on Equal Employment
o PASSED: 1965 Opportunity, and for other purposes.
o SIGNIFICANCE: funded primary and o SIGNIFICANCE: outlawed major forms
secondary education of discrimination against racial, ethnic,
o FUNDING: national and religious minorities in the
United States
o local educational agencies for the
o July 2, 1964: Lyndon B. Johnson signs
education of children of low-income
the Civil Rights Act
families
(4) Immigration
o school library resources, textbooks,
Immigration and Nationality Act
and other instructional materials
o PASSED: June 30, 1968
o supplementary educational centers
o An Act to amend the Immigration and
and services
o educational research and training Naturalization Act, and for other
purposes
o grants to strengthen state
o SIGNIFICANCE:
departments of education
set in place a preference system
(2) Poverty Alleviation
focusing on immigrants skills
Economic Opportunity Act
and family relationships with
o PASSED: August 20, 1964
citizens or U.S. residents
o An Act to mobilize the human and abolished the national origins
financial resources of the Nation to quota system
combat poverty in the United States (5) Vietnam War
Lyndon B. Johnson First Indochina War
o "This administration today here and now o refers to the 8-year war between the
declares unconditional war on poverty in Viet Minh and the French
America. I urge this Congress and all o START: 1946
Americans to join me in that effort.... o END: 1954
o "Poverty is a national problem, requiring
o FRANCE: French Far East
improved national organization and
Expeditionary Corps
support. But this attack, to be effective,
o VIETNAM: Vietminh
must also be organized at the State and
o ISSUE: French attempts to restore
local level.
French rule in Indochina
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 History 167: Vietnamese War
France
o POST-WWII PLANS: establishment of a
federal government for French
Indochina
Vietnam
o POST-WWII PLANS: establishment of
an independent Vietnam (August 1945)
o SEPTEMBER 2, 1945:
1. declaration of independence of
Indochina from France
2. establishment of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (capital:
Hanoi)
Ho Chi Minh
o elected as first president of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
o DATE: March-May 1954
o PLACE: Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu
o located in North Vietnam (to the west of
Hanoi near the border with Laos)
France
BATTLE PLANS:
o to cut off Viet Minh supply lines from
Laos
o to draw the Viet Minh into a major
confrontation that would cripple them
Vietnam
BATTLE PLANS:
o to surround and besiege the French
o to bombard French positions
Vietnam
ADVANTAGES:
o possessed heavy artillery and anti-
aircraft guns (able to bombard French
positions accurately and at will)
o able to move heavy weapons through
extremely difficult terrain to the mountain
crests overlooking the French
encampment
o occupied the highlands around Dien
Bien Phu
France
DISADVANTAGES:
o unaware of the Viet Minhs ability to
move heavy weapons through extremely
difficult terrain to the mountain crests
overlooking the French encampment
o unaware of the Viet Minh's possession
of heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns
o Dien Bien Phu: sat at the bottom of a
valley, surrounded on all sides by hills
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Battle Operations
o VIETNAM: tenacious fighting on the
ground
o FRANCE: relied on delivery by air of
supplies and reinforcements
First Indochina War
RESULT:
o victory for Vietnam
o defeat for France
o the first time that a colonial
independence movement made up of
guerrilla bands defeated a Western
colonial power in pitched battle
1954 Geneva Accords
o FRANCE: agreed to withdraw from its
former Indochinese colonies
o VIETNAM: partitioned into two at the
17th Parallel
Partition of Vietnam
o NORTH VIETNAM: Democratic
Republic of Vietnam
o SOUTH VIETNAM: State of Vietnam
1954 Geneva Accords
o promise the holding of free elections in
1956 to establish a united Vietnam
1955
o South Vietnam declares itself the
Republic of Vietnam, with its capital at
Saigon and Ngo Dinh Diem elected
president
o U.S. government trains the South
Vietnamese Army
o U.S. supports Diem; proclaims Diem to
the western world as the heroic enemy
of Communism
1957: Communist guerillas settle along the
Mekong Delta
1958
start of guerrilla activities among South
Vietnamese against Diems excesses
Vietminh brings aid to guerrillas in the south
1959: CREATION OF THE HO CHI MINH
TRAIL: to provide support and supplies to
Communist troops
1960: North Vietnam forms the National
Liberation Front in South Vietnam (called
Vietcong by Ngo Dinh Diem)
1961: JOHN F. KENNEDY: increases economic
and military support to South Vietnam
1962 U.S. increases number of American
advisers in South Vietnam (from 700 to 12,000)
1963: LYNDON B. JOHNSON:
o vows not to lose one square foot of Asia
to the Communists
o increases U.S troop strength to16,000
servicemen
 History 167: Vietnamese War

1964: PROMINENT SONGS:

o North Vietnamese torpedo boats attack 1. The Sound of Music
U.S. naval vessels in international 2. Edelweiss
waters at the Gulf of Tonkin 3. My Favorite Things
o U.S. Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin 4. Do-Re-Mi
Resolution --- giving President Johnson 5. Climb Every Mountain
the power to take military action as he 6. Sixteen Going on Seventeen
saw fit in Southeast Asia 7. The Lonely Goatherd
o GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION: Films: Suspense/Espionage
allows President Johnson to initiate o 1968: Ice Station Zebra
hostilities without a congressional Films: Space Exploration
declaration of war o 1968:2001: A Space Odyssey
1965 Films: World War II
o OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER: o 1967: The Dirty Dozen
U.S. bombs North Vietnam Films: Crime
AIM: to protect South Vietnam o 1967: Bonnie and Clyde
air bases 1965 Films: Prison Drama
o U.S. sends 3,500 Marines to South o 1967: Cool Hand Luke
Vietnam
o SIGNIFICANCE: U.S. commits its first TELEVISION
ground forces to the Vietnam War Variety Show
o U.S. BATTLE OPERATIONS: changes o 1965-1974: The Dean Martin Show
from passive defense of South Situation Comedy (SitCom)
Vietnamese air bases to aggressive o 1964-1972: Bewitched
offense to destroy the Vietcong Western
1966: 385,000: number of U.S. forces in o 1959-1973: Bonanza
Vietnam
Science Fiction
1967: 485,600: number of U.S. forces in o 1966-1969: Star Trek
Vietnam
Espionage
1968: North Vietnam carries out the Tet
o 1966-1973: Mission Impossible
Offensive
Fantasy
Tet Offensive
o 1965-1970: I Dream of Jeannie
o AIM: to end the war in a single blow by
striking at military and civilian centers Action Heroes
throughout South Vietnam o 1968-1977: The Adventures of Batman
o START: January 31, 1968 during the Tet Soap Drama
Holiday (Spring Festival) o 1964-1969:Peyton Place
o IMPACT:
surprised and pushed back MUSIC
combined U.S. and South The Supremes
Vietnam forces o 1965: Stop in the Name of Love
caused the loss of over 85,000
troops of the Communist forces NOVELTIES IN AMERICAN LIFE
and Vietcong Telephone
o 1963: introduction of touch-tone
LITERATURE telephone
Novel 1964: Buffalo Wings restaurant chain
o 1965
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
o 1967 PART 2: 1928-1975
Nicholas and Alexandra VIETNAM WAR
Robert K. Massie

MOVIES/FILMS
Films: Musicals
o 1964: Mary Poppins
o 1965: The Sound of Music
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