THE DOMINOS

LEADING TO
THE VIETNAM
WAR
What did the fear of Communism spreading mean to
the American people?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU
KNOCK OVER A LINE OF
DOMINOS?
DOMINO THEORY
During the Cold War, American and Western politicians began to worry that
should Communism spread into a region of the World through one country,
the neighboring countries would soon after fall to Communism.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a news conference in 1954 stated:
Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call
the "falling domino" principle. 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 very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would
have the most profound influences

So lets see the Communist Dominos fall. Time for a brief

review:
RUSSIA ~ THE FIRST
DOMINO
The root of Communism during the Cold War; becoming a

Communist nation in the aftermath of the Russian

Revolutions, Russia became the central power in the
Soviet Union and spread its ideology throughout Eastern
Europe in the fight back against the Nazis during World
War II.
 EASTERN BLOC ~ THE
SECOND DOMINO
Following the end of the Second World War, the USSR clamped down on the
former Nazi conquered territories in the East and installed Communist
regimes. These governments reported back to Moscow and formed the Iron
Curtain that split Europe between East and West.
It is here that President Truman
enacted his policy of Containment,
to ensure that Greece and Turkey
would not follow the rest of Eastern
Europe by funneling millions of
dollars of aid to fight Communist
threats in both countries.
CHINA ~ THE THIRD
DOMINO
After twenty two years of both Civil War and a brutal occupation by the
Japanese, the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong, overthrew the
Nationalist government and installed a USSR backed Communist regime in
1949. The largest population in the world became Communist.
NORTH KOREA ~ THE
FOURTH DOMINO
With the end of World War II, the Korean peninsula
was split between the USSR governed North and
the USA backed South. Communist revolutionary,
and friend of Mao Zedong, Kim Il Sung rebuilt
North Korea and invaded the South in 1950. The
US intervened and fought with the South Koreas
before re-establishing the border at the 38th
Parallel after three long years of fighting.
This was the first proxy war. How does this war
relate to the Vietnam conflict?
VIETNAM ~ THE FIFTH
DOMINO
The former French colony, North Vietnamese Communist rebels defeated
the French military in 1954 and threatened to overthrow the non-
Communist South. Led by another ally of Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Ming,
American military advisors were helping the French and South Vietnamese
fight the Communists in the 1950s. The levels of American involvement
increased with Kennedy and would see extreme new levels under President
Lyndon Johnson.

DOMINO THEORY
Americans were worried that should Vietnam fall to Communism, then the
rest of South East Asia would as well.
WHAT DID THE FEAR OF COMMUNISM
SPREADING MEAN TO THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE?
Answer this question before you leave, consider why would the American
people want to get involved in a war across the world between France and
a former colony?
FOR HOMEWORK, ask your family if you had any relatives in the Vietnam
War? Ask if you may hear their experiences.
WHAT DID YOU FIND OUT?
Any stories come up in your discussions with
your family on the Vietnam War? Any
Veterans?
VIETNAM REMINDERS
How many of
you have
been the
Vietnam
Memorial
Wall in
Washington
DC?
AND SOME MORE
Have You ever heard of the
Traveling Wall Memorial?

How does a traveling memorial

differ from a stationary one?
DO NOW: COMPARE AND
CONTRAST
HOW DO THEY REFLECT THE SAME CONFLICT?