Vietnam War
Vietnam had been part of a French colony in Indochina. French Indochina was established when France took control of northern Vietnam following their victory over China.1
The northern part of Vietnam was controlled by Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party.2 The Vietcong was a political organization and army in South Vietnam that fought the U.S and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War. ith the
W
Cold War intensifying, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955
President wight D. Eisenhower
D
had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam.3
John F. Kennedy sent a group to south vietnam and advised a build up of American military. U.S politicians believed in the domino theory which is the belief that if one country fell to communism, its neighbours would follow.4 The U.S was depending on this theory and by the time the military grew. The U.S was trying to get rid of communism and with this the U.S and other countries took part in forming the SEATO ( Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). The purpose of SEATO was to prevent communism from gaining ground in the region.5 The USS
Maddox was a destroyer ship and in August 1964, MADDOX was one of the leading actors in the Tonkin Incident that eventually lead to the Vietnam War.6 The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by congress to promote the maintenance of peace and security in southeast asia.


“French Indochina,” Wikipedia.org, accessed March 17, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Indochina .
“Vietnam War History,” History.com, accessed March 17, 2016, http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam­war/vietnam­war­history .
3
Ibid.
4

“Vietnam 1954 ­ 1965,” dhahranbritish.com, accessed March 17,
2016,
http://www.dhahranbritish.com/history/A15_Viet5465.htm
.
5
“Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (Seato), 1954,” history.state.gov, accessed March 18,
2016,
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953­1960/seato
.
6
“Uss Maddox (Dd 731),” navysite.de, accessed March 18, 2016, http://www.navysite.de/dd/dd731.htm .

1
2

Like in any war there would always be problems and military tactics the U.S had some problems and military tactics as well as Viet Cong. It seemed that the main problem for the U.S was that the northern part of Vietnam was communist, a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. Some of the military tactics used by the U.S army were, napalm, agent orange, and operation rolling thunder. Napalm was a really good tactic because other than being a bomb when it exploded petroleum jelly called napalm would burst everywhere. The agent orange tactic was very useful because even though it did not do that much damaged it helped the U.S really well. This tactic was used to kill vegetation, since agent orange was a very powerful weed killer, they would spray the jungle so that the Viet Cong would not be able to hide in the weeds. Since war is all about destroying things or killing to be victorious another tactic used by the U.S was the operation rolling thunder. Operation rolling thunder was no really that useful because the purpose of this tactic was to bomb north
Vietnamese factories. Since there was a small amount of factories the U.S decided to bomb cities and countryside to cut supply routes. Vietcong also had their military tactics guerillas, a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, were the ones who fought against the U.S military and they were not trained a lot. Some of the military tactics Vietcong had were rocket propelled grenades, recoilless rifles, and mortars.7 Many weapons, including booby traps and mines, were homemade in villages.8 The Vietcong were following the guerilla tactics of the
Chinese, they had always given priority to creating safe base areas. With the use of these tactics there were a lot of deaths being reported the american casualties were like 164, 000 civilians,

7
8


“The Vietcong,” pbs.org, accessed March 18, 2016, http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/guerrilla/ . Ibid.

blacks were suffering disproportionately high casualty rates in Vietnam, in 1965 alone they comprised almost one out of every four combat deaths.9 The Vietcong also had a huge number of deaths they had much more people being death than the U.S.
The American people were not in accordance with the war in Vietnam they did not like what was happening. What also affected the people is that the Vietnam war was the first war that was allowed to be seen on tv. As a result, television was a major factor in American society‘s perception of the war, the Vietnam Conflict created distrust between people and the government, provided war protestors with an audience and altered the perception of the American fighting
“man.”10 The draft, as it was called, was a resentment for college students, the age of the average
American soldier serving in Vietnam was 19, seven years younger than its World War II counterpart.11 The antiwar movement began in 1964 and grew in later years. The draft basically forced people to join an unpopular war the antiwar movement a lot of groups became involved in it such as educators, priest, academics, journalist, lawyers, and others. This movement was basically a product from the massacre at Kent State and Jackson State. In 1969, national guardsmen shot and killed four student demonstrators at Kent State, Ohio. After what happened in Kent State 11 days later in Mississippi, the Jackson State killings occurred. The war basically divided the country into two different sections the doves and the hawks. The ones who wanted war were known as the "Hawks,” and the ones who didn't want war were known as the "Doves."
12

Because of the draft the 26th amendment arose the constitution lowered the voting age from 21


“Vietnam War Casualties,” wikipedia.org, accessed March 18,
2016,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_casualties
.
10
“How Did Television Affect the Vietnam Conflict?,” classroom.synonym.com, accessed March 19,
2016,
http://classroom.synonym.com/did­television­affect­vietnam­conflict­5365.html
.
11
“55d. the Antiwar Movement,” ushistory.org, accessed March 19, 2016, http://www.ushistory.org/us/55d.asp .
12

“Hawks and Doves,”, accessed March 19,
2016,
http://www.eram.k12.ny.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=23667
.
9

to 18 allowing millions of young people to participate actively in the democratic process and to have a powerful voice in shaping their political future. What also happen with the war being shown or allowed in the media is the credibility gap. The Credibility Gap was caused because president Johnson told Americans they were winning the war while the media was reporting that we were losing and this made many Americans lose the faith of the government. The Tinker v.
Des Moines case was very important because it allowed students to have the right to free speech.
Students in Des Moines, Iowa organized a silent protest against the Vietnam War. Students planned to wear black armbands to school to protest the fighting but the principal warned them that if they did that they were going to be suspended but they still did it.13 After that their parents sued the school for not letting students the right to free speech this case was taken to the court and the parents won.14 Something else happened that also can be part of the Antiwar movement.
The My Lai Massacre is most famous for a bad reason. Troops were told to go to My Lai Village and when they got there they just started shooting thinking people from Vietcong were there but they just killed women, children, and elderly. This incident became public in November 1969.
The Tet Offensive was a very big surprise for the south part of Vietnam where U.S troops were located. In 1968, North Vietnamese Army and the Vietcong launches a massive campaign called the Tet Offensive, attacking nearly 30 U.S targets and dozens of other cities. The election of 1968 was won by Richard Nixon who won the popular vote. This was the first election after the passage of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965
, which had led to mass enfranchisement of racial
“Tinker V. Des Moines Podcast,” uscourts.gov, accessed March 19, 2016, http://www.uscourts.gov/about­federal­courts/educational­resources/supreme­court­landmarks/tinker­v­des­moines­ podcast
.
14 Ibid.
13

minorities throughout the country, especially in the South.15 Richard Nixon ran on a campaign that promised to restore law and order to the nation's cities and provide new leadership in the
Vietnam War. He popularized the term " silent majority
" to describe those he viewed as being his target voters.16
The Vietnam came to end because the U.S forces were completely withdrawn.
Vietnamization is a term that Nixon introduced while running for president. Vietnamization promised a gradual withdrawal of U.S troops where the Democratic South Vietnam government would be handed the power. The Fall of Saigon happened in 1973 when U.S. negotiators in Paris worked out a cease­fire agreement with the North Vietnamese which led Nixon to the withdrawal of all military personnel from Vietnam. After all this happening the Pentagon Papers where some documents that were leaked by being published in the New York Times in 1971. These papers revealed that the U.S. Army, as well as president Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, had all authorized a number of secret actions that increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam
War without letting the public know. aster Sergeant
M
Raul Perez Benavidez was a member of the
United States Army Special Forces and retired
United States Army aster sergeant m who received the edal of Honor
M
for his valorous actions in combat near
Lộc Ninh outh Vietnam
,
S
on May 2, 1968. The War Powers Act happened because testimony in congressional hearings revealed the full extent of the secret U.S. military campaigns in Cambodia since 1969, even though the president and the Joint Chief of Staff had repeatedly denied the charge. When the


“United States Presidential Election, 1968,” wikipedia.org, accessed March 19,
2016,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1968
.

16 Ibid.
15

U.S. troops were withdrawn from south Vietnam they basically left the rest of the people from south Vietnam fighting by themselves.

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