The Vietnam War

What were going to cover?

• Domino Theory
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Ho Chi Minh Trai
• Hawks and Doves
• Tet Offensive
• Vietnamization
• Kent State Shootings
• Legacy of the Vietnam War
• Find out.....?
• Find out.....?

Domino Theory

• A foreign policy during the 1950s to 1980s that states if one one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then surrounding countreis would follow.
• "You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly." Said Dwight D. Eisenhower

Ho Chi Minh Trail

• 1950s and 60s; communist leader of North Vietnam; used geurilla warfare to fight anti-comunist, American-funded attacks under the Truman Doctrine; brilliant strategy drew out war and made it unwinnable
• They had the home advantage, they knew the layout better and could navigate the forrest great, unlike thier american counterparts who have trouble with the swampy marsh and hot conditions.

GULF OF TONKIN

• In early August 1964, two U.S. destroyers 1. stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam radioed that they had been fired upon by North Vietnamese forces. In response to these reported incidents, President Lyndon B. Johnson requested permission from the U.S. Congress to increase the U.S. military presence in Indochina.
• 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.

Hawks vs. doves

• The term is very easy, it refers to the supporters if the war vs. the ones who opposed it...
• THOSE WHO SUPPORTED THE WAR-hawks
• Those who opposed the war -Doves

Tet Offensive

• A series of major attacks by communist forces in the Vietnam War. Early in 1968, Vietnamese communist troops seized and briefly held some major cities at the time of the lunar new year, or Tet.
• In late January, 1968, during the lunar new year (or “Tet”) holiday, North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam.

Vietnamization

• A policy of the Richard Nixon administration during the Vietnam War to end U.S. involvement in the war and "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops".

Kent state

• Ohio college where an anti-war protest got way out of hand, the Nat'l Guard was called in and killed 3 students (innocent,unarmed,wounded 9) in discriminate fire of M-1 rifles
• Opened up more peoples eyes to the conflict and some argue it made people more opposed the the war.

Kent state

• Ohio college where an anti-war protest got way out of hand, the Nat'l Guard was called in and killed 3 students (innocent,unarmed,wounded 9) in discriminate fire of M-1 rifles
• Opened up more peoples eyes to the conflict and some argue it made people more opposed the the war.

Legacy of the Vietnam War

• Vietnam war was very controversial because it never had the full support of the American public like they did in WWII
• Many people opposed and and were against it and protested it. The very know protest gone wrong was the kent state shooting of unarmed protesters.

Vietcong

• A group of Communist guerrillas who, with the help of North Vietnam, fought against the South Vietnamese government in the Vietnam War.
• It was a communist guerrilla force in South Vietnam. They received weapons and ammunition from the North via the Ho Chi Minh Trial. Its main purpose was to launch surprise attacks on South Vietnamese cities like during the Tet Offensive and sometimes recruit members from local villages in the south.

The Fall of Saigon

• Was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the North Vietnamese army on April 30, 1975. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period leading to the formal reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.