On October 31, 1968, President Johnson announced a complete halt to the bombing of North Vietnam. On November 5, Nixon is elected President with Gerald Ford as his vice-president. (Leone 138) On March 15, 1969, Nixon found out that the Vietcong were hiding in Cambodia, so he ordered the immediate bombing of these sanctuaries, but because he was bombing sanctuaries, it was never released to the American public. (Prados 193) In May of 1969, American soldier commitment was at its peak at 543,000, also during May, President Nixon announced his first major troop withdrawal and pledged to replace the Selective Service Act with a lottery. In June Nixon announced that twenty-five thousand U.S. troops would be withdrawn and replaced by South Vietnamese soldiers.
The Vietminh fought for their freedom. As the Vietminh began to defeat the French, the French did not prevent the communist North Vietnamese from reaching South Vietnam. (use source #1) According to the “Statement Issued by the White House”, the President assigned an ambassador to Vietnam “to coordinate the operations of all US agencies in that country. “Since the conclusion of hostilities in Indochina, the US Government has been particularly concerned over developments in Vietnam.” Even as early as 1954, before the Vietnam war had began, the US was concerned about what was happening. The US saw that the situation in Vietnam was something that needed to be flagged and
After the failure of that he introduced things such as the strategic hamlets (Agrovilles) which were villages that were surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by troops, to isolate National Liberation Front (NFL) guerrillas from political recruits and other responses. In November 1961 Kennedy agreed to provide aircraft, intelligence equipment and additional economic aid which show that he was keen to introduce military forces to Vietnam. But due to the takeover of the NFL this meant that Kennedy had to up his enforcement in Vietnam so he left Johnson with a US military force of 16,000 troops and a commitment to the growing Vietnamese war. Source B also suggests that Kennedy was willing to use military force and it does this by saying “Kennedy would have agreed that withdrawal would case the fall of the dominos” this is suggestion that if Kennedy withdrew from Vietnam then this would be the realisation of the domino theory and everyone would see if Vietnam was the trigger that set of the domino theory. This source shows that Kennedy was willing to us military force and would not withdraw from
So to calm fears of communist takeover President Kennedy sent in 800 american “advisors” to help train the south Vietnamese. It was quickly realized that small numbers of American special forces were not viable and prior to Kennedys assassination by 1962 the number of troops in Vietnam grew to about
This assistance then increased, as by the end of the year, the US had given France $100 million, along with aircraft, patrol boats, napalm bombs and ground combat machinery. This then led to the fight for independence against the French, as in August 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam, only to see the French return to re-establish their authority. Furthermore, 1952 saw the beginning of Eisenhower's presidency. His importance within the Vietnam war revolves around the fact that he continued and increased American involvement there. Initially, he continued Truman's policy of helping the French to fight communism in Vietnam.
Conflict between North and South Vietnam The geography of the region in which it occurred: The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to 1975. It was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the USSR, China and North Korea, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States with its allies, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. This conflict between pro-communist and pro-capitalist countries was part of the Cold War. What happened during this event: Before World War II, Vietnam was part of the French colony of Indochina.
1a: Explain why the Tet Offensive was a military defeat but psychological boost to the North Vietnamese forces (1000 - 1500 words) The Tet offensive brought about the first major signs to the general public that the U.S government were fighting an un-democratic war. In early 1968, on the Vietnamese lunar New Year a surprise communist groups resisting the South Vietnamese regime launched attack. Being led away from Saigon with false tip off as to the point of attack, the majority of American troops had been sent to the west of Vietnam to the borders of Cambodia. Whilst the American troops sped back returning faster than the NLF had anticipated Their estimated 84,000 troops (Lawrence, 2008) had stormed Saigon and for a brief time a small group held the American embassy, being seen by cameras waving the north Vietnamese flag from the roof. It was only a few days until the NLF troops had been beaten back and the American troops once again occupied Saigon and their own embassy.
Three thousand French troops were killed, and eight thousand wounded. Vietnamese suffered much more with eight thousand dead and twelve thousand wounded. In 1961, John F. Kennedy ordered more help for the South Vietnamese government in its war, On July 30, 1964 the war moved to two small North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Ton kin. During This twenty-five year period the ensuing war would create some of the strongest tensions in US history. Much of Vietnam's history has been under foreign rule by the Chinese.
When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, his successor Lyndon Johnson became the new president. By 1964, 35% of South Vietnam was in Vietcong hands, communists, and 60,000 communist guerrillas where operating in the South, leading to the US destroyer, Maddox, being sent into the Gulf on Aug 4th, 1964 ,to lure the North Vietnamese into battle, being fired at by North Vietnamese and later Turner Joy. This gave the US congress an excuse to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that stated, “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary
The communist government of the North wished the United States to stop their support of the South Vietnam efforts against communism. The US didn't actually start fighting in the war until troops first entered the small country in March of 1965. The United States army and the South Vietnamese army worked together to try and fight off the North were fighting to unify Vietnam as one communist country. Although America withdrew troops in 1973 the South still fought for their freedom