Chapter 22/Section 1

Moving Toward Conflict

Key Idea

America slowly involves itself in the war inVietnam as it seeks to halt the spread of communism.

After World War II, Vietnamese Communists ledby Ho Chi Minhfought against French colonialrule.

  • The United States helped the French withmilitary supplies.
  • The communists won in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu.
  • Apeace agreement temporarily split the country into North and South Vietnam, divided at the 17th Parallel.

South Vietnam’s prime minister Ngo DinhDiem declared himselfhead of the government.

  • President Eisenhowersupported Diem and feared a “Domino Effect” if Vietnam became Communist.
  • Opponents to Diem in theSouth—the Vietcong—began guerrilla attacks.
  • Kennedy continued Eisenhower’spolicy and sent some American troops to train the South Vietnamesearmy.

In late 1963, Diem was overthrown, and the US feared that SouthVietnam would fall to the Communist North.

  • WhenU.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin wereattacked in 1964 by North Vietnamese torpedoboats, President Johnson retaliated with a bombingattack.
  • With the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in February of 1965, Johnsonlaunched a major bombing attack on NorthVietnam’s cities.
  • The next month the first U.S.combat troops arrived.

Chapter 22/Section 2

U.S. Involvementand Escalation

The United States sends troops to fight inVietnam, but the war quickly turns into a stalemate.

The troops sent by President Johnson found the war frustrating.

  • TheVietcong struck quickly in small groups and thendisappeared in the jungle or in an elaborate systemof tunnels.
  • Americans’ superior weaponry was oflittle use so search-and-destroy missions were implemented.

The policy of winning support among the peopleof South Vietnam did not work either.

  • The frustrations of war lowered the morale of Americansoldiers.
  • TV news film of the war showed the lack of success in Vietnam.

Chapter 22/Section 3

A Nation Divided

An antiwar movement emerges in the UnitedStates, pitting those who oppose the government’s warpolicy against those who support it.

Many people—especially white middle-classyoung men—obtained draft deferments becausethey were college students.

  • As a result, U.S. troopsin Vietnam were mostly working-class whites andmembers of minority groups, prompting protestsfrom civil rights leaders.

Unrest was growing on college campuses in theearly 1960s as the New Left urged sweepingchanges in American society.

  • Eventually, some draft-resisters were imprisonedand many deserted to Canada.

By 1967, Americans were divided into hawks—who supported administration policy—and doves—who wanted the war to end.

  • Many felt that doveswere showing disloyalty by protesting while Americanswere fighting.

Chapter 22/Section 5

The End of the Warand Its Legacy

The nation’s longest war ends after nearly tenyears and leaves a lasting impact on U.S. policy andAmerican society.

As president, Nixon began towithdraw American troops, giving the major role in thewar to South Vietnam—Vietnamization.

When Americans learned that Nixon had bombed Cambodia to interrupt VC supply lines,protests erupted on college campuses.

  • At KentState nervous National Guard troops killed fourstudents.
  • In January 1973, allparties agreed to a peace negotiated by Henry Kissinger.
  • In March 1975, the N. Vietnamesedefeated the government of South Vietnam.

Vietnamese deaths topped 1.5 million.

  • Communistrebels—the Khmer Rouge—took Cambodia and killed about 2million people.

The United States suffered 58,000 dead and365,000 wounded.

  • Surviving American soldierscame home to hostility and anger.
  • Congress passed the War Powers Act to prevent the presidentfrom committing troops in a foreign conflictwithout its approval.
  • The war changed Americanforeign policy and caused a feeling of mistrusttoward the government that remains today.