Vietnam & the Limits of Power I. Kennedy & the New Frontier A. Style & Promise 1. John F. Kennedy (JFK) a. wealthy son of Joseph b. c. WWII Vet; US ; PT 109 d. good looks 2. elected President 1960 a. overcame issue b. debates c. image protected by press from side reality 3. League Cabinet (LBJ to Sam Rayburn: I d feel a whole lot better if just one of them had run for sheriff once. ) a. e.g. Robert (DOD) b. emphasis on, tech, 4. Inaugural (Address called for Americans to ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country. ) II. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy JFK: Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. A. Hour of Maximum Danger 1. Bay of fiasco (April 1961) a. CIA-trained exiles invaded b. no uprising, no US air support 2. Space Race a. USSR first in space b. JFK set goal of moon by end of 3. Berlin Wall (August 1961) a. beat hell out of JFK b. led to mobilization B. The Arms Race & the Nuclear Brink 1. Arms Race a. US: 7,200 b. USSR followed suit 2. Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) a. USSR installed nuclear in Cuba b. JFK settled on option c. US appeared to win nuclear showdown; led to C. Venturing into Vietnam Quagmire 1. JFK s reasons a. strong b. his take on of history
c. commitment to foreign policy d. provide a test for counterinsurgency Forces ( Green Berets ) 2. Obstacles a. determined (South Vietnamese communist insurgents) b. Ngo Dinh Diem & (Army of the Republic of South Vietnam) were corrupt; alienated population c. North Vietnamese intervention 3. JFK & the First Escalation 1961 1963 US advisors 700 16,000 US deaths 0 100 III. LBJ & the Great LBJ announced the goal of a Great Society, [which] rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice. A. Fulfilling the Kennedy Promise 1. Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) a. self-made man from hill country b. school teacher (Southwest Texas State Teachers' College) c. WWII US Navy Reserves d. state legislature, House, Senate e. protégé of Mr. Sam ( coarse wit, excessive vanity, intense ambition, Texas accent; entice, cajole, threaten legislators with the Johnson Treatment ) IV. LBJ s War against Communism A. The Second Escalation (1964-1968) 1. The Gulf of a. US allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese gunboats b. LBJ used incident as to ask Congress for war power c. if incident occurred, it was d. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed Congress August 2. 1964 Election (LBJ: We are not going to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves. ) a. Tonkin Resolution showed that LBJ was not soft on communism as charged by Goldwater b. but LBJ elected as candidate 3. Escalation a. after election, LBJ rejected North Vietnam s peace overtures b. Operation Rolling, February 1965: bombing of North Vietnam c. Marines landed at Da Nang d. July: +50,000 soldiers e. began offensive
B. The Americanized War 1. Rolling Thunder, 1965-68 a. gradually b. goal: break will of NVA without provoking c. LBJ targets 2. Tactics (US officer: We had to destroy the village in order to save it. ) a. no battlefront; progress measured in counts & kill ratios b. war fought by young (19) working class & blacks c. difficult to distinguish between & d. firebases; search & e. mobile war; helicopters; Agent V. A Nation Polarized A. The Widening War at Home 1. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) a. sparked by Rolling Thunder b. 100,000 members; 300 chapters c. student protests 2. college from draft led to campus a. spring 68: one marched 3. The Antiwar Mainstream a. NY Times, 65 b. WSJ, Life, Walter, 68 c. Fulbright, McGovern, Mansfield d. Dr. Spock 4. Avoiding the Draft a. Ali (stripped of title) b. 170,000 conscientious objectors c. 60,000 the d. 200,000 other draft offenses 5. Divided nation a. millions still supported war; saw protestors as b. gap B. 1968: Year of Upheaval 1. Pro-war Americans divided (voter: I want to get out but I don t want to give up. ) a. : US fighting with its hands tied b. : called for de-escalation c. Robert McNamara resigned 68 2. Offensive, January 1968 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/nguyen.jpg a. the critical point of war b. Vietnamese lunar New Year c. violated truce d. major offensive; even US e. huge US military victory: 10:1
f. huge moral victory for g. reduced to rubble h. credibility gap i. called for more troops 3. LBJ s reaction a. de-escalation; halt to b. seek talks c. I shall not seek, and I will not accept 4. Peace talks in Paris; violence at home a. Martin Luther King, b. Robert F. Kennedy, c. 200 demonstrations d. University shut down e. Chicago Police v. (Youth International Party) 3-day riots 5. 1968 Election a. Democrat i. liberal ii. pro-war b. Republican Richard i. law & order ii. end war with honor iii. majority c. American Independent George i. segregationalist Governor of ii. many working class whites iii. VP running mate Curtis LeMay iv. won a lot of votes in Indiana My solution to the problem [of North Vietnam] would be to tell them frankly that they ve got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression, or we re going to them back into the. d. won election VI. Nixon s Search for Peace with A. Vietnamization & Negotiations 1. Henry a. National Security Advisor b. German-born Jewish refugee c. Harvard professor 2. Goals a. ideally: non- Vietnam b. realistically: maintain US 3. Strategy a. strengthen ARVN ( ) b. disarm the antiwar movement in US with gradual withdrawal of US forces c. negotiate with both North Vietnam & d. massive as bargaining strength (Operation ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/image:usaf.boeing_b-52.jpg
4. Implementation a. ARVN: million-man army; 4 th largest air force in world b. US drawdown Year 1969 1970 1971 US Forces 500,000 334,600 140,000 Combat Deaths 11,616 6,081 2,357 c. bad morale; drug use; B. Nixon s War 1. Nixon secretly expanded war to, April 1970 a. purpose: destroy NVA sanctuary b. results: i. State, OH (4 May 1970: dead, wounded) ii. Jackson State,MS (14 May: 2 dead) iii. Cambodian civil war; Khmer Rouge 2. secret invasion of, 1971 3. growing peace movement among vets (John Kerry), May 1971 4. Court Martial of Lt. William Calley a. massacre, 1968 b. US learned of murdered 5. Pentagon Papers a. June 1971 b. NY Times published secret study of the war c. leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, who Nixon s men tried to destroy C. Peace Accords & Fall of Saigon 1. Christmas, December 1972 a. Operation Linebacker II b. tons of bombs dropped in 12 days 2. Paris Peace Accord a. January b. US to withdraw; NVA to remain c. return of d. Congress forced Nixon to cease bombing of Cambodia & Laos 3. 1975 a. NVA offensive reached Saigon in months b. Congress further aid to South Vietnam c. Saigon fell on 1 1975 d. US evacuated its own & 150,000 South Vietnamese http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/vietnamescape.jpg D. Legacy of Defeat 1. The Bipartisan War ( no partisan political debate most Americans simply wanted to forget the war ) a. it took Nixon years to end war b. more US combat deaths c. no longer a Democrat War d. Congress passed Act, 1973
2. The Veterans a. denied traditional b. blamed for ; stereotyped; c. some felt betrayed, others used d. Draft dodgers given, d. The Healing Wall November VII. Conclusion: The Limits of American Power A. America s Longest War 1. Casualties a. years; $150 billion; deaths, wounded b. divided nation c. brought down Presidents 2. Constraints on US Power a. tenacity of revolutionary movements; US perceived as just another power b. avoiding with USSR, China c. South Vietnamese ally d. domestic opposition; erosion of support