The Vietnam years & social change
changes from previous eras
- This was the first televised war. It built a credibility gap between the people and the government. The government told the people that the war would be over soon and that they were winning when they really weren't.
- This was the first war where the soldiers came home and were not appreciated. Many thought that this was a wasteful war and people were risking their lives for a cause that the U.S. had no business in. This was the first war that we lost.
domino theoryThe idea that if a nation (Vietnam) were to fall under communism rule, nearby nations would fall into communistic rule and eventually reach the U.S. The goal was to contain the spread before communism reached America, a reason for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
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In this cartoon, the Vietcong are pushing the dominoes on one side to demonstrate their hope to spread communism while the American solider on the other side is holding up on the dominoes to demonstrate their hope to spread democracy.
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Gulf of tonkin resolutionStated that Congress approves and supports the determination of the president, as a commander in chief, to take all necessary measures against the forces of the U.S. to prevent aggression. As a result, Johnson, later Nixon, relied on the resolution as well as the legal basis for their military policies in Vietnam.
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To gain the support of Americans he used yellow journalism to claim that the North Vietnamese had sank a U.S. ship when it really hadn't.
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LBJ was basically handed a "blank check" from Congress, allowing him to spend what ever he felt was vital to war needs. He used "escalation" by sending about 500,000 more soldiers into the war.
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ho chi minh trailA network of paths used by North Vietnamese to transport supplies to the Vietcong in South Vietnam. This greatly upset American troops because they couldn't find them and didn't know how to kill them to end the war.
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This map demonstrates the extensive route of underground paths for the Vietcong during the war.
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The Vietcong experienced tunnels like this where they had everything they needed in order to survive the war. They were basically cavemen.
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agent orangeA toxic leaf-killing chemical sprayed by U.S. planes in Vietnam to expose Vietcong hideouts.
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The planes would release the Agent Orange and it would burn their forests. Americans were frustrated because they couldn't find the Vietcong.
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At the time they weren't thinking of the effects it would have on people. Agent Orange is blamed for problems with cancer and other mutations.
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vietnamizationPresident Nixon's strategy for ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which would gradually withdraw U.S. troops and be replaced by South Vietnam troops.
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President Nixon proposes his plan for Vietnamization.
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American soldiers would have to teach the Southern Vietnamese fighting techniques to defeat the Vietcong since the U.S. troops were going back home.
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CREDIBILITY gapA public distrust of statements made by the government. Throughout the Vietnam war LBJ and Nixon greatly widened the gap.
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A 7,000 page document was released that showed that the Pentagon had war plans drawn up even when Johnson said that he was opposed to war.
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Nixon also agreed to try "peace with honor" in effort to help his election and that he was going to take troops out of Vietnam. Once he was in office he turned his back on us and bombed Cambodia.
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Core American Values
Nationalism was expressed through Americans at the beginning of the war when North Vietnam "sunk" a U.S. ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. The war was supported and LBJ was handed a "blank check."
Progress was shown through the domino theory concept. Americans wanted to make sure that communism was contained and it wouldn't reach the U.S. so they went to war with Vietnam. Communism never reached America.
Common good was seen in troops who went to war in Vietnam. They ensured safety for their country and served in a war that they deemed pointless.
Progress was shown through the domino theory concept. Americans wanted to make sure that communism was contained and it wouldn't reach the U.S. so they went to war with Vietnam. Communism never reached America.
Common good was seen in troops who went to war in Vietnam. They ensured safety for their country and served in a war that they deemed pointless.