4/5/2016

We went over the "Make Love, Not War" worksheet.
Questions asked were:

1) The people aren't always on the side of the protesters.

 2) The Economy benefited, because they wanted to make ships, ships require people to build, and people got paid to  build it. The more money they pumped into the War effort, they more money got put in the hands of the people.

After that we reviewed the topics we went over earlier, with a power-point.
Vietnam- Eisenhower Period
Dien Bien Phu:
This shows that Imperialism is dying -> Costs a lot of money -> French leaving, but Ho Chi Minh could take over and he's communist. (Opposite of what we're trying do Containment)

Geneva Peace Conference: 
North Vietnam (Communist)
South Vietnam (Not-Communist)
Ho Chi Minh in the U.S. eyes is a bad person. In the eyes of Vietnam is basically their George Washington (to liberate Vietnam from outside influence i.e. Freedom Fighter)
The United States didn't want elections because we knew Minh would win.
Tried to establish a NATO-type system in South East Asia- SEATO.

Vietnam- Kennedy Period
"We have to be flexible" --Don't follow Eisenhower--
Not winning the "Third World" countries/ "non-aligned Nations". Get more on OUR side.
Amount of military advisers increased from a few hundred to about 16 thousand
Diem was killed during the Coup of Diem's government. The U.S. didn't expect that, but it opened the opportunity to put a leader that people would like, which worked, but "it's not about who's running the show, but the show itself"(Mr. Stewart)

Vietnam- Johnson Period
Following policies as same as other presidents. Not really making anything new.
-Fear of being "soft on communism"
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Attacked one, Navy fires.
Attacked twice? Not sure. (Mixed signals, either he lied or didn't wait to announce on it.)
"Rolling Thunder" drag bomb strikes, trying to get all the Vietcong. We get some, but never all.
Escalation: trying to send a message by retaliating.
"Search and Destroy
"There's just a small problem in Vietnam" -But isn't true.

Vietnam- Nixon Period
"Peace with Honor" We're not gonna look like we just bailed.
Vietnamization" This is Vietnam's War. You guys can fight your own war.
Minig of Haiphong Harbor: Force the Vietnamese to negotiate. 
"Bomb them back to the Peace Table"
Paris Accords: Recognized South and North Vietnam, but the North Viet troops were allowed to stay where they were.

Vietnam's Legacy
Paris Accords allowed the U.S. to leave.
South Vietnam left in disarray and was defeated in April of 1975.
War destabilized the whole nearby regions, everything was in chaos.
War between Vietnam and Cambodia; Viet to Cam -> "You're WAY too communist"
Doesn't calm down until the 1980s
Costed about 2 Trillion in modern times.