10. America's War in Vietnam 1965-1973

Question 1

Why was there a historical precedence for a Vietnamese split?

Answer 1

• Indochina = between India and China
• Two cultural influences
• Historical and cultural precedence for Vietnam split

Question 2

What happened in North Vietnam after the 1954 Geneva Accords?

Answer 2

• Called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh
• Suppress opposition, purges
• Land reforms, industrialisation
• Education reforms, family values, gender equality

Question 3

What happened in South Vietnam after the 1954 Geneva Accords?

Answer 3

• Republic of Vietnam (RVN)
• No sense of national identity
• ARVN main institution (army)
• Failure of economic policies
• Refugees, crime, corruption
• Civil War 1954
• Ngo Dinh Diem (1955-1963)

Question 4

Did the U.S. ever intend to reunify Vietnam?

Answer 4

• Not under communism
• Wanted a permanent state in the South and planned to use the same formula as South Korea
• 300 day grace period for people to move to the North or South

Question 5

Briefly summarise Ngo Dinh Diem’s leadership of RVN?

Answer 5

• Autocratic and unpopular
• His cabinet were mainly compromised of family members
• Elite Catholic in a mainly Buddhist country
• Self-immolation of Buddhist monks – world wide news
• Assassinated along with his brother 1st November 1963 – assassination supported by U.S.

Question 6

What was the aftermath of Diem’s death in RVN?

Answer 6

• Political instability 1963-65
• Nine changes in government
• Increasing military and social instability
• 1964, RVN only controlled 42% of rural villages

Question 7

What was the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964) and what were its consequences?

Answer 7

• USS Maddox
• 2nd and 4th August
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 7th August
• Congress gives LBJ powers to bomb North Vietnam, only two members oppose
• Unofficial declaration of war – never formally declare war on North Vietnam
• Operation Rolling Thunder

Question 8

What year were U.S. ground troops sent to Vietnam?

Answer 8

• June 1965
• In 1961 there had already been U.S. advisors and troops in battle
• 1965 – 45,000 troops
• 1969 – 500,000 troops

Question 9

What were the three main areas of U.S. war strategy in Vietnam?

Answer 9

1. War of attrition – search and destroy tactics
2. Vietnamization – try to get out of Vietnam
3. Heart and Minds

Question 10

What was General Westmoreland’s strategy for overrunning the Viet Cong?

Answer 10

• War of attrition
• Need to kill more soldiers than they can replace in order to wear them out
• Search and destroy, push into rural areas not cities
• Success measured by the body count
• Bombing campaign – destroy their economy

Question 11

What was the outcome of the Tet Offensive in January 1968?

Answer 11

• Tet = Vietnamese New Year, cities simultaneously attacked
• Communist failure, half of their troops are killed, no long lasting gains in territory
• Victory as it is a psychological failure for the U.S.

Question 12

What was Vietnamization and what policies did the Paris Peace Accords produce?(1969-1974)

Answer 12

• End U.S. involvement, Peace negotiations, Nixon
• Vietnamization – expand ARVN who take over fighting for the U.S., still supplied weapons
• ARVN one of the best equipped and trained armies by 1970
• Paris Peace Accords, 27 January 1973 = ceasefire, return of POWs, planned reunification under the North, $3.2 billion restitution from U.S. to North

Question 13

How was the war viewed by the U.S. and Vietnam and how did it affect future U.S. foreign policy?

Answer 13

• For Vietnam it was a war for independence, social revolution, and nationalism
• For the U.S. it was an ideological war which followed their Containment policy
• Shapes the future of U.S. foreign policy, reluctant to commit troops until the 1991 Gulf War