Vietnam War Flashcards
1
Q
US involvement in Vietnam under Truman (1950-54) (3)
A
- USA paying for 80% of French bill for Vietnam
- $2 billion payed for army, $50 million for people
- Byrnes: “mindset of the Truman administration” which led to the “tragic and misguided war”
2
Q
US involvement in Vietnam under Eisenhower (5)
A
- $385 million in aid - “must not lose Asia”
- Sent US bombers and 200 technicians yet showed restraint at Dien Bien Phu
- Rejection of the Geneva Accords (Ho Chi Minh - 80% predicted 1956 elections)
- SEATO and $7 billion in aid
- Anderson: “Trapped itself and its successors”
3
Q
US involvement in Vietnam under Kennedy (6)
A
- 20,000 advisors
- Failure of battle of Ap Bac Jan 1963 - 2,000 ARVN vs 350 North Vietnamese yet refused to mount a rescue mission
- Diem deposed after 1963 Catholic flag disputes lead to the deaths of 7 Buddhists
- Fortified hamlets led to a 300% rise in opposition group numbers
- Kaiser: Kennedy resisted pressure from advisors to send troops (e.g JCS recommendation) but was seen as too soft domestically
- Ellen Hammer: coup against Diem morally locked the US into the interests of South Vietnam
4
Q
US involvement in Vietnam under Johnson (6)
A
- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 1964 - landslide Nov 1964 elections, 42->72% rating
- Rolling Thunder - sustained US bombing campaign from 1965-68 (67% approval amongst public)
- Sent 200,000 to 500,000 ground troops by 1968
- Emotionally and constitutionally bound to continue polices and advisors of Kennedy so had no new ideas
- Schmitz: Johnson was a victim of the containment trap “all logic and rational… called for escalation”
- David Logevall: Johnson can be blamed for escalation
5
Q
Historiography of Vietnam (4)
A
1, George Herring: Little choice, had to stop Communism
- Kolko: US motivated by Asian markets and cheap raw materials
- J Schell: Quagmire theory where US was trapped due to ignorance and credibility concerns
- Richard Betts: Stalemate theory where both sides knew they couldn’t win but didn’t want to lose either
6
Q
Reasons for US failure in Vietnam (3)
A
- Losing hearts and minds: high civilian casualties (6:1 VC), 1/3 of peasants forced to move, prostitution, My Lai Massacre 1968 (347 killed)
- Strengths of Communists vs ARVN weaknesses: search and avoid, unpopular regime (Thieu fled with millions in gold for aid)
- Morale of US troops: disunity, UUUU, African Americans, 1967-71: 730 fraggings killing 83 officers, ineffective tactics, 25% STDs, 58% marijuana, 22% heroin, airlifts
7
Q
The role of the protest movement in the Vietnam War
A
- 1964: Near mountainous support
- 1965: 25,000 marched on Washington yet 1,000s singed pro-Johnson petitions and only 25% thought US had erred
- 1967: 70,000 marched on Washington and 46% thought it had been a mistake
- 1968: Tet Offensive (11,000 troops, 3 weeks, Saigon, 58,000 Communists to 9,000 ARVN/US) was a major psychological defeat, Walter Cronkite, 48%->36% approval rating, 74% not handling it well, deficit rose from $1.6 bill to $25.3 bill angering tax payers
- 1969: 500,000. March against Death, Washington. 100,000 Kent State Shootings, Washington (forced Nixon to take troops out of Cambodia by June)
8
Q
US involvement in the Vietnam War under Nixon (4)
A
- Nixon reversed his position after the Tet Offensive, supporting a policy of Vietnamization and peace with honour. He was also encouraged by the Sino-Soivet split. (Silent majority 68%)
- 1970: Cambodian offensive - destroyed some war materiel
- 1971: Failure of vietnamization, attempts at linkage, approval rating 31%
- 1972: Attempts to compromise yet Christmas Bombings condemned, Paris Peace Accords 1975
9
Q
Vietnam and the Cold War (4)
A
- Initial preoccupation with Europe shifted to Asia after the fall of China and the activity of Communists in Indochina and Malaysia
- Vietnam hindered detente (e.g meeting between US and Soviet leader)
- Soviets encouraged to invade Czechoslovakia in 196, the Horn of African and the Afghanistan
- Alienated US allies
10
Q
The domestic effects of the Vietnam war
A
- Spent just $15.5 billion on the Great Society compared to $120 billion on the war (1965-73)
- 200,000 US troops killed or wounded
- The president was seen as too powerful especially after the Watergate scandal of 1972 which damaged respect for the office
11
Q
Canada and the Vietnam War
A
- Some aid to French, part of the ICC and passed info onto the US whilst focusing on Communist violations of the Geneva Accords in 1954
- Pearson publicly supported US involvement and was rewarded (Defense Production Sharing Agreement 1959, £2 million in war materiel 1965-73). However spoke of the need for an “imperative” settlement in 1965
- Trudeau - not “mirror image,” cut budget to NATO, condemned Christmas bombings
- Canada welcomed 50,000 draft dodgers and 125,000 anti war Americans
- 30,00 Canadians volunteered
- Victor Levant: “quiet complicity”
- J.M Bumbsted: reason for deterioration in relations between US and Canada
12
Q
Latin America and the Vietnam War
A
- Chile: 1967 Peace March of 1,000 demonstrators, University of Chile riot, uneasy about US domination of copper industry
- Cuba: Tri-continental conference- left wing representatives opposed Vietnam war