Name: Reading Questions 9Y

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1 Name: Reading Questions 9Y Gulf of Tonkin 1. According to this document, what did the North Vietnamese do? 2. Why did the United States feel compelled to respond at this point? 3. According to this document, was the U.S. planning to go to war in Vietnam before August 1964? Explain your answer. Foreign Affairs Officer 1. When was this document written? Who wrote it? 2. What did Bundy suggest to the President? 3. What are three reasons why Bundy made this recommendation? 4. According to this document, was the U.S. planning to go to war in Vietnam before August 1964? Explain your answer. Rise of Communism in Vietnam 1. According to the document, who controlled Vietnam since the late 19 th Century? What was the nation s original name? 2. Who took control of the city of Hanoi? What was the name of the country he created? 3. According to this document, what kind of conflict had already occurred in Vietnam in the 1940s and 1950s? Explain your answer.

2 Reading Questions 9Y Current U.S. Intervention in Vietnam 1. Who pledged his support for Diem? What country did Diem run? 2. What did Diem s forces do to the Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communists)? 3. What did the advising team tell President Kennedy to do to prepare for the North Vietnamese? What was the Domino Theory? 4. According to the document, what were some of the positives and negatives for supporting President Diem of Vietnam? Explain your answer. Paragraph In the space below write a paragraph answering the following question: Do YOU think that the United States should declare war on North Vietnam, or should we stay out of it? Give at least 3 reasons from the documents in the paragraph.

3 Document A (Modified) Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Congressional Joint Resolution, August 7, 1964 The North Vietnamese Navy, in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law, have deliberately and repeatedly attacked United States naval vessels lawfully present in international waters, and have thereby created a serious threat to international peace; and These attacks are part of a deliberate and systematic campaign of aggression that the Communist regime in North Vietnam has been waging against its neighbors and other free the nations; and The United States is assisting the peoples of Southeast Asia to protect their freedom and has no territorial, military or political ambitions in that area, but desires only that these peoples should be left in peace to work out their own destinies in their own way: Therefore the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America have decided that we approve and support the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary military actions to combat Communist forces and to prevent further aggression. The United States is prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom. Gulf of Tonkin

4 Document B (Modified) Memorandum from Foreign Affairs Advisor (Bundy) to the President Washington, May 25, It is recommended that you make a Presidential decision that the U.S. will use selected and carefully graduated military force against North Vietnam... This basic Presidential decision is recommended on these premises: (1) that the U.S. cannot tolerate the loss of Southeast Asia to Communism; (2) that without a decision to resort to military action if necessary the present prospect is not hopeful, in South Vietnam or in Laos; (3) that a decision to use force if necessary, backed by resolute and extensive deployment, and conveyed by every possible means to our adversaries (enemies), gives the best present chance of avoiding the actual use of such force. It is further recommended that our clear purpose in this decision should be to use all our influence to bring about a major reduction or elimination of North Vietnamese interference in Laos and in South Vietnam, and not to unroll a scenario aimed at the use of force as an end in itself. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Aides File, McGeorge Bundy, Luncheon with the President, Vol. I, Part 1. Top Secret Sensitive. Gulf of Tonkin

5 Rise of Communism in Vietnam During World War II, Japan invaded and occupied Vietnam, a nation on the eastern edge of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia that had been under French administration since the late 19th century. Inspired by Chinese and Soviet communism, Ho Chi Minh formed the Viet Minh, or the League for the Independence of Vietnam, to fight both Japan and the French colonial administration. Japan withdrew its forces in 1945, leaving the French-educated Emperor Bao Dai in control of an independent Vietnam. Ho s Viet Minh forces rose up immediately, seizing the northern city of Hanoi and declaring a Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) with Ho as president. Seeking to regain control of the region, France backed Bao and set up the state of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in July 1949, with Saigon as its capital. Armed conflict continued until a decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 ended in French defeat by Viet Minh forces. The subsequent treaty negotiations at Geneva split Vietnam along the latitude known as the 17th parallel (with Ho in control in the North and Bao in the South) and called for nationwide elections for reunification to be held in In 1955, however, the strongly anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem pushed Bao aside to become president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN).

6 Current U.S. Intervention in Vietnam With the Cold War intensifying, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam. With training and equipment from American military and police, Diem s security forces cracked down on Viet Minh sympathizers in the south, whom he derisively called Viet Cong (or Vietnamese Communist), arresting some 100,000 people, many of whom were tortured and executed. By 1957, the Viet Cong and other opponents of Diem s repressive regime began fighting back with attacks on government officials and other targets, and by 1959 they had begun engaging South Vietnamese Army forces in firefights. In December 1960, Diem s opponents within South Vietnam both communist and noncommunist formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance to the regime. Though the NLF claimed to be autonomous and that most of its members were non-communist, many in Washington assumed it was a puppet of Hanoi. A team sent by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to report on conditions in South Vietnam advised a build-up of American military, economic and technical aid in order to help confront the Viet Cong threat. Working under the domino theory, which held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many would follow, Kennedy increased U.S. aid, though he stopped short of committing to a large-scale military intervention. By 1962, the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam had reached some 9,000 troops, compared with fewer than 800 during the 1950s.

7 Gulf of Tonkin Incident REPORT August 2 nd, 1964 In the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam an American ship was attacked and damaged by two or three Viet Cong Naval torpedo boats. The attack was sudden and without cause or warning. The USS Maddox (U.S. ship) retaliated and a sea battle ensued. During the attack 2 military personnel were killed in action. It is in this report that we insist that the Viet Cong attacked first without provoking and with no reason, but with all intent to sink the USS Maddox. Second Report August 4 th, 1964 USS Maddox reports another possible attack. RADAR picked up responses in the Gulf of Tonkin consistent with those of torpedoes fired from Viet Cong ships. USS Maddox returned fire, but no wreckage, bodies, or evidence of hit to be found. The USS Maddox is undamaged from second possible attack. Again attack from Viet Cong unwarranted and without provoking.