The 60s & Vietnam War Lecture

Transcription

1 The 60s & Vietnam War Lecture I. Home New Frontier a. Economic Policy i. Kennedy-Johnson Tax Cut or Tax Reduction Act of 1964 b. The Kennedy Myth & Camelot II. III. IV. JFK Away From Home a. Castro s Revolution vs. US/Cuban History Batista & Sugar b. Bay of Pigs Invasion/OPERATION ZAPATTA Failure (4-1961) c. Cuban Missile Crisis nuclear chicken ( ) i. Cuban/USSR Relations ii. US Reaction to Cuban/USSR Cooperation and U2 Reconnaissance Flights iii. Secret Diplomacy Ends the Conflict 1. USSR removes missiles 2. USA pledges NOT to invade Cuba 3. USA removes missiles from Turkey iv. Significance closest the world came to World War III and Nuclear Holocaust d. Berlin & its new Wall i. Nikita Khrushchev asked Kennedy to remove US and NATO soldiers out of West Berlin no therefore the USSR severs the two sides ii. In order to stop the exodus across the guarded sector, build a wall in 8-61 e. Peace Corps est i. Idealism of the early 1960s (of helping others) but also a CW weapon designed to bring The Third World countries into the American orbit and away from USSR f. NASA Space Race Under JFK i. More $$ to be the first to land on the moon do so in 1969 (cost $24 billion) Home Great Society see handout for additional info. a. Overview Big 4 Legislation that crowned LBJ s Society program: aid to education, medical care for the elderly and indigent, immigration reform and new voting rights bill! b. Education Reform c. Social Welfare i. Medicare Healthcare for elderly surcharge on social security and payroll tax ii. Medicaid healthcare for the poor general tax pays d. Civil Rights i. Civil Rights Act no discrimination in employment and public accommodations ii. Voters Rights Act No literacy tests/federal supervision iii. 24 th Amendment no poll tax e. Miscellaneous i. Immigration Act of 1965 abolished the National Origins Act of 1924/quotas 1. opens immigration and floods from Asia and Latin America 2. Doubled the amounted allowed to enter yr 290, Limits on West Hemisphere immigration 120,000 (1 st time ever) Home the Quiet American/Silent Majority a s Election 120,000 votes separate the two candidates in 1960 b. Arab Oil Embargo October i. Embargo for those nations supporting Israel energy crisis

2 2 ii. Embargo Lifted but only after 4x increase in oil by OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) (1973--$3 to $12 by 1975 and by $34 a barrel) c. Pre-H20Gate Issues (remember we know much of this from testimony and the tapes/transcripts themselves) i. Cambodian Bombings leaked to the press in Spring 1969 so Nixon suggests wiretaps of reporters and Whitehouse aids form plumbers unit to plug leaks. Headed by former CIA agents Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt d. H2Ogate i. June 17, 1972 Watergate hotel/business Complex break-in and 5 agents caught who had phone numbers to Whitehouse phones 1. Called a 3 rd rate burglary by the Whitehouse cover-up begins ii minutes gap in the tapes given to Congressional investigator iii HR Haldeman (Chief of Staff) instructed by Nixon to tell the CIA to tell the FBI not to investigate the h2ogate robbery too deeply obstruction of justice by Nixon smoking gun iv convicted men, with Nixon s approval, John Dean (Whitehouse counsel) tries to buy continued silence w/ $400,000 and possible pardons v Washington Post (Woodard and Bernstein) investigate and connect to Whitehouse 1. Dean fired and agrees to testify in exchange for immunity vi Dean implicates Nixon and tells of taping devices in Oval Office 1. Congressional committee wants tapes (Jan. 74 seen as public property) but Nixon cites Executive Privilege 2. Nixon on TV tells America that he was not involved in the cover-up vii. Spring 74 after numerous subpoenas, Nixon gives edited transcripts viii. Summer of 1974 House Impeachment Hearings on Obstruction of Justice, Abuse of Power and Subverting the Constitution ix. August 1974 Nixon gives unedited tapes that showed he covered up 1. Resigned August 9 th, st President ever e. Significance of H2Ogate i. 1 st president to resign ii. popular suspicion and cynicism of gvt leaders and US institutions iii. US lose creditability globally V. Nixon Away From Home a. Détente search for a constructive relationship with USSR and China i. Why? Try to get primary enemies under control to gain leverage in spheres of Influence ii. How do it? 1. USSR v. China (Ideology + Border Problems) iii. China-card Ping-Pong Diplomacy 1. Meet with Mao and have the Shanghai Communiqué important beginning to diplomatic recognition (1979 Carter) a. Both agree to resist expansion of any other power in Asia area vs. USSR b. Exchanges Academic, Athletic, scientific, cultural iv. USSR 1. Meet with Leonid Brezhnev 2. SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaty) a. 2 ABM (anti-ballistic missile systems) 1 ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missiles) complex and 1 for capital w/ 100 missiles per b. Limit SLBMs (Submarine-launched ballistic missiles)

3 c. Significance led to MIRVS (multiple Independently-targeted re-entry vehicles)=multiple war-heads per missile tip designed to overcome any defense i. Set Precedent to diminish arms race/reductions ii. America/USSR recognize MAD ideal 3 Vietnam War VI. Franco-Vietminh War ( ) a. The Beginning Accord between France and Vietnam after WWII fails b. WAR i. US Assistance by 1953 US pays for 80% of the French effort even though the French was losing most of the 8 years ii. Battle of Dien Bien Phu May, Vietminh General Giap vs. French General Navarre 2. Dien Bien Phu located in the middle of Vietnam (near the 17 th Parallel) a. French plea for US military assistance but NO! b. France surrenders c. Geneva Accords (July 1954) i. What it said 1. Cease Fire th Parallel 3. France would re-group south of the 17 th and the Vietminh would go north 4. Neither side will be allowed to join a military alliance with another nation general reunification elections would be held ii. US Response to the Accord 1. Place Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister of South Vietnam & US supports him with the CIA & over $300, yrly VII. US Advisory & Nation Building Period a. US Goals in Vietnam i. Preserve South Vietnam Independence by breaking the Geneva Accord and having a military alliance with the US 1. US objective toward SVN in 1961 is to prevent communist domination and to initiate, on an accelerated basis, a series of mutually supporting actions of a military, political, economic, psychological and covert character designed to achieve this objective. ii. Worry of Domino Theory b. Diem s Major Problems i. Political Weakness, corruption and public discontent ii. The question internal discontent or external aggression??? 1. National Liberation Front (NLF or Viet Cong VC) formed in Ho Chi Minh establishes the Ho Chi Minh Trail going from NVN to SVN through Cambodia and Laos in-order to supply the VC with military supplies and communicate and Vietminh loyalist are able to move back to SVN 90,000 c. JFK s Vietnam 1. He sends another 23,000 advisors (mostly CIA and Green Berets) to train the ARVN! ii. Diem assassinated w/ the ok by JFK and JFK killed 3 weeks later d. LBJ s 1964 Vietnam

4 4 i. What to do after the assassinations of November? 1. This is the best time to leave Vietnam but not realistic (in hind sight) ii. The Gulf of Tonkin (Battle and resolution) (August 1964) Incident USS Maddox attacked by NVN torpedo boats while on a DeSoto (electronic espionage/data gathering) mission in NVN water Disputed Incident a. Question if attack occurred or not since NVN deny attacking on Reaction to both Incidents Resolution on 8-10 a. Resolution (previously drafted) said this, The Congress approves and supports the determination of the President to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression. or the President can do as he pleases in Vietnam b. The Resolution continued, this Resolution shall expire when the President shall determine that the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured. or any time he chooses VIII. LBJ s War ( ) a. Battles that Justify and Mass Escalation i. Pleiku (2-7-65) helicopter base (8 US killed and 126 wounded) ii. Rolling Thunder sustained, regular, systematic bombing until 1968 (aircraft sent) 1. why? Impede supplies on Ho Chi Minh trail and strategic persuasion 2. problems LBJ personally selects targets (NO Hanoi, Chinese border, Laos, Cambodia) iii. Danang (3-8-65) 3,500 troops land here in order to protect aircraft iv. June of 1965 decide to escalate to 175,000 after debate (550,000 troops at height in 1968) b. Strategy of Attrition (killing more of them until they give up ideal 10 to 1) employed by General Westmoreland vs. 200,000 NVN men yrly drafted c. Major Battles i. Ia Drang Valley November 1965 We Were Soldiers Once, And Young ii. Tet (Begins January 1968) Turning Point in the War!!!! 1. Tet is a National Holiday (new year) and typically no fighting occurs 2. Results a. PAVN and VC fail tactically (as many troops lost and VC units never really recover from the major losses of fighting the US in a frontal battle on US ground) but i. Win political/symbolic war as US domestic opinion falls 3. LBJ the Causality of Tet as he announces on that he would not run a reelection IX. Nixon s War ( ) We will not make the same old mistakes, we will make our own! a. Nixon s Policy i. Vietnamization 1. plan to build up ARVN and SVN while slowly pulling US troops out in order to obtain peace with honor 2. Obtain decent interval so not appear as though the US loses save face 3. Great plan as far as domestic politics are concerned but poor with resolve of US troops in Vietnam as morale drops b. Cambodia May 1970 public attack (Nixon announce it on TV) intent is to signal to Hanoi and Moscow that the US means business i. Military objective limit PAVN capacity to launch offensives vs. SVN through the Ho Chi Minh Trail

5 c. Student Protests i. Kent State University ( ) ii. Jackson State University (5-6-70) iii. Over the next few months, over 450 college campuses closed due to strikes and 80% of all American colleges experienced some kind of protest d. PEACE (1973) i. Cease Fire ii. US out in 60 days iii. NVN out of Laos and Cambodia iv. POWs released v. US recognize 1 Vietnam state vi. SVN had the right to self-determination vii. President Thieu (in SVN) still in office with elections of 1-73 X. The End in Vietnam ( ) a. Total Costs to the US $150 billion and 58,000 dead/300,000 wounded b. The War Powers Act i. Congress overrides Nixon s veto of this bill ii. What it said the President was required to notify Congress if possible before introducing US forces into an area while hostilities might take place. iii. Once the President engaged US forces, they could stay no more than 60 days unless Congress granted specific authority to extend their stay. (Today 90 days) c. Vietnam Syndrome affects us today. President Bush in the Gulf War often reiterated that that war was not another Vietnam and got Congress support. i. Terrorist campaign going on today Bush (W.) also got Congress support 5 XI. Demographics of the US Soldier in Vietnam a. The Draft i. Begins in 1965 and in % still support it ii. Still most men volunteer or enlist since they were then able to choose a safer career iii. If drafted 50-80% go to Vietnam iv. In 1969 army draftees had a 2x better chance of dying vs. an enlistee of the same rank v. 70% chance of being wounded if a draftee b. Age yr olds was average age vs. WWII yr olds c. Education i. 24% of WWII soldiers had high school ed vs. 80% in Vietnam ii. 35% of WWII soldiers did not have schooling after Grammar school vs. 20% in Vietnam had a college education! iii. Deferments given to full time students only (until 1968??) 1. If you went to college part-time draft hurts lower class d. Race Relations i. In % of the total Army were Black but were 23% of the casualties racism?? ii. Lack of education lower rank iii. Many were paid higher is had a combat position iv. Overall from Blacks did not serve in a higher proportion to #s in the US society e. Class Key! #1 reason go to fight in Vietnam Poor go so if Black you go not for color but for class standing! f. Overall Vietnam soldier was younger, more educated but poorer than Korea or WWII soldier