Rationale:
The Vietnam War was not started by us but ended with the United States leaving many Americans wondering why we got into the conflict in the first place. Though the country of Vietnam is included in the Georgia standards, not much time is allocated to the topic of the war that tore through its lands. By using events such as these which involve the United States, students are aware that human choices have tremendous impact on history. Using photographs, first hand accounts, political cartoons, and primary source materials, students will enter into the topic and participate in the decision making process.
Narrative:
American's involvement with Vietnam did not start in 1964, a time also rigged with domestic unrest pertaining to the Civil Rights Movement. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Japan was forced to leave Indochina which had previously been a French colony. During the Japanese imperialism, a revolution movement had grown under the communist leadership of Ho Chi Minh. England later turned over its southern occupied land of Indochina to France while the United States persuaded China to turn over the northern part of Indochina to France. The eight year war between France and Vietminh (movement under Ho Chi Minh) over control of who will rule Vietnam began with the bombardment of Haiphong, port in northern Vietnam in October 1946.
The United States supported the French army by providing weaponry to the French army and financing close to 80 percent of the war effort.(Zinn, 2005, p. 469-471)
In 1954 despite all the support from the United States, the French, who were unable to garner enough support from the Vietnamese which were increasingly getting behind Ho Chi Minh, withdrew. An agreement between France and Vietminh stated that France will temporarily withdraw into the southern part of Vietnam until the election two years later which would take place in a unified Vietnam that would allow Vietnam to choose their own government. Before this election could place, the United States under President Truman prevented that unification by placing their puppet in South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, as head of government.(Zinn, 2005, p.472) The Diem regime proved unpopular and brutal and opposition grew. The National Liberation Front (NLF) was formed by South Vietnamese peasants to combat against the violent tactics of Diem to subdue the people.
The reason given to the American public for its involvement was to help fight communism in Asia. The "domino theory" speaks to the fear that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to communism, then many other would follow suite. There was also the issues of loss of United States influence could undermine its authority and the loss of control of valuable commodities in certain regions in that part of the world (Zinn, 2005, p.471). In a speech before the Economic Club of Detroit, Alexis Johnson spoke about the land of Southeast Asia as desirable for "lush climate, fertile soil, rich natural resources...." and producing " rich exportable surplus such as rice, rubber, teak, corn, tin, spices, oil..." (Zinn, 2005, p. 475).
In 1964 under President Johnson,the event surrounding the Tonkin was used to wage full scale war on Vietnam without the declaration of war by Congress (Zinn, 2005, p.476). The Tonkin "attack" was later found be false but its story had served its purpose.More than 500,000 soldiers wee sent to South Vietnam between 1965 and 1968. American soldiers were bombing "free fire zones" in South Vietnam where if any civilians were found within them would be considered enemies.(Zinn, 2005, p.477) Many of more atrocies were committed by the United States government.The NLF grew even more due to unpopularity of the Saigon government under the United States rule. In the end, failed attempts to subdue the NLF and North Vietnamese troops, the civil rights movement, and the growing public opposition of the war in the United States pushed the United States to withdraw in 1975.
I will end this timeline with the last Americans being evacuated in 1975. The United States involvement in Vietnam and the conflict span over close to three decades from 1945-46 to 1975 and over six presidents-Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon (Gardner et al, 1985).
*Students should have prior knowledge of Indochina as part of the French colony and the United States stance on colonialism.
