US Involvement In Vietnam 64-68 Flashcards
(12 cards)
What were Johnsons goals?
Wanted to establish the south Vietnamese government
Wanted to contain communism
Wanted to prevent the escalation of the conflict any further
Operation rolling thunder
Due to the lack of soldiers in Vietnam Johnson felt that the US had little effect and therefore started a bombing campaign in 1965.
Called rolling thunder.
Primarily targeted the HO CHI MINH trail which was the main supply line for the north Vietnamese however Johnson made sure that the ports connected to Hanoi were kept out of fire as it could cause increased involvement from the USSR .
Effects of rolling thunder
Industry was destroyed
In retaliation the vietcong would kill innocence making the US look bad
By 1967 china had doubled it’s aid
Search and destroy tactic
Small groups of soldiers would track down VC camps and called air support to bomb them .
Any VC remaining would be victim to hit and run tactics from the US soldiers
The use of chemicals caused starvation due to the killing of crops
Gulf of Tonkin incident 1964
In August 2 navy ships detect torpedo boats . Air support is called and both sides fire upon each other .
The government is informed 2 days later however due to a storm communications were extremely unclear and Johnson was told multiple times that it did happen and it did not
Johnson exploits the event to escalate the war and asks congress in spite of these events to give him total control over military deployment in Vietnam.
On the 7 th the Tonkin resolution is passed and Johnson is now allowed to deploy all the troops he likes without consulting congress
Reaction of the north Vietnamese towards the Gulf of Tonkin incident
2 December the VC launch a month long attack destroying military supplies . Called the battle of Binh Gai
7 feb they attacked the airfield at Pleiku leaving 128 wounded , nine dead and 122 air crafts unusable
Cedar falls 1967
Over 30,000 troops target VC strong points in the iron triangle
They shipped villages out of homes and killed a total of 750 Vc losing 450 of their own.
Villages unable to read could not understand warning signs and returned back home only to get killed by US bombing
Operation ranch hand
The use of chemical warfare to kill VC
poison would contaminate rivers and kill crops
Many innocence were effected
The tet offensive 1968
Led by north Vietnamese troops and VC over 100 cities and US bases were targeted .
On the 30 th jan North Vietnamese North Vietnamese troops attacked high profile areas in Saigon .
Eventually the ARVN and US reclaimed Saigon and nearly wiped out the entire vietcong
Impact of the Tet offensive 1968 on the US
Politicians - Anti war feelings began to grow and many became reluctant to fund military involvement
Johnson does not run for president
Army- the soldiers are split . Some believe that involvement must increase to get the job done others believed that they should let the ARVN deal with it on their own
Public- felt cheated as they were told that the war was soon ending causing a huge rise in the opposition to the war
Impact of the Tet offensive on the VC
While they suffered immense losses the VC used the event has propaganda against the US
Impacts of the offensive on the ARVN
Government believed that soon the US would leave
The people were unhappy with the governments inability to protect them
