The Vietnam War SWBAT: Describe aspects of the anti-war movement in the U.S. - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Vietnam War

SWBAT: Describe aspects of the anti-war movement in the U.S.Slide2

Do Now

Analyze the “Vietnam War Timeline” with your partner.

How was the U.S. involved in Vietnam pre-1964?

Do you think the U.S. planning to go to war with North Vietnam before the Gulf of Tonkin incident? Explain.Slide3

I don’t see that we can ever hope to get out of there once we are committed…I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went. ~Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)Slide4

Why did many Americans oppose the Vietnam War?

Brainstorm with your partner, write down 3 reasons…

After reading both documents, complete the questions below:

Why did MLK and John Kerry oppose the war?

Why

did anti-war sentiment grow after 1968?

Based

on what you read, who opposed the war in Vietnam? Was it mostly college kids?

Using

all the documents, why did many Americans oppose the

Vietnam War?Considering the context, can you speculate what those Americans who supported the war said?Slide5

The Antiwar Movement

As casualties mounted and it became apparent that the U.S. government was misleading the public, the antiwar movement strengthened

after 1968Slide6

“Flower Power”Slide7

The Antiwar Movement

The Draft

Young

men burned their draft cards or fled to Canada avoiding conscription

Disproportionate

number of poor

&

black drafted76% of men sent to Vietnam were from working class or lower middle class backgrounds

1965

&

1966: blacks accounted for 20% of American casualtiesSlide8

The Antiwar Movement

Vietnamization

Nixon’s policy to equip & train South Vietnamese forces to take an increasing combat role in the warCalled for reduction in U.S. ground combat troops

However, increased U.S. Air Force bombings in Vietnam and CambodiaSlide9

The Antiwar Movement

Veteran Opposition

Vietnam veterans testified before the Senate to explain their opposition to the

war1971:

thousands deserted the army

Some soldiers experimented with heroin

Many soldiers refused orders from superior officers Slide10

The Antiwar Movement

Kent State

S

pring of 1970: 350+ college campuses experienced strikesKent State: 4 students

killed

by

Ohio National Guard during an antiwar

demonstrationSlide11

The Antiwar Movement

My Lai Massacre

The

New York Times published details on the My Lai Massacre of 1968 in a 1969 reportThe report described

the killing of

300-500

South Vietnamese civilians by American troopsSlide12
Slide13

The Antiwar Movement

The Pentagon Papers

1971

: New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, which were classified documents from the Department of Defense

It showed how the U.S. was involved in Vietnam going back to World War II

Revealed how Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson,

&

Nixon misled

American

public

about involvement in VietnamSlide14

The Antiwar Movement

New York Times Co. v. The United States

Nixon claimed executive authority in hopes of halting publication of the documents

Supreme Court ruled the New York Times was protected under the

1

st

Amendment &

Nixon’s national security claims were unfoundedJustice Brennan reasoned that since publication would not cause an inevitable, direct, &

immediate event imperiling the safety of American forces, prior restraint was unjustifiedSlide15

The War Powers Resolution [Act]

1973: To

prevent another Gulf of Tonkin, Congress passed the War Powers

ResolutionThe president had to seek congressional approval in order to commit American troops overseas

In 2014, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) proposed repealing the War Powers Resolution and replacing it with a stricter one

U.S. last declared war in 1941, but

has

committed troops overseas several timesSlide16

The End of the Vietnam War

In 1973, Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger was able to negotiate a cease

fireSlide17

The End of the Vietnam War

Legacy

First war the U.S. definitively lost

Americans killed: 58,000Cost: $100 billion1945: Congress

& President

had

1

opinion about Vietnam = containment



bipartisanship foreign policy fell apartGoals of war & how to go about it differedAmerican public lost confidence & trust in government’s ability to solve issues relating to foreign policy

American

ideals

&

long-standing beliefs were challengedSlide18

“…we didn’t know our ally. Secondly, we knew even less about the enemy. And, the last, most inexcusable of our mistakes, was not knowing our own people.”

~

Gen. Maxwell Taylor

Wrap Up

How does this quote summarize how the war was affected by the American public?