About This Blog

I shall post videos, graphs, news stories, and other material. We shall use some of this material in class, and you may review the rest at your convenience. You will all receive invitations to post to the blog. I encourage you to use the blog in these ways:

· To post questions or comments;

· To follow up on class discussions;

· To post relevant news items or videos.

There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges.

Statement on viewpoint diversity: https://heterodoxacademy.org/teaching-heterodoxy-syllabus-language/


Syllabus: https://gov124.blogspot.com/2022/08/cases-in-american-political-leadership.html

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Vietnam


VIETNAM WAR TIMELINE
  • 1954 French defeated at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Agreed to an international Conference on the future of Vietnam.
  • 1954 Geneva Conference ‑ Vietnam divided along the 17th Parallel:
  • 1954 South‑East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) established to protect the independence of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
  • 1955 Last French troops leave Vietnam.
  • 1956‑60 US sends arms and millions of dollars to South Vietnam, fearing a take‑over by the Communist North.
  • 1961 President Kennedy orders first US military assistance to South Vietnam.
  • 1963 Kennedy assassinated. Johnson becomes President.
  • 1964 North Vietnamese attack on US ships in Gulf of Tonkin.
  • 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed, allowing US attacks on North Vietnam.
  • 1965 US Air Force starts bombing targets in North Vietnam.
  • 1965 Internal DOD memo on US war aims:
    • 70% --To avoid a humiliating US defeat (to our reputation as a guarantor).
      20%--To keep SVN (and then adjacent) territory from Chinese hands.
      10%--To permit the people of SVN to enjoy a better, freer way of life.
  • 1967 Anti‑war demonstrations begin in the USA.
  • 1968 Tet offensive inflicts heavy casualties on US army. LBJ drops out of reelection race.
  • 1968 Nixon elected President promising "peace with honor."  The Chennault Affair
  • 1969 US fighting troops reach their maximum strength. Peace talks begin.
  • 1969 - President Nixon orders a "random selection" lottery system for selecting men to serve in
  • the war in Vietnam, changing the previous system of drafting according to age. 
  • 1969 - Operation MENU -- covert bombings in Cambodia (Hoff 215-218)
  • 1969 -- October and November Moratorium demonstrations (Hoff 227-213)
  • 1970 US troops and planes attack Communist bases in Cambodia. Kent State killings.
  • 1971 -- Release of Pentagon Papers
  • 1972 North Vietnam invades South Vietnam. Most US troops withdrawn.
  • 1973 US and North Vietnam sign a peace agreement. Last US combat troops leave.
  • 1974 Nixon resigns following the Watergate scandal.
  • 1975 South Vietnam surrenders to North Vietnam and the country is reunited. Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
  • 1977 President Carter pardons Vietnam‑era draft evaders.
Casualties
Image result for "vietnam" "deaths" "by year"
Inductions by Year -- The last draftee enters the Army on June 30, 1973.

Silent Majority -- Conclusion starts at 29:00



Nixon's approval rating went from 55 to 64 percent.


Cambodia






Nixon and the "Decent Interval"



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