Protests by Americans during Vietnam War

       There are many protests that made by Americans to show their disagreement to the government about the meaningless war in Vietnam.

       Along with the Civil Rights campaigns of the 1960s, one of the most divisive forces in twentieth-century U.S. history. The antiwar movement actually consisted of a number of independent interests, often only vaguely allied and contesting each other on many issues, united only in opposition to the Vietnam War. Attracting members from college campuses, middle-class suburbs, labor unions, and government institutions, the movement gained national prominence in 1965, peaked in 1968, and remained powerful throughout the duration of the conflict. Encompassing political, racial, and cultural spheres, the antiwar movement exposed a deep schism within 1960s American society.

       A small, core peace movement had long existed in the United States, largely based in Quaker and Unitarian beliefs, but failed to gain popular currency until the Cold War era. The escalating nuclear arms race of the late 1950s led Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review, along with Clarence Pickett of the American Society of Friends (Quakers), to found the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) in 1957. Their most visible member was Dr. Benjamin Spock, who joined in 1962 after becoming disillusioned with President Kennedy's failure to halt nuclear proliferation. A decidedly middle-class organization, SANE represented the latest incarnation of traditional liberal peace activism. Their goal was a reduction in nuclear weapons. Another group, the Student Peace Union (SPU), emerged in 1959 on college campuses across the country. Like SANE, the SPU was more liberal than radical. After the Joseph McCarthy­inspired dissolution of Communist and Socialist organizations on campuses in the 1950s, the SPU became the only option remaining for nascent activists. The goal of the SPU went beyond that of SANE. Unwilling to settle for fewer nuclear weapons, the students desired a wholesale restructuring of American society. The SPU, never an effective interest group, faded away in 1964, its banner taken up by a more active assemblage, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

      The American movement against the Vietnam War was the most successful antiwar movement in U.S. history. During the Johnson administration, it played a significant role in constraining the war and was a major factor in the administration's policy reversal in 1968. During the Nixon years, it hastened U.S. troop withdrawals, continued to restrain the war, fed the deterioration in U.S. troop morale and discipline (which provided additional impetus to U.S. troop withdrawals), and promoted congressional legislation that severed U.S. funds for the war. The movement also fostered aspects of the Watergate scandal, which ultimately played a significant role in ending the war by undermining Nixon's authority in Congress and thus his ability to continue the war. It gave rise to the infamous "Huston Plan"; inspired Daniel Ellsberg, whose release of the Pentagon Papers led to the formation of the Plumbers; and fed the Nixon administration's paranoia about its political enemies, which played a major part in concocting the Watergate break-in itself.

Source:textbook788-808

            Vietnam War Wikipedia

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm3ShX0PMM8 

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOdtPFe-BN4

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GscXBdorMVY

Interesting Facts of Vietnam War

I have found out some facts of Vietnam War.

9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975.

2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam.

Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.

240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1961. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.

58,148 were killed in Vietnam.

75,000 were severely disabled.

23,214 were 100% disabled.

5,283 lost limbs.

1,081 sustained multiple amputations.

Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21.

11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old.

Of those killed, 17,539 were married.

Average age of men killed: 23.1 years.

Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old.

The oldest man killed was 62 years old.

As of January 15, 2004, there are 1,875 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged.

91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served.

74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome.

Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.

Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.

87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem.

There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same age group (Source: Veterans Administration Study).

Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes.

85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life.

Deaths Average Age

Total: 58,148, 23.11 years

Enlisted: 50,274, 22.37 years

Officers: 6,598, 28.43 years

Warrants: 1,276, 24.73 years

E1 525, 20.34 years

11B MOS: 18,465, 22.55 years

Statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993 (the CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, aka The Wall)

Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action).

Source: textbook 788-808

             Vietnam War Wikipedia

             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxiPxMoKO6Y

The start of Vietnam War

The military struggle in Vietnam

The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. It was started by the Communist guerrillas (the so-called Vietcong) in the South, whom were backed by Communist North Vietnam, in an attempt to overthrow the South Vietnam government.

The start of the Vietnam War

Ngo Dinh Diem was overthrown and killed in a coup d'etat in 1963 by his own generals causing political confusion in South Vietnam. The security in South Vietnam continued to deteriorate putting the Communists in reach of a victory. By 1965, the US president Lyndon Johnson approved regular bombing of North Vietnam to prevent the total collapse of the Saigon regime by the dispatch of troops and marking their overt entry into the war. United States forces landed at Da Nang and began fighting in Vietnam. 
The US intervention caused problems for the Communists, forcing them to continually send North Vietnamese armies to the South, but this did not deter them from the struggle. This situation was challenged in January 1968 when the Vietcong staged the bloody Tet Offensive by simultaneously attacking over 40 towns and cities in the South, but they failed to capture any. The Johnson administration decided to pursue a negotiated settlement. After Ho Chi Minh died in 1969 and was succeeded by Le Duan, the new US President Nixon continued the policy of ex President Johnson and gradually withdrew US troops.

US pulls out of the Vietnam War

In 1973 the United States ended its military involvement in the Vietnam War and in 1975 South Vietnam surrendered to northern forces. Thousands of Vietnamese began fleeing the country. Finally in 1976 North and South Vietnam were unified under a Communist government and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

The Vietcong recruited a guerrilla army to pursue a war of ambush, terrorism, and sabotage. By 1965 the Vietcong was strong enough to form main force units to fight pitched battles with the South Vietnamese army in the countryside, although not in the urban areas which stayed under Saigon government control.

Instead, their ranks were decimated and they had to revert to guerrilla tactics whilst the North Vietnamese regular army assumed responsibility for the main fighting against the forces of South Vietnam and its foreign allies, especially the United States.

Source: textbook 788-808

             Vietnam War Wikipedia

             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KBPgqSgku0 

The Vietnam War

     In general, these are some of  the most important events occured during Vietnam War (1 November 1955 - 30 April 1975) I have found so far

1959	Major Dale R. Buis and Master Sargeant Chester M. Ovnand become the first Americans to die in the Vietnam War during the guerilla strike at Bienhoa
1960	Vietcong Formed (National Liberation Front for South Vietnam)
1961	Vice President Johnson Tours Saigon
1962	Operation Chopper: America's first combat missions against the Vietcong. Operation Ranchhand: Objective to clear vegetation making it difficult for the Vietcong to ambush. US Military then Employs Agent Orange to expose roads and trails used by Vietcong forces
1963	Battle of Ap Bac where the Vietcong defeat the South Vietnamese Army President Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas and Lyndon B Johnson takes over the Presidency Buddhist monks start setting themselves on fire in public places tp protest against the Diem government policy of removing Buddhists from key government positions and replacing them with Catholics. Diem and his brother are murdered. The Diem regime is overthrown
1964	General Nguyen Khanh Seizes Power in Saigon 3 North Vietnamese PT boats allegedly fire torpedoes at the USS Maddox named the Gulf of Tonkin Incident Following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident Congress authorizes President Johnson to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The US wages total war against North Vietnam
1965	Over 200,000 US troops are sent to Vietnam February: Bombing raids on North Vietnam commence referred to as 'Operation Rolling Thunder'. The air raids continue for three years 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade arrive in Vietnam Battle of Ia Drang Valley Students at American Universities start to strongly protest against the US policy in Vietnam
1966	B-52s Bomb North Vietnam President Johnson meets with South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky and his military advisors in Honolulu American protests against the US policy in Vietnam continue and students are joined by veterans in Anti-War Rallies
1967	Operation Cedar Falls The Iron Triangle of Vietcong tunnels is discovered American protests against the US policy in Vietnam continue and Martin Luther King and others call for draft evasion The US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara admits that the US bombing raids had failed to meet their objectives
1968	The Tet Offensive: The Vietcong scores a psychological victory Battle for Hue: Mass graves found My Lai village Massacre by US troops Peace Talks take place in Paris between the North Vietnamese and the Americans President Johnson does not run for the presidency and Richard Nixon Elected President of the USA
1969	Operation Breakfast: Nixon authorises the covert bombing of Cambodia in an attempt to destroy supply routes Melvin Laird the US Secretary of Defense discusses a diminishing role for the US military in Vietnam The death of Ho Chi Minh The news coverage of the massacre of the My Lai village by US troops shocks America leading to numerous Antiwar Demonstrations
1970	April : President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia Tragedy at Ohio: National Guardsmen open fire on protesting students at Kent State University
1971	Publication of the Pentagon Papers
1972	Pressure on Nixon increases to end the involvement of the US in Vietnam and secret peace talks are initiated. US forces apply pressure on North Vietnam by heavy bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong Henry Kissinger is optimistic about the peace talks despite Vietnam opposition
1973	A cease-fire agreement is signed in Paris The end of the Draft is publicised All remaining US troops leave Vietnam Henry Kissinger wins the Nobel Peace Prize

 

Source: textbook page 788 – 808

             Vietnam War wikipedia

              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSefVob2WIc

    Personally, I think my project is going very well and it is becoming more  and more interesting to me. I am very excited to do a research on Vietnam War which is a very important event not only in Vietnam but also in the USA. As a Vietnamese, I find this project a golden chance for me to learn and understand more about the war that occurred in my mother-country and deeply relates to the history of USA. It is also an opportunity for me to help the international students in class who haven’t heard of this war very much know more about this important event and learn some more about what happened in my country as well as in USA from 1950s to 1970s.

      In my opinion, the first necessary thing I should read and watch is about some general events during Vietnam War. These important events will help me and the readers have a general view of Vietnam War and know what was going on chronologically. I think I have found some very useful sources which provide me detailed and necessary information I am looking for. I read and also watched my sources carefully to get the most precise events of Vietnam War.

My research topic

       Hello! My name is Hieu Nguyen. I am from Hanoi, Vietnam and I am a sophomore at Verde Valley School,AZ.
      
       I am attending an US history class at school and my teacher asked all the students to take part in a research project. Each of us are required to choose an interesting topic and do a research about it. The topics can be anything relating to US history such as US Civil War, slavery or even the history of Jazz music! So far I have found 2 interesting topics:
- The first one is ''Vietnam War'' and the second one is ''Gettysburg battle''.
    
       The reasons why I am interested in them:

1. Vietnam War
-  First of all, I am a Vietnamese so I feel so excited to do a search about Vietnam War in a US high school. I have heard of Vietnam War since I was born, at my family, at my school and anywhere in Vietnam. I already have some background about this war but I am still interested to do a research about it and have a chance to present to all the students in class. Secondly, Vietnam War also played a very important role in US history. This war is not only about Vietnam but also about the US so I think this is a really good chance to learn more about US history. In my opinion, Vietnam War is a really interesting topic which does relate to what we are studying in class.

2, Gettysburg battle
- In class, we have already learned about and discussed this battle but I am still interested to do more researches about it. Civil War is one of the most famous events in US history and Gettysburg is also one of the biggest and most important battles in the Civil War. It can be said that Gettysburg played a key role in the Civil War and also in US history. So to understand more about what happened in the past or specifically the US Civil War, I find it really useful and interesting to do a research about Gettysburg battle.