The Vietnam War Years

Moving towards
conflict
 I. French Rule in Vietnam
A) From the late 1800s
until WWII France
ruled over Vietnam
B) They encountered
growing unrest from
Vietnamese peasants
C) Many Vietnamese
nationalist fled to
China under the
leadership of Ho Chi
Minh
 II. Japanese take control
A) In 1940 the Japanese take control of
Vietnam.
B) The next year, Ho Chi Minh returns and
forms the Vietminh, an to win
independence from foreign rule.
C) When Japan is forced to leave in 1945 Ho
Chi Minh declares Vietnam an independent
nation.
 III. Not so Fast! The French
Return
A) French troops move back in to the country
regaining control of the southern half
B) Ho Chi Minh vowed to fight from the
North and rid the South of French control
C)The U.S. sends $15 million in aide to
France
• Why did the U.S. support France???
D)During a news conference
in 1954 Eisenhower
explained the domino
theory in which he
compared the countries on
the brink of communism to a
row of dominoes waiting.
 IV. Geneva Accords
A) Temporarily divided Vietnam at the 17th
parallel.
B) The Communist and their leader Ho Chi
Minh controlled North Vietnam from their
capital of Hanoi.
C) The anti-communist controlled South
Vietnam from their capital and southern
port city of Saigon.
 V. Diem Cancels Elections
A) Ho Chi Minh won popular support in the
North
B) Recognizing Ho Chi Minh’s popularity,
South Vietnam’s president Diem refused to
take part in the country wide elections.
C) The US promised military aide to Diem in
return for a stable government in the South
 D) Instability in the South
1) Diem becomes very
unpopular because he did not
support land reform, along
with attacks on Buddhism
2) A communist opposition
group in the south, known as
the Vietcong begins attacks
on the Diem government
E. Ho Chi Minh
supported the
Vietcong via a
network of paths that
became known as the
Ho Chi Minh trail
 VI. The U.S. Steps up
A) Because Diem couldn’t maintain stability
the US supported a military coup that
toppled Diem’s regime
 B. Tonkin Gulf Resolution
1) A North Vietnamese patrol boat fired a
torpedo at an American destroyer,

2) 2) President Johnson asked congress to

adopt the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which
gave Johnson “ all necessary powers to
take all necessary measures to repel an
armed attack against the forces of the
United States and to prevent further
aggressions”.
• Look at the poster on pager 732

• How might this poster have generated

support for the Vietcong?
• Do you think the use of propaganda is
acceptable?
• When have we seen propaganda used
before?
What time period
is this poster from?

What is the
message of this
poster?
 1) What event is depicted
in these images?

2) How is propaganda
being used?

3)How was this

event similar to
the events that
occurred in the
Tonkin gulf?
• Do you think congress was justified in
passing the Tonkin Gulf resolution?

• Use details from your text and notes to

support your response