10. Vietnam war

• 1941 – Ho Chi Minh – the Viet Minh [Vietnam Independence League]

• 1944 – agreement between France and Japan is broken by the Japanese

• July 1945 – the Potsdam Conference in Germany; Vietnam is divided in half

• August 1945 – Japanese surrender; Ho Chi Minh occupies Hanoi and proclaims a provisional government

• September 2, 1945 – creation of the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam [North Vietnam]

• The domino theory existed from the 1950s to the 1980s. It was promoted at times by the United States government, and speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino theory was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War to justify the need for American intervention around the world. [Eisenhower]

• Eisenhower - did not support the Geneva Accords signed by France and Vietnam in the summer of 1954.

• Kennedy - supported the ‘Domino Theory’ and he was convinced that if South Vietnam fell to communism, then other states in the region would as a consequence.

• 1968 – Johnson ‘we are prepared to move towards peace’; bombing mission; Johnson’s hope was that the North Vietnam would get tired of the war and want peace talks

• 1969 – Nixon ‘title of peacemaker’; President Nixon always had a "secret plan" for ending the war in Vietnam. He negotiated, threatened, bullied and bombed. He got the Paris Peace Agreement that effectively ended the US participation in southeast Asia on less than perfect terms.

• 1975 - Ford ‘Operation Frequent Wind’ [the evacuation by helicopter of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, on 29–30 April 1975 during the last days of the Vietnam War. More than 7,000 people were evacuated from various points in Saigon, and the airlift left a number of enduring images.]

• The northern Vietnamese, ruled by Ho Chi Minh, shared the same ideology as the Soviets. These groups were both communist. So support was given to North Vietnamese troops by the Soviet Union. Also, because of the nuclear tension between USSR and USA, the support of the Soviets in Vietnam prevented a major intervention of American troops. Americans feared the Soviets would pose nuclear threat. The Soviets also dispatched a reported 3,000 troops to Vietnam.

• For the US, the war ended with withdrawal of American troops and failure of its foreign policy in Vietnam

• The Vietnam war ended in 1975, a sustained North Vietnamese offensive forced South Vietnamese troops to begin withdrawing from northern provinces; the withdrawal quickly became a disorganized retreat. When communists began moving on Saigon, President Gerald Ford, who succeeded to the presidency in August 1974 after the resignation of Richard Nixon, announced that the Vietnam War was "finished." As Saigon fell, Ford ordered an evacuation of American citizens and Vietnamese sympathizers. More than one hundred thousand Vietnamese refugees entered the United States. The Vietnam War ended with the fall of the South Vietnam Capital of Saigon to the North Vietnamese army April 30, 1975

• [!] She had her picture taken on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. Jane Fonda. In addition to the anti-aircraft photo, Fonda also went on Radio Hanoi to criticize US soldiers while insisting that the POWs were being well treated.