VIETNAM Was it a war or

VIETNAM • • Was it a war or a conflict? Occurred from 1964 through 1975 58, 000 American lives lost 2, 583 soldiers were missing in action at war’s end • 554 of them have been found

WEB SITES FOR MAPS OF VIETNAM X http: //www. lib. utexas. edu/Libs/PCL/Map_ collection/middle_east_and_asia/Vietnam X http: //www. mapsadopt. org/Vietnam/index. htm X http: //maptown. com/vietnammaps. html

HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM [ Vietnamese call the Vietnam War the American War [ For more than 1, 000 years, Vietnam was occupied by China [ For a century after that, Vietnam was a French colony

HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM WAR [ Communists victorious over the French at Dien Bien Phu [ U. S. troops supported the anti-Communist government in Siagon [ North Vietnam carried its flag to the south [ The Vietnam War is as far removed from us today as WW II was from the Vietnam War [ 25 years have passed since the fall of Siagon

PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON • Vietnam War created national mood of hostility toward government and business • Moral shame • Exposure of government lies and atrocities • Nixon’s secret bombings of Cambodia (totality of these bombings not discovered until much later) • On top of this came “Watergate”

"A man is not finished when he's defeated; he's finished when he quits. " -Richard Nixon

• http: //www. unitedstates-on-line. com/Nixon 37. html • http: //www. interlinkcafe. com/uspresidents/37 th. htm • http: //www. stanford. edu/~andygray/nixon/ • http: //www. unitedstates-online. com/Nixon 37. html • http: //www. whitehouse. gov/WH/glimpse/pr esidents/html/rn 37. html

WATERGATE 2 Presidential Campaign of 1972 2 5 Burgulars carrying wiretapping and photo equipment, were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee (Watergate apartment complex of Washington, D. C. ) 2 One of the 5 worked for the Nixon campaign 2 Another of the 5 had an address book with the name of Howard E. Hunt whose residence was listed as the White House

WATERGATE CONTINUED & Hunt had worked for the CIA for many yrs. & ID’s of the burglars were unknown at exact time of arrest & Information was out to the public before anyone could stop it & CAN WE COMPARE THIS IN ANY WAY TO THE CLINTION/LEWENSKI AFFAIR, OR IRAN/CONTRA?

GRAND JURY INVESTIGATES WATERGATE • One year after the break-in a Grand Jury investigated the Watergate incident • Fearing prosecution, officials of the Nixon Administration began to talk: – Judicial Proceedings – Senate investigating committee – The press • Nixon’s highest aids, and finally Nixon himself were all implicated

FACTS THAT CAME OUT OF TESTIMONIES • Secret fund controlled by Nixon’s Attorney General to be used against the Democratic Party (forgery etc) • Gulf Oil Corporation and other huge American corporations made illegal contributions in the millions to the Nixon Campaign • After the burglars were caught, Nixon secretly promised to pardon them • Secret White House tapes existed of all conversations in the White House

A SWIFT BUT SUDDEN FALL • Nov 1972 Nixon and Agnew won 60 % popular vote • Jan 1973 67 % of Americans thought Nixon was involved in the Watergate break-in or that he lied to cover-up • Fall 1973 8 different resolutions were introduced in the House for the Impeachment of President Nixon • By 1974, a Bill of Impeachment was presented • Nixon’s advisors told him the bill would pass and advised him to resign

UPON TAKING THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITEDSTATES SAID: “OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER” • http: //www. lbjlib. utexas. edu/ford/

WHAT KIND OF SHAPE DID NIXON LEAVE ‘NAM IN? • Pretty good (aside from the Cambodia bombings) • When negotiated peace was unattainable Nixon single-handly tried to get the U. S. out of Vietnam • At the end of Nixon’s 1 st term, casualties dropped from 1, 200 a month to 30 a month • American troops were reduced from 550, 000 to 30, 000

FORD AND KISSINGER • April, 1975 were trying to come up with options: – Speed up withdraw of Americans – Stretch it out to allow the maximum number of Vietnamese to escape – Give up on aid to Vietnam, stab them in the back – Maintain aid • April 29, 1975 Kissenger briefs Ford of the crises in Siagon (already 4/30/75 in Saigon)

• http: //www. washingtonpost. com/wpsrv/national/longterm/vietnam/epilogue. htm

THE FALL OF SIAGON • One pilot, Marine Lt. Darrell Browning, did not expect to fly that day (5/30/75) • His CH-46 helicopter was too small to make the 90 -minute round-trip flight to Siagon • At 4: 00 pm he learned he would be flying afterall • Ordered to head for the besieged capital and join the rescue mission

THE FALL OF SIAGON Z Doing what he was trained to do, but fearful of mid-air collision Z 1, 000 people on roof of U. S. Embassy, when browning landed ZHe was worried he would not have enough fuel to get back Z Capacity of the helicopter was 24, Browning carried 36 passengers

THE FALL OF SIAGON [ By midnight Browning had made 5 trips [ He was exhausted, but wanted to go more [ Pilots were ordered to stop [ A helicopter had flown into the sea, the commander worried the pilots were reaching their breaking points [ 11 Marines (rear guard were left behind) [ 7: 50 that morning a U. S. helicopter saved them [ Browning et. Al. Awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses