The U.S. struggles against the Communist in Vietnam

2. Now write up your answer. Use this structure:
a. The U.S. weaknesses were: soldiers was afraid of ambushes by Viet Cong, and nor did they have the support of vietnam. it costed 400,000 dollars to kill one Viet Cong solider, and the US spent 20 billion on the war every year.

b. At the same time, the Communist strengths were: The determination they had to win because America constantly tried to close the supply routes to North Vietnam,but Viet COng did everything in itss power to keep them open, because they were what Viet Cognwwas supplied with.

c. The U.S. forces did have some successes. For example: Operation Rolling Thuder was somewhat effecgive, but it killed many citizens. It damaged NV supply routes and war effoert, and it enabled the US to attack Communists.

d. However, there were some major failures as well. Examples of these were: The My Lai Massacre, which went unoticed for some time, but the leader of the force was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. America lost a lot of support from vietnam, and Americans were beginning to critcize the war.

e. The Viet Cong had some major successes, such as:

f. However, they also suffered defeats, for example:The Tet Offensive, which was a failure because the communist had hoped that the people of South Vietnam would rise up and join them, but they did not. They lost 10,000 fighters, which was a heavy blow for them.

g. If I had to identify one major American weakness, it would be [Insert weakness here] because: Inexperienced fighters, because LJ had to draft many soliders, which only got him more protests from America, he lost support quickly. INexperineced soldiers had lower morale because they were sent to start fighting in Vietnam, and they were expecting to earn glory.

h. The key Viet Cong strength was [Insert strength here] because:
the use of guerilla tactics, because they were efffectively used to lower the morale of American troops.

the U.S. Enters the Vietnam War

1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.

Because the citizens of Vietnam were also being attacked. The bombings, chemical warfare, and search and destroy tactics were used.

2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.

The effects of ending communism in Vietnam would have outweighed to negative effects.

3. The following events are not listed in correct date order. Place them in the correct chronological order. (Write the year inside the parenthesis, i.e. (1965). Then note the reason for each U.S. action, and how it brought the U.S. into deeper involvement in Vietnam.
The reasons you can choose from are: No direct involvement; financial support; political involvement; military involvement. Also, note what events triggered the increased involvement.

(1963) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president (Military Involvement)
(1955) Formation of South Vietnam (Political Involvement)
(1964) Gulf of Tonkin Incident (Military)
(1962) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,500 (Military)
(1962) JFK sends military advisers (Military)
(1965) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang (Military)
(1955) U.S. stops elections in Vietnamc(Political)
(1963) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem (Financial)
(1960) Viet Cong attacks on U.S. and South Vietnam bases (Military)
(1960) Viet Cong formed (Military)

4. Choose two events that you think were critical in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Vietnam. Explain
your choice.