chapter_22_section_5_notes.ppt | |
File Size: | 4678 kb |
File Type: | ppt |
Nixon's Vietnam Policy
This 3:30 clip covers Nixon's inauguration, his philosophy of trying to establish "peace with honor" through the process of Vietnamization, bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia to cut off supplies to the Vietcong, and the protest that resulted in the shootings at Kent State University.
The Fall of Saigon
The 2 minute clip above summarizes the end of the war, long after most U.S. personnel are out of the country. It shows the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in South Vietnam just before it was overthrown by the North Vietnamese and all of Vietnam was unified into one communist country.
The Last Marines to Leave Saigon were almost forgotten
To read the story, click here
Some Vietnam War Statistics
Close to 8.7 million U.S. military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era ( February 1965 - March 1973)
7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses.
Peak troop strength in Vietnam was 543,482, on 30 April 1969.
U.S. Death Totals = 58,156 (including men formerly classified as missing in action)
61% of the men killed were 21 or younger
U.S. Soldiers wounded in action = 303,704
U.S. Soldiers severely disabled = 75,000 (23,214 were classified 100% disabled. 5,283 lost
limbs, 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300% higher than in WWII)
Draftees vs. volunteers: Roughly 25% of total U.S. forces in Vietnam were draftees. (66% of U.S. armed force members were drafted during WWII)
Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds
23% had fathers with professional, managerial, or technical occupations.
79% of the men who served in 'Nam had a high school education or better (only 45% of WW II Vets had completed high school)
The average age of the G.I. in 'Nam was 22 (26 for WWII).
97% of Vietnam era vets were honorably discharged.
Vietnam in HD
This is part 5 of a 6 part miniseries originally aired on the History Channel in November of 2011. I will likely show portions of this video so students can better understand topics contained in the chapter including growing frustration among U.S. soldiers stationed in Vietnam and Nixon's policy of Vietnamization (1:30 - 7:53 and 25:40 - 27:00), increasing protests in the U.S. and how the draft lottery worked (18:20 - 20:00), expanding the war into Cambodia (28:10 - 34:20 and 37:15 - 40:57), and the Kent State University incident (34:21 - 35:16).
Vietnam in HD
This is a clip that shows our dramatic cutting of aid to the South Vietnamese after we leave and the Fall of Saigon to the end of the war.