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four regions of the world into the 1960s

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Southeast Asia

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communism vs. non-communism is an issue all over Southeast Asia

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Communist North Vietnam is trying to help South Vietnamese dissidents overthrow the South Vietnamese government

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Malaysia and Indonesia also have communist parties

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connected to Chinese who have migrated there

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Middle East

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the superpowers are adopting proxies

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internationalized local struggles

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new nationalist governments in Syria and Egypt are getting military equipment from the Soviet Union, as well as Soviet advisers

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the United States is finding its anti-communist allies among the tradition Arab monarchies

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Saudi Arabia

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private companies helping them develop their oil resources

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Israel

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center of attention

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feeling pressed by Syria, Egypt, Jordan

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1967: Israelis preemptively attack forces gathering to attack them

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occupied

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West Bank of Jordan river

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Golan Heights

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Sinai Peninsula

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later given back to Egypt in a peace treaty negotiated in the late 1970s

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Iran

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ruled by the Shah

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took power in coup sponsored by the United States and British in 1953

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allied with the United States

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Latin America

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communism, anti-communism, proxy fights

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Thomas Mann, secretary of state, became expert on Latin America and supported regime change under Lyndon B. Johnson's administration

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United States was looking for that centrist Latin American leader who could find the right path of non-communist development

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Peru's President Fernando Belaúnde

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a Latin American "architect of hope"

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Brazil's President Costa E Silva

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his government started the most oppressive stage of the military regime against communists, which would be continued and expanded under his successor, General Emílio Garrastazu Médici

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Africa

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Republic of Congo

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early 1960s

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United States and Soviet Union both took an interest in the Republic of the Congo

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1970s more proxy battles between communists and non-communists

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1960s many of the struggles were still about nation building

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Nigeria

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one of the most populous states in Africa

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1967-1970 Biafra breakaway republic

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the Vietnam War

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the great Third World struggle of the 1960s and early 1970s

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the issue

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starts in 1950s after French are pushed out

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supposed to be an election defining a single Vietnamese government

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elections are never held

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Vietnam instead becomes two states

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North Vietnam

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capital Hanoi

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Ho Chi Minh aided by Le Duan

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throughout 1960s Ho Chi Minh becomes the aging symbol of the leadership

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many of the real strings of power being pulled by Le Duan

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by 1959, the North decide to make an all out effort to overthrown the South

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first just military supplies to Vietcong guerrillas

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eventually troops, along Ho Chi Minh Trail

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through neutral and weakly-ruled Laos, also used Cambodia

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South Vietnam

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capital: Saigon (today: Ho Chi Minh City)

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ruler: Ngo Dinh Diem

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charismatic Catholic Nationalist

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responses to North Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Trail

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USA gives military supplies to South Vietnam

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China gives military supplies to North Vietnam

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USA pins hopes on Diem

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Diem becomes increasingly controversial

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high-handed style

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Diem is faltering

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1963: Kennedy's Dictaphone thoughts about coup against and killing of Diem

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felt responsible for the coup after having sent telegram, apparently supporting it

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shocked by death of Diem

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he was an extraordinary character

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end of May 1964, conversation between Johnson and Richard Russell

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Russell was known for a tough, anti-communist conservative

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wonders what U.S. is doing in Vietnam

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"I'd get some crowd that got rid of old Diem to get rid of these people and get some fella in there that said he wished to hell we would get out, that would give us good excuse for getting out"

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Johnson

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feels trapped, unable to solve his dilemma

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gets reelected

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is increasingly pressured to do something about communism in Vietnam

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1968: 500,000 American combat troops are deployed

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100s of soldiers are dying each week

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American bombing North Vietnam

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more bombs being dropped on Indochina than dropped in all of WWII in Germany, but its not enough

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America considers ground invasion into North Vietnam

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didn't do it because the Chinese are involved

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Chinese have warned Americans, an invasion into North Vietnam is an attack on China

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remembering the North Korean president, Americans stay back

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fight the war on North Vietnamese and Chinese terms, i.e. ground war only in South Vietnam

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although there was aerial bombing of Hanoi in the North

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the historical significance of the war

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for America

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divides the country

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makes America question itself and its ideals

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for Southeast Asia

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damage done, Laos and Cambodia got swept up in the war

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creates polarized communist/anticommunist conflict throughout the area

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September 1965, Sukarno overthrown in Indonesia

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the "30 September group" feared that the Chinese communists were going to launch a coup of their own

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overthrow Sukarno and purge communist party in Indonesia

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lead massacres that cause the deaths of 100,000s of Indonesians, a purge to cement a new military-sponsored right-wing dictatorship in Indonesia

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China is imploding in its own cultural revolution

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for the world

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Vietnam War becomes a symbol of the limits anti-communist containment

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London protests to stop supporting the U.S. war

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protests in Paris, Berlin, Rome