1. Why did the North win?
• 1. North fought hard
and well
• 2. Poor SV leadership
• 3. American tactics
inappropriate
• 4. Long and draining
war for the US

2. Costs to Vietnam
• Deaths
• SV-685,000
NV-1.5 million
• 4x the bombs dropped
in WWII
• Sprayed jungle-size of
Massachusetts
• 879,000 orphaned,
730,000 refugees to
US

3. Costs to America
• Casualties
• 58,183 Dead
• 303,704 wounded
• 2300 MIA
• Financial
• $173 billion on the war
• $200 billion in health care costs
• Psychological
• “Vietnam Syndrome”-we started to doubt ourselves
• Political
• War Powers Act passed (60 Days)-Loss of Presidential Power

4. The Wall
• November 11, 1982
• Designed by Maya Ling
Lin
• “To overcome grief you
have to confront it. An
honest memorial makes
you accept what
happened before you
overcome it. I think that
the memorial makes
people accept it.

5. General Colin Powell
• “Many of my generation, the
career captains, majors, and
lieutenants seasoned in that war
vowed that when it was our turn to
call the shots, we would not
acquiesce in halfhearted warfare
for half-baked reasons that the
American people could not
understand or support. If we could
make good on that promise to
ourselves, the civilian leadership,
and to the country than the
sacrifices made in Vietnam would
not have been in vain.”

6. General Colin Powell
• “Many of my generation, the
career captains, majors, and
lieutenants seasoned in that war
vowed that when it was our turn to
call the shots, we would not
acquiesce in halfhearted warfare
for half-baked reasons that the
American people could not
understand or support. If we could
make good on that promise to
ourselves, the civilian leadership,
and to the country than the
sacrifices made in Vietnam would
not have been in vain.”