The Vietnam War

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The Vietnam War

• 22 Gia Long St., Saigon, 1975

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• Maps of French Indochina

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Vietnam Historical Background

• Vietnamese people resisted Chinese control for a
  millennium, French colonialism in the 19th and
  20th century, and U.S. power in the 20th century
• French colonial policies violently uprooted
  Vietnamese society
• Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) father of the
  Vietnamese revolution, helped found the French
  Communist Party, worked for the Communist
  International in 1920s and 1930s, organized the
  Vietminh (League for the Independence of Vietnam)
  in World War II to resist Japanese and French
  presence, proclaimed the Democratic Republic of
  Vietnam in 1945 by quoting from the American
  Declaration of Independence and the French
  Declaration of the Rights of Man Source
  Vietnamese Declaration of Independence
• During World War II the Vietminh worked with the
  Office of Strategic Services to liberate Vietnam
  from the Japanese rescuing downed airmen and
  passing intelligence Sources Pentagon Papers,
  Gravel Edition, Summary and Chapter I and
  Advising the Viet Minh

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The First Indochina War, 1946-1954

• 1946 outbreak of French-Vietminh war after the
  French high commissioner in Saigon declared the
  Republic of Cochinchina a separate state, and
  after the breakdown of a negotiated compromise
  agreement between the French and Ho Chi Minh
• Eight-year guerilla war, including the 1947
  French aerial bombing with napalm (jellied
  gasoline mixture, incendiary weapon), ended with
  decisive French defeat at Dienbienphu in 1954
• Dienbienphu General Vo Nguyen Giap defeated
  French garrison with 15,000 soldiers (many elite
  paratroopers) major military victory of a
  non-European colonial independence movement
  against a modern Western occupier Eisenhower
  administration refused air strike to break the
  siege
• By 1954 U.S. paid about three-quarters of the
  financial cost of the French war against Ho Chi
  Minh between 1950 and 1954 the U.S. gave 3
  billion in aid to the French U.S. sent 300 men
  as part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group
• April 5, 1954 President Eisenhower coined
  domino theory Source Domino Theory

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Eisenhower and Diem

• Military Intervention Debated President
  Eisenhower vs. Sec. of State John Foster Dulles
  and Vice President Richard Nixon
• American Military Divided Air Force Chief of
  Staff Nathan Twinning (for atomic bomb) vs. Army
  Chief of Staff Matthew Ridgeway (air power does
  not equal victory)
• 1954 Geneva Conference temporary division of
  Vietnam at 17th parallel national elections in
  1956 Source Geneva Conference
• After 1955 U.S. supported government of Ngo Dinh
  Diem even though it had little support in South
  Vietnam U.S. provided 300 million per year
  (mostly for South Vietnamese military) and up to
  740 uniformed U.S. soldiers Diem refused to hold
  elections
• December 1960 National Liberation Front NLF
  (the Communist Partys vehicle for armed
  insurgency against Diem) Diem and American
  officials called the NLF Vietcong although it
  was not entirely communist. Was NLF part of
  civil war in South Vietnam? Source NLF
• Did U.S. intervene in South Vietnam after 1954
  because it had been defeated politically at
  Dienbienphu?
• Illusion of Nation Building military security
  over economic and political reform Example
  Lansdale Report , Lansdale to Diem, Lansdale Bio

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Kennedy and Diem

• JFK increased U.S. support to South Vietnam
  41.1 million in military aid in 1961 military
  advisors grew from 900 in 1961 to 16,700 in 1963
• JFKs Cold War Optimism counter-insurgency
  defense against armed or unarmed rebellion to
  save American troops Relevance 2006
  Counterinsurgency Field Manual, Crane,
  Counterinsurgency Paradoxes
• Strategic Hamlet Program (1961-64) South
  Vietnamese peasants were uprooted and
  concentrated in fortified villages to counter
  Vietcong political and military influence
  Source Failure of Strategic Hamlet Program
• 1963 Buddhist Crisis self-immolation of Buddhist
  monks to protest Diems brother Ngo Dinh Nhu
  (head of the governments police and security
  forces)
• 1963 Military Coup against Diem and Nhu South
  Vietnamese killed both brothers U.S.
  intelligence agents knew of plotting, but did not
  warn Diem
• If JFK had lived, would he have withdrawn? Not in
  light of his 1961 inaugural address to bear any
  burden in defense of liberty Sources JFK
  Audio, JFK Speeches

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Malcolm W. Brownes PhotoBurning Buddhist Monk,
Thich Quang DucSelf-Immolation (June 11, 1963)

• Malcolm W. Browne
• Digital History Website

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Johnsons War ? A Closer Look at 1964

• LBJ as reluctant warrior LBJ did not want war,
  but pledged to build on Trumans, Eisenhowers,
  and Kennedys military containment policies. LBJ
  in early 1964 This country was built by
  pioneers with an ax in one hand and a rifle in
  the other. Source Gardner, 103
• LBJ as New Dealer, January1964 I got a lotta
  problems. Ive got a brazen Communist attempt to
  conquer Asia on my hands. Ive got Negroes
  revolting in America I got troubles in Central
  America that the people dont even know about. I
  gotta figure out how to pay for these fucking
  wars and keep my commitment to feed, educate, and
  care for the people of this country. Source
  Gardner, 104
• In his mind, LBJs unconditional war on poverty
  in America hinged on victory in Vietnam
• Dec. 1963-July 1965 LBJ sought victory in South
  Vietnam and expanded JFKs limited commitment
  into an open-ended one
• Aug. 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident LBJ argued
  that North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. ships were
  unprovoked and widened the war Source National
  Security Archive
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed Congress 416-0
  in House and 88-2 in Senate gave LBJ a blank
  check for war Democratic Senators Wayne Morse of
  Oregon and Ernest Gruening of Alaska dissented
  Sources Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Senate
  Debate, Norman Solomon
• Senator J. William Fulbright, who had supported
  the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, later said I
  dont normally assume a President lies to you.

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• Interactive Vietnam War Map

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Vietnam War Escalation, 1965-1968

• Operation Rolling Thunder U.S. retaliatory air
  strikes against North Vietnam after an NLF attack
  on American barracks in Pleiku (Feb. 6, 1965)
  between 1965-1967 U.S. dropped more tonnage of
  bombs on Vietnam than the Allies dropped on
  Europe in World War II only Undersecretary of
  State George Ball opposed air war at the time
• Land War first two battalions of U.S. Marines
  deployed in March 1965 peak level in April 1969
  with 543,400 soldiers in Vietnam
• April 1966 for the first time, more Americans
  than South Vietnamese were killed in action
• Bombings probably killed a ratio of two civilians
  to one Vietminh search-and-destroy operations on
  the ground perhaps killed as many as six
  civilians for each Vietminh
• Attrition Strategy developed by Gen. William
  Westmoreland, aimed at destroying enemy forces
  faster than they could be replaced Sec. of
  Defense Robert McNamaras emphasis on body
  count led to inflated accounts and targeting of
  civilians Tip McNamara Symposium
• Casualties (1961-1973) 58,193 U.S. deaths
  635,357 South Vietnamese (military and civilian
  deaths) 916,000 North Vietnamese (military and
  civilian deaths)

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TetThe Turning Point 1968

• Tet North Vietnamese surprise offensive in
  January 1968, hit 36 of 44 provincial cities and
  100 villages, including the American embassy in
  Saigon, Khe Sanh (U.S. Marine base besieged), Ben
  Tre (a Pyrrhic victoryas one American officer
  stated, it became necessary to destroy the town
  to save it)
• Tet a tactical failure, yet a strategic success
  for Hanoi, given its psychological impact on U.S.
  antiwar movement and media
• Feb. 1, 1968 NBC news showed a film clip of Gen.
  Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of South Vietnams
  national police, pointing a gun at the head of a
  Vietcong lieutenant who had just murdered a South
  Vietnamese colonel, his wife and their six
  children newsman John Chancellor called it
  rough justice on a Saigon street as the general
  pulled the trigger the U.S. public was horrified
• March 31, 1968 LBJ announced in a television
  address that U.S. would halt the bombing, begin
  peace negotiations, and that he withdrew himself
  as a candidate for reelection Source Johnson
  Speeches

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Edward T. Adams Pulitzer Prize PhotoViet Cong
Execution (February 1, 1968)

• Newseum

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Atrocities

• Violence against civilians as intentional tactic
  of war
• Vietcong utilized terrorism to solicit
  cooperation from the Vietnamese Vietcong
  guerrillas assassinated or kidnapped thousands of
  local officials, priests, teachers, and other
  counterrevolutionaries
• U.S. policy of bombing with high explosives and
  napalm created many civilian deathssome
  accidental and some intentional
• My Lai Massacre (March 16, 1968) largest single
  American atrocity U.S. Army infantry company
  killed 504 unresisting women, children, and old
  men officers in charge tried to cover up only
  one officer, Lieutenant William Calley, received
  judicial punishment Tip S. Hersh
• Hue Massacre (Tet Offensive, 1968) North
  Vietnamese Army and Vietcong occupied Hue and
  executed those connected with Americans 2,810
  bodies found in mass graves and 3,000 residents
  missing
• Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam Combat Trauma
  and the Undoing of Character (1994) Healing
  from trauma depends upon communalization of the
  traumabeing able to safely tell the story to
  someone who is listening and who can be trusted
  to retell it truthfully to others in the
  community. p. 4

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Nixons War, 1968-1974

• Nixon sought peace with honor by negotiating
  for peace while escalating the war at the same
  time
• Vietnamization reduction of American troops in
  South Vietnam by 1971 down to 139,000 (protests
  at home continued)
• June 1971 Pentagon Papers leaked to press
  secret 20-year summary of war revealed
  superficiality and lack of candor in U.S. Vietnam
  policy strengthened case for ending the war
• Secret Bombing of neutral Cambodia (1969-1973),
  naval blockade of North Vietnam, and continued
  bombing of Vietnam (on average one ton of bombs
  dropped each minute). Example Linebacker II or
  Christmas Bombing (Dec. 18-29, 1972) dropped
  20,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam Explore
  Henry KissingerHero or Villain?
• January1973 Paris Peace Accords, formal ending
  of American war in Vietnam, but fighting in
  Vietnam continued U.S. left CIA and military
  advisers in Saigon, pulled last combat troops
  out of Vietnam in March 1973, and continued
  bombing in Cambodia until August 1973
• War Powers Act (Nov. 1973) Congress limited
  presidents war powers, funded fighting only for
  60 days in an undeclared war
• February 1974 begin of North Vietnamese
  offensive against South Vietnam
• April 1975 Saigon came under North Vietnamese
  control and was renamed Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam
  reunified, war ended

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Huynh Cong Uts Pulitzer Prize PhotoVietnamTerr
or of War (June 8, 1972)

• Huynh Cong Ut

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Why did the United States fail in Vietnam?

• Vietnam Syndrome American unwillingness to
  exercise its power vs. military containment
  doctrine and domino theory
• Lack of presidential support for military
  General Westmoreland criticized LBJ for moving
  too slowly and Nixon for conceding to 1973
  ceasefire 82 of Vietnam veterans believed they
  were not allowed to win
• Limited War Lack of American public support
  for widening the war, i.e. occupation of North
  Vietnam and ground war in Cambodia and Laos
• American underestimation of Vietnamese
  determination and willingness to suffer
  casualties
• U.S. put itself in a no-win situation lack of a
  political base in South Vietnam GIs rarely spoke
  Vietnamese in his 1999 memoir A Rumor of War
  Philip Caputo characterized Vietnam as a
  formless war against a formless enemy
• Misuse of military power Army War College
  instructor Col. Harry G. Summers, Jr. told a
  Vietnamese colonel after the war, You know, you
  never defeated us on the battlefield, to which
  the colonel replied, That may be so, but it is
  irrelevant.

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Recommended Readings

• David L. Anderson, ed., Facing MyLai Moving
  Beyond the Massacre (1998)
• David L. Anderson, The Columbia Guide to the
  Vietnam War (New York, 2002)
• Dixee Bartholomew-Feis, The OSS and Ho Chi Minh
  Unexpected Allies in the War Against Japan (UP
  Kansas, 2006)
• Fox Butterfield, Getting it Wrong in a Photo
  New York Times (April 23, 2000)
• Denise Chong, The Girl in the Picture The Story
  of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War
  (New York, 2000)
• Graham Greene, The Quiet American (1955)
• Mason Drukman, Wayne Morse A Political Biography
  (1997)
• Lloyd Gardner, Pay Any Price Lyndon Johnson and
  the Wars for Vietnam (Ivan Dee, 1995)
• George Herring, Americas Longest War The United
  States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 , 3rd ed.
  (McGraw-Hill, 1996)
• Seymour Hersh, My Lai 4 A Report on the Massacre
  and its Aftermath (1970)
• Seymour Hersh, The Price of PowerKissinger in
  the Nixon White House (1983)
• Christopher Hitchens, The Trial of Henry
  Kissinger (2001)
• Robert D. Johnson, Ernest Gruening and the
  American Dissenting Tradition (Harvard UP, 1998)
• Walter LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold
  War, 1945-2006 (2008)
• Robert McNamara, In Retrospect The Tragedy and
  Lessons of Vietnam (1997)
• Jonathan Nashel, Edward Lansdales Cold War
  (University of Massachusetts Press, 2005)
• Cyma Rubin and Eric Newton, eds., The Pulitzer
  Prize Photographs (The Freedom Forum Newseum,
  2000)
• Marilyn Young, Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990 (1991)
• Miller Center of Public Affairs - Vietnam War
  Bibliography