The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Overview

A Tragedy in Five Acts

• John G. Stoessinger, Why Nations Go to War

“The awesome truth about Vietnam is clear: it was in vain that combatants and civilians had suffered, the land had been devastated, and the dead had died.”

Act I: Truman

• Truman at first wanted French to leave Indo-China

• 1948 – Containment• 1949 – Communist China • 1950 – Korean War• All conflict became identified with and

defined as part of the same struggle against the same enemy

Act I: Truman

• US begins to support France in their war with Ho after start of Korean War– French and Vietminh fighting since 1945– 1953 1/3 cost paid by US

Act II: Eisenhower

• Eisenhower and Dulles were convinced that China would intervene in Vietnam if US troops intervened– 1954 – 50-80% cost paid by US

• Fall of Dien Bien Phu ends French involvement in Vietnam

Geneva Peace Accord– Vietnam was guaranteed its

independence– National elections, under international

supervision, would be held in two years (July 1956)

– Until elections, Vietnam would be divided at the 17th parallel (just to the north of Hue on the map). Control of the north would  be held by the Viet Minh forces led by Ho Chi Minh while control in the South would be held by forces who had fought with the French. 

– Laos and Cambodia created• US never signed Geneva Accords

1954

Eisenhower Cites "Domino Theory" Regarding Southeast Asia

French Defeated at Dien Bien Phu

Geneva Convention Agreements Announced

1955

Diem Rejects Conditions of Geneva Accords, Refuses to Participate in Nationwide Elections

China and Soviet Union Pledge Additional Financial Support to Hanoi

Diem Becomes President of Republic of Vietnam

1956French Leave Vietnam

US Training South Vietnamese

1957

Communist Insurgency into South Vietnam

Terrorist Bombings Rock Saigon

Act II: Eisenhower• Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

(SEATO). – Creation of SEATO seen by Vietminh as

violation of spirit of Geneva• US supported Diem in not holding

elections• Diem lost support of people and became

increasingly autocratic– 1960 – 1000 military advisers

Act III: Kennedy

“In the last analysis, it is their war; it is they who must win or lose it.”

• Kennedy was surrounded by advisors who saw Vietnam as a military matter rather than a political one.

1961 Kennedy dispatches 400 Special Forces

The White Paper

• Rostow-Taylor Report (“White Paper”)– October 1961 Kennedy sends Walt Rostow

and Maxwell Taylor on fact finding mission to Vietnam

– Report recommend 8,000 combat troops necessary to save South Vietnam

– Air power could easily overwhelm N. Vietnamese forces

Act III: Kennedy• George Ball, Undersecretary of State –

game warnings to the president:

“George, you are crazier than hell.” - Kennedy

“Within five years we’ll have three hundred thousand men in the paddies and jungles [of Vietnam] and never find them again,”

[W]e must not commit forces to South Vietnam or we would find ourselves in a protracted conflict far more serious than Korea. The Viet Cong were mean and tough, as the French had learned to their sorrow, and there was always danger of provoking Chinese intervention as we had in Korea….The Vietnam problem was not one of repelling overt invasion but of mixing ourselves up in a revolutionary situation with strong anticolonialist overtones.

Act III: Kennedy

• Kennedy compromised – 15,000 advisors and support personnel.– Counter insurgency: search and destroy, strategic

hamlets, new “Green Berets”, Agent Orange– Pressure on Diem to make democratic reforms

• VP Johnson visits Vietnam in April 1961Diem is “the Winston Churchill of Southeast Asia”Then to reporter, “S___, man, he’s the only boy we have out there.”

1959

Weapons Moving Along Ho Chi Minh Trail

US Servicemen Killed in Guerilla Attack

Diem Orders Crackdown on Communists, Dissidents

1960

North Vietnam Imposes Universal Military Conscription

Kennedy Elected President

Vietcong Formed1961

Vice President Johnson Tours Saigon

Act III: KennedySituation deteriorated through 1962

1963: Kennedy aware that Diem regime unpopular (Buddhist monks practice self-immolation) – recognized need to disassociate US from Diem

November 1963 Diem assassinated with US approval

Kennedy killed 3 weeks later

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali visits Mohamed Bouazizi, who set fire to himself, December 28, 2010.

Thích Quảng Đức burning himself to death in Saigon, 1963

1963 17,000 US troops in Vietnam 70 had been killed

Act IV: Johnson• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

– Alleged attacks on US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964

– Gave President Johnson power to use military force in Vietnam as he saw necessary

That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.

Section 2. The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. Consonant with the Constitution of the United States and the Charter of the United Nations and in accordance with its obligations under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, the United States is, therefore, prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.

Section 3. This resolution shall expire when the President shall determine that the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured by international conditions created by action of the United Nations or otherwise, except that it may be terminated earlier by concurrent resolution of the Congress.

• February 1965 – NLF (Vietcong) attack on American barracks

• “Operation ROLLING THUNDER” Sustained bombing campaign began that would last for three years– December 1967: DoD stated 864,000 tons of bombs

had been dropped on North Vietnam • 653,000 tons dropped during entire Korean War• 503,000 tons dropped in Pacific theater during WWII

• Combat troops introduced, quickly expanding to over 500,000 by 1968

Act IV: Johnson

Limited War

• Objective was to keep war limited in geography and purpose

• Large scale “search and destroy” mission intended to break the will of Viet Minh– Incremental escalation of military “pain” until

enemy is ready to negotiate

* What if the enemy is willing to endure any pain because their only objective is victory?

TET Offensive 1968• North Vietnamese and NLF launch major

offensive against cities in South Vietnam• Offensive ultimately a failure for North; a moral

defeat for US– Johnson rejected proposal to expand troop numbers– Reduced scope of bombing– Withdrew from Presidential race– Negotiators begin meetings in Paris

1968January Sihanouk Allows Pursuit of Vietcong into Cambodia North Vietnamese Launch Tet Offensive

February Battle for HueWestmoreland Requests 206,000 More Troops (Denied by LBJ)My Lai Massacre

March LBJ Announces He Won't Run

April MLK Slain in Memphis

May Paris Peace Talks Begin

August Upheaval at Democratic Convention in Chicago

November Richard Nixon Elected President

1969

Nixon Begins Secret Bombing of Cambodia

Policy of "Vietnamization" Announced

Ho Chi Minh Dies at Age 79

News of My Lai Massacre Reaches US

Massive Antiwar Demonstration in DC

1970

Sihanouk Ousted in Cambodia   

Kent State Incident   

Kissinger and Le Duc Begin Secret Talks

Number of US Troops Falls to 280K

Act V: Nixon

• Vietnamization– Ground troops would be withdrawn and

combat given over to South• Threatened North (Eisenhower in Korea)• Escalation of bombing, moving into

Cambodia and Laos– December 1973 – Massive Bombings of

Hanoi and Haiphong

Paris Accords• January 23, 1973

– Withdraw of all US troops– Exchange of prisoners– Consultations between North and South on general

elections “decide themselves the political future of South Viet-Nam through genuinely free and democratic general elections under international supervision."

• Essentially a return to the Geneva Accords of 1954“There was an Orwellian irony to the situations. Progress was regress: 1954 by 1973.”

1972

Nixon Cuts Troop Levels by 70K

Secret Peace Talks Revealed

B-52s Bomb Hanoi and Haiphong 

Break-In at Watergate Hotel

Kissinger Says "Peace Is At Hand"  

Nixon Wins Reelection 1973

Cease-fire Signed in Paris

End of Draft Announced

Last American Troops Leave Vietnam

Hearings on Secret Bombings Begin

Kissinger and Le Duc Tho Win Peace Prize

1974

Nixon Resigns

Communists Plan Major Offensive  

1975

Ford Calls Vietnam War "Finished“

Last Americans Evacuate as Saigon Falls to Communists