America’s “Vietnam Experience”
Background history…French-Indochina
• Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam):
– Occupied by France in 1858, Indochina became a French colony in 1887
• Indochina has a rich, diverse and predominantly Buddhist culture.
– Many different ethnic tribal groups
– Mainly rural, agrarian; few cities and industry
– Villages and “hamlets” (connected villages).
• The French are European and Christian (Catholic).
– Were repressive, restricted education, religion and culture, tried to
“westernize” an ancient , native civilization.
• 1919 – Versailles: Vietnamese (represented by Nguyen Ai Quoc – “Ho Chi Minh”)
sought self-determination - were denied. France retained its colony.
• 1920: Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh) became a founding member of the French
Communist Party.
• 1923: HCM studied Marxism in the USSR.
• 1930: HCM founded the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP); vowed to liberate
Indochina from France. French charged him with TREASON.
• French sentenced him to death in absentia in 1930.
The Conflict in Southeast Asia
55 years of struggle and 35 years of war:
• 1919: Wilson snubs Ho Chi Minh at Versailles; France keeps Indochina colony
• 1930: Ho Chi Minh pledges to liberate Indochina from French
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1940-1945: As a US ally, Indochinese fought against Japanese occupation
1945-1954: French-Indochina war/1st War of independence (Vietminh vs. France)
1955-1964: Civil war in South Vietnam (NLF/Vietcong vs. ARVN)
1964-1975: 2nd war of independence/Vietnam War
– NLF (Vietcong)/NVA vs. USA/South Vietnam Army/ARVN
• 30 April 1975, the VC/NVA won the war; independent Vietnam is created.
• Was this a war of “national liberation” from a colonial power (France, and then,
the United States) or a war fought to stop the spread of communism?
• The United States failed to contain communism in Southeast Asia.
Conflict in Southeast Asia
30 years of war for America:
• FIVE AMERICAN PRESIDENTS:
• HARRY S. TRUMAN: 1945 – 1952
• DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER: 1953 – 1960
• JOHN F. KENNEDY: 1961 – 1963
• LYNDON B. JOHNSON: 1964 - 1968
• RICHARD M. NIXON: 1969 - 1974
Indochina: 1940 to 1954
• Japanese occupation of Indochina during WW2 (1940-1945).
– 1941: HCM created the communist “Vietminh” in Vietnam.
– Allied with US against Japan.
• Yalta (Feb. ’45) and Potsdam (July ’45) Agreements:
– FDR, Truman supported Vietnamese independence
– French wanted to retain the colony
• 2 September 1945 – VJ Day and Vietnamese “Declaration of Independence”
– Indochina remained a French colony - Independence denied a 2nd time
• A war of liberation against France: FRENCH-INDOCHINA WAR
– Vietminh vs. France
– Vietminh: aid from USSR, China (US weapons) and used what Japanese left
behind after WW2; US supported Vietminh
– France: Beginning in 1950, US paid for 80% of their war; no combat support
• “spread of communism” or “war of national liberation”?
The Results of the French-Indochina War
• 1954: Battle of Dienbienphu
– Vietminh defeated French
– US: “China and USSR will expand into SE Asia”
– Vietnam: Finally…independence
• Revolutionary movements against colonialism
throughout the Third World
• 1954: SEATO
• THE GENEVA ACCORDS (1955 Peace Treaty)
– Created Laos, Cambodia and…
– 2 Vietnams: partitioned at the 17th parallel
– Independence denied a 3rd time
– North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh.
– South Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem.
– Promised re-unification elections in 1956
– US did not sign the Geneva Peace Accords
US support of Diem in South Vietnam: 1955-1963
Why does the experiment fail?
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NGO DINH DIEM
80% of the South Vietnamese people supported HCM
Diem (a Catholic) realized that he would lose any election.
– Repeatedly cancelled elections between 1956 & ‘62
– regime was corrupt in many other ways
This sparked a civil war in South Vietnam by 1959.
1960: South Vietnamese members of the National
Liberation Front (NLF or the ‘Viet Cong’), aided by North
Vietnam, fought a civil war against the Diem government.
1960: Eisenhower sent 900 Green Berets to SV to “advise”
and train the ARVN
1961: JFK sent 16, 000 “advisors” to South Vietnam to
train the ARVN and defend Diem govt.
1963: due to widespread corruption and very little public
support, CIA backed a coup of the Diem government and
he was assassinated.
– JFK’s “withdrawal plan” in 1963.
– US troops out of Vietnam by end of 1965
JFK assassinated on November 22, 1963
– This ended his plan to withdraw US forces from
Vietnam
– …and changed the direction of US policy in Vietnam
under the new American president, Lyndon B.
Johnson…the torch has been passed BACK….
US Intervention in South Vietnam:
The Vietnam War: 1964 to 1975
A war that the US must win quickly or risk losing the support of the
American people.
A war that the Vietnamese will fight for however long it takes to
achieve their goals of unification and independence.
How could the United States, a nation with over 200 million citizens
and a military second to none in the entire world, be UNABLE to
defeat its enemy in Vietnam (the NLF/Vietcong) from South
Vietnam and the NVA from North Vietnam, a nation with limited
resources and a population of just 17 million?
President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1968):
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McCarthy Era: US Asian “experts” purged from government
Therefore, LBJ had very few advisors Asian advisors
– LBJ: conflict in Vietnam was more “domino theory” than “war of liberation”
• was convinced that the US could easily win a war in Vietnam
• needed a way to convince Congress and the American people that the US should wage war
in Vietnam to contain communism.
August 2, 1964: Gulf of Tonkin Incident
August 4, 1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Operation Rolling Thunder
– Military superiority of US, in escalating amounts of force, would convince enemy to give up
– 7 million tons of US bombs were dropped on Vietnam during this operation
1964: US Marines sent to Vietnam
Early 1965: US Army combat forces in South Vietnam
1965 to 1967:
– “Escalation”: “rural pacification” plus “search and destroy” strategy;
– growing anti-war movement in US – as more people protested the war, LBJ would send more
troops to Vietnam
– “light at the end of the tunnel” (Westmoreland)
1968:
– Tet offensive, “credibility Gap”
– the anti-war movement; counter-culture (end of “conformity”); a year of “chaos”
– Presidential election: Nixon (R) vs. Humphrey (D)
Nixon’s Vietnam: 1969-1974
(Public support for the war virtually non-existent)
Pres. Richard Nixon
• His Strategy: “Vietnamization”
– Turn the war over to ARVN…gradually
• “De-escalation” of US involvement
– Reduce ground troops…gradually
– Secret “incursions” into Cambodia and Laos
broadened the war/angered Americans
• Achieve “Peace with Honor”
– US encouraged North Vietnam and Viet Cong to
negotiate an end to the war in 1968.
– US bombing of NV kept NV/VC from negotiating
– Nixon increased bombing of North Vietnam
– 1971: “The Pentagon Papers”
• Paris Accords – US out by end of 1973
• April 30, 1975:
– Communists (NVA and VC) finally win their war
against government of South Vietnam
– Vietnam is finally re-united and independent after
years of colonial rule.
The Vietnam War
• Why was the United States, a nation with over
200 million citizens and a military second to none
in the entire world, UNABLE to defeat its enemy
in Vietnam (the NLF from South Vietnam and the
NVA from North Vietnam), a nation with limited
resources and a population of just 17 million?
Important Vietnam War Timeline
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1887-Indochina became a French colony
1919-France kept Indochina (post war power balance )
1940-Japanese occupation during WW 2
1945-France kept Indochina (Domino Theory)
1954-Defeated French at Dienbienphu
1955-Geneva Accords
1960-US “advisors” in South
1963-JFK & Diem Killed
1964-Gulf of Tonkin
1965-US combat troops in SV
1968-Tet Offensive (500K US troops in Vietnam)
1970-Vietnamization and Paris Peace Talks begin
1973-Last US troops out of South Vietnam
1975-Fall of Saigon - Vietnam’s Independence
Vietnam War Terminology
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NVA, ARVN, Viet Minh, Viet Cong,/NLF
Ho Chi Minh, Ngo Dinh Diem
Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution
Operation Rolling Thunder
Tet Offensive/Khe Sanh -1968
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Rural Pacification/Strategic Hamlets/Hearts and Minds,
Search and Destroy, Vietnamization, Peace with Honor
Cambodian Incursion
My Lai Massacre
The Pentagon Papers (Daniel Ellsberg)
The Free Speech/Anti-War Movement
Vietnam under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon
Was US involvement in Vietnam consistent with
containment policy?
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS IN
COLD WAR HISTORY
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During the Truman Administration:
“Iron Curtain Speech” and Josef Stalin’s Response to it
The LONG TELEGRAM
X ARTICLE/CONTAINMENT and NOVIKOV TELEGRAM
TRUMAN DOCTRINE/MARSHALL PLAN and SOVIET REACTION
NATIONAL SECURITY ACT
NSC-68
NATO CHARTER AND OTHER ALLIANCES
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During the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations:
BRINKSMANSHIP AND MASSIVE RETALIATION
NEW LOOK POLICY AND EISENHOWER DOCTRINE
IKE’S FAREWELL & JFK’S INAUGURAL ADDRESSES
FLEXIBLE RESPONSE
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS IN COLD WAR
HISTORY
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X ARTICLE
TRUMAN DOCTRINE/MARSHALL PLAN
NATIONAL SECURITY ACT
NSC-68
NATO AND OTHER ALLIANCES
BRINKSMANSHIP AND MASSIVE RETALIATION
NEW LOOK POLICY AND EISENHOWER DOCTRINE
IKE’S FAREWELL & JFK’S INAUGURAL ADDRESSES
FLEXIBLE RESPONSE
GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION