Some Puzzles of the USVietnam War (1959-1975)
HOW AND WHY DID THE US GET SO DEEPLY
INVOLVED AND INVESTED IN THE VIETNAM
CONFLICT?
WHY DID THE WAR LAST SO LONG?
THERE WAS A LONG RECKONING AFTER THE
WAR. IS IRAQ AND/OR AFGHANISTAN A CASE
OF HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF?
Context
 The time from the end of WWII to the beginning of
the Vietnam conflict was only 14 years.
 The United States was engaged in a global rivalry
with the USSR (‘the Cold War’) and to a much lesser
extent with Communist China.
 The Cold War was primarily fought through client
states. The primary explicit worry was that the
communization of all of Vietnam would cause other
states in the region to become Communist.
From Kolko
 Roosevelt suggested Indochina might become a four
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power trusteeship. Independence was something that the
world powers would ‘grant’ rather than an intrinsic right
of the Vietnamese.
Potsdam, July 1945: British takeover authorized south of
the 16th parallel and the Chinese occupied N. of the 16th
parallel.
The Vietnamese rebelled.
Washington saw Vietnamese nationalism as a tool of the
communists.
Kolko sees massive US intervention as ‘inevitable’…The
colonial wars drained France and left Europe vulnerable
in the cold war.
Some Background
 Vietnam was a very old civilization but prior to
colonization was not a nation state but instead made
up of several kingdoms. They were ruled by the
Chinese until 938 AD (and for a short time
afterward). Vietnam, along with Cambodia and Laos,
was colonized by the French in the 1890s (the same
period the US colonized the Philippines).
 The people of Vietnam resisted French colonization
throughout the colonial period. The area was called
‘French Indochina.’
Background of Vietnamese Revolution against
the French
 In 1925 there was a rebellion against the French by
Nguyen Ai Quoc who later called himself Ho Chi
Minh, which means “the bringer of light.”
 He founded the Revolutionary Youth League which
later evolved into the Vietnamese Communist Party.
 In WWII Ho formed the Viet Minh who sometimes
received money from the US. Ho thought the US
would support his independence.
Partition of Vietnam
 After WWII, the allies did not object when France
reconquered Vietnam but there was continual
resistance leading to the French leaving in 1954 (a
period of resistance to colonization throughout the
world).
 Vietnam was partitioned into North and South by the
Geneva Accords. This was supposed to be temporary.
 South Vietnam was democratic and capitalist (also
corrupt and agrarian). Led by Ngo Dinh Diem
 North Vietnam was Communist, led by Ho Chi Minh.
Civil War in Vietnam
 The US supported the South. North Vietnam had a
guerilla war in the South. The US sponsored the
army in the South (The ARVN: Army of the Republic
of Vietnam). Eisenhower had pledged assistance to
S. Vietnam and Dem in 1955 as our allies in the Cold
War.
 What does Walzer say about allies and war?
 What does Walzer say about revolutions and
uprisings?
 Is there anything different about the case of the
North invading the South?
Fighting for Democracy? US resistance to the
Geneva Accords
 In 1956 there was supposed to be a general election to
determine whether the people supported unification of
Vietnam as part of the Geneva Accords.
 The US opposed the general election for fear that Ho Chi
Minh would win them. They refused to sign the Geneva
Accords.
 Dwight Eisenhower admits, “I have never talked or
corresponded with a person knowledgeable in
Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections
been held as of the time of the fighting, a possible 80 per
cent of the population would have voted for the
communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader.”
Repression in S. Vietnam/The Domino Theory
 Diem’s government repressed Buddhists and other dissidents.
 The US feared Diem would unify with the North.
 Eisenhower claimed that Laos was ‘the cork in the bottle’ as
far as Southeast Asia was concerned. The Domino Theory was
born
 “Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow
what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a
row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and
what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go
over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a
disintegration that would have the most profound influences.
“
 What similarities or differences do you see with prior or later
US military involvements?
US Involvement
 JFK elected in 1960 and immediately tested by the
Bay of Pigs crisis (in Cuba).
 The Ugly American 1958 suggested the US would
lose the 3rd World because diplomats did not
understand the language and culture and were
isolated from the people.
 Kennedy expanded economic assistance ‘Food for
Peace’ and The Peace Corps.
 George McGovern was the head of it. By 1963 it was
feeding 92 million people per day.
3rd World Nationalism
 3rd World Anti-Colonial movement spearheaded by
Nehru in India and many revolutions throughout the
world was a concern of the US.
 Kennedy could not really get a foothold of influence over
India. Pakistan was furious about military aid to India
and leaned toward China.
 Syrian and Iraqi governments were overthrown in 1963
by pro-Nasser Egyptian forces. US became more
embedded in the Middle East during this period and
started directly supporting the Israeli military. (The UK
and US sponsored a coup against the democratically
elected leader of Iran and put in the Shah in 1953.)
‘New Frontier’ foreign policy, Alliance for
Progress in Latin America
 The ‘Good Neighbor’ program and other programs
were seen as soft power by some—a way to insure
that Latin America did not go Communist.
 The US attempted to influence Latin America and
the Caribbean at every turn.
 The context of the Cold War made every
impoverished country a possible ‘breeding ground’
for Communism.
 The economic policies did not cause as much
economic growth as hoped but it did have some
successes.+
Cuban Missile Crisis
 Khruschev tried to conceal the shipment of missiles to
Cuba as a way to make up for US military superiority.
The CIA detected the missiles.
 Hawks like the Joint Chiefs of staff and Acheson wanted
air strikes against the missile strikes
 Doves worried about the morality of a surprise attack, the
success rate and possible Soviet retaliation against
Berlin. They argued for a blockade of Cuba.
 US and the Soviets almost came to a military (or possibly
nuclear) confrontation. The Soviets backed down the the
concession from the US to take missiles out of Turkey.
The Fall of Diem
 By 1961 Diem was a great worry to the US.
 JFK was reluctant to commit combat troops to shore up Diem
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but did send 11,000 ‘advisers’ by 1962. They engaged in
combat. They gave a large amount of military aid to S.
Vietnam to shore up the unpopular and failing Diem regime.
The N. Vietnamese/Viet Kong insurgency was succeeding.
In 1963 the Buddhist majority began rebelling in the cities.
The US decided to get rid of Diem because he wouldn’t meet
minor opposition demands made by the Buddhists. The US
told Army officers they could engage in a coup against Diem.
Diem and his brother were captured and murdered by the
coup forces.
Three weeks later JFK was assassinated in Dallas.
Kolko: Origins and Objectives of an Intervention
 Vietnam “illustrates…the nature of he American
internal political process and decision-making
structure…”
Larger context: There is a worldwide movement
toward revolution in poor third world countries.
The US intervenes in many of these revolutions:
Greece to Guatemala.
In Vietnam, the revolution is a nationalist,
revolutionary agrarian movement. It is not a real
civil war. The US support for S. Vietnam is support
for a traditional colonialist structure.
Vietnamese Independence: A Threat to the US?
 Why would a small conflict in a small country be of
such concern to the US?
 For the US, the issue is the US ambition in relation
to the Third World. This is political, and he points
out the military is ‘tractable’ and will follow civilian
guidance.
 The US saw an independent Vietnam as a “prize” for
Russia. ..Ambassador to France David Bruce said
this was true because of “rice, rubber and so forth…”
The fear was the whole region would fall.
Economic Motives
 If the region fell, this was economically costly.
Eisenhower [in his memoir]: “…The loss of
Vietnam…would have meant the Communist
enslavement of millions…[but also] spelled the loss
of valuable deposits of tin and prodigious supplies of
rubber and rice..”
Escalation and Human Rights Violations
 The US presence in Vietnam began to escalate starting in
1960.
 Kolko: “To understand this war one must always place it in its
contextual relationship and recall that the issues in Vietnam
were really those of the future of the United States power not
only in south-east Asia but throughout the entire developing
world. In Vietnam the United States government has vainly
attempted to make its vast power relevant to international
social and political realities that had bypassed the functional
conservativism of a nation seeking to save an old order with
liberal rhetoric and, above all, with every form of military
power…”
 According to Kolko, it was obvious by 1963 the US was headed
for defeat.
Full Scale War
 On August 4, 1964 the ‘Gulf of Tonkin incident’ occurred.
Johnson ordered the bombardment of N. Vietnamese
and Congress was asked to pass a resolution to ‘protect
the armed forces…’
 It’s unclear what happened really—but the South was
already raiding the North so the North could be seen as
defensively repelling an aggressor.
 The US began to bomb the DRV.
 Kolko “Experience over subsequent years has
shown…that the words ‘peace’ and ‘negotiation’ from
official United States sources from 1964 onward always
preludes to a new and more intensive military
escalation.
Denoument
 The
Moral Verdict: Kolko
 “Any objective and carefully prepared account of the history of
Vietnam must conclude with the fact that the United states
must bear the responsibility for the torture of an entire nation
since the end of the Second World War. The return of France
to Vietnam…was due to crucial political decisions made by
Washington…”To escape defeat time and time again [the US]
accelerated warfare in the hopes of attaining its unique ends
through military means rather than diplomacy.
 The United States has fought in Vietnam with increasing
intensity to extend its hegemony over the world community
and to stop every form of revolutionary movement which
refuses to accept the predominant role of the United States in
the direction of the affairs of its nation or region…”