Vietnam War

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{{Infobox Military Conflict|conflict=Vietnam War|partof=the Cold War [1975|casus=Unification of Vietnam (North Vietnam)
[Containment Policy and Domino Theory, Gulf of Tonkin Incident (United States)]ese victory; South Vietnamese and United States defeat; Reunification of Vietnam under the rule of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Communist rule in Laos and rise to power of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.]
United States
South Korea
Thailand
Australia
New Zealand
Philippines
]
National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Soviet Union
People's Republic of China
North Korea
[Ngo Dinh Diem †
John F. Kennedy †
Lyndon Johnson †
Robert McNamara
William Westmoreland
Richard Nixon
Creighton Abrams †] †
Le Duan
Nguyen Chi Thanh †
Vo Nguyen Giap
Van Tien Dung
Tran Van Tra
Truong Nhu Tang

] below
For more information on casualties see Vietnam War casualties-->

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina Wars, the American War in Vietnam and the Vietnam Conflict, occurred from 1959 to April 30, 1975, concluding with the North Vietnamese military victory after more than 15 years. Over 1.4 million military personal were killed in the war (approximately 6% were members of the United States armed forces), while estimates of civilian fatalities range from 2 to 5.1 million. The war was fought between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the United States-supported Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The war ended with the defeat of the Southern and American forces, and unification of Vietnam under the communism government of the North.

The U.S. and their allies deployed large numbers of troops to South Vietnam between the end of the First Indochina War in 1954 and 1973. U.S. military advisers first became involved in Vietnam in 1950, assisting French colonial forces. In 1956, these advisers assumed full responsibility for training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. President John F. Kennedy increased America's troop numbers from 500 to 16,000, and President Lyndon Johnson dispatched a large number of troops beginning in 1965. Almost all U.S. military personnel departed after the Paris Peace Accords of 1973. The last American troops left the country on April 30 1975. BBC News: On this Day in 1975: Saigon surrenders

At various stages the conflict involved clashes between small units patrolling the mountains and jungles, amphibious operations, guerilla warfare on the villages and cities, and large-scale conventional battles. U.S. aircraft also conducted massive aerial bombing, targeting North Vietnam's cities, industries, and logistical networks. Cambodia and Laos were drawn into the conflict. Large quantities of chemical defoliants were sprayed from the air, in an effort to reduce the cover available to the enemy.

On April 30 1975, the capital of South Vietnam, Fall of Saigon fell to the communist forces of North Vietnam, effectively ending the Vietnam War.

Names for the conflict Various names have been applied to the conflict, and these have shifted over time, although Vietnam War is the most commonly used title in English language. It has been variously called the Second Indochina War, the Vietnam Conflict, the Vietnam War, and, in Vietnamese language, Chiến tranh Việt Nam (The Vietnam War) or Kháng chiến chống Mỹ (Resistance War against America).

Second Indochina War: places the conflict into context with other distinct, but related, and contiguous conflicts in Southeast Asia. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia are seen as the battlegrounds of a larger Indochinese conflict that began at the end of World War II and lasted until communist victory in 1975. This conflict can be viewed in terms of the demise of colonialism and its after-effects during the Cold War.

Vietnam Conflict: largely a U.S. designation, it acknowledges that the United States Congress never declared war on North Vietnam. Legally, the President used his constitutional discretion—supplemented by supportive resolutions in Congress—to conduct what was said to be a "police action".

Vietnam War: the most commonly used designation in English, it suggests that the location of the war was exclusively within the borders of North and South Vietnam, failing to recognize its wider context.

Resistance War against the Americans to Save the Nation: the term favored by North Vietnam (and after North Vietnam's victory over South Vietnam, by Vietnam as a whole); it is more of a slogan than a name, and its meaning is self-evident. Its usage has been abolished in recent years as the government of Vietnam seeks better relations with the U.S. Official Vietnamese publications now refer to the conflict generically as "Chiến tranh Việt Nam" (Vietnam War).

Background to 1949 From 110 BC to 938 AD (with the exception of brief periods), much of present-day Vietnam was part of China. After gaining independence, Vietnam went through a long period of resisting outside aggression. In 1789, one of the most celebrated feats of arms in Vietnamese history occurred, when Tay Son dynasty launched a surprise attack against the Chinese garrison of Hanoi during the Tết celebrations. By 1802, centuries of internal feuding between the Trinh and Nguyen lords ended when Emperor Gia Long unified what is now modern Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty.Dennis J. Duncanson, Government and Revolution in Vietnam, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968), 53 The French gained control of Indochina (French Indochina included Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) during a series of colonial wars, from 1859 to 1885. At the Versailles Conference in 1919, Ho Chi Minh (a pseudonym meaning the Enlightener) requested that a Vietnamese delegation be present to work toward independence for Vietnam. He hoped that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson would support the effort. But he was sorely disappointed, and Indochina's status remained unchanged.

During the Second World War, the puppet state of Vichy France cooperated with Imperial Japanese forces. Vietnam was under de facto Imperial Japan control, although the French continued to serve as the day-to-day administrators.

In 1941 the Communist-dominated national resistance group called the "League for the Independence of Vietnam" (better known as the Viet Minh) was formed.Sexton, Michael "War for the Asking" 1981 Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam and quickly assumed the leadership. He had been a Comintern agent since the 1920s, but as the leader of an independent Vietnamese communist party, Ho freed himself from the control of the Soviet Union.Peter Church, ed. A Short History of South-East Asia.Singapore. John Wiley & Sons, 2006, p. 190. He maintained good relations with the Soviets, however. The Viet Minh began to craft a strategy to seize control of the country at the end of the war. Ho appointed Vo Nguyen Giap as his military commander.

Ho Chi Minh's guerrillas were given funding and training by the United States Office of Strategic Services (the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency). These teams worked behind enemy lines in Indochina, giving support to indigenous resistance groups. The Viet Minh provided valuable intelligence on Japanese troop movements and rescued downed American pilots. The Pentagon, however, viewed Indochina as a sideshow to the more important theatre of the Pacific War. In 1944, the Japanese overthrew the Vichy French administration and humiliated its colonial officials in front of the Vietnamese population. The Japanese began to encourage nationalism and granted Vietnam nominal independence. On March 11 1945, Emperor Bao Dai declared the independence within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Following the Japanese surrender, Vietnamese nationalists, communists, and other groups hoped to take control of the country. The Japanese army transferred power to the Viet Minh. Emperor Bao Dai abdicated. On September 2 1945, Hồ Chí Minh declared independence from France, in what became known as the August Revolution. U.S. Army officers stood beside him on the podium.Demma. "The U.S. Army in Vietnam." American Military History In an exultant speech, before a huge audience in Hanoi, Ho cited the U.S. United States Declaration of Independence:

"'All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776 … We … solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined … to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty."Ho Chi Minh. "Vietnam Declaration of Independence," Selected Works. Hanoi. Foreign Language Publishing House, (1960-1962), vol. 3, pp 17-21.

Ho hoped that America would ally itself with a Vietnamese nationalist movement, communist or otherwise. He based this hope in part on speeches by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposing a revival of European colonialism. As well, he was counting on a long series of anti-colonial U.S. pronouncements, stretching back to the American War of Independence. Indeed, Ho Chi Minh told an Office of Strategic Services officer that he would welcome "a million American soldiers … but no French."Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 163. Power politics, however, intervened. The U.S. changed its position. It was recognized that France would play a crucial role in deterring communist ambitions in continental Europe. Thus, its colonial aspirations could not be ignored.

The new government lasted only a few days. At the Potsdam Conference the allies decided that Vietnam would be occupied jointly by China and Great Britain, who would supervise the disarmament and repatriation of Japanese forces. The Chinese army arrived a few days after Hồ's declaration of independence. Ho Chi Minh's government effectively ceased to exist. The Chinese took control of the area north of the 16th parallel north. British forces arrived in the south in October and restored order. The British commander South east Asia, Lord Mountbatten, sent over 20,000 troops of the 20th Indian division under General Douglas Gracey to occupy Saigon. The first soldiers arrived on September 6 1945 and increased to full strength over the following weeks. In addition, they re-armed Japanese prisoners of war, known as "Gremlin force". The British began to withdraw in December 1945, but this was not completed until May 1946. The last British casualties in Vietnam were suffered in June 1946. Altogether 40 British and Indian troops were killed and over a hundred were wounded. Vietnamese casualties were 600http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/LuisSilva/00000013.htm . The French prevailed upon them to turn over control.

French officials immediately sought to reassert control. They negotiated with the Chinese Nationalists. By agreeing to give up its concessions in China, the French persuaded the Chinese to allow them to return to the north and negotiate with the Viet Minh. In the meantime, Hồ took advantage of the negotiations to kill competing nationalist groups. He was anxious for the Chinese to leave. "The last time the Chinese came," he remarked, "they stayed one thousand years … I prefer to smell French turd for five years, rather than eat Chinese dung for the rest of my life." quoted in The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decisionmaking in Vietnam. Gravel, ed. Boston. Beacon Press, 1971, vol. 1, pp 49–50. After negotiations collapsed over the formation of a government within the new French Union, the French bombarded Haiphong. In December 1946, they reoccupied Hanoi. Several telegrams were sent by Ho Chi Minh to President Truman asking for U.S. support. But they were ignored. Ho and the Việt Minh fled into the mountains to start an insurgency, marking the beginning of the First Indochina War. After the defeat of the Nationalist Chinese by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, Chairman Mao Zedong provided direct military assistance to the Viet Minh. On the eve of the war, Ho Chi Minh had warned a French official that "you can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win".Karnow, Vietnam: A History p. 20 A long and bloody struggle ensued, with French military casualties exceeding those of the U.S. during its involvement.

The Pentagon Papers characterize the U.S. position at the time as ambivalent. On the one hand, the U.S. wished to persuade France to consider decolonization, while ultimately leaving the timetable up to them. During the war, Roosevelt had consistently stalled French demands for U.S. help in recolonizing Indochina. "France has milked it for one hundred years," he wrote. "The people of IndoChina are entitled to something better than that."Franklin D. Roosevelt. "Franklin Roosevelt Memorandum to Cordell Hull."Major Problems in American Foreign Policy. Lexington, M.A. D.C. Heath and Company, 1995, vol. II, p. 198. After the war, the French argued that it was consistent with the principles of the new United Nations that some degree of autonomy should be granted to Indochina. France, however, claimed that it could do so only after it regained control.

Much hinged on the perception of Hồ's allegiances. In the wake of the Second World War, it was recognized that the Soviet Union would henceforth be a serious competitor to the West. America viewed the Soviet Union and its allies as a bloc. As far as Washington was concerned, the entire communist world was controlled by Moscow.Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 378. In spite of Hồ's pleas for U.S. recognition, Ho Chi Minh sent no fewer than eight letters and telegrams to President Truman between October 1945 and February 1946. Ho urged Truman to support Vietnamese independence. He was ignored. the U.S. gradually came to the conclusion that he was under Moscow's control. This perception suited the French. As United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson noted, "the U.S. came to the aid of the French … because we needed their support for our policies in regard to NATO … The French blackmailed us. At every meeting … they brought up Indochina … but refused to tell me what they hoped to accomplish or how. Perhaps they didn't know."quoted in Chester L. Cooper. The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam. New York, NY. Dodd, Mead, 1970, pp 55–56.

Exit of the French, 1950–1954 , 1954.In 1950, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and China recognized each other diplomatically. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit. President Harry S. Truman countered by recognizing the French puppet government of Vietnam. Washington feared that Hanoi was a pawn of Communist China and, by extension, Moscow. This flew in the face of the long historical antipathy between the two nations, of which the U.S. seems to have been completely ignorant.McNamara, Argument Without End pp 377-79 As Doan Huynh commented, "Vietnam a part of the Chinese expansionist game in Asia? For anyone who knows the history of Indochina, this is incomprehensible." Nevertheless, Chinese support was very important to the Viet Minh's success, and China largely supported the Vietnamese Communists through the end of the war.

The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 marked a decisive turning point. From the perspective of many in Washington, D.C., what had been a colonial war in Indochina was transformed into another example of communist expansionism directed by the Kremlin.Pentagon Papers, Gravel, ed, Chapter 2, 'U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War', p. 54.

In 1950, the U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) arrived to screen French requests for aid, advise on strategy and train Vietnamese soldiers.Herring, George C.: "America's Longest War", p. 18. By 1954, the U.S. had supplied 300,000 small arms and spent one billion dollars in support of the French military effort. The Eisenhower administration was shouldering 80% of the cost of the war.Zinn, "A People's History of the United States", p. 471. The Viet Minh received crucial support from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Chinese support in the Border Campaign of 1950 allowed supplies to come from China into Vietnam. Throughout the conflict, U.S. intelligence estimates remained skeptical of French chances of success.The Pentagon Papers. Gravel, ed. vol. 1, pp 391–404.

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of French involvement in Indochina. The Viet Minh and their mercurial commander Vo Nguyen Giap handed the French a stunning military defeat. On May 7, 1954, the French Union garrison surrendered. At the Geneva Conference (1954) the French negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh. Independence was granted to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. As a U.S. Army study noted, France lost the war primarily because it "neglected to cultivate the loyalty and support of the Vietnamese people." More than 400,000 civilians and soldiers had died during the nine year conflict.

Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at the 17th parallel, and under the terms of the Geneva Convention, civilians were to be given the opportunity to freely move between the two provisional states. Nearly one million northerners (mainly Catholics) fled south in "understandable terror" of Ho Chi Minh's new regime.1 PENTAGON PAPERS (The Senator Gravel Edition), 248 (Boston, Beacon Press, 1971) It is estimated that as many as two million more would have left had they not been stopped by the Viet Minh.Robert Turner, VIETNAMESE COMMUNISM: ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT, 102 (Stanford Ca: Hoover Institution Press, 1975) In the north, the Viet Minh established a socialist state—the Democratic Republic of Vietnam—and engaged in a land reform program in which the mass killing of perceived "class enemies" occurred. Ho Chi Minh later apologized. In the south a non-communist state was established under the Emperor Bao Dai, a former puppet of the French and the Japanese. Ngo Dinh Diem became his Prime Minister. In addition to the Catholics flowing south, up to 90,000 Viet Minh fighters went north for "regroupment" as envisioned by the Geneva Accords. However, in contravention of the Accords, the Viet Minh left roughly 5,000-10,000 cadres in South Vietnam as a “politico-military substructure within the object of its irredentism.”1 PENTAGON PAPERS (The Senator Gravel Edition), 247, 328 (Boston, Beacon Press, 1971) and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles greet President Ngo Dinh Diem in Washington.

Diem era, 1955–1963 As dictated by the Geneva Conference of 1954, the partition of Vietnam was meant to be only temporary, pending national elections on July 20, 1956. Much like Korea, the agreement stipulated that the two military zones were to be separated by a temporary demarcation line (known as the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ). The United States, alone among the great powers, refused to sign the Geneva agreement.McNamara Argument Without End p. 60. The President of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, declined to hold elections. This called into question the United States' commitment to democracy in the region, but also raised questions about the legitimacy of any election held in the communist-run North. President Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed U.S. fears when he wrote that, in 1954, "80 per cent of the population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh" over Emperor Bao Dai.Dwight D. Eisenhower. Mandate for Change. Garden City, NJ. Doubleday & Company, 1963, p. 372. Pentagon Papers However, this wide popularity was expressed before Ho's disastrous land reform program and a peasant revolt in Ho's home province which had to be bloodily suppressed.

The cornerstone of U.S. policy was the Domino Theory. This argued that if South Vietnam fell to communist forces, then all of South East Asia would follow. Popularized by the Eisenhower Administration,McNamara Argument Without End p. 19. some argued that if communism spread unchecked, it would follow them home by first reaching Hawaii and follow to the West Coast of the United States. It was better, therefore, to fight communism in Asia, rather than on American soil. Thus, the Domino Theory provided a powerful motive for the American creation of a client state in southern Vietnam.John F. Kennedy. "America's Stakes in Vietnam." Speech to the American Friends of Vietnam, June, 1956. The theory underpinned American policy in Vietnam for five presidencies. Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Another important motive was the preservation of U.S. credibility and prestige.

The United States pursued a policy of containment. Following the NATO model, Washington established the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) to counter communist expansion in the region. The policy of containment was first suggested by George F. Kennan in the 1947 X Article, published anonymously in Foreign Affairs and remained U.S. policy for the next quarter of a century.

Rule Ngo Dinh Diem was chosen by the U.S. to lead South Vietnam. A devout Roman Catholic, he was fervently anti-communist and was "untainted" by any connection to the French. He was one of the few prominent Vietnamese nationalist who could claim both attributes. Historian Luu Doan Huynh notes, however, that "Diem represented narrow and extremist nationalism coupled with autocracy and nepotism."McNamara Argument Without End p. 200–201.

The new American patrons were almost completely ignorant of Vietnamese culture. They knew little of the language or long history of the country. There was a tendency to assign American motives to Vietnamese actions, and Diem warned that it was an illusion to believe that blindly copying Western methods would solve Vietnamese problems.

In April and June 1955, Diem (against U.S. advice) cleared the decks of any political opposition by launching military operations against the Cao Dai religious sect, the Buddhist Hoa Hao, and the Binh Xuyen organized crime group (which was allied with members of the secret police and some military elements). Diem accused these groups of harboring Communist agents. As broad-based opposition to his harsh tactics mounted, Diem increasingly sought to blame the communists.Robert K. Brigham Battlefield Vietnam: A Brief History

Beginning in the summer of 1955, he launched the "Denounce the Communists" campaign, during which communists and other anti-government elements were arrested, imprisoned, tortured or executed. Opponents were labeled Viet Cong by the regime to demean their nationalist credentials. During this period refugees moved across the demarcation line in both directions. Around 52,000 Vietnamese civilians moved from south to north. 450,000 people, primarily Catholics, traveled from the north to south, in aircraft and ships provided by France and the U.S.John Prados, 'The Numbers Game: How Many Vietnamese Fled South In 1954?', The VVA Veteran, January/February 2005; accessed 2007-01-21 CIA propaganda efforts increased the outflow with slogans such as "the Virgin Mary is going South." The northern refugees were meant to give Diem a strong anti-communist constituency.Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 238.

In a referendum on the future of the monarchy, Diem electoral fraud the poll which was supervised by his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu and received "98.2 percent" of the vote, including "133 percent" in Saigon. His American advisers had recommended a more modest winning margin of "60 to 70 percent." Diem, however, viewed the election as a test of authority.Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 239. On October 26, 1955, Diem declared the new Republic of Vietnam, with himself as president.Gerdes (ed.) Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War p. 19. The creation of the Republic of Vietnam was largely because of the Eisenhower administration's desire for an anti-communist state in the region. Robert K. Brigham. Battlefield Vietnam: A Brief History. Colonel Edward Lansdale, a CIA officer, became an important advisor to the new president.

As a wealthy Catholic, Diem was viewed by many ordinary Vietnamese as part of the old elite that had helped the French rule Vietnam. The majority of Vietnamese people was Buddhist. So his attack on the Buddhist community served only to deepen mistrust. Diem's human rights abuses increasingly alienated the population.

In May, Diem undertook a ten day state visit of the United States. President Eisenhower pledged his continued support. A parade in New York City was held in his honor. Although Diem was openly praised, in private United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles conceded that he had been selected because there were no better alternative.Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 230.

Insurgency in the South, 1956-1960 In 1956 one of the leading communists in the south, Le Duan, returned to Hanoi to urge the Vietnam Workers' Party to take a firmer stand on the reunification of Vietnam under Communist leadership. But Hanoi (then in a severe economic crisis) hesitated in launching a full-scale military struggle. The northern Communists feared U.S. intervention and believed that conditions in South Vietnam were not yet ripe for a people's revolution. However, in December 1956, Ho Chi Minh authorized the Viet Minh cadres still in South Vietnam to begin a low level insurgency.James Olson and Randy Roberts, WHERE THE DOMINO FELL: AMERICA AND VIETNAM, 1945-1990, 67 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991)(Ho Chi Minh ordered, "Do not engage in military operations; that will lead to defeat. Do not take land from a peasant. Emphasize nationalism rather than communism. Do not antagonize anyone if you can avoid it. Be selective in your violence. If an assassination is necessary, use a knife, not a rifle or grenade. It is too easy to kill innocent bystanders with guns and bombs, and accidental killing of the innocent bystanders will alienate peasants from the revolution. Once an assassination has taken place, make sure peasants know why the killing occurred.”) In North Vietnamese political theory, the action was a subset of "political struggle" called "armed propaganda,"Vo Nguyen Giap, The Political and Military Line of Our Party, in THE MILITARY ART, 179-80 and consisted mostly in kidnappings and terrorism.

Four hundred government officials were assassinated in 1957 alone, and the violence gradually increased. While the terror was originally aimed at local government officials, it soon broadened to include other symbols of the status quo, such as school teachers, health workers, agricultural officials, etc.PENTAGON PAPERS GRAVEL, 335. One estimate purports that by 1958, 20% of South Vietnam's village chiefs had been murdered by the insurgents.PENTAGON PAPERS GRAVEL,337. What was sought was a method of completely destroying government control in South Vietnam's rural villages in order to be replaced by a NLF shadow government.See Mark Moyar, The War Against the Viet Cong Shadow Government, in THE REAL LESSONS OF THE VIETNAM WAR (John Norton Moore and Robert Turner eds., 2002) 151-67. Finally, in January 1959, under pressure from southern cadres who were being targeted by Diem's secret police, the north's Central Committee issued a secret resolution authorizing an "armed struggle." This authorized the southern Viet Minh to begin large scale operations against the South Vietnamese military. In response, Diem enacted tough new anti-communist laws. However, North Vietnam supplied troops and supplies in earnest, and the infiltration of men and weapons from the north began along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Observing the increasing unpopularity of the Diem regime, on December 12, 1960, Hanoi authorized the creation of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF). The NLF was made up of two distinct groups: nationalists and communists. While there were many non-communist members of the NLF, they were subject to party control and increasingly side-lined as the conflict continued. The principal objective of the NLF was to seize political power through a popular insurrection—military operations were secondary. The NLF emphasized patriotism, honesty and good government, while promising the Vietnamese reunification of Vietnam and an end to American influence.

Successive American administrations, as Robert McNamara and others have noted, over-estimated the control that Hanoi had over the NLF. Diem's paranoia, repression, and incompetence progressively angered large segments of the population of South Vietnam.U.S. Department of Defense, U.S.-Vietnam Relations, vol. 2, p. 2. Thus, many maintain that the origins of the anti-government violence were homegrown, rather than inspired by Hanoi.U.S. Department of Defense, U.S.-Vietnam Relations, vol. 2, pp 28-30. However, as historian Douglas Pike pointed out, “today, no serious historian would defend the thesis that North Vietnam was not involved in the Vietnam war from the start...To maintain this thesis today, one would be obliged to deal with the assertion of Northern involvement that have poured out of Hanoi since the end of the war."Douglas Pike, The Origins of the War: Competing Perceptions in THE VIETNAM DEBATE: A FRESH LOOK AT THE ARGUMENTS 83-89, 86 (John Norton Moore ed., 1990).

John F. Kennedy's escalation and Americanization, 1960–1963 When John F. Kennedy won the 1960 U.S. presidential election, one major issue Kennedy raised was whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S. As Kennedy took over, despite warnings from Eisenhower about Laos and Vietnam, Europe and Latin America "loomed larger than Asia on his sights."Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History, (New York: Viking Press, 1983), 264 In his inaugural address, Kennedy made the ambitious pledge to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Inaugural Address of John F. Kenndy.

In June 1961, John F. Kennedy bitterly disagreed with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev when they met in Vienna over key U.S.-Soviet issues. Cold war strategists concluded Southeast Asia would be one of the testing ground where Soviet forces would test the USA's containment policy - begun during the Truman Administration and solidified by the stalemate resulting from the Korean War.

Although Kennedy stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, he was also interested in using special forces for counterinsurgency warfare in Third World countries threatened by communist insurgencies. Originally intended for use behind front lines after a conventional invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed that the guerrilla tactics employed by special forces such as the Green Berets would be effective in a "brush fire" war in Vietnam. He saw British success in using such forces in Malaya as a strategic template.

The Kennedy administration remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In 1961, Kennedy faced a three-part crisis - the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the construction of the Berlin Wall, and a negotiated settlement between the pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movementKarnow, Vietnam, 265 suggested that "Kennedy sidestepped Laos, whose rugged terrain was no battleground for American soldiers." - made Kennedy believe another failure on the part of the United States to gain control and stop communist expansion would fatally damage U.S. credibility with its allies and his own reputation. Kennedy determined to 'draw a line in the sand' and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam saying, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place" to James Reston of the New York Times (immediately after meeting Khrushchev in Vienna). The case of John F. Kennedy and Vietnam Presidential Studies Quarterly

In May 1961, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Saigon and enthusiastically declared Diem the "Winston Churchill of Asia."Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 267. Asked why he had made the comment, Johnson replied, "Diem's the only boy we got out there." Johnson assured Diem of more aid, in order to mold a fighting force that could resist the communists.

Kennedy's policy towards South Vietnam rested on the assumption that Diem and his forces must ultimately defeat the guerrillas on their own. He was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences."U.S. Department of Defense, U.S.-Vietnam Relations, vol. 3, pp 1-2.

The quality of the South Vietnamese military, however, remained poor. Bad leadership, corruption and political interference all played a part in emasculating the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The frequency of guerrilla attacks rose, as the insurgency gathered steam. Hanoi's support for the NLF played a significant role. But South Vietnamese governmental incompetence was at the core of the crisis.McNamara Argument Without End p. 369. Maxwell Taylor and Walt Rostow recommended that U.S. troops be sent to South Vietnam disguised as flood relief workers. Kennedy rejected the idea but increased military assistance yet again. In April 1962, John Kenneth Galbraith warned Kennedy of the "danger we shall replace the French as a colonial force in the area and bleed as the French did."John Kenneth Galbraith. "Memorandum to President Kennedy from John Kenneth Galbraith on Vietnam, 4 April 1962." The Pentagon Papers. Gravel. ed. Boston, Mass. Beacon Press, 1971, vol. 2. pp 669–671. By mid-1962, the number of U.S. military advisers in South Vietnam had risen from 700 to 12,000.

The Strategic Hamlet Program had been initiated in 1961. This joint U.S.-South Vietnamese program attempted to resettle the rural population into fortified camps. The aim was to isolate the population from the insurgents, provide education and health care, and strengthen the government's hold over the countryside. The Strategic Hamlets, however, were quickly infiltrated by the guerrillas. The peasants resented being uprooted from their ancestral villages. The government refused to undertake land reform, which left farmers paying high rents to a few wealthy landlords. Corruption dogged the program and intensified opposition. Government officials were targeted for assassination. The Strategic Hamlet Program collapsed two years later.

On July 23, 1962, fourteen nations, including, China, South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, North Vietnam and the United States, signed an agreement promising the neutrality of Laos.International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos

Coup and assassinations Some policy-makers in Washington began to conclude that Diem was incapable of defeating the communists and might even make a deal with Ho Chi Minh. He seemed concerned only with fending off coups. As Robert F. Kennedy noted, "Diem wouldn't make even the slightest concessions. He was difficult to reason with …" Live interview by John Bartlow Martin. Was Kennedy Planning to Pull out of Vietnam? New York, NY. John F. Kennedy Library, 1964, Tape V, Reel 1. During the summer of 1963 U.S. officials began discussing the possibility of a regime change. The State Department was generally in favor of encouraging a coup. The Pentagon and CIA were more alert to the destabilizing consequences of such an act and wanted to continue applying pressure for reforms.

Chief among the proposed changes was the removal of Diem's younger brother Ngo Dinh Nhu. Nhu controlled the secret police and was seen as the man behind the Buddhist repression. As Diem's most powerful adviser, Nhu had become a hated figure in South Vietnam. His continued influence was unacceptable to the Kennedy administration. Eventually, the administration concluded that Diem was unwilling to change.

The CIA was in contact with generals planning to remove Diem. They were told that the United States would support such a move. President Diem was overthrown and executed, along with his brother, on November 2, 1963. When he was informed, Maxwell Taylor remembered that Kennedy "rushed from the room with a look of shock and dismay on his face."Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 326. He had not approved Diem's murder. The U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., invited the coup leaders to the embassy and congratulated them. Ambassador Lodge informed Kennedy that "the prospects now are for a shorter war".Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 327.

Following the coup, chaos ensued. Hanoi took advantage of the situation and increased its support for the guerrillas. South Vietnam entered a period of extreme political instability, as one military government toppled another in quick succession. Increasingly, each new regime was viewed as a puppet of the Americans. For whatever the failings of Diem, his credentials as a nationalist had been impeccable.McNamara Argument Without End p. 328.

Kennedy increased the number of U.S. military advisers from 800 to 16,300 to cope with rising guerrilla activity. The advisers were embedded at every level of the South Vietnamese armed forces. They were, however, almost completely ignorant of the political nature of the insurgency. The insurgency was a political power struggle, in which military engagements were not the main goal. The Kennedy administration sought to refocus U.S. efforts on pacification and "winning over the hearts and minds" of the population. The military leadership in Washington, however, was hostile to any role for U.S. advisers other than conventional troop training.Douglas Blaufarb. The Counterinsurgency Era. New York, NY. Free Press, 1977, p. 119. General Paul Harkins, the commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam, confidently predicted victory by Christmas 1963.George C. Herring. America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975. Boston, Mass. McGraw Hill, 1986, p. 103 The CIA was less optimistic, however, warning that "the Viet Cong by and large retain de facto control of much of the countryside and have steadily increased the overall intensity of the effort".Foreign Relation of the United States, Vietnam, 1961-1963. Washington, DC. Government Printing Office, 1991, vol. 4., p. 707.

In a conversation with Nobel Peace Prize winner and Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, Kennedy sought his advice. "Get out," Pearson replied. "That's a stupid answer," shot back Kennedy. "Everyone knows that. The question is: How do we get out?"quoted in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Robert Kennedy and His Times. New York, NY. Ballantine, 1978, p. 767. John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963, just three weeks after Diem.

Kennedy had introduced helicopters to the war and created a joint U.S.-South Vietnamese Air Force, staffed with American pilots. He also sent in the United States Army Special Forces. He was succeeded by Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, who reaffirmed America's support of South Vietnam. By the end of the year Saigon had received $500 million in military aid, much of which was lost to corruption.

United States goes to war, 1964–1968 outpost near the Cambodian border, is interrogated.

On August 2 1964, the USS Maddox (DD-731) was attacked by torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. The destroyer was on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam's coast. A second attack was reported two days later on the USS Turner Joy (DD-951) and Maddox in the same area. The circumstances of the attack were murky. Lyndon Johnson commented to Undersecretary of State George Ball that "those sailors out there may have been shooting at flying fish."Gerdes (ed.) Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War p. 26. The second attack led to retaliatory air strikes and prompted Congress to approve the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The resolution gave the President power to conduct military operations in South East Asia without declaring war.

It was later revealed that the second attack was questionable. "The Gulf of Tonkin incident," writes Louise Gerdes, "is an oft-cited example of the way in which Johnson misled the American people to gain support for his foreign policy in Vietnam."Gerdes (ed.) Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War p. 25. George C. Herring argues, however, that McNamara and the Pentagon "did not knowingly lie about the alleged attacks, but they were obviously in a mood to retaliate and they seem to have selected from the evidence available to them those parts that confirmed what they wanted to believe."Herring, George C.: "America's Longest War", p. 121

In 1959 an estimated force of 5,000 guerrillas were operating in South Vietnam. By 1964 that number had risen to 100,000. It is generally accepted that ten soldiers are needed to deal with one insurgent. Thus, the total number of U.S. troops in 1964 needed to defeat the insurgents exceeded the entire strength of the United States Army.

The National Security Council recommended a three-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. On March 2, 1965, following an attack on a United States Marine Corps barracks at Pleiku, Operation Flaming Dart and Operation Rolling Thunder commenced. The bombing campaign, which ultimately lasted three years, was intended to force North Vietnam to cease its support for the NLF by threatening to destroy North Vietnam's air defenses and industrial infrastructure. As well, it was aimed at bolstering the morale of the South Vietnamese.Earl L. Tilford, Setup: What the Air Force did in Vietnam and Why. Maxwell Air Force Base AL: Air University Press, 1991, p. 89. Between March 1965 and November 1968, "Rolling Thunder" deluged the north with a million tons of missiles, rockets and bombs.Karnow Vietnam: A History p. 468. Bombing was not restricted to North Vietnam. Other aerial campaigns, such as Operation Commando Hunt, targeted different parts of the NLF and PAVN infrastructure. These included the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The objective of forcing North Vietnam to stop its support for the NLF, however, was never reached. As one officer noted "this is a political war and it calls for discriminate killing. The best weapon … would be a knife … The worst is an airplane."Lt. Colonel John Paul Vann The Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force Curtis LeMay, however, had long advocated saturation bombing in Vietnam and wrote of the Communists that "we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age". Gen. Curtis E LeMay

Escalation and ground war After several attacks, it was decided that U.S. Air Force bases needed more protection. The South Vietnamese military seemed incapable of providing security. On March 8 1965, 3,500 United States Marines were dispatched to South Vietnam. This marked the beginning of the American ground war. U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly supported the deployment.Pew Research Center note, (October 2002) Generations Divide Over Military Action in Iraq Public opinion, however, was based on the premise that Vietnam was part of a global struggle against communism. In a statement similar to that made to the French, almost two decades earlier, Ho Chi Minh warned that if the Americans "want to make war for twenty years then we shall make war for twenty years. If they want to make peace, we shall make peace and invite them to afternoon tea." Ho Chi Minh. Letter to Martin Niemoeller. December, 1966. quoted in Marilyn B. Young. The Vietnam Wars: 1945–1990. New York, NY. Harper, 1991, p. 172. As former First Deputy Foreign Minister Tran Quang Co noted, the primary goal of the war was to reunify Vietnam and secure its independence. The policy of the DRV was not to topple other non-communist governments in South East Asia.McNamara, Argument Without End p. 48

The Marines' assignment was defensive. The initial deployment of 3,500 in March was increased to nearly 200,000 by December.McNamara, Argument Without End pp 349-51 The U.S. military had long been schooled in offensive warfare. Regardless of political policies, U.S. commanders were institutionally and psychologically unsuited to a defensive mission. In May, ARVN forces suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Binh Gia. They were again defeated in June, at the Battle of Dong Xoai. Desertion rates were increasing, and morale plummeted. General William Westmoreland informed Admiral Grant Sharp, commander of U.S. Pacific forces, that the situation was critical. He said, "I am convinced that U.S. troops with their energy, mobility, and firepower can successfully take the fight to the NLF."U.S. Department of Defense, U.S.-Vietnam Relations vol. 4, p. 7 With this recommendation, Westmoreland was advocating an aggressive departure from America's defensive posture and the sidelining of the South Vietnamese. By ignoring ARVN units, the U.S. commitment became open ended.McNamara Argument Without End p. 353 Westmoreland outlined a three point plan to win the war:

"Phase 1. Commitment of U.S. (and other free world) forces necessary to halt the losing trend by the end of 1965.

Phase 2. U.S. and allied forces mount major offensive actions to seize the initiative to destroy guerrilla and organized enemy forces. This phase would be concluded when the enemy had been worn down, thrown on the defensive, and driven back from major populated areas.

Phase 3. If the enemy persisted, a period of twelve to eighteen months following Phase 2 would be required for the final destruction of enemy forces remaining in remote base areas."U.S. Department of Defense, U.S.-Vietnam Relations vol. 5, pp 8-9.

The plan was approved by Johnson and marked a profound departure from the previous administration's insistence that the government of South Vietnam was responsible for defeating the guerrillas. Westmoreland predicted victory by the end of 1967.U.S. Department of Defense, U.S.-Vietnam Relations vol. 4, pp 117–119. and vol. 5, pp 8–12. Johnson did not, however, communicate this change in strategy to the media. Instead he emphasized continuity. Public Papers of the Presidents, 1965. Washington, DC. Government Printing Office, 1966, vol. 2, pp 794–799. The change in U.S. policy depended on matching the North Vietnamese and the NLF in a contest of attrition and morale. The opponents were locked in a cycle of escalation.McNamara Argument Without End pp 353–354. The idea that the government of South Vietnam could manage its own affairs was shelved.Operation Starlite was the first major ground operation by U.S. troops and proved largely successful. U.S. soldiers engaged in search-and-destroy missions. Learning from their defeats, the NLF began to engage in small-unit guerrilla warfare, instead of conventional American-style warfare. This allowed them to control the pace of the fighting, engaging in battle only when they believed they had a decisive advantage. The guerrillas benefited from familiar terrain, a degree of popular support and from the fact the U.S. troops were unable to tell friend from foe. Control over a certain portion of the population gave the guerrillas access to manpower, intelligence and financial resources.

Despite calls from the Pentag

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