The Vietnam War

“The Quagmire”1961-1975

Early involvement

• Democrats during the early 60’s lamented the loss of China to communism in 1949.

• The policy of containment had been broken, and there was an unwillingness to allow it to happen again.

• Johnson and Kennedy were fervent anti-communists.

That will show them?

• Standing firm in Vietnam would send a strong message to the Soviets…

• Wars of liberation would prove to be “costly, dangerous, and doomed to failure”.

Problems in Vietnam

• The Vietcong (South Vietnamese Communists) were indigenous, with little support or influence from the Soviet Union. Even though they “encouraged the men, the communist government in the North didn’t even fund the VC until 1959.

And…

• ARVN Army: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam was unable to contain communism.

• This can be attributed in large part to Ngo Dien Dimh. Whose awful leadership style stymied South Vietnam.

The National Liberation Front (VC)

• As the North Vietnamese got involved, it was through secret passages into the South, a labyrinth of mazes and trails collectively called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The North would now direct this group through the NLF.

Legacy through Kennedy

• By 1960 he had spend 1 billion dollars and sent hundred of top US military advisors to the Diem government to help the ARVN combat the VC and NLF.

• An all out war strategy is forming by the time of his assassination with aid doubling and an increase in US participation to 9,000 men.

US Superiority

• The long held belief was that US military prowess and technology could stem the tide of this rural communist movement.

• Advanced weapons were ill suited to combat against a guerilla war against a phantom adversary.

Harming the saved

• The strategy of using air power and force was actually damaging the people it was intending to save, as bombings were having a dramatic effect on rural villages in the countryside through the use of Napalm.

Strategic Hamlet Program

• Goal of “isolating the enemy” fell to this program that saw thousands uprooted and resettled in “secure areas”, while bombing continued in their old villages.

A coup in South Vietnam

• Stability in the anti-communist government in South Vietnam was crucial. Ngo Dien Dimh didn’t provide it.

• He was overthrown after brutally oppressing buddhists and mismanaging the state.

The Role of America under JFK

• “The Watchmen on the walls of world freedom.”

• “We dare not waver from the task”.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

• American ships engaged in espionage off the coast of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin.

• Two US destroyers reported being fired upon by North Vietnamese gunboats.

• Johnson quickly ordered airstrikes on North Vietnamese oil storage.

The Resolution

• He sought “all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression”.

• Vote in the House: 416-0. Senate 98-2.

• “quote”• He had the ability to run the war as he

saw fit. An incredible mandate.

Involvement under Lyndon Johnson

• In 1965 the South Vietnamese government approached collapse.

• Johnson fearing the eminent communist takeover initiated full scale American involvement.

• “I am not going to be the president who saw SE Asia go the way of China.”

The War’s Initial Goals

• “We are not going to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing themselves”.

The War Strategy in 1965

• Defense secretary Robert McNamara urged the intensified bombing of North Vietnam.

• “Operation Rolling Thunder”.

• Handout: “Why Couldn’t the US Bomb Its Way to Victory in Vietnam.”

The Americanized War

• “They can’t even bomb an outhouse without my permission” Lyndon B. Johnson.

• US pilots dropped 3.2 million tons of explosives on North Vietnam, more than in all of WWII…the South Vietnamese experienced 2x the bombing of the North.

Troop escalation

• 1963: 16,000 advisors• 1964: 30,000 troops• 1965: 200,000 troops• 1966: 380,000 troops• 1967: 485,000 troops• 1968: 536,000 troops• Westmoreland on

troops is like taking a drink: “once the effect wears off and you have to take another”.

“Body Counts”

• As territory was not to be gained, success was measured on the basis of body counts.

• These “ratios” which were broadcast on the evening news, giving Americans the perception of victory.

General Westmoreland

• The goal was to use attrition to wear out the Vietnamese.

• Problem was how do you solve the problem of who the enemy is.

• Lt. Phillip Caputo: “if it is dead and Vietnamese, it is Vietcong.”

The Attrition Strategy

• “What did we win? We don’t have any more land, no new villages under our control and it too everything we had to stop them. More of them got killed than us, it’s that simple.” Lt. Caputo

• This strategy was unlikely to yield success.

Demographics of War

• WWII average age: 26• Vietnam average age:

19• 26th Amendment:

lowered voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971, in the early years of the war many who fought couldn’t vote!

• 80% were from the poor and working class”.

• 31% were African American

Conditions the young men faced

• Fighting in foreign terrain: Jungles, swamps, oppressive heat and monsoon rains.

• “we saw weeks of waiting and intervals of vicious manhunts through jungles and swamps where snipers harassed us constantly and booby traps cut us down one by one” Caputo

A Stalemate?

• Some estimated a casualty deficit of 10-1, with the Vietnamese experiencing nearly 200,000 casualties by 1967…yet the war seemed like it was slipping away.

Effects of relentless bombing

• “Operation Rolling Thunder seemed to intensify their nationalism and strengthen their will”.

• One commanding officer noted it became “important to destroy the town to save the town”.

A War on Two Fronts

• Johnson by 1966 was fighting a war on two fronts: Vietnam and domestic opposition to the war (circa today).

• “The living room war”.

March 1968

• Johnson announces he won’t run for re-election and he is limiting further escalation to the war.

• “Johnson”• Apex of a confusing

year: Johnson, Vietnam, King, Counterculture, RFK, Democratic convention, etc…

April 1965

• A scene reminiscent from its famed appearance in Forrest Gump was the Students for a Democratic Society rally in Washington DC.

• A generation of young people was vigorously protesting the war.

Draft Policy 1967

• Prior to this students could gain “deferments” for post graduate study…a new policy ended that in 1967.

• Eager to end the war 1,000,000 college students went on a general strike.

“If I lose Cronkite…”

• Johnson’s critics reached a climax when he lost the support of the nations media face: Walter Cronkite who urged him to pursue and agenda of peace.

• A gallup poll showed 40% of Americans favoring the war. As of today, the War in Iraq has an approval rating of 36%. (Gallup)

“Credibility Gap”

• Johnson began to experience the fear that the nation was concealing discouraging information about the war

• “In war truth is the first casualty” Aeschylus Greek Dramatist 465 BCE

Protest takes many forms…

• Refusing to fight in the war, as he referred to it as a “white man’s war” Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavy weight crown.

• "I Ain't Got No Quarrel With The VietCong... No VietCong Ever Called Me Nigger" — Muhammad Ali, 1966

Johnson tries to stem criticism

• Refuses to raise taxes• Refused rationing and wage controls• The casualty: The Great Society

1968: A Tumultuous Year

• Turbulent Events• TET Offensive• Cronkite’s remarks on CBS news!• Battle for Hue• Johnson’s speech—Vietnamization• Democratic Convention of 1968: Violence and a

pig candidate.• Counterculture movement• RFK Assassination• MLK assassination• Campus uprisings and violence

Election of 1968

Tet Offensive

• 1968: represented why Vietnam was an unwinnable war.

Tet and Media Misrepresentation

• Many ran headlines “Saigon Embassy Taken” “Another Dien Bien Phu”.

• While the military precision and surprise of the attack was impressive, the death rate of US-ARVN forces was 1:50.

• Continue to erode already weak public opinion.

Examples of TET news footage

• http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA05/burnette/thesis/resiliency1.html

• Coincides with a “shift” in public opinion.

• In the wake of Tet and the bombing in Cambodia, Woodstock and Kent St.

Significant defeats in the wake of Tet

• Hue: religious and cultural center was taken by the ARVN.

• US Forces unable to reclaim territory for 2 months.

The response to TET?

• General Westmoreland, apparently eager to board a sinking ship asks for 200,000 new troops for the war.

• “We can no longer do the job we set out to do in the time we have left and we must begin steps to disengage” Dean Acheson

“Vietnamization”

• After 1968 the war’s policy was to involve a “Vietnamization” of the war…in other words we’ll pay they fight.

Peace talks begin

• US won’t:• Recognize Minh’s

government or the coalition it hoped to put in place in South Vietnam.

• Fighting and bombing continue

Nixon Guides The War Effort

• Four goals:• 1. non Communist

South Vietnam.• 2. Disarm the anti-

war movement at home.

• 3. Negotiations with North Vietnam

• 4. Bomb Hanoi into accepting American terms of peace.

A wrestling match

• As peace talks continued Nixon vowed to “bomb them into the stone age”. The ploy failed.

Vietnamization

• South Vietnam now had the worlds fourth largest Air Force.

• South Vietnamese military now over 1,000,000 strong.

• The spending was surging as we took over the budgetary concerns of the South Vietnamese state including education, welfare, and transportation.

North Vietnamese Objective

• A unified Vietnam under their control.

• Nixon’s objective: “Peace with honor”

My Lai Massacre

• As part of Tet Offensive, My Lai was the final nail in American Public Opinion towards Vietnam.

War spreads into Cambodia

• Nixon’s reliance on bombing as a means of coercion continued as he pursued war into Cambodia, a secret war which leaked out in 1969.

• The target: The Ho Chi Minh Trail.

• The result: 500,000 protestors on 11/16/69.

Kent State

• A student protest turned violent as demonstrators were shot at by national guardsman.

• 4 killed, 11 dead.• Ohio-CSNY

Christmas Bombing: a last resort

• In order to convince North Vietnam to accept the terms of peace, the most savage bombings of the war took place.

Paris Peace Accords 1-27-1973

• Essentially a cease fire.

• The fall of Saigon occurs 2 years later with the famous helicopter boarding pictures.

Wars costs?• US casualties:

• Killed: 47,382• Wounded: 153,303• Non-combat death: 1,811• MIA: 10,753

• South Vietnam• Killed: 110,357• Wounded: 499,026• Civilians: 415,000• Wounded: 913,000

• $150,000,000,000• Loss of confidence in politics• Restructuring of political lines in America.• For veterans? “We would not return to

cheering crowds and parades and the pealing of great cathedral bells”

War’s Legacy?

• “Peace with Honor”: Geneva Accords• Distrust between government and

people• Pentagon Papers: exposure of lies• Veterans difficulties• War Powers Act: Congress must be

notified within 2 days of troop deployment