Background on Vietnam

Historically, Vietnam had been occupied by foreigners for hundreds of years,

including the Chinese, French, and Japanese. However, most of the Vietnamese

were nationalistic and believed in their right to self-governance. Perhaps the

most well-known of these leaders pushing for a free Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh,

who petitioned for freedom at Versailles. After being ignored at Versailles, Ho

continued to believe in Vietnamese nationalism but turned to communism after

visiting the Soviet Union. Eventually, after years in exile, Ho organized the

Vietminh, which consisted of nationalists that were both communist and non-

communists. Together, this group would fight against the imperial forces within

Vietnam, starting with Japan in the early 1940s.

Upon Japan’s defeat in WWII, Ho believed that Vietnam would become a free

state. Instead, France reclaimed their colonial empire in Indochina and the

Vietminh began a battle against the French. Over time, the Vietminh slowly

gained land and power that forced the French to ask the United States for help.

This request put the U.S. in a difficult position as it had opposed colonialism

through the region, but also viewed Vietnam as a danger to fall to communism.

Finally, the United States would opt to help France because of the domino

theory, which believe that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast

Asia would fall as well.

Dien Bien Phu The Vietnamese nationalist fighters (known as the Vietminh) frustrated the

imperialistic French forces by using guerrilla warfare tactics such as ambushes,

hit-and-run attacks, and insurgents that mixed in with the general population

throughout the country. This made fighting very difficult for the French forces

and the Vietminh slowly made advances in regaining territory. As time

progressed and death tolls rose, many fighters, French citizens, and foreign

nations began to question French control in the region.

As a last ditch effort to keep their colonial empire, the French opted to occupy

the town of Dien Bien Phu , a mountain town in the northern part of Vietnam,

which was a major supply line city for the Vietminh. To retaliate, the Vietminh

brought forth huge numbers of troops and surrounded the city. Soon after they

unleashed a huge bombardment of the city and forced the French to withdraw

from Vietnam. Ultimately, the Vietminh lost many soldiers in this conquest, but

the battle would signal the beginning of discussions about peace in Vietnam.

Geneva Accords

The defeat at Dien Bien Phu humiliated the French and officially turned the tide

of French public opinion against the war. The French government, wanting to

end the fighting, organized the Geneva Conference, which lasted until July1954.

At the conference, diplomats from France, Vietnam, the United States, the

USSR, Britain, China, Laos, and Cambodia declared a cease-fire and decided to

split Vietnam officially at the 17th parallel, into Communist-controlled North

Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam that would eventually be led

by pro-Western Ngo Dinh Diem.

The Geneva Accords, as these agreements were called, also required French

withdrawal from North Vietnam, Viet Minh withdrawal from South Vietnam,

and independence for Cambodia. The accords also promised reunification of

Vietnam after free elections, which were to be to be held by July 1956. As it

turned out, these elections were never held as Diem feared Ho Chi Minh and the

communists would win. The United States backed this decision and began to

increase aid to the anti-communist South Vietnamese.

America’s Role: Vietnam

American involvement in Vietnam began during the post-WWII discussions

about Indochina. After the defeat of the Japanese, President Truman opted to

help the French regain control of their former colonial possession to avoid the

communist party from gaining control. Shortly thereafter, the Vietminh would

defeat the French and the Geneva Accords would divide the nation into two. At

this time, Eisenhower opted to continue the American view of doing whatever it

takes to stop communism but violating the agreement of free elections and

providing aid to the non-communist South Vietnamese.

Eventually, as South Vietnam struggled with battles from the communist

Vietcong, Eisenhower would send military advisors to help the South

Vietnamese forces train. Over time, as the Vietcong continued to frustrate the

military of the south, the United States would increase its military involvement

under the watch of President Kennedy. By 1963, the number of American

military personnel in Vietnam had grown from about 2,000 to 13,000. This slow

escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam would continue until 1969.

U. S. TROOP TOTALS IN VIETNAM

Diem & South Vietnam

Diem, despite his Catholic faith and dictatorial tendencies, had been widely

respected as a sincere nationalist in the years before he came to power. He was

in many respects just as nationalistic as Ho Chi Minh and it was for these

reasons that the United States felt that Diem represented the best hope for a

strong South Vietnamese government that could resist Communist influence.

As it turned out, Diem’s regime was undemocratic, corrupt, extreme from the

beginning, and dependent on U.S. strength. Though Diem was popular among

Catholics and had some influence in South Vietnam’s cities, his regime was

universally hated in rural areas, which proved a perfect hiding and training

ground for Communist forces. In a nation as undeveloped as Vietnam was at the

time, power in the cities meant far less than it would have in a developed

country. To worsen the situation even more, Diem discriminated against

Buddhists, which comprised a large portion of the population. This led to many

protests, including famous protests where monks would pour gasoline over their

robes and burn themselves to death.

Though the United States established Diem as leader to halt Communist

expansion, his repressive techniques, corrupt government, and inept public

relations caused much more trouble for the US than expected. Ultimately, the

military would coup against Diem and overthrow the unpopular leader. Looking

back, Diem’s legacy includes a great increase in the the number of active

southern Communists and a huge threat to communist expansion.

Gulf of Tonkin

On August 2, 1964, President Johnson announced that North Vietnamese boats

had fired on two American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, the

president reported that another similar attack had taken place. Johnson insisted

that the actions were unprovoked and ordered an American response. He did not

reveal that American warships had been helping the South Vietnamese spy

against North Vietnam.

As the events progressed, Johnson asked Congress to give him the authority to

defend American forces and allies in Southeast Asia. Without much opposition,

the Senate and House passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that essentially gave

the president new war powers by allowing him to “take all necessary measures

to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent

further aggression.”

After this resolution, the Vietcong began to attack bases with Americans

stationed within and Johnson began to bomb North Vietnam. This led to

Johnson’s approval rating rising and continued involvement by the US in the

war. After the war, Congress passed the War Powers Act to reign in some of the

powers regarding presidential actions during conflicts.

A Stalemate of a War

As fighting in the war began to pick up during 1965, neither side seemed to take great

control of the war. The South Vietnamese, with help from the United States, were

still fighting off the guerrilla tactics employed by the Vietcong. Meanwhile, the

United States worked on new techniques in an attempt to defeat the North

Vietnamese and the Vietcong communists living in South Vietnam.

“Search and Destroy” missions were the main focus of the American forces as they

attempted to defeat the guerrilla warriors. These missions focused on finding enemy

troops, bombing their positions, and destroying their supply lines in an effort to force

a conventional open area combat zone. Two of the ways they did this was through

the use of napalm, a jellied gasoline that explodes on contact and sticks to whatever it

touches, and Agent Orange, a chemical that destroys the leaves on trees and shrubs in

order to open up the visibility of the thick jungles. Unfortunately for the United

States, the Vietcong numbers were greater than they expected and the guerrilla

fighters had no intention to the let the bombing campaigns and search-and-destroy

missions stop their communist cause.

On the other side, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese needed to support one another

in the fight for a united, communist Vietnam. To do so, they relied on the Ho Chi

Minh Trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia instead of through the Vietnamese

de-militarized border. By opting to go through these other nations, the United States

refused to attack and this series of jungle paths became a primary mover of goods and

arms between the communist rebels of the South and the governing body of the

North.

Tet Offensive and the Media

On January 30, 1968, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops launched a massive

invasion of South Vietnam. Surprising them on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), the

guerrillas and North Vietnamese army attacked most American airbases in South

Vietnam and most of the major cities in the region. As part of this invasion, the

Vietcong blasted their way into the American embassy in Saigon.

In terms of effectiveness, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for the Vietcong as they

faced heavy losses and were nearly destroyed. However, in political terms, the Tet

Offensive was a major victory as Americans were shocked to hear that an enemy

rumored to be close to defeat could launch such a major attack of cities, airbases, and

embassies.

Following these events, General Westmoreland, the head of American forces in

Vietnam, requested an additional 209,000 troops to the effort and Americans believed

this was a sign of fighting a losing war. President Johnson’s approval rating fell to a

low of 35% and his handling of the war approval rate was an even lower 26%. Once

this change of opinion about Vietnam occurred, the media jumped on the bandwagon

and began to openly criticize the war effort. Even Walter Cronkite, the most trusted

man in news, was even quoted as saying “more certain than ever that the bloody

experience in Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.”

Anti-War Movement

As the war in Vietnam progressed, many Americans began to question the

accounts of the war. While generals and high ranking officials such as the

commander of forces in South Vietnam William Westmoreland reported that the

United States was easily winning the war, media reports reported otherwise. As

footage of combat was shown on television each day, people around the US saw

images of dead and wounded U.S. soldiers and began to doubt the reports.

Overall, this created a credibility gap, where it was difficult for the average

American to believe the official government reports.

Another means in which anti-war discussions occurred was through the practice

of teach-ins, which were open conversations about the issues surrounding the

war. These teach-ins often occurred at college campuses and later spread to

radio broadcasts heard by thousands. Generally speaking, these teach-ins looked

at the merits of war, the dictatorship we were supporting, and the reality that this

was a civil war between the nationalist groups in Vietnam.

Other protests and actions against Vietnam were also prevalent throughout

society, including draft card burning, protests, music of the time, and creation of

new groups like the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). These actions

would continue throughout the war and only intensify as the US expanded its

war into Cambodia, sparking the deadly protests at Kent State University and

Jackson State College.

Vietnamization Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard M. Nixon administration during

the Vietnam War, as a result of the Viet Cong's Tet Offensive, to expand, equip, and

train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the

same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops. The idea behind this

process would save American lives but still keep a strong American presence in the

region. The other advantage to this in Nixon’s mind was that it kept the U.S. in a

powerful position during all peace negotiations in Vietnam since the U.S. troops were

still active. As part of this proposal, Nixon announced the withdrawal of 25,000

soldiers on June 8, 1969.

Vietnamization fit into the broader Nixon Administration détente policy, in which the

United States no longer regarded its fundamental strategy as containment of

Communism, but a cooperative world order in which Nixon and his chief

adviser Henry Kissinger were basically "realists" in world affairs, interested in the

broader constellation of forces. Basically, Kissinger would embrace a policy known as

linkage that would improve relations with the communist Soviet Union and China so

that he could persuade them to limit their support to North Vietnam.

Ultimately, the peace negotiations would fail for some time but on January 27, 1973,

the U.S. promised to withdraw all troops and exchange POWs. The war ended, but

many questions were left unanswered, including South Vietnam’s future. Two years

later, the North once again attacked the South and the US stayed out. Within two

months, Saigon had fallen and was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam was officially

a communist nation.

My Lai Massacre

On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade,

Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. A short time later the

killing began. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the U.S.

political establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided

American public.

My Lai lay in the South Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily mined area where the

Vietcong were deeply entrenched. Numerous members of Charlie Company had been

maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. The agitated troops, under the

command of Lt. William Calley, entered the village poised for engagement with their

elusive enemy.

As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it soon degenerated into the massacre of

over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly.

Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of

opposing fire. According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men

were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at

least one girl was raped and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up

a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of

machine gun fire. Calley eventually went to prison for his role in the killings.

Though most American soldiers acted responsibly throughout the war, the actions of this

group at My Lai convinced many that the war was burtal and senseless. Once again, the

American public was unhappy with the war effort.

Pentagon Papers

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a former worker in the Defense Department, leaked the

documents collectively known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.

These documents revealed that many U.S. officials during the Johnson

administration had questioned the war effort behind close doors, even though

they were openly defending it in the public eye. These documents showed

details of how the executive office of the president had expanded the war effort

without Congressional approval and how the various presidents had continually

tried to convince America that the situation was better than it really was. These

papers also revealed to the public the expansion of the war into Laos and

Cambodia and showed American plans to change the scope of the war without

the public having any idea. Ultimately, for many Americans, these papers were

the confirmation that the government had lied to the people of the United States.

In the aftermath of the Pentagon Papers, public opinion for the war start a stark

drop, the U.S. would eventually pull out of Vietnam, and peace talks would

increase, and Vietnam would fall to communism without U.S. support within

four years.