KENNEDY’S EARLY IDEAS

Kennedy‟s Early Ideas

Opposed French Colonialism

Domino Theory, Containment

and McCarthyism

Third World = new Cold War battleground >

Vietnam was important

Catholic (hated atheistic communism)

• Became president in January 1961

• Young Democratic congressman – a

lot to prove

• Attacked Truman for „losing‟ China in

1949 – could not make the same

mistake

• Criticised French Colonialism in

Indochina – unwanted rule/no outlet for

nationalism might turn the Indochinese

to Communism

Criticised Eisenhower

- said the US needed

a president ‘to get

America moving

again’

Militant anti-

Communism was a

key-note of his

campaign speeches

“freedom under God versus

ruthless, godless tyranny” -

JFK

KENNEDY’S ADVISERS

• McNamara and Rusk were

both pro-involvement

• McNamara‟s strong

personality took control

and the defence

department dominated

• Solutions to the perceived

problems in Vietnam were

often military ones

“the best and the brightest”

McNamara: Secretary of Defence Rusk: Secretary of State

Bundy: National Security Adviser Bobby Kennedy: Attorney General

EARLY ACTIONS

The Failure in Cuba

• The Bay of Pigs 1961

- US-sponsored an anti-Communist

invasion

- Failed to overthrow Castro

- Not systematically thought out

- Humiliating for JFK

The Neutralisation of Laos

• Feared a communist triumph there

- March 1961 implied the US might intervene militarily

- Held back by BOP failure/too few aircraft and soldiers

- Congress feared it would lead to a clash with China

- Sent US military advisers to assist the Laotian leader (an unpopular general)

- Sept ‟61 - Summer‟62: managed to neutralise Laos > governed by a coalition

- Vietcong continued to use Laotian trails to get to South Vietnam

- „Neither winning or losing‟

Cartoon from the Washington Star

The Bay of Pigs is portrayed as a chicken

which has come home to roost - causing

new troubles soon to hatch out for Kennedy

HOW CUBA AND LAOS LED TO VIETNAM

• Outright victories had to be won elsewhere

• JFK rejected a early privately negotiated settlement to Cuban Missile Crisis

• Backing down in Laos was countered by firm commitment to Vietnam

• Hawks within the administration would only accept neutrality in Laos in return

for activist policy in Vietnam

• Vietnam was more suitable for US intervention than Laos

- Long coastline (US naval supremacy)

- Diem seemed to have SV under control (democracy had a good chance of

working)

- Already committed to Vietnam before Kennedy‟s presidency

• US departure from Vietnam would undermine US credibility

Vietnam and Laos

1961 - DECISIONS

• 800 MAs at Kennedy‟s accession

• Increased financial aid to Diem to enable him to increase his army

• JCS and NSC recommended putting US ground troops in – JFK refused

• Emphasised counter insurgency instead of conventional war

• ARVN continued to lose ground despite help from the Green Berets

• October 1961: JFK sent General Maxwell Taylor to evaluate military situation

- Recommended sending 8000-10,000 ground troops

- McNamara wanted to send 40,000

General Maxwell Taylor

INCREASED MILITARY INVOLVEMENT

• Number of military advisers rose alarmingly

• Increasing quantities of US weaponry

• Helicopters

- Pilot advisers actively involved in the war

- JFK denied it – most info kept from US public

• Authorised use of defoliants

• MACV created (replacing MAAG) to organise increased involvement

• Initially increased involvement seemed successful

- Helicopters increased mobility

- Napalm scared the VC

• But soon lost „shock value‟

• Some disloyal ARVN warned VC away from certain areas

Year No. of

Advisers

Jan 1961 800

Dec 1961 3000

1962 12,000

Nov 1963 17,000

THE BATTLE OF AP BAC – WHAT HAPPENED?

• 2nd January 1963

• 2000 ARVN, 113 US personnel carriers, US helicopters, US Advisers went to

surround Ap Bac

• Did not know there were 350 guerrillas there

- Keen to show they could counter US firepower

- Wanted a victory to boost morale

• ARVN refused to attack the VC

- 5 US helicopters and 3 pilots were lost

- ARVN refused to mount a rescue mission

VC: 18 dead

ARVN: 83 dead

US: 3 dead

REASONS FOR FAILURE

• Strength and preparedness of VC = unexpected

• ARVN‟s General Cao = unwilling to fight

• Diem didn‟t listen to US advice on deployment of troops

- Feared losing too many men

- Used the best soldiers to keep himself in power

• US had delayed the attack by a day to enable pilots to sleep

off New Year‟s Eve excesses

The VC - unlikely

victors?

General Cao

RESULTS AND SIGNIFICANCE

• Drew unprecedented attention in the US

- ARVN performance was unfavourably reviewed

• Showed Diem was incapable of winning the war

- Despite ever-increasing military aid Diem was not winning

- Saigon controlled 49% of population & VC controlled 9% with the rest in

dispute

The ARVN – unfairly

judged?

DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS ON VIETNAM

• President De Gaulle of France: “you will sink…into a military & political

quagmire”

• Kenneth Galbraith (friend of JFK sent to assess the situation)

- Political rather than military problem - would end in defeat and humiliation

- Did not consider Vietnam strategically important & though Diem was a loser

- Little difference between French colonialism and US involvement

• McNamara: “we are winning the war” – May 1962

• George Ball: warned “we‟ll have 300,000 men in the paddies” within 5 years

• Mike Mansfield: critical of Diem and increasing US involvement

• Rusk: US involvement could provoke Hanoi and Beijing and destabilise

Laos

“like taking a drink, the

effect wears off, and you

have to take another” –

JFK on increasing

involvement

STRATEGIC HAMLETS

• Early 1962 Diem adopted the policy of strategic hamlets

• Fortified villages in which the peasants would be isolated from the VC

• VC frequently joined the other villagers

• Discontent at having to pay for and build the stockades

• Run by Nhu who was only concerned with his own power– ignored US advice

- VC captured thousands of US weapons from hamlets set up too far from

Saigon

- Ignored the social, economic and political reforms that the US suggested

should be introduced in the hamlets

• Increased opposition to the Diem/US regime

Nhu and one of his

strategic hamlets

DISCONTENT OF THE US PRESS

• Increasing criticisms of Diem‟s ineptitude

• David Halberstam of the New York Times

-Was warned that he was on Diem‟s assassination

list

-Madame Nhu told reporters he “should be

barbecued

and I would gladly supply the match”

• US press was not questioning involvement – just

the tactics pursued

• Kennedy administration tried to pressure the

New York Times into a change of viewpoint but

failed

“no Nhus is good news”

New York Times and

David Halberstam

CATHOLICS VERSUS BUDDHISTS

• 70-90% of population = Buddhist

• Diem and JFK = Catholics

• Diem regime allowed flying of Catholic flags in

honour of Diem‟s brother but banned the flying

of Buddhist flags on Buddha‟s birthday

• 10,000 Buddhists protested – Diem sent in

soldiers and 7 Buddhists were killed

• June 1963 – Quang Duc‟s self-immolation and

Malcolm Browne‟s Pulitzer Prize winning picture

Monk Quang Duc burns

himself to death to protest

against the religious

inequality

AMBASSADOR LODGE

• Arrived in Vietnam on 22nd August 1963

• Patriot and WWII military hero - Republican

• Experienced and ambitious– foreign affairs

• Good relations with the press

• Many shocked at the appointment

- JFK had low opinion of Lodge’s political talents

- Thought he just wanted to get Lodge mixed up in the ‘hopeless mess’ of

Vietnam

• Believed previous commitment meant the US had a responsibility to

stay

• Thought victory remained impossible as long as Diem was in powerWe need an

ambassador who is

tough; who can act as

a catalyst; who will

take responsibility and

make decisions

[without referring] to

Washington

THE COUP

• ARVN plot against Nhu and Diem

• White House said it would neither ‘stimulate’ or

‘thwart’ a coup and would help any new regime

• Lodge had given vital encouragement but

publicly denied US involvement

• Generals’ coup occurred on 2nd November 1963

• Diem and Nhu fled but were found dead the

next day

• JFK was said to be shocked and dismayed on

news of their deaths

KENNEDY’S ASSASSINATION

• 22nd November 1963

• Dallas, Texas

• Shot by a sniper whilst campaigning

• A ten-month investigation in 1963–64 by the

Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy

was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting

alone,

• They also concluded that Jack Ruby also acted

alone when he killed Oswald before he could

stand trial.

SITUATION AT KENNEDY’S DEATH

• The death of Kennedy left the US with nearly 17,000 American advisers

in Vietnam and no clear strategy in place

• Kennedy discussed withdrawal of advisers in September 1963

• McNamara-Taylor Report suggested the removal of 1000 advisers by the

end of the year

• Kennedy remained committed to Containment and was not prepared to

allow Communism to succeed in South Vietnam as US credibility was at

stake.

Mike Mansfield:

JFK said “I can‟t

[get out] until 1965

– after I‟m re-

elected”

Rusk and

LBJ: JFK had

no plans to

withdraw

Bobby Kennedy

said

that, effectively, hi

s brother had no

plans at all