Vietnam: In Search of a Strategy

Lesson Objectives

•  Understand the timeline of events that led to the decision for major U.S. troop deployments to Southeast Asia in 1965.

•  Be able to articulate the issues and discussions surrounding the 1965 decision to escalate the war in Vietnam.

•  Understand the evolution of U.S. objectives and strategy for the Vietnam War.

Timeline

The Stage is Set

Mar 59 Ho Chi Minh declares People’s War to unite Vietnam

May 59 DRV establishes Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) Oversee coming war in South Vietnam

May 59 NVA* unit established to construct, maintain Ho Chi Minh Trail

Apr 60 DVR establishes universal conscription “for the duration”

* North Vietnamese Army

Review

Strategy of Revolutionary War

Phase I: Targeted state stronger militarily

Phase II: Rough military parity

Phase III: Revolution stronger than targeted state

• Revolutionaries avoid combat• Guerrilla war: raids, ambushes, sabotage, terrorism• Political conflict predominant

• Combined guerrilla and conventional war• Military and political conflict equally important

• Revolutionary forces go to totally conventional war• “General Offensive” linked to political “Great Uprising”

Review

Strategy of Revolutionary War

Objective: The seizure of power in a nation-state …

… by any means possible

Characteristics:

• Integrated military conflict and political conflict

• War on multiple fronts• Geographical• Programmatic

Review

Viet Minh StrategyAs Used In First Indochina War

North Vietnamese Strategy

Strategy of Revolutionary War

Objective: The seizure of power in a nation-state …

… by any means possible

Characteristics:

• Integrated military conflict and political conflict

• War on multiple fronts• Geographical• Programmatic

… just as they used against the French in the First Indochina War!

Review

Viet Minh StrategyAs used In First Indochina War

Strategy of Revolutionary War

Timeline

1954-1965: Phase I (targeted state stronger)

• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition

As applied to the Vietnam (Second Indochina) War

Timeline

Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam 1961

2,530

Timeline

Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam

US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam

USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft

May 61

11 Dec 61

Mar 62

US Advisors(to Army of the Republic of Vietnam - ARVN)

( First 1:26 )

US Advisors

(5:00)

(to Montagnard irregulars)

Early Air Operations

(2:03 – 8:00)

The Vietnam War

Operation Ranch HandDefoliation Spray Missions

UC-123B in VNAF Markings

Aircraft Markings

USAF VNAF

Operation Ranch Hand

( 7:37 – 9:02 )

Timeline

Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam

US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam

USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft

1961

11 Dec 61

Mar 62

RVN initiated Strategic Hamlet Relocation Program Mar 62

NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam 1960

Timeline

Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam

US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam

USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft

1961

11 Dec 61

Mar 62

RVN initiated Strategic Hamlet Relocation Program

May 62 VC began battalion-sized operations (Central Highlands)

1 Aug 62

Kennedy signed Foreign Assistance Act of 1962

Mar 62

• Provided assistance to countries under Communist attack

NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam 1960

Timeline

Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam

US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam

USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft

1961

11 Dec 61

Mar 62

RVN initiated Strategic Hamlet Relocation Program

May 62 VC began battalion-sized operations (Central Highlands)

1 Aug 62

Kennedy signed Foreign Assistance Act of 1962

Mar 62

• Provided assistance to countries under Communist attack

NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam 1960

Timeline

Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force

3 Jan 63

• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN

• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government

Battle of Ap Bac

Green: Rice growing area

January 3, 1963

Timeline

Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force

3 Jan 63

• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN

• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government

Buddhist unrest, repression in South Vietnam May- Aug 63

Monk Self-ImmolationHué, RVN June 11, 1963

Diem vs. Buddhists

Timeline

Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force

3 Jan 63

• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN

• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government

Buddhist unrest, repression in South Vietnam

Kennedy Administration discusses options for Diem

CIA-supported ARVN coup overthrows Diem

May- Aug 63

Aug-Oct 63

1 Nov 63

• Diem and this brother killed by ARVN

Timeline

Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force

3 Jan 63

• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN

• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government

Buddhist unrest, repression in South Vietnam

Kennedy Administration discusses options for Diem

CIA-supported ARVN coup overthrows Diem

May- Aug 63

Aug-Oct 63

1 Nov 63

• Diem and this brother killed by ARVN

22 Nov 63 President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas

John F. Kennedy

May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963

US Locked In

General William C. Westmoreland, who seven months after Diem's assassination replaced General Paul Harkins as commander of MACV, summed up the consequences of President Kennedy's involvement. “In his zeal, the young president made a grievous mistake in assenting to the overthrow of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963,” Westmoreland said.

Why It Was Impossible for the U.S. to Stay UninvolvedCol. William Wilson, USA (Retired)Vietnam Magazine, April 1997

“In my view that action morally locked us in Vietnam. If it had not been for our involvement in the overthrow of President Diem, we could perhaps have gracefully withdrawn our support when South Vietnam's lack of unity and leadership became apparent.”

Situation 1964

White House concerned about the 1964 election

Staffers realized current advising strategy was not succeeding

• Predicted North Vietnamese takeover that year

• Hoped to stave off collapse until after election

Link

Fredrik Logevall“Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam”Presidential Studies Quarterly, March 2004

Timeline

Mar 64 Secret CIA bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos began

• Civilian pilots (Air America) flying old U.S. aircraft

May 64 LBJ staff begins drafting Congressional support resolution

• Temporarily shelved due to lack of support in Senate

Summer 64 Guerilla warfare spreading throughout South Vietnam

• Now supported by NVA regulars

2-4 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Incident

Timeline

Mar 64 Secret CIA bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos began

• Civilian pilots (Air America) flying old U.S. aircraft

May 64 LBJ staff begins drafting Congressional support resolution

• Temporarily shelved due to lack of support in Senate

Summer 64 Guerilla warfare spreading throughout South Vietnam

• Now supported by NVA regulars

2-4 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Incident

7 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress

• Authorizes president to use force to protect U.S. forces

• President orders retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam

Tonkin Gulf Incident

Tonkin Gulf Incident

Tonkin Gulf Incident

Jul 65 US & Vietnamese navies conducting special operations along N Vietnam coast

Tonkin Gulf Incident

Jul 65 US & Vietnamese navies conducting special operations along N Vietnam coast

Destroyer USS Maddox providing support and conducting electronic intelligence gathering

Tonkin Gulf Incident

Tonkin Gulf Incident

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Tonkin Gulf Incident

Robert McNamara (2002)

Players: Admiral Sharp: Ulysses Simpson Grant Sharp, Jr., - CINCPAC.

General Burchinal: David A. Burchinal - Director, Joint Staff, JCS

Excerpt from The Fog of War (5:47)

Timeline

16 Oct 64 China explodes its first nuclear weapon

I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base

• First attack on Americans; five Gis killed

3 Nov 64 Lyndon Johnson elected to presidency by landslide

Attacks on US Airfields

I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigom• First attack on Americans; five Gis killed

6 Feb 65 VC attack US base at Pleiku (central Highlands)

• Eight Americans killed, ten aircraft destroyed

7 Feb 65 President orders air strikes against North Vietnam

• Operation Flaming Dart continues to 24 Feb 65

7 Mar 65 President authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder

• Progressively escalating air attack against North Vietnam

• Dual military and political objectives

• Ran until 2 Nov 68

Operation Rolling Thunder

Battlefield Vietnam Ep 10 (YouTube – 4:54)

Support for Buildup

“Even in the aftermath of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, as the Johnson administration began increasing troop levels in Southeast Asia,

Source

Joshua Zeitz"1964 - The Year the Sixties Began"American Heritage, October 2006

… 45 percent of Americans wanted to stay the course in Vietnam,”

… 36 percent wanted to 'step up the war by carrying the fight to North Vietnam,' for example, through more air strikes against communist territory,

… while only 19 percent supported pulling out. In short, by a large margin, Americans demanded victory of their leaders ...

Lyndon Johnson, then, was acting with the full faith and support of his electorate.

A

LBJ’s Dilemma

“In later years [Johnson] lamented:

Source

... But if I left that war and let the communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser, and we would both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.’”

Joshua Zeitz"1964 - The Year the Sixties Began"American Heritage, October 2006

If I left the woman I really loved, the Great Society, in order to get involved in that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, I would lose everything at home. All my programs.

'I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved.

The Great Society

LBJ’s Dilemma

Escalate or Withdraw

Discussions on EscalationFeb 65 – Jul 65

Part 1Feb-Mar 64

Part 2May64

Part 3Jun-Aug64

Part 4Feb-Jun65

Part 5Jun-Jul65

Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire

Next:

Lesson Objectives

•  Describe and analyze the changes in the American home front and their impact on US conduct of the war prior to and after the Tet 1968 offensize.

•  Describe and analyze the impact of technology in the Vietnam War.

•  Describe and analyze the significance and history of the bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

•  Be able to describe the Ho Chi Minh Trail and analyze its significance in the Vietnam War.

•  Describe the operational and strategic significance of the Tet Offensive (1968) and analyze is impact on US foreign policy since.

End