Vietnam War

The War Begins

NLF in the South

Communist forces initiated guerilla activities in South Vietnam in 1957. Two years later these forces named themselves the National Liberation Front (NLF). Although considered by many to have been composed of northern agents under the control of Hanoi, ostensibly the NLF was an organization of South Vietnamese communists committed to establishing a communist state in South Vietnam. By 1959 the Hanoi government were supplying the NLF via the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a supply route running from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia (a violation of neutrality) into South Vietnam. Further supplies were sent by sea to Sihanoukville in Cambodia until that outlet was closed by Lon Nol in 1970. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was steadily expanded to become the vital lifeline for communist forces in South Vietnam, which included the North Vietnamese Army in the 1960s when it became a major target of American air operations.

Related Topics:
1957 - National Liberation Front - 1959 - Ho Chi Minh Trail - Lon Nol - 1970

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The Diem government was initially able to cope with the insurgency with the aid of American advisors, and by 1962 seemed to be winning. Senior U.S. military leaders were receiving positive reports from the American commander, Gen. Paul D. Harkins of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. However outside Saigon large areas of the country were not under government control. In 1963 a Communist offensive beginning with the Battle of Ap Bac inflicted major defeats on the South Vietnamese army, while disorganization reigned in the Saigon government.

Related Topics:
1962 - Paul D. Harkins - Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - 1963 - Battle of Ap Bac

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John F. Kennedy and Vietnam

In June 1961, John F. Kennedy met with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna, where Khrushchev sought to bully him over key U.S.-Soviet issues. Kennedy left the meeting convinced that the Russians were committed to conflict. This led to the conclusion that Southeast Asia would be an area where Soviet forces would test America's commitment to the containment policy.

Related Topics:
1961 - John F. Kennedy - Nikita Khrushchev - Vienna - Containment

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Although Kennedy's election campaign had stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, Kennedy was particularly interested in Special Forces. Originally intended for use behind front lines after a conventional invasion of Europe, it was quickly decided to try them out in the "brush fire" war in Vietnam.

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The Kennedy administration remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman administration. Furthermore in 1961 Kennedy found himself faced with a three-part crisis that seemed very similar to that faced by Truman in 1949–50. 1961 had already seen 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 movement. Fearing that another failure on the part of the United States to stop Communist expansion would fatally damage the West's position and his reputation, Kennedy was determined to prevent a Communist victory in Vietnam.

Related Topics:
Truman administration - 1961 - 1949 - 50 - Bay of Pigs - Berlin Wall - Laos - Pathet Lao

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The Kennedy administration grew increasingly frustrated with Diem. In 1963 a violent crackdown by Diem's forces against Buddhist monks protesting government policies prompted self-immolation by monks, leading to embarrassing press coverage. The most famous event is the self-burning of Thich Quang Duc to protest the government's violence against Buddhists. Vietnam was a largely Buddhist nation, while Diem and much of his administration were Roman Catholic, and Diem was criticized as being out of touch with his citizens. The U.S. attempted to pressure Diem by asking South Vietnamese generals to act against the excesses. The South Vietnamese military interpreted these messages as tacit U.S. support for a coup d'etat which overthrew and killed Diem on November 1, 1963.

Related Topics:
Buddhist - Self-immolation - Thich Quang Duc - Roman Catholic - Coup d'etat - November 1 - 1963

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Initially the death of Diem made the South more unstable. The new military rulers were politically inexperienced and unable to provide the strong central authority of Diem's rule and a period of coups and countercoups followed. The communists, meanwhile, stepped up their efforts to exploit the vacuum.

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Kennedy himself was assassinated three weeks after Diem's death, and the newly sworn-in president, former Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, confirmed on November 24 1963, that the United States intended to continue supporting South Vietnam.

Related Topics:
Lyndon B. Johnson - November 24 - 1963 - South Vietnam

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The propaganda campaign

The nature and identity of the opposing forces was as always a major political focus of the war. The U.S. depicted a war in which an independent country was fighting international Communist aggression, thus depicting the NLF and even the PAVN as puppet armies.

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The North Vietnamese portrayed the conflict as one between an imperialist United States and an indigenous South Vietnamese insurgency that was receiving the noncombat support of North Vietnam and its allies. This view presented the South Vietnamese as puppets of the U.S.

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These conflicting stances influenced early peace talks in which arguments were made over "the shape of the negotiating table," with each side seeking to depict itself as a group of distinct allies opposing a single entity, ignoring the other's "puppet".

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Escalation

The U.S. involvement in the war has been described as an escalation. This is typically meant to refer to the incremental increase in forces in response to greater need, rather than an intentional strategy. However a key element was that there was no traditional declaration of war which would have involved a national commitment to using all available means to secure victory.

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Instead U.S. involvement increased over several years, beginning with the deployment of noncombatant military advisors to the South Vietnamese army, followed by the use of special forces for commando-style operations, followed by the introduction of regular troops for defensive purposes, until regular troops were used in offensive combat. Once U.S. troops were engaged in active combat, escalation meant increasing their numbers.

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The escalation of the war complicated its ambiguous legal status. The treaty agreements between the U.S. and South Vietnam allowed each escalation to be seen as simply another step in helping an ally resist Communist aggression. This allowed the U.S. Congress to vote appropriations for war operations without requiring the Johnson Administration to meet the Constitutionally mandated requirement that Congress declare war.

Related Topics:
U.S. Congress - Constitutionally

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Successive U.S. administrations also hoped that by limiting its involvement it could support South Vietnam without provoking a major response from China or the Soviet Union, as had happened in the Korean War. President Johnson maintained the Kennedy administration's position that South Vietnam's independence was a crucial U.S. defense against Soviet aggression, while at the same time trying to avoid provoking direct participation in the conflict by the Warsaw Pact.

Related Topics:
China - Soviet Union - Korean War - Warsaw Pact

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The situation caused friction between the American armed services and the civilian authorities in Washington. Military officials such as General William Westmoreland resented the Johnson Administration's restraints on their operations but feared making outspoken policy criticisms lest they suffer the same fate as General Douglas MacArthur who had been dismissed by Truman on such grounds during the Korean War.

Related Topics:
William Westmoreland - Johnson Administration - Douglas MacArthur - Korean War

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The relatively slow process of escalation also tended to mute U.S. political debate, since no individual instance of escalation dramatically increased the level of U.S. involvement. However in 1968 the Johnson Administration considered increasing in-country troop levels from approximately 550,000 to about 700,000. When this possibility was made public popular criticism caused the idea to be abandoned. Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon called for a decrease in U.S. troop levels and by the end of 1969, under his new administration, they were reduced by 60,000 from their wartime peak.

Related Topics:
1968 - Johnson - Richard M. Nixon - 1969

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