The Vietnam War andAmerican Society: 1954-1975

Deepening American Involvement- Chapter 31:i -

Vietnam has a history of resisting control by other countries for 2000 years (China,

Japan, France, and the US).

[Image source: http://www.egeltje.org/archives/blah/trungsis.jpg]

During the19th century, France added Cochin-china,

Cambodia, Annam, Tonkin,

and Laos totheir empire.

Indochina at time of conquest in 1883.

[Image source: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/core/pics/0254/img0054.jpg]

By the early 20th century, these

areas were combined and administered collectively as French Indo-

China.

Vietnam supplied raw materials to France and purchased manufactured

goods in-return (Mercantilism).

The empireof Japan

temporarily severed this connection, when they occupied

Southeast Asia during World

War II.

Vietnamese guerillas gained valuable experience opposing the Japanese occupation.

After World War II, the French attemptedto reassert their control over Indochina.

Nationalist Ho Chi Minh lead communist cadresin fighting to expel the French from Vietnam.

[Image source: http://www.leksikon.org/images/vo_nguyen_giap.jpg]

The Viet Minh defeated the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu and forced to surrender their position in Indo-China.

The Viet Minh employed the tactic of “holding on to the belt of the enemy”.

In 1954 a conference was held in Geneva, Switzerland, to determine the fate of Vietnam.

Vietnam was temporarily

divided in half – the northern part controlled by the Communists, and the southern part

backed by the United States.

Ngo Dinh Diem complicated

matters whenhe unilaterally declared South

Vietnam an independent

republic in 1955.

American support for

South Vietnam was based on the fear that communism

would spread among

neighboring nations (the

Domino Theory).

The world by the early-1960s.

In 1960 President Eisenhower sent 675 military advisers to train South Vietnamese troops.

By the end of 1963, there were more than 16,000 Americans

advisers in Vietnam.

To win the ideological war, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara developed

the concept of “flexible response” – fighting only as much as needed.

The Viet Cong and the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) didn’t

practice “flexible response”.

This led to an escalation in the Vietnam War, with no end in sight.

The Republic of South Vietnam

attempted to deprive Viet Cong

guerillas of the support fromthe people by

relocating them into strategic

hamlets.

These strategic hamlets, which were little better than prison camps, helped the

government extend control into rural areas.

Increasingly South Vietnam was seen as a puppet of the

imperialist Americans.

[Image source: http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blyviet105.htm]

Buddhist monks, in protesting

President Diem’s policies, brought

international condemnationof his actions.

President Kennedy communicated to the South Vietnamese military that the United States would not interfere with their efforts

to remove President Diem from power.

Three weeks following Diems’ demise, President Kennedy was felled by an assassin’s bullet.

Lyndon Baines Johnson

succeeded Kennedy as president,

inheriting his commitments to the Republic of SouthVietnam.

[Image source: http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/Vietimages/Cartoons/levine.htm]

In August 1964 North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attacked the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox (DD 731).

Action report from the U.S.S. Maddox

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

voted by the Congress gave

President Johnson carte blanch to whatever was necessary to

defend America’s interests.

President Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to get Congressional

approval for escalating America’s military rôle in Vietnam.

[Image source: http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html]

Some people wish to see a similarity between presidents Johnson and George W. Bush, but . . .

Originally, Americans had been advisors, training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).

Now the United States took a more-active rôle in propping-up the South Vietnamese government, . .

. . . especially since they proved unable to field an army that could successfully defend their country.

By 1965, the Viet Cong had

managed to expand the territory

under their control in

South Vietnam.

North Vietnamese troops and

supplies flowed into

South Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

[Image source: http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html]

In spite of large numbers and

advanced weaponry, the United States failed to drive the Viet Cong out of South Vietnam.

[Image source: http://members.aol.com/veterans/warlib6v.htm]

In early-1968 Viet Cong forces launched the Tet

Offensive, striking civilian

and military command

centres, hoping to spark a a

general uprising.[Image source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive]

Televised images of the brutally of war began to shape public opinion.

General Luan summarily executes Viet Cong Officer Van Lem,”codename” Bay Lop (photo by Eddie Adams A.P. 2/68)

President Johnson’s popularity suffered accordingly.

[Image source: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html]

What rôle has the media played in contributing to negative public opinion regarding this and other conflicts?

How do the casualty-rates between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War compare?

Today, the mainstream media and social-progressive elites are working hard to make the

analogy that the War in Iraq is another Vietnam.

[Image source: http://www.neveryetmelted.com/?p=2907]