Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden: The Agony of Vietnam

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Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden The Agony of
Vietnam
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I. Introduction Why?

• Arrogance of Power a superpower can do what it
  wants
• (Problem explains why stayed, not why went in)
• Bureaucratic politics machismo culture in State,
  Defense, CIA, etc.
• (Problem Pres. can ask for new options probably
  shaped strategic policies rather than critical
  decisions)

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• 3. Domestic politics Dont want to lose
  Vietnam?
• A) lose election
• B) jeopardize domestic agenda because defending
  self constantly (irony)
• C) Return of McCarthyism
• D) Undermine domestic support for US world role?
  encourage USSR and China aggression
• (Certainly affected way war was fought no
  reserve call-up, bombing limited, paying for war)

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• 4. Imperialism special interests
  (military-industrial complex) maneuvered US into
  war to seize markets and resources
• (problem overstates gains)
• 5. Men Making Hard Choices Pragmatically weighed
  evidence, decided 51-49, then sold 100
• (problem ideology affected decision making)

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• 6. Balance of Power Politics failure to block
  aggression? aggression elsewhere
• LBJ If we dont stop the Reds in South Vietnam,
  tomorrow they will be in Hawaii, and next week
  they will be in San Francisco.
• Comparisons made to Hitler and Munich
  (appeasement)

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• 7. Slippery slope Vietnam did not start off as
  critical but became so as different Presidents
  built up commitment
• (Problem American commitment escalated, but
  objectives were high and absolute from the
  beginning)

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• 8. Anti-Communism
• Sen. JFK, 1956 Vietnam as the cornerstone of
  the Free World in Southeast Asia, the Keystone of
  the arch, the finger in the dike.
• Probably the largest, although not only, factor

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II. Ho Chi Minh and the Dream of Vietnamese
Independence

• A. Early Nationalism
• 1919 submits petition to Woodrow Wilson for
  Vietnamese independence
• Wilson unwilling to extend self-determination to
  Vietnam

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• HCM joins Communist Party to gain independence
  (fundamentally a nationalist not an ideologue)
• 1930s leads rebellions against France (Viet Minh)

• 1940 Germany invades France?Japan moves into
  Vietnam

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• HCM leads revolt against Japan
• Full support US (HCM employee of OSS (later CIA))
• HCM hopes US will support independence after WWII
• FDR might have, but dies

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• 2 Sept. 1945
• "All men are created equal. They are endowed
  by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
  among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
  Happiness" This immortal statement was made in
  the Declaration of Independence of the United
  States of America in 1776. In a broader sense,
  this means All the peoples on the earth are
  equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to
  live, to be happy and free.
• The entire Vietnamese people are determined to
  mobilise all their physical and mental strength,
  to sacrifice their lives and property in order to
  safeguard their independence and liberty.

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• France bullies Truman into keeping Vietnam a
  colony
• US needs French support in rebuilding Europe
• France agrees to help fight Communism if keep
  Vietnam

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• US also genuinely concerned that Vietnam may be
  first in series of dominoes? US backs French
  reinvasion of Vietnam Truman sends guns and
  money to Vietnam in 1950 (no troops)
• By 1954 US paying entire cost of Frances War in
  Indochina (2.6 billion)

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B. The Geneva Accords

• French army defeated at Dien Bien Phu
• Peace treaty in Geneva, 1955
• Vietnam, France, US, USSR, China
• Vietnam a proxy war

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• US unwilling to concede all of Vietnam? pressure
  USSR to pressure HCM?
• Temporary division at 17th Parallel North and
  South Vietnam
• (sound familiar?)

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• South Vietnam a US puppet Ngo Dinh Diem

• North Vietnam ruled by Ho Chi Minh

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• Free elections to be held 1956
• HCM sure that he will win and take all of Vietnam
• US hopes to influence vote and win

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III. Corruption in South Vietnam The Diem Regime

• 1 billion poured into Diem
• South Vietnam 5th most US foreign aid
• ? South Vietnam has short period of security and
  prosperity

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• Stability an illusion US assistance did not
  build democracy
• Diem was no democrat knew what to say to keep
  flowing
• Never held elections knew would lose
• Corrupt appointed family members to high posts
  ensures legislators pro-Diem
• Discriminated against majority Buddhist
  population (roughly 95 pop.)
• Shut down opposition press, prosecuted agitators,
  established reeducation centers

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• Ike knew elections would never be held
  anti-communism trumps democracy

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• Diem further alienates the Vietnamese people
• Failure to hold elections? Civil War, North vs.
  South
• Iraq elections? civil war? (Sunni no show)
• Ike sends 1,000 American advisors in 1961
  (American troops on the ground)

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• June 13, 1963 Buddhist monk Quang Duc, to
  protest Diems anti-Buddhist policies, sets
  himself on fire
• November 2 Diem is assassinated with tacit ok
  from JFK

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IV. JFKs Escalation

• Kennedy sent 16,000 troops to Vietnam by 1963
  even though many thought war was all but over
• Why?
• didnt want to question Ikes military judgment
• Finger in the dike Anti-communism and domino
  theory? see Communists as like Hitler no
  appeasement (hard-core Cold Warrior)
• Would he have continued if hadnt died?

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V. LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin

• 1964 reelection campaign LBJ promises not to get
  more involved
• Privately has many doubts
• Repub. Barry Goldwater attacks LBJ as soft on
  communism
• ?LBJ promises not to lose Vietnam
• ? looking for an excuse

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• South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) powerless against
  North Vietnamese Army (NVA) offensives Viet Cong
  guerillas (South)
• LBJs advisors (esp. Secy. Defense Robert
  McNamara) advocate American offensive

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• 2 August 1964 USS Maddox reports NVA attack
• 7 August Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin
  Resolution LBJ given authority to wage war to
  prevent further aggression
• Unofficial declaration of war
• Blank check

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• Problems
• LBJs message to Congress about attack written
  before incident
• If there was an actual attack (which is
  uncertain), probably the result of US provocation
  (Plan 34A)
• Revelation of this (and many other lies)?
  credibility gap
• Compare WMDs

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• Feb. 1965 escalation air war (Operation Rolling
  Thunder)
• Air Force claims they can win in a matter of
  months
• By 1970 US had dropped more bombs than in the
  rest of human history many more times than all
  bombs (including nukes) dropped in WWII
• Napalm Agent Orange
• Lingering environmental impacts cancer
  (Vietnamese and Americans), birth defects, soil
  infertility

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• Failure of air war leads to ground escalation
• 385,000 by end of 1965
• 500,000 troops by 1966
• Drafted disproportionately poor, minority
• Mid-class whites volunteered same reason WWII?
  officers (stupid actually more likely to get
  killed)

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Unconventional War

• Operation Phoenix CIA operation to assassinate
  Viet Cong (20,000 killed, most prob. innocent
  compare Iraq)
• destroy the village to save the village
• light at the end of the tunnel
• hearts and minds
• fragging 1,000 1969-72
• body count

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VI. End of the War and Effects

• LBJ decides not to run in 1968 because of war
  failure peace conference (Kissinger)
• But both Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon
  support war no anti-war candidate despite 50
  voters opposing war
• Nixon promises secret plan at last minute to
  win (October Surprise)
• Nixon pulled back on troops (Vietnamization) but
  escalated bombing (secretly and illegally expands
  to Laos and Cambodia? Khmer Rouge leaks?
  Plumbers? 1972 Watergate, Saturday Night
  Massacre, US v. Nixon, 74 resignation? cynicism)
• 1973 Nixon negotiates withdrawal (same terms as
  LBJ in 1968) still sends billions in aid to
  South (decent interval), but by 1975 war over

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• Effects
• Doomed LBJs Great Society money diverted to war
  effort (just like Reagan, although
  unintentionally) deficit spending? inflation,
  undermined dollar (familiar?)
• Disillusioned American people credibility gap
  from lies by military and leaders, horrors of war
  and South Vietnamese, inequities of draft,
  Watergate? cynicism
• Vietnam syndrome and the quagmire aversion to
  committing troops (Bosnia, Iraq)
• Cambodia, Laos, boat people, reeducation camps
• Kissinger wins Nobel Peace Prize