During Eisenhower’s early years in office, the issue of Vietnam came before him. Vietnam was a portion of the larger French colony known as French Indochina. You had a communist movement in the north of the country which had been firmly established during World War 2 by a powerful personality in Ho Chi Minh.
After the Japanese surrender in 1945, this Communist party sought to take control of the country, but the French had no intention of giving up all of their lucrative share in the Pacific. They granted independence to Laos and Cambodia, but in Vietnam, they waged war against the Viet Minh until finally in 1954, an agreement was reached in which a temporary border would be established between North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel similar to what had been done in Korea at the 38th parallel. They agreed that after a period of two years, democratic elections would be held to unite the country.
However, Ho Chi Minh was an extremely popular figure and it was thought that if democratic elections were held in 1956 then his communist party would have taken over the south. This was not something that the U.S. or any of the First World countries wanted to see. It went against their policy of containment, and they believed in the domino theory that if a country “fell” to communism then nearby countries would soon fall as well.
Eisenhower began to send military advisors and money to South Vietnam seeking to prevent this domino effect, but during his presidency and J.F.K’s short-lived presidency, they avoided sending actual troops into combat. This changed in 1964 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This is an extremely controversial issue and it is thought that the U.S. may have completely fabricated this incident simply to justify their formal entrance into this war.
It led many Americans to ask, “Why Vietnam?” If you want to see the way President Lyndon B. Johnson answered that question in 1965, please watch the television program below created by the Department of Defense.
Speaking of television, it is worth reminding you that by 1960, nine out of ten households had access to television and unlike any other war in American history, Vietnam was brought into the living rooms of America with nightly news anchors giving reports with very little censored or curated. Much of it was raw footage of the war and unfiltered commentary from the soldiers themselves like this CBS Special Report.
Complications
Once we were involved in the fighting it became obvious that this was not going to be a fight like Korea. There were a couple of reasons for this. First and foremost was that within the southern Vietnam territory, there were many splinter cells of North Vietnamese troops known as the Vietcong.
Their guerilla warfare tactics, underground tunnels, and booby traps led to fear and confusion. There didn’t engage in traditional battles and did not wear any distinguishing markings. This meant that the enemy could be around any corner and led to many innocent Vietnamese being killed mistakenly out of fear. This led many in South Vietnam to be resentful of U.S. presence and sympathetic to the Vietcong’s efforts.
The United States heavily bombed North Vietnam and weakened their ability to assemble in the traditional manner. So Ho Chi Minh used paths through neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia to supply troops, weapons, and other supplies to the Vietcong in the south. This network of roads and pathways from north to south was known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The rules of engagement said that U.S. forces could not enter Laos or Cambodia since they were independent countries and the U.S. was not at war with them. This did not stop the U.S. from dropping hundreds of thousands of bombs on this network of trails through the mountains.
All of these complications plus the fact that current U.S. policy said that a tour of duty was only 1 year meant that the US forces were constantly cycling through inexperienced and often ineffective troops while the Vietcong could continue to gain intelligence and improve their tactics over the nine-year war.
The Turning Point
In early 1968, U.S. forces believed that they had the Viet Minh forces weakened and the administration was consistently saying that they believed that the war would soon be won. They were considering options on invading North Vietnam, and there were some that were advocating the use of nuclear weapons to bring the war to a swift conclusion.
It was the end of January 1968 and the whole country was celebrating the Vietnamese New Year also known as Tet. In previous years of fighting, this had been considered an informal ceasefire so troops could enjoy the celebrations and maintain morale. However, this year, the Viet Minh forces had been coordinating an assault that would be pulled off in the dead of night. This coordinated effort would come to be known as the Tet Offensive.
From this point on, things just went downhill in Vietnam. It is certain that the media played a huge role in turning public opinion sharply against the war. Johnson’s administration had lost support for the war at home and the protests and calls to bring the troops home just got louder. Johnson chose not to run for another term and Richard Nixon would take over with campaign promises to end the war and bring the troops home.
Things only got worse when stories like the one below began to come out of Vietnam in 1969 and following, sharing some of the darker stories of the war and tarnishing America’s reputation as the knight in shining armor. It was so bad that when many Vietnam veterans returned home they were greeted with protests instead of cheers and called “baby killers” instead of heroes.
Collapse
However, the U.S. forces could not just pack up and head home without further damaging the reputation of American forces on the world’s stage, and destabilizing the entire region, leaving it open for the Viet Minh to spread not only to South Vietnam but to the neighboring countries of Cambodia, Laos and others.
After Nixon came to office they began the process of intensely training the Vietnamese forces and sought peace negotiations with the Viet Minh. Using the United Nations, these negotiations were encouraged by their allies in the Soviet Union and China. In 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were held.
These accords ended the U.S. involvement in the war and the North Vietnamese promised not to cross into South Vietnam. However, in 1975, they broke those peace accords and blasted into South Vietnam and took control of Saigon the southern capital in less than two month’s time. They changed the name of Saigon to Ho Chi Minh city to honor the revolutionary who had died in 1969.
What if?
One of the most interesting things about Vietnam to me is that Ho Chi Minh back in 1945 when he stood before a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Hanoi, he declared Vietnam an independent nation and began his speech with words:
All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
He was quoting the Declaration of Independence, and he did this for a reason: He desperately wanted U.S. support. He saw himself like a Vietnamese George Washington seeking to overthrow the rule of his colonialist oppressors.
Having assistance from the U.S. at this point would have prevented France from trying to regain their control over Vietnam. Seeking support from F.D.R would have been reasonable. F.D.R. saw the United States as an enemy of colonialism, and a supporter of liberation movements across the globe.
However, Minh’s pleas fell on deaf ears. F.D.R. was no longer alive, Truman now sat in the Oval Office and when a letter from Ho seeking U.S. support arrived in Washington in September 1945, it went unanswered as did a telegram that arrived in February 1946 with a similar message. How could history have changed if the U.S. supported Minh in his efforts to independence?
Legacy
At least three different ideas of the Vietnam war compete for American opinion.
In one, the US had all but won, only to throw away its victory because of a lack of resolution, the liberal media’s opposition and congressional foolishness.
In a second, it did win, because its aims of containing China and Russia and preventing a domino-fall of other south-east Asian countries into the communist sphere were actually achieved.
In the third, the mission was undertaken in ignorance, quite aggressively, in the expectation that setting up a South Vietnamese equivalent of South Korea would be relatively easy, and then lurched out of control.
Which war really happened? I’d love to hear your opinion and thoughts below.
I have always enjoyed learning about Vietnam. I really liked this lesson
Yea, I agree, Vietnam is very interesting.
that last video was chilling. this whole situation is a mess to me because im not one to agree with war or fighting but if it comes to that, the people who fight should never return home and be shamed and singled out.
Or maybe just punished in a different, more conventional way.
Maybe the commanders, and anyone else who instigated the kind of violence displayed in My Lai. The soldiers were just following orders though. It’s difficult, but you have to try to understand their point of view.
I don’t know if anyone really won this war. Both sides did such strange things. Pinkville was abominable. The taking of Saigon was treacherous. War is never really a great thing anyway. Truly, no one wins in a war.
I had the same though as you Selasi.
Agreed. No one every truly “wins” a war. Its more like whoever had less casualties wins. War is a terrible way to solve conflicts
I though it was funny that I had the same exact thought as Selasi.
North Korea played dirty with the tet offense. On their one day off, they still formed an attack. Shame.
I know, that’s like the USA planning an attack on Christmas.
I agree with Selasi and Jack. I don’t see much victory on either side of this war. Innocent blood was shed; treaties were broken. What’s really upsetting to me is the fact that the atrocities of the Vietnam War could have possibly been avoided had the U.S. stepped in to help Ho Chi Minh early on.
In most wars, there is a side that wins so it’s weird to think of the Vietnam war with there not having a side with the victory. That’s one of the reasons why it’s one of my favorite wars to learn about. Another reason is that my grandpa was in it and I love to here all his stories of his experiences from it.
Since by 1960 most Americans had a TV and news about the war was brought to them, was everyone more educated on the Vietnam War than other wars?
It’s very interesting that Minh wanted America’s help. I don’t understand how he would think that the US would help spread communism, when it is the very thing the swore to destroy. Maybe if he was trying to implement democracy, he would have had a little bit more American aid. But then, wouldn’t America fighting the French break NATO or maybe the Geneva Convention? If America had fought the French, surely another world war would have happened because of the Geneva Convention and its policies on attacking other members.
Good thoughts! We’ll talk more about this tomorrow on our call.
There is a fascinating book on the support that the U.S. did give to Ho Chi Minh just before the end of World War 2 through the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was the precursor to the CIA. The book is called “The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in the War against Japan” it is by Dixee Bartholomew-Feis
wow this was very interesting I always enjoy learning abt Vietnam
I thought that Ho Chi Minh had a good idea by trying to cozy up to the US with the declaration of Independence quote. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
It is interesting to hear about the turning point of the Vietnam war and about each attack that there was in the war and how it affected North and South Korea.
My great uncle was in the Viatnam war and he said it was one of the scariest things he had ever experienced. They were just marching throught the jungles not knowing if there were solders anywhere. I think that is was great how the US was looking ahead to what would happen if all Viatnam was communist and stepped in like that
Thanks for joining the discussion this morning. I’d love for you all to take 10 minutes to watch this PBS segment on the Pentagon Papers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4kQG1bPf2k
this war could have been comprimised that fought, because wars drain recourses and set everybody back economically.