USA Involvement in Vietnam

  • In 1945, Vietnam had already been ruled under many other countries
  • China, France, and Japan had all tried to control the region of South-East Asia
  • After Japan was defeated in 1945, more attempts to colonise Vietnam were made (eg. France wanted to regain rule over Vietnam)
  • France was opposed by the army founded by the Communist Party in 1941 called the Vietminh
  • Vietnam wanted to maintain its independence and defeated French under the rule of Ho Chi Minh (the French were no longer involved with Vietnam after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and the remainding troops surrendered)
  • In the Geneva Conference, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam were granted independence and France negotiated a ceasefire with the army, Vietminh
  • In July 1954, France and the Vietminh agreed to have French troops withdraw from Vietnam and to divide Vietnam into two parts
  • This was meant to be temporary until nationwide elections, but these elections never took place
  • Vietminh (communists) governed North Vietnam and the anti-communists (mainly Catholics) governed South Vietnam under leader Bao Dai (former emperor of Vietnam, abdicated in 1945)
  • America saw Vietnam as a place to fight against communism and backed South Vietnam as it did not want it to become fully communist
  • People mostly supported Ho Chi Minh
  • The Vietcong (a political and military communist group) allied with the North, and in 1959, the reliance of the North on the Vietcong became a lot greater, widening the conflict


Domino Theory
  • Suggested by President Eisenhower in 1954
  • Stated that if one country fell to communism, other countries would also do so one after the other
  • It was suggested that after the fall of China (1949) and Korea, Vietnam was next, followed by Laos, then Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, and lastly India


Increase of American involvement in Vietnam

During Eisenhower's presidency

  • Chief of Staff advised Eisenhower to not intervene in war of France and Vietnam in 1953
  • Eisenhower's domino theory made him intervene in Vietnam to prevent other countries from falling to communism
  • Sent American air force to support France to remove communist leader Ho Chi Minh
  • After France failure, America economically and militarily supported South Vietnam and even dedicated 900 advisors to South Vietnam
  • He was scared South Vietnam would fall to communism after North Vietnam supported internal uprisings in the south
  • Adopted the "Eisenhower Doctrine": beliefs that recommended the use of military protection of Middle Eastern countries against communism and to economically aid anti-communist countries. Though this was declared for the Middle East, South East Asia also applied


During Kennedy's presidency

  • Kennedy was advised by Eisenhower to increase military involvement in Vietnam
  • Kennedy wanted to appear mighty after the failures in Cuba
  • Kennedy funded South Vietnam to increase its army by 20,000 soldiers and 100 more military advisers to train the army
  • The Strategic Hamlet Program was launched by South Vietnam in 1962 to quell the revolts in the countryside and remove communist influence over South Vietnamese peasants and keep control over them. Peasants were moved to new villages managed by the South Vietnamese army
  • This didn't work because...
    • Peasants were eventually forced to move by the South Vietnamese Army as they simply did not want to move villages
    • After the peasants moved, they needed to travel a long distance to reach the rice fields. The peasants decided just to move back on their own
    • Religious villagers were upset as they believed it was important to live where ancestors were buried
    • The membership of the National Liberation Front, another name of the Vietcong, grew to 17,000 men, a 300% of increase over 2 years. Estimations show that the National Liberation Front controlled 20% of Southern villages
  • By the end of 1962, there were up to 12,000 military advisers in South Vietnam and the USA had also supplied Vietnam with 300 helicopters ordered to not engage in combat
  • On 11 Jue 1963, a monk named Thich Quang Due (aged 66) set himself on fire to protest against the South Vietnamese government
  • Monks and nuns cried out for charity and compassion for the people from the South Vietnamese government, resulting into the arrest of thousands of Buddhist monks
  • 5 more suicides through burning had happened by August
  • A member of the South Vietnamese government had stated "Let them burn, and we shall clap our hands", clearly showing no intent to change
  • Due to these issues, a military coup took over at the start of November 1963. Generals had promised that President Ngo Dinh Diem could escape the country, but later changed his mind and killed him


During Johnson's presidency

  • Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's vice-president, took over as president after Kennedy was assassinated
  • Bigger supporter of war, and planned the breakout of a full-out war once he came in office
  • In the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (August 1964) where North-Vietnam attacked two American warships unprovoked, war between America and North Vietnam was clear
  • Because of this, the Senate authorised President Johnson to provide arms to South Vietnam
  • Bombing of Vietnam started in February 1965, first USA ground troops landed in South Vietnam in March 1965
  • 150,000 US troops were stationed in Vietnam by December 1965
  • This presidency had the strongest commitment and conscription was introduced with a lottery system called "the draft" where men capable of fighting were called to joined the army


Support for the War
  • North Vietnamese troops launched a surprise attack named the "Tet Offensive" in January 1968, attacking 30 American targets (objects or installations) and dozens of cities in South Vietnam
  • No territory was captured, but heavy losses were caused in the American forces
  • American media marked this incident as a defeat, which caused a drop in support for...
    • Johnson handling the job of being a president
    • Johnson handling the situation in Vietnam
    • The initial involvement of the US in the Vietnam war
    • The use of military solutions to the war
  • Another event, the My Lai massacre further turned away support, as American soldiers massacred hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in the village My Lai
  • In 1968, because of the conflict in the Democratic Party over Vietnam and the horrific My Lai incident, Johnson did not run for a second term for president


The end of the war
  • Richard Nixon was elected as the next president, and in 1969, he was planning to start pulling US troops out of the war
  • Nixon wanted to peacefully end the war through negotiation
  • He worked towards Vietnamisation, a policy to continue supply and eonomically support South Vietnam but only have the South Vietnamese do the fighting
  • From December 1970 to September 1972, the number of American troops went from 350,000 to 40,000
  • Even though Nixon tried to resolve the conflict peacefully, he didn't do so all the time
  • In 1970, after negotiations with North Vietnam failed, Nixon launched bombing on North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia and sent in soldiers after bombings were unsuccessful to forcefully end the war
  • This was all done in secret to avoid attention from other countries, but the escalation of war caused protests in the USA
  • National Guardsmen had killed 4 students from Kent University in one of the protests
  • A peace treaty was signed in Paris in 1973, and prisoners of war were released on the condition that the USA withdrew and dismantled its bases
  • There was a brief pause of fighting after America withdrew, but the fighting continued between South Vietnam and North Vietnam shortly after
  • North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam in 1975


Reasons for USA withdrawal from the war
  • Loss of support from the US people
    • This was heavily influenced by the media, and when the media turned against the war, so did the people
    • Deaths and casualties being shown on TV and people having personally lost loved ones turned people against the war
    • Cronkite's news report, a popular media source turned against the violence in the war and promoted peaceful negotiation to end the war
  • North Vietnamese had better tactics
    • USA generally had a stronger military (they had better weapons, were better trained...)
    • However, the surprise attacks from North Vietnam's guerilla warfare removed the USA's military advantage
    • US soldiers had trouble finding and even identifying the enemy as enemy soldiers looked like South Vietnamese soldiers
    • The traps and unexpected methods would catch US soldiers off guard
  • North Vietnam retained the support of the Vietnamese people
    • The local people resisted the American troops (eg. spreading the teachings of Ho Chi Minh, leading American troops into ambushes...)
    • The Vietnamese people did not betray North Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh


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