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

1. “Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden”: The Agony of Vietnam

2. 2008 DBQ • Thesis 1: Bad choices made by the government, including unclean descriptions of events, fomented widespread dissent among the public and a lingering distrust of the government. • Thesis 2: The Vietnam War was a military disaster that had a severe impact of the nation socially, politically and economically. The war distracted the government from domestic issues and drained money. • Thesis 3: American involvement in Vietnam increased conflict and tension in the US because of the overwhelming unpopularity of government decisions causing great social unrest and unhappiness, especially among young people, political corruption in the Johnson and Nixon administrations, and economic mismanagement of the war effort vs. domestic programs.

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

4. 3. Domestic politics: Don’t 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)

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

6. 6. Balance of Power Politics: failure to block aggression aggression elsewhere LBJ: “If we don’t 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)

7. 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) Doc E

8. 8. Anti-Communism: “Believing is seeing” 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.”

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

14. 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 France’s War in Indochina ($2.6 billion)

15. 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

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

17. South Vietnam a US puppet: Ngo Dinh Diem North Vietnam ruled by Ho Chi Minh

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

19. 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

20. 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”

21. Ike knew elections would never be held: anti-communism trumps democracy

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

23. June 13, 1963: Buddhist monk QuangDuc, to protest Diem’s anti-Buddhist policies, sets himself on fire (others follow) • November 2: Diem is assassinated with tacit ok from JFK chaos and series of coups • JFK regrets; cements view of South as imperialist stooges

24. IV. JFK’s Escalation • Kennedy sent 16,000 troops to Vietnam by 1963 even though many thought war was all but over • Why? • didn’t want to question Ike’s 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 not killed?

25. 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

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

27. 2+4 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 • Doc A

28. Problems: • LBJ’s 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) • LBJ, 1965: "For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there." • Revelation of this (and many other lies) credibility gap • Compare WMDs

29. 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]

30. 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) • Doc F

31. Unconventional War • Operation Phoenix: CIA operation to assassinate Viet Cong (20,000+ killed, most prob. innocent; compare Iraq/Afghanistan) • “destroy the village to save the village” • “light at the end of the tunnel” • “hearts and minds” • “fragging”: 1,000 1969-72 • “body count” • My Lai, etc.: essentially SOP; dozens of similar atrocities; “a My Lai a month”

32. VI. End of the War and Effects • LBJ decides not to run in 1968 because of war + failure peace conference (Kissinger; accusations of Nixon treason) • 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 US war over

33. Effects: • Doomed LBJ’s Great Society: money diverted to war effort (just like Reagan, although unintentionally); Doc D, Doc H • Disillusioned American people: credibility gap from lies by military and leaders, horrors of war and South Vietnamese, inequities of draft, Watergate cynicism; Doc C • Vietnam syndrome and the quagmire: aversion to committing troops (Bosnia, Iraq I, Afghanistan, Libya) but not to use of military (irony of War Powers Act: Doc I) • Cambodia, Laos, boat people, reeducation camps • Kissinger wins Nobel Peace Prize