Week 7: Military Action II:
The Bad and Ugly
Vietnam
Vietnam after World War II
French attempt to reclaim Indochina
Rebellion led by Ho Chi Minh ousts
the French
● Ho is nationalist and
communist.
● US supports French,
USSR and China
support rebels.
● French withdraw after
loss at Dien Bien Phu.
1954 Geneva Accords divide Vietnam
Political Situation
One party communist
state in the North.
Monarchy in the
South; elections
called in 1956 for
unification.
Ngo Dinh Diem holds election in 1955
● Diem is Catholic, USbacked.
● Abolishes monarchy.
● Wins 98% of
presidential vote.
Diem alienates Buddhist majority.
Communist NLF forms against him.
US Involvement escalated under
Kennedy.
● 16,000 US personnel in
Vietnam by 1963.
● Counterinsurgency
failing.
○ NLF holds
countryside.
● Diem still polarizing.
Diem killed in US-backed coup (1963)
Many smaller coups follow Diem’s
ouster
Ultimately, Nguyen Van Thieu holds office
from 1965 to 1975.
Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964)
US begins airstrikes on the North to
stop aid to the NLF
200,000 Marines deployed to
Vietnam by end of 1965
● Initial Mission:
○ Protect air bases
● Revised Mission:
○ Fight guerrillas
US escalates support for South
Vietnam. Why?
US escalates support for South
Vietnam. Why?
● Domino Theory
● Presidential Politics
Domino Theory
Problems with the Domino Theory
Problems with the Domino Theory
● Is communist monolithic?
● Are Vietnamese communists agents of the
USSR or China?
● Does communism spread according to
geography?
● BUT: Communist didn’t spread past
Cambodia after US intervened...
Presidential politics
● Johnson feared
being seen as weak
on communism.
○ Wanted to
preserve Great
Society.
● Chance of reelection
in 1964 and 1968.
Would JFK have been different?
● McNamara (and Oliver Stone) say yes.
● Senator Kennedy (1956):
“Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines
and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among
those whose security would be threatened if
the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into
Vietnam."
Two phrases define US involvement
from 1965-1967
“Hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people
- Defense secretary McNamara.
“within inches of victory”
- General Westmoreland’s justification for
troop increases.
20,000 US soldiers die by the end of
1967.
Tet Offensive (1968)
● Surprise NLF attack on most
cities in the South.
● Repelled by ARVN and US
forces.
● American public swings
against war.
● Johnson declines to seek reelection and pursues peace
talks.
Nixon cuts off peace talks, touts
secret plan.
● “Vietnamization”
● Bombing of and incursions
into Laos and Cambodia.
● Returns to peace talks in
1972, agreement signed in
Paris in 1973.
○ US troops withdraw.
○ South Vietnam not a
party to agreement.
South Vietnam falls to North in 1975
● Democratic congress
cuts aid to South after
Watergate.
● North invades and
overruns ARVN.
● Saigon falls on April
30, 1975
Why did the US get involved in a
quagmire?
Why did the US get involved in a
quagmire?
● Failure of empathy (McNamara).
● Counter-insurgency by foreign occupier.
● Excessive restraint (Revisionist view).
Effects on Vietnam
● Up to 1 million civilians die in the war.
● Millions of refugees flee by boat.
● Millions sent to reeducation camps.
○ Hundreds of thousands are executed.
Cambodia and Laos fall to communism
Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia
● Commit genocide
against urban
dwellers.
● Ousted by Vietnam
in 1979.
Pathet Lao in Laos
● Overthrow
monarchy in 1975.
● Systematically
target Hmong.
○ Refugee crisis.
No other communist regimes in
Southeast Asia
Pro-Western dictators
removed by protest
revolutions. Replaced by
democracies.
Popular opinion in the US turns
against intervention
Was military intervention in
Vietnam strategically justified?
Positive effects? Negative effects?
If not, what would have been a
good alternative strategy?
On Thursday…
Afghanistan