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Vietnam is the most controversial war in American history. Even after several decades the debate over the war continues. American Presidents Kennedy and Johnson committed American combat troops primarily as part of a Cold War commitment to fighting Communism. The reality in Vitnam was much more complex. American officials failed to perceive the nationalist dimmensions of the War. The developing fisures in the Communist world were also not appreciated. Perhaps the most serious miscalculation was the military assessmnent of the ability of North Vietnam to resist American military power. The role of the American press is one of the most intensely debated aspects of the War. Presiden Nixons strategy in nwith drawing from Vietnam had also beem inteensely debayed. The war was waged at great human and material cost. The impact on the American economy was significant. There was also a powerful imoactbon American culture and society.
Vietnam is the most controversial war in American history. Even after several decades the debate over the war continues. American Presidents Kennedy and Johnson committed American combat troops. The major commitment was made by President Johnson. There is a diference of opinion as to what President Kennedy would have done. There is still no national consenus about the War, although most mericans today believe that it was a great mistake. There is no consenus as to why it was a mistake. There are even some who believe that the effort was not a mistake. Walter Rostow suceeded Bundy as National Security Adviser defended the American involvement until his death. [Appy] Some were dubious about the undertaking from the beginning. James Thompson, assistant to Mc George Bundy on the National Security Council staff describes his deepening sense of impending doom. [Appy] Kissinger blames what he describes as the reckless liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson for envolving America in Vietnam. [Kissinger]
The american commitment was made primarily as part of a Cold War commitment to fighting Communism. The reality in Vitnam was much more complex. American officials failed to perceive the nationalist dimmensions of the War.
The developing fisures in the Communist world were also not appreciated.
Perhaps the most serious miscalculation was the military assessmnent of the ability of North Vietnam to resist American military power.
The role of the American press is one of the most intensely debated aspects of the War. Some charge the liberal media's antipaty to Nixon for undercutting the administration's policies. [Kissenger]
Opposition to the War began with young people and appeared first in college campuses. These were the young people most affected because they were the age group being drafted. Policies on college deferments varied as the War progressed. Opposition gradually developed among other groups. The demonstrations targeted President Johnson with chants like, "Hey, hey, LBJ,. How many kids did you kill today." Church groups were increasingly vocal as the War developed. Teach ins and small demonstrations eventually led to mahor demonstration on university campuses and then cities. Only months after being elected president, the demonstrations began targeting President Nixon when he did not immediately end the War. An estimated 0.7 million people demonstrated in Washington, D.C. against the War (November 1969). It was the largest demonstration ever held in Washingtin up to that time.
The North Vietnamese launched their General Offensive-General Uprising
(Tet Offensive) in 1968. It is generally considered to be the turning point in the War. American forced were caught largely by suprise. There were, however, warnings. American intelligence noted unusually large quantities of supplies moving down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The North Vietnamese (NVA) was carefully planning a major offensive. Three North
Vietnamese Division Headquarters and seven regiments (about 15,000 men) arrived in the Khe Sanh area, north of Hue. U.S. analysts did not fully appreacitae the Viernamese preparations. Tet is the lunar new year and the most important fectival in Vietnam. Many South Vietnam Army (ARVN) units gave large numbers of men home furloughs and when the NVA struck were at half strength. The NVA struck during the night of January 3, 1968,at South Vietnam's five most important cigties as well as 36 provincial capitals, 64 district capitals, and 50 hamlets. The attack on the northern city of Hue was especially feroious. The NVA attacked with 8 battalions and solated the U.S. Advisory team. There were also carefully coordinateds attacks in Saigon, including some of the key U.S. facilities in Vietnam: 3 U.S. military barracks, the Presidential Palace, the city radio station, Ton Son Nhut Air Base, and the newly constructed U.S. Embassy. Tet was the first major action fought in Vietnamese cities. The U.S. military reacted immediately. Small units resisted stubbornly until major unit actions could be organized. The most prlonged battle was in Hue where fighting continued for a month. NVA losses were substantial. They are believed to have lost 45,000 men, more than half of the force committed. NVA units did not stage another majot attack untikl 1970. The American public watched nightly graphic images nightly on the evening news. Many who had believed that that great progress was being achieved in Vietnam began to question the Johnson administration and the War itself. As with the War itself, there is a wide range of opinion about Tet. Some believe that if the military had been allowed to followup on the devestating defeat inflicted in the NVA during Tet that the War could have been won. Many others believe that Tet demonstrated that the U.S. Forces depite a huge involvement had made little progress and that the War was unwinable.
The 1968 presidential election was determined by the Vietnam War. Liberal stalwart Vice-President Hubert Humphrey was nominated by the Democratic Party after the assassination of Senator Robert Kenndy. Many Democrats, however, did not support Humphrey because as President Johnson's vice president, he was assiciated with the War. President Nixon who claimed he had a secret plan to end the war, won in a close election.
Presiden Nixon's strategy in withdrawing from Vietnam had also beem intensely debated. President Nixon was elected in 1968 with a pledge that the had a plan to end the War. Nixon faced a Congress that was increasingly moving toward cutting the funding of the War. His problem was to get back the American POWs while building up the South Vietnamese so they could resist the Communist north Vietnmese. Nixon used an expansion of the War into Cambodia and Laos and intensified bombig to threaten the Vietnamese and American withdrawl and economic reconstruction aid to interest the Vietnamese in peace. [Kisinger]
President Nixon was in a difficult situation upon becoming president in 1969 just as the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive was unfolding. As a stalwart anti-Communist and Cold War warrior, he wanted to support South Vietnam against the Communist North. He recognized, however, that the American public wanted an end to the War and unless he ended it or at least made progress towatd ending it, his Administration would not be viable. The plan that he and Kissenger developed was to escalate the bombing to force the North to the peace table while reducing American ground forces to placate the growing anti-War sentiment. Here there was some success. The Paris Peace Accords were signed (January 1973). This did allow for a American withdrawl from Vietnam. The POWs wre returned. Pres ident Nixon proclaimed that he had achieved "peace with honor". The Peace Accords, however, were flawed, as they left North Vietnamese units in South Vietnam. In the end the South Vietnamese collapsed only a little more than 2 years after the American withdrawl (1975). Some historians judge Nixon and Kissenger harshly, maintaining that they betrayed Vietnam and achieved neither peace or honor. [Kimball and Berman] Some of these judgements seem unduly harsh. While not achieving victory in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger were hopeful that American military assistance might maintain the South and the threat of renewed bombing might restrain the North. Here some argue that the develooping Watergate scandal left Nixon powerless to fully support the South and eventually forced his resignatioin (1974). At any rate what real options were there? It was clear from the 1968 election and the public response to the 1969 Tet Offensive that the American public would not tolerate continued American casualties and many wanted out of the War altogether. This left Nixon and Kissinger with few options on the War. It is not clear just what Nixon's critics would have had him do. He perhaps could have admitted defeat in 1969 and withdrawn American ground forces. This would have prevented many American and Vietnamese casualties. About 20,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam during what one hjistorian calls Nixon's "peace charade". [Berman] Ending the War meaning withdrawing in 1969 would also have meant betrayal of America's South Vietnamese allies. Of course some historians argue that this is what Nixon finally did in the 1973 Paris Peace Accirds. [Berman]
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, after years of struggle, defeated the Cambodian military and seized the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. What followed was one of the most sinister and senceless acts of genocide ever committed by a government on its own people. The Khmer Rouge's first step was to force all the inhabitants of Phnom Penh no matter what their age or health into the country to work in labor camps. Their goal was to create a Cambodian state of pure communism. One step to achieve that goal was to eliminate all class enemies, maening virtually every Cambodian with any kind of education. Not only were the adults killed, but also their children. Some were killed outright in infamous prisons and the work camps. Most of the murders occurred in the countryside. Victims were taken singly or in groups usually at sunset and executed at nearby killing fields. Some were shot or suffocated with plastic bags. Others had their skulls smashed with shovels, hoes, and iron bars. Documentation of these mrders, if it ever existed, has disappeared. Men and women suspected of serious crimes and accused of treason were brought from the countryside and imprisoned in secrecy at the infamous S-21 prison. There weere also children executed at S-21
The CIA conducted a largely secret para-military operation in Laos resisting Communist control of the country. The operation was largely successful until the american withdrawl from Vietnam. [Helms] Walter Rostow suceeded Bundy as National security Adviser insited that the United States could have ended the War quickly if it had moved into Laos to cut the supplies flowing south over the Ho Chi Min Trail. [Appy]
The war was waged at great human and material cost. The impact on the American economy was significant.
Many of the key decession makers involved in the War have left accouts in their memoirs or individual bboks. There are also anthologies. Some include comments from the average men and women involved in the War. Some of these include both American and Vietnamese accounts. One of the best here is Christian Appy's Patriots.
The War created large number of orphans. There were an estimated 70,000 orphans in Saigo alone. Many were being cared for in Catholic orphanages. Nuns in April 1975, managed to arrange the evacuation of more than 2,000 children by giant cargo planes during the last few days of the War.
The effort was called “Operation Babylift.” One of the planes crashed on April 4, 1975, adding yet one more tragedy to the War--killing 144 adults
and children, including 76 babies. Many Vietnamese orphans were the children of American Servicemen and Vietnamese women. One of the many tragic aspects of the Vietnam War was the fate of the left behind after the American withdrawl from Vietnam. The unions rarely involved marriage and considered shameful by Vietnamese society. The families involved often did not accept the children, especially if they looked American. Many were abandoned by their mothers because of the shame a mixed race child would bring on the family. These children became street children and many were raised in orphanages.These children were often easy to identify in Vietnamese orphanages. They were generally ostracized in Vietnam even when they grew up. Some of the children were eventually repatriated to America. After the War a program was initiated to repatriate many of the children to Ameica. This was complicated by the lack of birth certificates and other documents. Having been abandoined by their mothers, many did not know who their parents were.
There will probably never be a precise accounting of the casualties resultingf rom the Vietnam War. This is because adequate records are not available. Another factor is that casualty counting was highly politicized by all sides. The Communisist wanted to minimize their casualties and actions against civilians. The American military wanted to maximize the body count of Viet Cong and Northvietnamese soldies and minimize civilian casualties. The anti-War movement in America wanted ti maximize civilian casualties as a result of American action and ignore actions against civilians by the Communisys. In particular, the anti-War movement largely ignores the killing and other repressive measures taken by the North Vietnamese after their victory. Sorting through all of this is a a daunting undertaking. Aded to this is the lingering impact of chemical defoliants and land minds. There is a fairly accurate accounting of the American casualties, over 58,000 soldiers. American allies also suffered losses (South Korea - about 4,500, Australia - 500, New Zealand - 30, Thailand - 350). The number of ARVN soldiers killed was probably about 1 million. The Vietnam Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs published an accounting of War casualties. The number of fighters killed between 1954-75 was 1.1 million. Many observers believe this this is a low estimate. The Vietnamese estimate that about 2 million civilians in the north and the south. This is a much more difficult figure to assess. Some estimates of civilian deaths run as high as 4 million. One knowledegeable observer estimated 3.2 million. [McNamara] Not accouted in the official Vietnamese statistics and largely ignored by the American anti-War movement are the actions taken by the North Vietnamese after their military victory. There were executions, often by firing squad, torture, concentration camps and "reeducation". There is no precise accounting of the number of people killed by the Communists. Some believe it probably totaled bout 1 million people. Those injured by the War of course ivolve even larger numbers. But here there are even more difficuties in estimating the numbers of people involved.
After the 1975 Communist victory in Vietnam thousands of South Vietnamese attempted to flee their cointry. As this was only possible by sea, they have become known as the boat people. Again assessments of these refugeess is controversial and often affected by views in the War. Many believe that the refugees were fleeing the Communists and and their repressive measures. Some believe that the Communists killed about 1 million people. Others suffered lengthy detention in concentration camps an reducation centers. Other refugees were fleeing the economic disaster that resulted from the Communist victory. Both were almost certainly important. Anti-Communists tend to emphasize the former. The anti-War movement tend to focus on the latter, referring to the boat people as economic refugees. Emigration laws vary from country to country, but political refugees are generally accorded greater protection than economic refugees. I am not sure how many people were involved, but it was cetainly in the hundreds of thousands. Many attempted to reach Hong Kong hich at the time was still a British territory. Some managed to eventually emigrate to countries like Australia, Canada, Frnce, and the United States which all have sizeable Vienamese communities.
The Vietnam War had a powerful impact on American culture and society.
Now years after the War, there is a general consensus in America that the War was a mistake. There is no consensus, however, on just what that mistake was. Some liberals argue that there was a faulty analysis of the Vietnam situation and that the War was a Civil War and not part of the the spread of Soviet or Chinese Communism as part of an international condsporacy and thus should not have provoked American intervention. That intervention resulted in untold suffering on the part of the Vietnamese people and 70,000 American deaths. Some conservatives argue that the War was fought on a limited basis and that if America had fully used its force, the North Vietnamese could have been defeated. Some believe that the North was near defeat when America decided to scale back the War and withdraw. They contend that the withdrawl was a betrayal of the Sout Vietnamese and resulted in great suffering of the Vietnamese under a dictaorial regeme which has made Vietnam one of the poorest countries in Asia. This debate is ongoing, although and may in fact never be resolved.
While the public at large has not yet come to terms with Vietnam, the American military was profoundly affected by the War and did draw many conclusins. Some of the most important were: 1) Never enter a war with out clear objectives, 2) Develop weapons that can be used without exposing forces, and 3) Develop a professional rather than a conscript force. Men like Colin Powell and Norman Swartzkoff who served as junior officers in Vietnam were to play important roles in developing the new more proifessional post-Vietnam military.
Appy, Christian G. Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides (Viking), 574p.
Berman, Larry. No Peave, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam (Free Press, 2003), 334p.
Helms, Richard with William Hood. A Look over my Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency (Random House, 2003), 478p.
Kimball, Jeffrey. Nixon's Vietnam War.
Kissinger, Henry. Ending the Vietnam War: A History of America's Involvement in and Extrication from the Vietnam War (Simon & Schuster), 563p.
McNamara.
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