The Vietnam War
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The Vietnam War
Of all of the wars fought by the United States, the Vietnam War was by far the most controversial. After the defeat of French forces, Vietnam was divided into two sections: North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. North Vietnam became a Communist government under Ho Chi Minh, and South Vietnam eventually became a Republic under Ngo Dinh Diem. Under Diems oppressive rule, the Viet Cong (those against Diem) grew in power, and the U.S. reacted to the Communist threat by sending in troops and economic aid, and advised Diem to make more Democratic Reforms. Because it was never actually declared a war by congress, the “Vietnam War” is technically the “Vietnam Conflict”. Nevertheless, it is still called “one of the bloodiest wars of the century” (McNamara, 38). 58, 178 Americans died and 304,000 were injured. Many people during the start of the war, were unsure of its reasoning and its history. There were many misunderstandings on both sides, and many tragedies. The Vietnam War was a war started by fear, misunderstood by both sides, and made use of newer and advanced weapons.
The Vietnam war was sparked and later catalyzed by fear; the American fear of communism taking over the eastern hemisphere, and the Vietnamese fear of becoming a colony of the U.S. like they had been a colony of the French. Former Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara stated that, “Throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, we operated on the premise that the loss of South Vietnam to North Vietnam would result in all of the Southeast Asia being overrun by communism and that this would threaten the security of both the U.S. and the entire noncommunist world” (McNamara, 40). The U.S. believed that China, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam were allies, working to sway the other countries in Indochina. The Fascists were no longer a threat to American independence like in World War II. The new enemy was the Communists. The U.S. felt that “if South Vietnam fell to communism, all of Indochina would fall” (16), and it would create “domino effect”, that would influence all of Indochina to become communist as well. The Vietnamese side was different; they believed that the U.S. was trying to colonize Vietnam as the French had previously done. The people and the Vietminh (Viet Cong) believed that the government was a “puppet” of the United States. The American backed ruler of South Vietnam was Ngo Dinh Diem, who quickly became a dictator. He did not allow any opposition in his policies and demanded complete obedience (Olson, 60). He was from a family that had formerly had a “political dynasty in the tenth century, and then the mandarinate at the imperial court for centuries” (Olson, 54-55). A Roman Catholic ruling a Buddhist majority, Diem was known for being very reclusive and very loyal to his family. The only real shared interest between Diem and the people of South Vietnam was the hope of taking the French out of Vietnam. Ironically, it seemed as thought they had simply traded in “French despots for a Vietnamese one” (Mc Namara, 35). People like Truong Nho Tang, a founder of the National Liberation Front, were , “Organizers educated, patriotic, embarrassed by Diem- [and] were nationalists. Some were communists; many were not. Many had not been politically active before. But Diems tactics had forced them to take a stand” (36). The Viet Cong was the military branch of the NLF, the National Liberation Front, a political organization. The Viet Cong leader in South Vietnam was Le Duan. He was an anti-French nationalist who wanted to reunify Vietnam. Under his lead, the Viet Cong spent time, “working in villages to win support form the common peasants. The guerrillas spent their time working with peasants, helping plant and harvest crops, delivering rice to markets, improving community buildings and peasant homes, and providing drugs and basic medical care” (Olson, 66). But the Viet Cong were guerrilla fighters, and soon began to assassinate corrupt village officials and often decapitated Catholics who were appointed by Diem to govern over Buddhist villages (67). Ho Chi Minh -the ruler of North Vietnam- often gave orders and advice to the Viet Cong to destabilize Diems government. But he was also willing to sacrifice everything, even his people, to win the independence he felt he was gaining. The U.S. felt that Diem was their only chance to keep the South from becoming Communist, and began sending more troops to Vietnam.
The Vietnam war was misunderstood on both sides, and yet the conflict continued. In their struggle to stop communism, the U.S. was, “Blind to history, [they] saw only communism, not nationalism in Vietnam, and naively confident about its role as the premier power on earth, the U.S. applied a military solution to a problem that was essentially political and cultural” (283). It seemed that America did not really realize that, “South Vietnam was a dictatorship: dissidents were imprisoned, tortured, or killed; elections were manipulated; the press, radio, and television were controlled; and universities were treated as vehicles for government propaganda” (100). The Vietnamese believed that the war was an attack on their already compromised liberty, not a war to stop communism. The war continued partly because of the American fear of communism, and partly because of the fear of losing. For instance, some people believed that President Johnsons continuation with the war was simply that he, “was obsessed with not losing a war associated with John Kennedy, in whose shadow he had the misfortune to govern but whose savvy in foreign affairs he is supposed to have lacked” (McNamara, 153). Also, the U.S. felt it had a responsibility to not allow Southern Vietnam to “fall” to communism because, “Vietnam was a special problem for Washington, for it was the only state in Southeast Asia that was essentially the creation of the U.S.” (28). Washington would not allow itself to see a country that they had helped create to become communist and then influence other southeast asian countries to follow suit. Ironically, Ho Chi Minh sent the message that, ” If by final victory you mean the departure of the Americans, then we will fight to final victory. Everything depends on the Americans. If they want to make war for twenty years then we shall make war for twenty years. If they want to make peace, we shall make peace and invite them to tea afterwards” (151). Because the Vietnamese thought that the war was an effort to turn them into a colony, they were, or Ho was willing to fight ceaselessly, for their independence but were ready to stop when the Americans decided to give up. The NLF or Viet Cong, and North Vietnam