Vietnam (APA). Lessons of Vietnam

Vietnam is often called the first war America lost, and whether or not you agree with that statement, it is almost impossible to say that America won the war. However, one learns more from failure than from success and the United States can learn some very valuable lessons from the war. The reason for American failure, or at least lack of outright victory, can be traced to three main causes: a lack of a coherent diplomatic strategy, lack of public support, and lack of presidential and congressional cooperation.

One the diplomatic lesson to be learned from the Vietnam War is that when entering negotiations always have a specific goal by which negotiations should proceed, and always negotiate from a position of strength. The United States never had an overall strategy for dealing with the North Vietnamese, instead the U.S. strategy evolved over time. When it began it's commitment in the early-1960's, the United States never even considered negotiating with the North Vietnamese; it was the American belief that they would win the war militarily and dictate terms to the enemy. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese were more resilient than believed; and the war dragged on without victory. When it became apparent that the United States would have to negotiate to end the war, there was really no starting point and no overall diplomatic strategy.

The North Vietnamese wanted an end to the American bombing campaign before they would even sit down to talk. While the United States' only plan was the ending of the war, and thus they were constantly reacting to the North Vietnamese. For every concession the Americans made, the North demanded three more; and the U.S. was desperate to end the war. As U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote, the United States was...

public opinion had turned against the war and Americans wanted out. The North Vietnamese used this a leverage to gain more and more concessions, and since the U.S. didn't have an overall strategy for negotiations, they were caught off-guard by the Vietnamese constant change of position and seeming refusal to make concessions.
In the end the U.S. lack of strategy allowed the North Vietnamese to direct the negotiations and drag them out, caused the U.S. To be on the diplomatic defense, and used the American public's desire for peace to push pressure on the American negotiators. When negotiating, do not allow the other side to direct the course of negotiations, always have a well researched strategy. Also, never negotiate from a position of weakness, as demonstrated by the American position of wanting out of the war at any cost. And one must always have public support for the goals of the negotiations so the opposition cannot use a split between the American public and the government to increase pressure on the negotiators to make concessions.

The lack of public support was something that evolve over time, and in the Kennedy administration of the early 1960's, there was a great amount of support for the American effort to back the South Vietnamese. Both liberal Democrats as well as conservative Republicans backed the U.S. effort, but as time went by and the U.S., government demonstrated a distinct lack of candidness about the war, U.S., public support began to decline. It began with the liberal Democrats who "could not long support a war against a revolutionary movement, no matter how reactionary the domestic tactics of that movement." (Kissinger) In other…