Vietnam Was Part of French

¶ … Vietnam was part of French Indochina, occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War.

America's first involvement with the region occurred in support of the Vietnamese patriot Ho Chi Minh, leader of the small nationalist movement campaigning against Japan since 1941.

At the end of the War, Ho Chi Minh and the "Viet Minh" actively resisted France's attempt to regain control of Vietnam, turning to the Soviet Union and Communist China for assistance.

United States did not initially support the French return to power. Overall, the collapse of the Chinese Nationalist Government in 1949 and the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 solidified the American resolve to both contain communism and prevent aggression; as such, Truman stepped up assistance to France in September of 1950, three months after the outbreak of the Korean War, stationing a small assistance and advisory group in Saigon.

Successful military defeats over the next four years eroded the French willpower to carry on the war, even though by 1954 the United States was baring about 75% of the financial burden.

May, 1954, the Viet Minh ultimately defeated the French, but were summarily denied their goal of a united, communist Vietnam. An international conference in Geneva portioned Vietnam at the 17th parallel and the Eisenhower administration agreed to provide direct U.S. military assistance to the South, expanded under both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Nixon widened the war as well, defining victory as the "preservation of a non-Communist government in Saigon." To that end, he adopted the military measures long advocated by the pentagon but shunned by the White House (Johnson directly). Responsively, North Vietnamese troops poured into the interior of Cambodia, and in 1970, Nixon ordered its invasion; the United States entered mass civil unrest. (Kent State on May 4, May 14 two Jackson State students were murdered; between April and Many, one half million American students protested on over 1200 campuses.) Congress began to raise questions about the constitutionality of invasion and repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, one of the few legal props for the war.

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong progress continued into Cambodia and Laos; Nixon used air power in 1971 to try and stop the invasion of Laos to no success.

While troops were being withdrawn, Nixon stepped up the use of air and naval power, but despite the 2.2. million tombs of bombs dropped on S/N Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos between 1969 and 1971, the North Vietnamese continued; in the Spring of 1972, the North pushed back the South and despite American efforts, the war was lost.

Nixon administration had been engaging in secret negotiations between 1969 and 19711, with Henry Kissinger making thirteen trips to France to meet with North Vietnam diplomats. The U.S. supported the Thieu regime in an election so fraudulent all opponents withdrew.

The war officially ended in 1973; Nixon resigned in 1974 so did no t preside over the rout of the South Vietnamese in 1975 when the North took over the entire country.

Results for America:

One and a half million counted dead in Indochina, 58,000 of whom were Americans. Millions maimed. Over 500,000 refugees.

Between 1965 and 1971, the U.S. spent $120 billion dollars on the war directly, but other costs raised the tally to a pricey $400 billion.

Emotionally, the U.S. military was exhausted and depleted, no longer the superpower it was assumed; likewise, the American people were depleted and exhausted, although much of it was in relation to their leadership; seriously wounded the U.S. psyche.

Major trends:

Anti-colonial sentiment in America was at a crucial crossroads in the United States governmental policy at this time; economic strongholds overseas and fear of communism threatened the very nationalist foundations of society.

The theoretical fear of communism was great, but so was pride for democracy. This was a conviction that, bantered about today with warfare and American military, seems less pure; in many ways, this was about protecting the spread of democracy (without other motives).

However, protecting democracy came with the positive outcome of suppressing the communist bloc that would come to define American politics until 1989 and the end of the Cold War. While the spread and protection of democracy was encouraged and a true conviction, the added bonus of the threat to communism spurred the American military to capture the minds of as many American leaders as possible (Eisenhower included).