185-630: Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1965 with demonstrations against the escalating role of the United States in the war . Over the next several years, these demonstrations grew into a social movement which was incorporated into the broader counterculture of the 1960s . Members of the peace movement within the United States at first consisted of many students, mothers, and anti-establishment youth. Opposition grew with
370-821: A Gidra article, [a prominent influential newspaper of the Asian American movement], Evelyn Yoshimura noted that the US military systematically portrayed Vietnamese women as prostitutes as a way of dehumanizing them." United States in the Vietnam War The involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War began in the 1950s and greatly escalated in 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973. The U.S. military presence in Vietnam peaked in April 1969, with 543,000 military personnel stationed in
555-491: A domino effect . It was prominent in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s in the context of the Cold War , suggesting that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism , then the surrounding countries would follow. It was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War as justification for American intervention around the world. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower described
740-526: A one-man election for President in 1971. Covert counter-terror programs and semi-covert ones such as the Phoenix Program attempted, with the help of anthropologists, to isolate rural South Vietnamese villages and affect the loyalty of the residents. Despite the increasingly disheartening news of the war, many Americans continued to support President Johnson's efforts. Apart from the Domino Theory, there
925-433: A bombing campaign in the north, and a number of other factors. Whilst these challenges would have been faced by any President in office at the time, it is ultimately Johnson's individual decisions and attitudes that brought America into the Vietnam War. Historians have been sympathetic towards Johnson's situation, but others believe that the inevitability of war and Johnson's trapping by previous Presidents like John F. Kennedy
1110-518: A broad-based challenge not only for one or two countries, but for the entire Asian continent and Pacific." This connotes a strong magnetic force to give in to communist control, and aligns with the comment by General Douglas MacArthur that "victory is a strong magnet in the East." During 1945, the Soviet Union brought most of the countries of eastern Europe and Central Europe into its influence as part of
1295-416: A burgeoning draft resistance movement. The draft exhibited a disproportionate selection of young African American men and economically disadvantaged men of all races, resulting in higher enlistment rates compared to white, middle-class men. In 1967, although there were fewer draft-eligible black men (29% of all draft-eligible men) compared to white men (63%), a higher percentage of the eligible black men (64% of
1480-484: A cluster of other countries within a particular region. While the intent and purpose may differ for every country, Victor Cha portrays the asymmetrical bilateral alliance between the United States and countries in East Asia as a strategic approach, where the United States is in control and power to either mobilize or stabilize its allies. This is supported by how the United States created asymmetrical bilateral alliances with
1665-405: A complicated situation from his predecessor, John F. Kennedy . Consequently, Johnson faced a difficult situation regarding whether the costs of intervening outweighed the benefits. In essence, America had reached the point of no return. The pride of America and the pride of Johnson as a strong President means that the individual actions and responses of Johnson in Vietnam are somewhat responsible for
1850-642: A disintegration that would have the most profound influences. Moreover, Eisenhower's deep belief in the domino theory in Asia heightened the "perceived costs for the United States of pursuing multilateralism " because of multifaceted events including the " 1949 victory of the Chinese Communist Party , the June 1950 North Korean invasion , the 1954 Quemoy offshore island crisis , and the conflict in Indochina constituted
2035-471: A dreaded entrapment scenario for the United States," the domino theory further underscores the importance of bilateral alliances in international relations. This is evident in how the domino theory provided the United States with a coalition approach, where it "fashioned a series of deep, tight bilateral alliances" with Asian countries including Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan to "control their ability to use force and to foster material and political dependency on
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#17328551656142220-693: A generalized domino theory as others did afterward. During the summer of 1963, Buddhists protested about the harsh treatment they were receiving under the Diem government of South Vietnam. Such actions of the South Vietnamese government made it difficult for the Kennedy administration 's strong support for President Diem. President Kennedy was in a tenuous position, trying to contain Communism in Southeast Asia, but on
2405-584: A group of ringleaders, including Dr. Benjamin Spock and Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Jr. , in Boston in 1968. By the late 1960s, one-quarter of all court cases dealt with the draft, including men accused of draft-dodging and men petitioning for the status of conscientious objector . Over 210,000 men were accused of draft-related offenses, 25,000 of whom were indicted. The concerns regarding equity prompted
2590-452: A hierarchy of good and bad within the American imagination, which affected US policymakers view of how intervention would materialise. Jacobs states: Americans at the mid century considered some Asians tough and therefore dependable anticommunist allies while consigning other to the ranks of those who, in the words of a State Department working paper "will not fight for themselves" much less for
2775-642: A meaningful military solution in Vietnam. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson began his re-election campaign. Eugene McCarthy ran against him for the Democratic nomination on an anti-war platform. McCarthy did not win the first primary election in New Hampshire , but he did surprisingly well against an incumbent. The resulting blow to the Johnson campaign, combined with other factors, led the President to announce that he
2960-630: A mistake. This was echoed decades later by former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara . US military involvement in Vietnam began in 1950 with the support of French Indochina against communist Chinese forces . Military involvement and opposition escalated after the Congressional authorization of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in August 1964, with US ground troops arriving in Vietnam on March 8, 1965. Richard Nixon
3145-556: A more conventional, large-unit war, switched back to small-unit operations in the face of U.S. military capabilities. The struggle moved to the villages, where the "hearts and minds" of the South Vietnamese peasants, whose cooperation was absolutely necessary to military success, would be won or lost. The U.S. had given responsibility for this struggle to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), whose troops and commanders were notoriously unfit for
3330-520: A plan for a two-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. In February 1965, a U.S. air base at Pleiku , in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, was attacked twice by the NLF, resulting in the deaths of over a dozen U.S. personnel. These guerrilla attacks prompted the administration to order retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam . Operation Rolling Thunder was the code name given to
3515-561: A policy of " Vietnamization ", training the South Vietnamese army so it could defend the country and starting a phased withdrawal of American troops. By 1972, there were only 69,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, and in 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed, removing the last of the troops. In 1975, the South fell to an invasion from the North, and Vietnam was reunited in 1976. The costs of fighting
3700-516: A political voice. The repression of the protests sparked the so-called Buddhist crisis , during which several monks committed self-immolation , which was covered in the world press. The communists took full advantage of the situation and fueled anti-Diệm sentiment to create further instability. In August, the State Department stated: We wish to give Diem reasonable opportunity to remove Nhu, but if he remaisn obdurate, then we are prepared to accept
3885-472: A result, training programs were shortened. Some NCOs were referred to as " Shake 'N' Bake " to highlight their accelerated training. Unlike soldiers in World War II and Korea, there were no secure rear areas in which to get rest and relaxation. One unidentified soldier said to United Press International that there was nothing to do in Vietnam and therefore many of the men smoked marijuana . He said, "One of
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#17328551656144070-698: A sustained strategic bombing campaign targeted against the North by aircraft of the U.S. Air Force and Navy that was inaugurated on March 2, 1965. Its original purpose was to bolster the morale of the South Vietnamese and to serve as a signaling device to Hanoi . U.S. airpower would act as a method of "strategic persuasion", deterring the North Vietnamese politically by the fear of continued or increased bombardment. Rolling Thunder gradually escalated in intensity, with aircraft striking only carefully selected targets. When that did not work, its goals were altered to destroying North Vietnam's will to fight by destroying
4255-447: A system of conscription that mainly drew from minorities and lower and middle-class whites, inspired much of the protest after 1965. Conscientious objectors played an active role despite their small numbers. Student and blue-collar American opposition to the military draft was compelled by a sentiment that the draft was unfairly administered. Opposition to the war arose during a time of unprecedented student activism , which included
4440-442: A vehicle for portraying their thoughts about the Vietnam War, often satirizing the role of America in the world and juxtaposing the horrific effects of war with normal scenes of life. Regardless of medium, anti-war artists ranged from pacifists to violent radicals, and caused Americans to think more critically about the war. Art as war opposition was quite popular in the early years of the war, but soon faded as political activism became
4625-591: A viable and increasingly democratic society, and to initiate, on an accelerated basis, a series of mutually supporting actions of a military, political, economic, psychological, and covert character designed to achieve this objective. Nevertheless, the Kennedy administration held onto its fundamental belief in nation building. Kennedy was intrigued by the idea of utilizing United States Army Special Forces for counterinsurgency conflicts in Third World countries threatened by
4810-618: Is a dubious proposal. Fredrick Logevall believes there were choices available to him debate and fluidity was more of a reality than a Cold War consensus as key figures such as Senator Richard Russell Jr. opposed the war: "exact numbers are hard to come by, but certainly in the Senate a clear majority of Democrats and moderate Republicans were either downright opposed to Americanisation or were ambivalent". Robert Dean says Robert Mcnamara recognises that Johnson could have avoided war in his 1995 memoirs. Dean believes "the basic explanation McNamara offers
4995-449: Is considered a milestone in King's critiques against imperialism and militarism. King, during the year of 1966, publicly declared that it was hypocritical for Black Americans to be fighting in Vietnam since they were being treated as second-class citizens back home. One of his arguments was that many white middle-class men avoided the draft by college deferments, but his greatest defense was that
5180-507: Is important to note that the Doves did not question the intentions of the US in intervening in Vietnam, nor did they question the morality or legality of the US intervention. Instead, they made pragmatic claims that the war was a mistake. Contrarily, the Hawks represented people who argued that the war was legitimate, winnable, and part of US foreign policy. The Hawks claimed that the one-sided criticism of
5365-525: Is little doubt that the defeat of a superpower encouraged our enemies to undertake acts of aggression that they might otherwise have shied away from." In addition, this theory can be further bolstered by the rise in terrorist incidents by left-wing terrorist groups in Western Europe, funded in part by Communist governments, between the 1960s and 1980s. In Italy, this includes the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro , and
5550-567: Is that the Kennedy and Johnson policy makers were blinded by their own rigid anti-communist ideology". Arnold R. Isaacs says that there was limited public pressure to escalate war whilst his political position was already safe because of an electoral vote of 486 in the 1964 presidential election . Isaacs says that engaging in the war would be more damaging politically to Johnson and the Democrats than disengagement because an expensive war meant Great Society reforms would be damaged. According to Isaacs,
5735-645: Is widely held that the average U.S. serviceman was nineteen years old, as evidenced by the casual reference in a pop song (" 19 " by Paul Hardcastle ); the figure is cited by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman ret. of the Killology Research Group in his 1995 book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (p. 265). However, it is disputed by the Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network Website, which claims
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War - Misplaced Pages Continue
5920-764: The Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) , the Bay Area Coalition Against the War (BAACAW), and the Asian Americans for Action (AAA) made opposition to the war their main focus. Of these organizations, the Bay Area Coalition Against the War was the biggest and most significant. BAACAW was "highly organized, holding biweekly ninety-minute meetings of the Coordinating Committee at which each regional would submit detailed reports and action plans." The driving force behind its formation
6105-589: The Catholic minority—of which Diệm was a part—at the expense of the Buddhist majority. This contributed to the impression of Diệm's rule as an extension of the French Colonial regime. Promised land reforms were not instituted, and Diệm's strategic hamlet program for village self-defense (and government control) was a disaster. The Kennedy administration grew increasingly frustrated with Diệm. One major frustration among
6290-530: The Draft Board in each locality had broad discretion on whom to draft and whom to exempt in cases where there was no clear guideline for exemption. In late July 1965, Johnson doubled the number of young men to be drafted per month from 17,000 to 35,000, and on August 31, 1965, he signed the Draft Card Mutilation Act, making it a crime to knowingly destroy or mutilate a draft card. On October 15, 1965,
6475-577: The First Indochina War . Moreover, the domino theory was utilized as one of the key arguments in the "Kennedy and Johnson administrations during the 1960s to justify increasing American military involvement in the Vietnam War ." In May 1954, the Viet Minh , a Communist and nationalist army, defeated French troops in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and took control of what became North Vietnam . This caused
6660-511: The First Indochina War . The French withdrew in 1954, leaving North Vietnam in control of the country's northern half. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered covert CIA activities in South Vietnam . Opposition to the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem in the South was quashed with U.S. help, but from 1957 insurgents known as the Viet Cong launched a campaign against the state. North Vietnam supported
6845-642: The Gulf of Tonkin when it was attacked by three P-4 torpedo boats of the North Vietnamese Navy. Reports later reached the Johnson administration saying that the Maddox was under attack. Two nights later, after being joined by the destroyer USS Turner Joy , the Maddox again reported that both vessels were under attack. Regardless, President Johnson addressed Congress asking for more political power to utilize American military forces in South Vietnam, using
7030-582: The Philippines . The U.S. paid for (through aid dollars) and logistically supplied all of the allied forces. As the manpower demand increased to meet these obligations McNamara initiated Project 100,000 which witnessed a significant reduction in recruiting standards for the U.S. military. Meanwhile, political affairs in Saigon were finally settling down — at least as far as the Americans were concerned. On February 14
7215-630: The Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam), bringing the total American troop level to 21,000. Shortly thereafter an incident occurred off the coast of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) that was destined to escalate the conflict to new levels and lead to the full scale Americanization of the war. On the evening of August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox was conducting an electronic intelligence collection mission in international waters (even as claimed by North Vietnam) in
7400-574: The Viet Cong with bases, and that eventually they could take over Laos. The primary evidence for the domino theory is the spread of communist rule in three Southeast Asian countries in 1975, following the communist takeover of Vietnam : South Vietnam (by the Viet Cong), Laos (by the Pathet Lao), and Cambodia (by the Khmer Rouge ). It can further be argued that before they finished taking Vietnam prior to
7585-503: The free speech movement and the civil rights movement . The military draft mobilized the baby-boomers , who were most at risk of being drafted, but the opposition grew to include a varied cross-section of Americans. The growing opposition to the Vietnam War was partly attributed to greater access to uncensored information through extensive television coverage on the ground in Vietnam. Anti-War protesters primarily made moral arguments against US involvement in Vietnam. In May 1954, preceding
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War - Misplaced Pages Continue
7770-528: The "neutrality" of Laos and Cambodia would be respected, and Rolling Thunder would not resemble the bombing of Germany and Japan during the Second World War. These limitations were not foisted upon the military as an afterthought. Before the first U.S. soldiers came ashore at Da Nang, the Pentagon was cognizant of all of the parameters that would be imposed by their civilian leaders, yet they still agreed that
7955-588: The "threat of a good example". Some supporters of the domino theory note the history of communist governments supplying aid to communist revolutionaries in neighboring countries. For instance, China supplied the Viet Minh and later the North Vietnamese army with troops and supplies, while the Soviet Union supplied them with tanks and heavy weapons. The fact that the Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge were both originally part of
8140-711: The 1950s, the communist campaigns did not succeed in Southeast Asia. Note the Malayan Emergency , the Hukbalahap Rebellion in the Philippines , and the increasing involvement with Communists by Sukarno of Indonesia from the late 1950s until he was deposed in 1967. All of these were unsuccessful Communist attempts to take over Southeast Asian countries which stalled when communist forces were still focused in Vietnam, while Robert Grainger Thompson argued that US involvement even turned those within Communist nations toward
8325-553: The 1960s began. By the middle of the decade, open condemnation of the war became more common, with figures like Malcolm X and Bob Moses speaking out. Champion boxer Muhammad Ali risked his career and a prison sentence to resist the draft in 1966. Soon, Martin Luther King Jr. , Coretta Scott King , and James Bevel of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) became prominent opponents of
8510-410: The 1970s. The global interpretation of the domino effect relies heavily upon the "prestige" interpretation of the theory, meaning that the success of Communist revolutions in some countries, though it did not provide material support to revolutionary forces in other countries, did contribute morale and rhetorical support. In this vein, Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara wrote an essay, the "Message to
8695-459: The 29%) were chosen for conscription to serve in the war, as opposed to only 31% of eligible white men. On October 16, 1967, draft card turn-ins were held across the country, yielding more than 1,000 draft cards, later returned to the Justice Department as an act of civil disobedience . Resisters expected to be prosecuted immediately, but Attorney General Ramsey Clark chose to prosecute
8880-401: The American embassy in Saigon as a sign of US military vulnerability. The military victories on the battlefields of Tet were overshadowed by shocking images of violence on television screens, extensive casualty lists, and a new perception among the American people that the military had been less than truthful about the success of earlier military operations, and, ultimately, the ability to achieve
9065-417: The American opposition to the war was the perception that US justification for intervention in Vietnam (i.e. the domino theory and the threat of communism ) was not legally justifiable. Some Americans believed that the communist threat was used to hide imperialistic intentions. Others argued that the American intervention in South Vietnam interfered with the self-determination of the country, expressing that
9250-532: The Berkeley Draft Board and forty students staged the first public Draft-card burning in the United States. Another 19 cards were burned on May 22, 1965, at a demonstration following the Berkeley teach-in . Draft card protests were primarily aimed at the immoral conduct of the war, rather than the draft itself. At that time, only a fraction of all men of draft-able age were actually being conscripted , but
9435-567: The Bombing of Asian People and Stop Killing Our Asian Brothers and Sisters." Its newsletter stated, "our goal is to build a solid, broad-based anti-imperialist movement of Asian people against the war in Vietnam." The anti-war sentiment of Asian Americans was fueled by the racial inequality that they faced in the United States. As historian Daryl Maeda notes, "the anti-war movement articulated Asian Americans' racial commonality with Vietnamese people in two distinctly gendered ways: identification based on
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#17328551656149620-497: The Central Highlands . The two imported adversaries first faced one another during Operation Silver Bayonet , better known as the Battle of the Ia Drang . During the savage fighting that took place, both sides learned important lessons. The North Vietnamese began to adapt to the overwhelming American superiority in air mobility, supporting arms, and close air support by moving in as close as possible during confrontations, thereby negating
9805-717: The Communists' side), and the United States and 15 allied countries (on the Republicans' side). Though the Korean conflict has not officially ended, the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice that left Korea divided into two nations, North Korea and South Korea . Mao Zedong's decision to take on the U.S. in the Korean War was a direct attempt to confront what the Communist bloc viewed as
9990-439: The French to fully withdraw from the region then known as French Indochina , a process they had begun earlier. The regions were then divided into four independent countries (North Vietnam, South Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos ) after a deal and truce was brokered at the 1954 Geneva Conference to end the First Indochina War . This would give them a geographical and economic strategic advantage, and it would make Japan, Taiwan,
10175-441: The Kennedy administration was the continued prominent role of Ngo Dinh Nhu, the younger brother of Diem, within the South Vietnamese regime. Nhu held a prominent role in the Diem government, to the chagrin of US officials. Following a meeting with Nhu, Hillsman surmised US frustrations with the Diem government, stating The American military are still chasing Viet Cong and advising the Vietnamese to chase Viet Cong. They're not adopting
10360-415: The Liberation of Vietnam . They intended to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupted the meeting, with 50 individuals being arrested. In February 1967, The New York Review of Books published " The Responsibility of Intellectuals ," an essay by Noam Chomsky , a leading intellectual opponent of the war. In the essay, Chomsky argued that much responsibility for
10545-452: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) disallowed him. The "Beyond Vietnam" speech involved King in a debate with the diplomat Ralph Bunche who argued that it was folly to associate the civil rights movement with the anti-Vietnam war movement, maintaining that this would set back civil rights for African Americans. This speech also showed how bold King could be when he condemned US "aggression" in Vietnam, and this
10730-419: The North and ordering 3,500 Marines to the region. It became clear that aerial strikes alone would not win the war, so ground troops were regularly augmented. General William Westmoreland , who commanded the U.S. forces, opted for a war of attrition . Opposition to the war in the U.S. was massive, and was strengthened as news reported on the use of napalm , a mounting death toll among soldiers and civilians,
10915-411: The Philippines, Australia and New Zealand the front-line defensive states. The loss of regions traditionally within the vital regional trading area of countries like Japan would encourage the front-line countries to compromise politically with communism. Eisenhower's domino theory of 1954 was a specific description of the situation and conditions within Southeast Asia at the time, and he did not suggest
11100-403: The Quaker protests but just after the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu , the Service Committee bought a page in The New York Times to protest what seemed to be the tendency of the US to step into Indochina as France was stepping out. The moral imperative argument against the war was especially popular among American college students, who were more likely than the general public to accuse
11285-431: The Republic of Korea, Republic of China and Japan "not just to contain but also constrain potential 'rogue alliances' from engaging in adventurist behavior that might it into larger military contingencies in the region or that could trigger a domino effect, with Asian countries falling to communism." Since the United States struggled with the challenge of "rogue alliances and the threat of falling dominoes combined to produce
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#173285516561411470-822: The South Vietnamese government needed a solid base of popular support if it were to survive the insurgency. To pursue this goal of winning the " Hearts and Minds " of the Vietnamese people, units of the United States Army , referred to as " Civil Affairs " units, were used extensively for the first time since World War II . Civil Affairs units, while remaining armed and under direct military control, engaged in what came to be known as " nation-building ": constructing (or reconstructing) schools, public buildings, roads, and other infrastructure ; conducting medical programs for civilians who had no access to medical facilities; facilitating cooperation among local civilian leaders; conducting hygiene and other training for civilians; and engaging in similar activities. This policy of attempting to win
11655-541: The Southeast Asia Resolution (also known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution ) on August 7. The law gave the President broad powers to conduct military operations without an actual declaration of war. The resolution passed unanimously in the House of Representatives and was opposed in the Senate by only two members. National Security Council members, including United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara , Secretary of State Dean Rusk , and General Maxwell Taylor , agreed on November 28 to recommend that Johnson adopt
11840-408: The Tricontinental", in 1967, calling for "two, three ... many Vietnams" across the world. Historian Max Boot wrote, "In the late 1970s, America's enemies seized power in countries from Mozambique to Iran to Nicaragua. American hostages were seized aboard the SS Mayaguez (off Cambodia) and in Tehran. The Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan . There is no obvious connection with the Vietnam War, but there
12025-493: The U.S. North Vietnam began sending detachments of its own army , armed with Soviet and Chinese weapons, to assist the Viet Cong. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnam, and Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution , which authorized military intervention in defense of South Vietnam. From early 1965, U.S. involvement in Vietnam escalated rapidly, launching Operation Rolling Thunder against targets in
12210-427: The U.S. put so much effort into suppressing so-called "people's movements" in Chile , Vietnam, Nicaragua , Laos, Grenada , El Salvador , Guatemala , etc. "The weaker and poorer a country is, the more dangerous it is as an example. If a tiny, poor country like Grenada can succeed in bringing about a better life for its people, some other place that has more resources will ask, 'Why not us? ' " Chomsky refers to this as
12395-537: The U.S. to stop communist expansion would fatally damage U.S. credibility with its allies, Kennedy realized, "Now we have a problem in making our power credible... and Vietnam looks like the place." The commitment to defend South Vietnam was reaffirmed by Kennedy on May 11 in National Security Action Memorandum 52, which became known as "The Presidential Program for Vietnam". Its opening statement reads: U.S. objectives and concept of operations [are] to prevent communist domination of South Vietnam; to create in that country
12580-463: The US intervention in Vietnam regardless of public opinion and international law is "using power over justice", giving itself the right to intervene anywhere that America wants." The domino theory is significant because it underlines the importance of alliances, which may vary from rogue alliances to bilateral alliances. This implies that the domino theory is useful in evaluating a country's intent and purpose of forging an alliance with others, including
12765-430: The United States of having imperialistic goals in Vietnam and to criticize the war as "immoral." Civilian deaths, which had been downplayed or omitted entirely by the Western media, became a subject of protest when photographic evidence of casualties emerged. The infamous photo of General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan shooting a Viet Cong captain in handcuffs during the Tet Offensive also provoked public outcry. Another element of
12950-481: The United States' destabilization of the Salvador Allende regime in Chile on domino theory grounds. Borrowing a metaphor he had heard, he stated that a Communist Chile and Cuba would create a "red sandwich" that could entrap Latin America between them. In the 1980s, the domino theory was used again to justify the Reagan administration 's interventions in Central America and the Caribbean region . In his memoirs, former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith described
13135-508: The United States." Hence, this indicates that the domino theory assists in observing the effect of forged alliances as a stepping stone or stumbling block within international relations. This underscores the correlation between domino theory and path dependency, where a retrospective collapse of one country falling to communism may not only have adverse effects to other countries but more importantly, on one's decision-making scope and competence in overcoming present and future challenges. Therefore,
13320-511: The Viet Cong, which began fighting the South Vietnamese army . President John F. Kennedy , who subscribed to the " domino theory " that communism would spread to other countries if Vietnam fell, expanded U.S. aid to South Vietnam, increasing the number of advisors from 900 to 16,300, but this failed to produce results. In 1963, Diem was deposed and killed in a military coup tacitly approved by
13505-702: The Vietminh, not to mention Hanoi's support for both in conjunction with the Viet Cong, also give credence to the theory. The Soviet Union also heavily supplied Sukarno with military supplies and advisors from the time of the Guided Democracy in Indonesia , especially during and after the 1958 civil war in Sumatra. In a memorandum sent to CIA Director John McCone on 9 June 1964, the Board of National Estimates generally discounted
13690-539: The Vietnam War, and Bevel became the director of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam . The Black Panther Party vehemently opposed US involvement in Vietnam. At the beginning of the war, some African Americans did not want to join the war opposition movement because of their loyalty to President Johnson for pushing the Civil Rights legislation, but soon the escalating violence of
13875-511: The Vietnam conflict, the Kennedy Administration would escalate the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam who acted as advisors to the South Vietnamese military. At the time of Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the number of U.S. military advisors in Vietnam had grown to at least 16,000. Nevertheless, the Kennedy administration had expressed desires to wind down US military intervention, without fully withdrawing from Vietnam. On October 2, 1963,
14060-584: The War . In April 1971, thousands of these veterans converged on the White House in Washington, D.C., and hundreds threw their medals and decorations on the steps of the United States Capitol . By this time, it had also become commonplace for the most radical anti-war demonstrators to prominently display the flag of the Viet Cong "enemy," an act which alienated many who were otherwise morally opposed to
14245-493: The West. Walt Whitman Rostow and the then Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew have argued that the U.S. intervention in Indochina, by giving the nations of ASEAN time to consolidate and engage in economic growth, prevented a wider domino effect. Meeting with President Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger in 1975, Lee Kuan Yew argued that "there is a tendency in the U.S. Congress not to want to export jobs. But we have to have
14430-417: The White House outlined its intentions to withdraw 1,000 men from Vietnam by then end of the year. A major factor that led President Lyndon B. Johnson to intervene into Vietnam militarily was the fear of communism due to Cold War tensions with communist countries such as China and the Soviet Union. South Vietnam was very important to the U.S. in Asia with it being perceived as a western democratic state. After
14615-419: The anti-war movement and their creation of new opposition groups. Many artists during the 1960s and 1970s opposed the war and used their creativity and careers to oppose the war visibly. Writers and poets who were opposed to involvement in the war included Allen Ginsberg , Denise Levertov , Robert Duncan , and Robert Bly . Artists often incorporated imagery based on the tragic events of the war, as well as on
14800-507: The area would quickly succumb to communism as a result of the fall of Laos and South Vietnam. Furthermore, a continuation of the spread of communism in the area would not be inexorable and any spread which did occur would take time—time in which the total situation might change in any of a number of ways unfavorable to the Communist cause. In the spring of 1995, despite having been a strong proponent of it during his time in office, former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said he believed
14985-481: The arms race and the Vietnam War were taking much-needed resources away from the civil rights movement and the War on Poverty . To combat these issues, King rallied the poor working class in hopes that the federal government would redirect resources toward fighting the War on Poverty. To emphasize his point, King would use the statistic that the US government had underestimated the cost of the 1967 war budget by $ 10 billion, which
15170-435: The attack on the Maddox as cause to get what he wanted. Confusion was abound around the circumstance of the attacks. The USS Turner Joy's reports of the second attack were met with Scepticism from many U.S. officials. While it is 'indisputable' that the first attack occurred, the evidence of the second attack, McNamara contends, "appears probable but not certain". This incited rampant confusion in Washington. Nevertheless,
15355-414: The average age of MOS 11B personnel was 22. This compares with 26 years of age for those who participated in World War II. Soldiers served a one-year tour of duty. The average age of the U.S. military men who died in Vietnam was 22.8 years old. The one-year tour of duty deprived units of experienced leadership. As one observer put it, "we were not in Vietnam for 10 years, but for one year 10 times." As
15540-443: The banner of "Self-determination for Black America and Vietnam," while whites marched under banners that said, "Support Our GIs, Bring Them Home Now!". Within these groups, however, many African American women were seen as subordinate members by black male leaders. Many African American women viewed the war in Vietnam as racially motivated and sympathized strongly with Vietnamese women. Such concerns often propelled their participation in
15725-414: The biggest reasons that a lot of GIs do get high over here is there is nothing to do. This place is really a drag; it's a bore over here. Like right now sitting around here, we are getting loaded. Whereas, it doesn't really get you messed up; that's I guess the main reason why we smoke it." American forces would conduct operations against PAVN forces, pushing them further back into the countryside away from
15910-463: The bordering countries would be sure to fall as well like dominoes. This theory was largely held due to the fall of Eastern Europe to communism and the Soviet sphere of influence following World War II. However, military critics of the war pointed out that the Vietnam War was political, and that the military mission lacked any clear idea of how to achieve its objectives. Civilian critics of the war argued that
16095-595: The communists was immediately followed by the abandonment of the terrain just seized. Combined with this was the anger and frustration engendered among American troops by the effective tactics of the NLF, who conducted a war of sniping , booby traps, mines, and terror against the Americans. As a result of the conference held in Honolulu, President Johnson authorized an increase in troop strength to 429,000 by August 1966. The large increase in troops enabled MACV to carry out numerous operations that grew in size and complexity during
16280-549: The conflict in South Vietnam. On August 18, Operation Starlite began as the first major U.S. ground operation, destroying an NLF stronghold in Quảng Ngãi Province . The North Vietnamese had already sent units of their regular army into southern Vietnam beginning in late 1964. Some officials in Hanoi had favored an immediate invasion of the South, and a plan was developed to use PAVN units to split southern Vietnam in half through
16465-433: The conflict. In 1961, the new administration of President John F. Kennedy took a new approach to aiding anti-communist forces in Vietnam which differed from the administrations of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, who felt the neighboring country Laos was the "cork in the bottle" in combating the threat of Communism in southeast Asia. Kennedy was fearful of the domino effect, that by allowing Vietnam to fall to Communism,
16650-521: The continent". Some foreign-policy analysts in the United States have referred to the potential spread both of Islamic theocracy and of liberal democracy in the Middle East as two different possibilities for a domino-theory scenario. During the Iran–Iraq War of 1980 to 1988 the United States and other western nations supported Ba'athist Iraq , fearing the spread of Iran's radical theocracy throughout
16835-440: The country. By the end of the U.S. involvement, more than 3.1 million Americans had been stationed in Vietnam, and 58,279 had been killed. After World War II ended in 1945, President Harry S. Truman declared his doctrine of " containment " of communism in 1947 at the start of the Cold War . U.S. involvement in Vietnam began in 1950, with Truman sending military advisors to assist France against Viet Minh guerrillas in
17020-492: The demonstration of October 15, making it the largest protest in a single day at that point in history. A second round of "Moratorium" demonstrations was held on November 15 and attracted more people than the first. Over half a million people rallied in Washington, D.C., while about 250,000 rallied in San Francisco. The Washington demonstration was preceded by the "March against Death" on November 13 and 14. The US realized that
17205-480: The disparity between life in Vietnam and life in the United States. Visual artists such as Ronald Haeberle , Peter Saul , Leon Golub , Nancy Spero , among many others, created anti-war works. According to art historian Matthew Israel's book Kill for Peace: American Artists Against the Vietnam War , "significant examples of this politically engaged production...encompassed painting, sculpture, performance, installation, posters, short films, and comics—and... ranged from
17390-556: The domino theory is indubitably a significant theory which deals with the close relationship between micro-cause and macro-consequence, where it suggests such macro-consequences may result in long-term repercussions. Michael Lind has argued that though the domino theory failed regionally, there was a global wave, as communist or socialist regimes came to power in Benin , Ethiopia , Guinea-Bissau , Madagascar , Cape Verde , Mozambique , Angola , Afghanistan , Grenada , and Nicaragua during
17575-490: The domino theory to have been a mistake. "I think we were wrong. I do not believe that Vietnam was that important to the communists. I don’t believe that its loss would have lead – it didn’t lead – to Communist control of Asia." Professor Tran Chung Ngoc, an overseas Vietnamese living in the US, said: "The US does not have any plausible reason to intervene in Vietnam, a small, poor, undeveloped country that does not have any ability to do anything that could harm America. Therefore,
17760-549: The dovish attitude towards Laos was antithetical to the hawkish outlook towards Vietnam. Jacobs argues that Kennedy viewed the Vietnamese people more able to fight communism than the "unfit Lao". Jacobs argues the "American statesmen and the American media constructed a putative Lao national character that differed from South Vietnam's and that made Lao chances of withstanding communist pressure appeal negligible". On July 27, 1964, 5,000 additional U.S. military advisers were ordered to
17945-661: The earlier government of China (officially Zedong's regime instated the People's Republic of China ). The installation of the new government was established after the People's Liberation Army defeated the Nationalist Republican Government of China in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949). Two Chinas were formed – mainland "Communist China" (People's Republic of China) and 'Nationalist China' Taiwan ( Republic of China ). The takeover by Communists of
18130-533: The effects of the above . On November 27, 1965, the Pentagon declared that if the major operations needed to neutralize North Vietnamese and NLF forces were to succeed, U.S. troop levels in South Vietnam would have to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000. In a series of meetings between Westmoreland and the President held in Honolulu in February 1966, Westmoreland claimed that the U.S. presence had succeeded in preventing
18315-539: The effects of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange , and U.S. war crimes such as the My Lai massacre . In 1968, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive , after which Westmoreland estimated that 200,000 more U.S. troops were needed for victory. Johnson rejected his request, announced he would not seek another term in office , and ordered an end to Rolling Thunder. Johnson's successor, Richard Nixon , adopted
18500-510: The end of World War II, split from the south of the 38th parallel where U.S. forces subsequently moved into. By 1948, as a result of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S., Korea was split into two regions, with separate governments, each claiming to be the legitimate government of Korea, and neither side accepting the border as permanent. In 1950 fighting broke out between Communists and Republicans that soon involved troops from China (on
18685-650: The enlargement of the South Vietnamese army and $ 12.7M to enhance the civil guard. He also found himself faced with a three-part crisis: The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba ; the construction of the Berlin Wall by the Soviets ; and a negotiated settlement between the pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement. Fearing that another failure on the part of
18870-404: The establishment of a draft lottery in 1970, where a young man's birthday determined his relative risk of being drafted. For the year 1970, September 14 was the birthday at the top of the draft list, while the following year, July 9 held this distinction. Despite popular anti-war speculation that most American soldiers (especially those killed) were draftees, this was discredited in later years, as
19055-483: The expansion of American troop strength in South Vietnam took place. American forces rose from 16,000 during 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969. With the U.S. decision to escalate its involvement it had created the Many Flags program to legitimize intervention and ANZUS Pact allies Australia and New Zealand agreed to contribute troops and material to the conflict. They were joined by the Republic of Korea , Thailand , and
19240-415: The experiences of male soldiers and identification by women." Asian American soldiers in the US military were many times classified as being like the enemy. They were referred to as gooks and their identity was racialized in comparison to their non-Asian counterparts. There was also the hyper sexualization of Vietnamese women, which in turn affected how Asian American women in the military were treated. "In
19425-431: The fact, claimed that Lém was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and executed bodies of police and their relatives, including some who were the families of General Loan's deputy and close friend. The execution created an iconic image that influenced public opinion in the United States against the war. The events of Tet in early 1968 as a whole significantly altered public opinion regarding
19610-428: The facts." For the first time in American history, the media had the means to broadcast battlefield images. Graphic footage of casualties on the nightly news eliminated any myth of the glory of war. With no clear sign of victory in Vietnam, American military casualties helped stimulate opposition to the war by Americans. In their book Manufacturing Consent , Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky rejected this view of how
19795-508: The failures resulting from U.S. intervention. Johnson himself did not want to appear weak against communism as he feared the backlash from the U.S. public and his Republican rivals. However, he also did not want to engage America in a costly and humiliating war. Discussing Vietnam with Senator Russell in May 1964, he expressed serious concerns about countering guerrilla tactics, the likely ineffectiveness and probable domestic political impact of conducting
19980-541: The façade of success. In January, a possible victory that was turned into a stunning defeat for government forces at the Battle of Ap Bac caused consternation among both the military advisers in the field and among politicians in Washington, D.C. JFK also indicated to Walter Cronkite that the war may be unwinnable, and that it was ultimately a Vietnamese war, not an American war. Diệm was already growing unpopular with many of his countrymen because of his administration's nepotism, corruption, and its apparent bias in favor of
20165-421: The fear of the consequences if communist expansion continued. A great deal of the blame for U.S. failures in Vietnam has been cast on Lyndon B. Johnson by historians. His decision making was motivated by a variety of reasons, including his personal fear of appearing soft on communism, but also his fear of engaging America in another stalemate like the Korean War. It is largely agreed upon that Johnson inherited
20350-665: The first major civil rights group to issue a formal statement against the war. When SNCC-backed Georgia Representative Julian Bond acknowledged his agreement with the anti-war statement, he was refused his seat by the State of Georgia, an injustice which he successfully appealed up to the Supreme Court. SNCC had special significance as a nexus between the student movement and the black movement. At an SDS-organized conference at UC Berkeley in October 1966, SNCC Chair Stokely Carmichael challenged
20535-433: The first wave of U.S. combat troops into South Vietnam, adding to the 25,000 U.S. military advisers already in place. The US Government deployment of ground forces to Da Nang had not been consulted with the South Vietnamese government. Instead the initial deployment and gradual build-up was a unilateral decision by the US government. On May 5 the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade became the first U.S. Army ground unit committed to
20720-664: The flow of men and material down the PAVN logistical system that flowed from North Vietnam through southeastern Laos, and into South Vietnam known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail . These operations as a whole were an expensive failure - the bombings, desipte the devastation did not stop the flow of supplies coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. President Johnson had already appointed General William C. Westmoreland to succeed General Harkins as Commander of MACV in June 1964. Under Westmoreland,
20905-640: The free world. No Asian was rated lower in American eyes than the Lao Jacobs writes that Eisenhower and later Kennedy both "reduced the Lao to a set of stereotypes: childlike, lazy, submissive, unfit to fight the free world's battles". Therefore, Kennedy was dissuaded from sponsoring a military intervention in Laos and instead compromised with the Pathet Lao communist forces, which Jacobs argues meant that Kennedy felt he had to intervene elsewhere in Southeast Asia in Vietnam and that
21090-402: The government of South Vietnam lacked political legitimacy or that support for the war was completely immoral. The media also played a substantial role in the polarization of American opinion regarding the Vietnam War. In 1965, the majority of media attention was focused on military tactics with very little discussion about the necessity of a full-scale intervention in Southeast Asia. After 1965,
21275-462: The hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people, however, often was at odds with other aspects of the war, which sometimes served to antagonize many Vietnamese civilians and provided ammunition to the anti-war movement. These included the emphasis on " body count " as a way of measuring military success on the battlefield, civilian casualties during the bombing of villages (symbolized by journalist Peter Arnett 's famous quote, "it became necessary to destroy
21460-466: The heavily populated coastal lowlands. In the backcountry the U.S. could fully utilize its superiority in firepower and mobility to bleed the enemy in set-piece battles. The cleaning-out of the NLF and the pacification of the villages would be the responsibility of the South Vietnamese military. The adoption of this strategy, however, brought Westmoreland into direct conflict with his Marine Corps commander, General Lewis W. Walt , who had already recognized
21645-484: The helicopter, the war would have been fought very differently. Although the use of nuclear weapons was proposed as a contingency plan by the military, President Johnson shut this idea down, approving instead the use of cluster bombs (termed Controlled Fragmentation Munition or COFRAM by the military) In the 1964 presidential campaign, Johnson presented himself as the candidate who would be less willing to use nuclear weapons (see "Daisy" ad). As President, LBJ urged
21830-517: The hope that this would impede the advancement of Communism into Western Europe. Later that year, diplomat George Kennan wrote an article in Foreign Affairs magazine that became known as the " X Article ", which first articulated the policy of containment , arguing that the further spread of Communism to countries outside a " buffer zone " around the USSR, even if it happened via democratic elections,
22015-465: The idea of the domino theory as applied to Vietnam: We do not believe that the loss of South Vietnam and Laos would be followed by the rapid, successive communization of the other states of the Far East. Instead of a shock wave passing from one nation to the next, there would be a simultaneous, direct effect on all Far Eastern countries. With the possible exception of Cambodia, it is likely that no nation in
22200-470: The immediate defeat of the South Vietnamese government but that more troops would be necessary if systematic offensive operations were to be conducted . The issue then became in what manner American forces would be used . The nature of the American military's strategic and tactical decisions made during this period colored the conflict for the duration of the American commitment. The logistical system in Laos and Cambodia should be cut by ground forces, isolating
22385-589: The incident by convincing congress to accept intensified military action in Vietnam. Neither Congress nor the American people learned the whole story about the events in the Gulf of Tonkin until the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1969. It was on the basis of the administration's assertions that the attacks were "unprovoked aggression" on the part of North Vietnam, that the United States Congress approved
22570-583: The incident was seen by the administration as the perfect opportunity to present Congress with "a pre-dated declaration of war" in order to strengthen weakening morale in South Vietnam through reprisal attacks by the U.S. on the North. The attack was pivotal in justifying the Johnson administration's intensification of the war. Even before confirmation of the phantom attack had been received in Washington, President Johnson had decided that an attack could not go unanswered. Johnson ordered attacks on North Vietnamese naval instalments almost immediately, and capitalised on
22755-618: The insurgency of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF, or derogatively, Viet Cong) in South Vietnam with the aid of U.S. matériel and advisers, and, by 1962, seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Senior U.S. military leaders received positive reports from the U.S. commander, General Paul D. Harkins of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam , or MACV. By the following year, however, cracks began to appear in
22940-507: The intervention of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong in the Indochina War , the U.S. was fearful of a repeat of the Korean War . Also, if the U.S. intervened, this would have increased the likelihood of China giving military support to the USSR and North Vietnam. But, more importantly, the prevalent threat of communism drove President Truman and his advisers to intervene in Vietnam due to the domestic pressures to oppose and defeat communism and
23125-488: The issue sold out, with many individuals being haunted by the photographs of the ordinary young Americans killed. On October 15, 1969, hundreds of thousands of people took part in National Moratorium anti-war demonstrations across the United States. The demonstrations prompted many workers to call in sick from their jobs and adolescents nationwide engaged in truancy from school. About 15 million Americans took part in
23310-475: The jobs if we are to stop Communism. We have done that, moving from simple to more complex skilled labor. If we stop this process, it will do more harm than you can every [sic] repair with aid. Don't cut off imports from Southeast Asia." McGeorge Bundy argued that the prospects for a domino effect, though high in the 1950s and early 1960s, were weakened in 1965 when the Indonesian Communist Party
23495-667: The kidnapping of former US Brigadier General James L. Dozier , by the Red Brigades . In West Germany, this includes the terrorist actions of the Red Army Faction . In the far east the Japanese Red Army carried out similar acts. All four, as well as others, worked with various Arab and Palestinian terrorists, which like the red brigades were backed by the Soviet Bloc. In the 1977 Frost/Nixon interviews , Richard Nixon defended
23680-625: The large majority of these soldiers were confirmed to be volunteers. On February 1, 1968, Nguyễn Văn Lém a Viet Cong officer suspected of participating in the murder of South Vietnamese government officials during the Tet Offensive , was summarily executed by General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan , the South Vietnamese National Police Chief. Loan shot Lém in the head on a public street in Saigon , despite being in front of journalists. South Vietnamese reports, provided as justification after
23865-430: The least from Charles De Gaulle on, but Kennedy held steadfast, stating on September 2: We hope that he comes to see that, but in the final analysis it is the people and the government itself have to win or lose this struggle. All we can do is help, and we are making it very clear, but I don't agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake. The Diệm regime had been initially able to cope with
24050-412: The media contributed to the decline of public support for the war and ultimately caused the US to lose the war. Conservative author William F. Buckley repeatedly wrote about his approval of the war and suggested, "[t]he United States has been timid, if not cowardly, in refusing to seek 'victory' in Vietnam." The Hawks claimed that liberal media was responsible for the growing popular disenchantment with
24235-487: The media covered the dissent and domestic controversy that existed within the United States, but mostly excluded the expressed views of dissidents and resisters. The media established a sphere of public discourse around the Hawk versus Dove debate. The Doves were people who had liberal views and were critics of the war. Doves claimed that the war was well-intended, but a disastrous mistake in an otherwise benign foreign policy. It
24420-455: The media influenced the war, on the basis that in their view that the media instead censored the more brutal images of the fighting and the death of millions of innocent people. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read "Vietnam." The US became polarized over the war. Many supporters of US involvement argued for what was known as the domino theory , a theory that stated that if one country fell to communism , then
24605-455: The military not to give the president the authority to use tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam. Throughout the war, President Johnson did not change his stance on the use of tactical nuclear weapons against the Vietcong. Domino theory The domino theory is a geopolitical theory which posits that changes in the political structure of one country tend to spread to neighboring countries in
24790-484: The mission could be accomplished within them. Westmoreland believed that he had found a strategy that would either defeat North Vietnam or force it into serious negotiations. Attrition was to be the key. The general held that larger offensive operations would grind down the communists and eventually lead to a "crossover point" in PAVN/NLF casualties after which a decisive (or at least political) victory would be possible. It
24975-482: The more common and most visible way of opposing the war. Many Asian Americans were strongly opposed to the Vietnam War. They saw the war as being a significant action of US imperialism and "connected the oppression of the Asians in the United States to the prosecution of the war in Vietnam." Unlike many Americans in the anti-war movement, they viewed the war "not just as imperialist but specifically as anti-Asian." Groups like
25160-431: The most 'representational' to the most 'abstract' forms of expression." Filmmakers such as Lenny Lipton , Jerry Abrams, Peter Gessner, and David Ringo created documentary-style movies featuring footage from the anti-war marches to raise awareness about the war and the diverse opposition movement. Playwrights like Frank O'Hara , Sam Shepard , Robert Lowell , Megan Terry , Grant Duay, and Kenneth Bernard used theater as
25345-487: The most recent military junta , the National Leadership Committee, installed Air Vice-Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ as prime minister. In 1966, the junta selected General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu to run for president with Ky on the ballot as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1967 election. Thieu and Ky were elected and remained in office for the duration of the war. In the presidential election of 1971, Thieu ran for
25530-411: The nation's industrial base, transportation network, and its (continually increasing) air defenses. After more than 300,000 sorties were flown and three-quarters of a million tons of bombs were dropped, Rolling Thunder was ended on November 11, 1968. Other aerial campaigns ( Operation Barrel Roll , Operation Steel Tiger , Operation Tiger Hound , and Operation Commando Hunt ) were directed to counter
25715-441: The new "wars of national liberation". Originally intended for use behind front lines after a conventional invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed that the guerrilla tactics employed by Special Forces would be effective in the "brush fire" war in South Vietnam. Thus, in May 1961, Kennedy sent detachments of Green Berets to South Vietnam. Kennedy had faced much international pressure against his increasing involvement in Vietnam, non
25900-419: The next two years. For U.S. troops participating in these operations ( Operation Masher/White Wing , Operation Attleboro , Operation Cedar Falls , Operation Junction City and dozens of others) the war boiled down to hard marching through some of the most difficult terrain on the planet and weather conditions that were alternately hot and dry, or cold and wet. It was the PAVN/NLF that actually controlled
26085-666: The obvious implications that we can no longer support Diem. You may tell appropriate military commanders that we will give them direct support in any interim period of breakdown central government mechanism It was never, however, the prerogative of the Kennedy administration to remove the Diem government from power. As the McNamara-Taylor report cautioned," Our policy should be to seek urgently to identify and build contacts with an alternative leadership if and when it appears." Though reluctant to immediately launch full scale U.S. involvement in
26270-410: The other hand, supporting an anti-Communist government that was not popular with its domestic citizens and was guilty of acts objectionable to the American public. The Kennedy administration intervened in Vietnam in the early 1960s to, among other reasons, keep the South Vietnamese "domino" from falling. When Kennedy came to power there was concern that the communist-led Pathet Lao in Laos would provide
26455-464: The pace of the war, fighting only when their commanders believed that they had the upper hand and then disappearing when the Americans and/or ARVN brought their superiority in numbers and firepower to bear. North Vietnam, utilizing the Ho Chi Minh and Sihanouk Trails , matched the U.S. at every point of the escalation, funneling manpower and supplies to the southern battlefields. During the Vietnam War,
26640-498: The participation of leaders and activists of the civil rights , feminist , and Chicano movements, as well as sectors of organized labor. Additional involvement came from many other groups, including educators, clergy, academics, journalists, lawyers, military veterans , physicians (notably Benjamin Spock ), and others. Anti-war demonstrations consisted mostly of peaceful, nonviolent protests. By 1967, an increasing number of Americans considered military involvement in Vietnam to be
26825-556: The population. As a result, black enlisted men protested and began the resistance movement among veterans . After taking measures to reduce the fatalities, apparently in response to widespread protest, the military brought the proportion of blacks down to 12.6 percent of casualties. African Americans involved in the anti-war movement often formed their own groups, such as Black Women Enraged, National Black Anti-War Anti-Draft Union, and National Black Draft Counselors. Some differences in these groups included how Black Americans rallied behind
27010-622: The populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow. Following the Iran crisis of 1946 , Harry S. Truman declared what became known as the Truman Doctrine in 1947, promising to contribute financial aid to the Greek government during its Civil War and to Turkey following World War II, in
27195-658: The post-World War II new settlement, prompting Winston Churchill to declare in a speech in 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri that: From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an " Iron Curtain " has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw , Prague , Budapest , Belgrade , Bucharest and Sofia ; all these famous cities and
27380-511: The presidency unopposed. With the installation of the Thieu and Ky government (the Second Republic), the U.S. had a pliable, stable, and semi-legitimate government in Saigon with which to deal . With the advent of Rolling Thunder , American airbases and facilities needed to be constructed and manned for the aerial effort . On March 8, 1965, 3,500 United States Marines came ashore at Da Nang as
27565-551: The program the President has recommended, our own military are not. Diem has turned the strategic-hamlet program over to Nhu, who's taken the title, the name of it, and nothing else. And in fact, what Diem signed, what we persuaded him to, had not been adopted Frustrations boiled over following Nhu's American-trained special forces crackdown on Buddhist pagodas in Hue in 1963. More than fourteen hundred Buddhists were arrested. Buddhist monks were protesting discriminatory practices and demanding
27750-436: The race on March 16 and ran for the nomination on an anti-war platform. Johnson's vice president, Hubert Humphrey , also ran for the nomination, promising to continue to support the South Vietnamese government. In May 1969, Life magazine published photographs of the faces of the roughly 250 or so American servicemen who had been killed in Vietnam during a "routine week" of war in the spring of 1969. Contrary to expectations,
27935-414: The region. In the 2003 invasion of Iraq , some neoconservatives argued that when a democratic government is implemented, it would then help spread democracy and liberalism across the Middle East. This has been referred to as a "reverse domino theory", or a "democratic domino theory", so called because its effects are considered positive, not negative, by Western democratic states. Russian analysis of
28120-492: The rest of South East Asia would follow suit. In 1961 he asserted: I think that the struggle is close enough. China is so large, looms so high just beyond the frontiers, that if South Vietnam went, it would not only give them an improved geographic position for a guerrilla assault on Malaysia, but would also give the impression that the wave of the future in southeast Asia was China and the Communists. So I believe it. During 1961, his first year in office, Kennedy assigned $ 28.4M to
28305-534: The same in front of United Nations Headquarters in New York City . Both protests were conscious imitations of earlier (and ongoing) Buddhist protests in South Vietnam. The growing anti-war movement alarmed many in the US government. On August 16, 1966, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigations of Americans who were suspected of aiding the National Front for
28490-499: The security of the villages as the key to success. Walt had immediately commenced pacification efforts in his area of responsibility, but Westmoreland was unhappy, believing that the Marines were being underutilized and fighting the wrong enemy. In the end, MACV won out and Westmoreland's search and destroy concept, predicated on the attrition of enemy forces, won the day. Both sides chose similar strategies. PAVN, which had been operating
28675-439: The southern battlefield . However, political considerations limited U.S. military actions, mainly because of the memory of Chinese reactions during the Korean War . Ever present in the minds of diplomats, military officers, and politicians was the possibility of a spiraling escalation of the conflict into a superpower confrontation and the possibility of a nuclear exchange . Therefore, there would be no invasion of North Vietnam,
28860-636: The strongest anti-Communist power in the world, undertaken at a time when the Chinese Communist regime was still consolidating its own power after winning the Chinese Civil War. The first figure to propose the domino theory was President Harry S. Truman in the 1940s, where he introduced the theory in order to "justify sending military aid to Greece and Turkey." However, the domino theory was popularized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he applied it to Southeast Asia, especially South Vietnam during
29045-616: The student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam in New York staged the first draft card burning, resulting in an arrest under the new law. Gruesome images of two anti-war activists who set themselves on fire in November 1965 demonstrated how strongly some people felt that the war was immoral. On November 2, 32-year-old Quaker Norman Morrison set himself on fire in front of The Pentagon . On November 9, 22-year-old Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte did
29230-606: The successive rise of authoritarian left-wing governments in Sub-Saharan Africa during decolonization as "the communists' domino tactic". The establishment of pro-communist governments in Tanzania (1961–64) and Zambia (1964) and explicitly Marxist–Leninist governments in Angola (1975), Mozambique (1975), and eventually Rhodesia itself (in 1980) are cited by Smith as evidence of "the insidious encroachment of Soviet imperialism down
29415-406: The task. For the American soldier, whose doctrine was one of absolute commitment to total victory, this strategy led to a frustrating small-unit war. Most of the combat was conducted by units smaller than battalion -size (the majority at the platoon level). Since the goal of the operations was to kill the enemy, terrain was not taken and held as in previous wars. Savage fighting and the retreat of
29600-490: The terrain or roads. Troops could also be easily resupplied in remote areas. The helicopter also provided another new and vital capability: medical evacuation. It could fly wounded soldiers to aid stations very quickly, usually within the critical first hour. This gave wounded soldiers a higher chance of survival in Vietnam than in any previous war. The helicopter was also adapted for many other roles in Vietnam, including ground attack, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare. Without
29785-459: The theory during a news conference on April 7, 1954, when referring to communism in Indochina as follows: Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of
29970-534: The town to save it"), and the killing of civilians in such incidents as the My Lai massacre . In 1974, the documentary Hearts and Minds sought to portray the devastation the war was causing to the South Vietnamese people and won an Academy Award for Best Documentary amid considerable controversy. The South Vietnamese government also antagonized many of its citizens with the suppression of political opposition through such measures as holding large numbers of political prisoners, torturing political opponents, and holding
30155-457: The use of the helicopter, known as "Air Mobile", was an essential tool for conducting the war. In fact, the whole conduct and strategy of the war depended on it. Vietnam was the first time the helicopter was used on a major scale, and in such important roles. Search and destroy missions, for example, would have been nearly impossible without it. Helicopters allowed American commanders to move large numbers of troops to virtually anywhere, regardless of
30340-428: The view that Johnson was pushed into war by external factors like public pressure and political necessity can be hard to justify and was instead part of the masculine urge to solve international conflicts with war and "that if enough planes could drop enough bombs on a backward Asian country, victory must follow". According to Seth Jacobs, during the 1950s and 1960s, there was a conceptualisation of Asian nations across
30525-460: The war and blamed Western media for losing the war in Southeast Asia. Early organized opposition was led by American Quakers in the 1950s, and in November 1960, 1,100 Quakers undertook a silent protest vigil. The group "ringed the Pentagon for parts of two days". Protests began bringing attention to the draft on May 5, 1965. Student activists at the University of California, Berkeley marched on
30710-594: The war and the perceived social injustice of the draft propelled involvement in antiwar groups. In March 1965, King first criticized the war during the Selma March when he told a journalist that "millions of dollars can be spent every day to hold troops in South Vietnam and our country cannot protect the rights of Negroes in Selma". In 1965, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) became
30895-402: The war dispelled myths of U.S. military invincibility and divided the nation between those who supported and opposed the war. As of 2019, it was estimated that approximately 610,000 Vietnam veterans are still alive, making them the second largest group of military veterans behind those of the war on terror . The war has been portrayed in the thousands of movies, books, and video games centered on
31080-405: The war for the U.S. were considerable. In addition to the 58,279 soldiers killed, the expenditure of about US$ 168 billion limited Johnson's Great Society program of domestic reforms and created a large federal budget deficit . Some historians blame the lack of military success on poor tactics, while others argue that the U.S. was not equipped to fight a determined guerilla enemy. The failure to win
31265-434: The war had turned out to be "harder, longer, more complicated" than expected. Donovan ended his editorial by writing that the war was "not worth winning," as South Vietnam was "not absolutely imperative" to maintain American interests in Asia, which made it impossible "to ask young Americans to die for." In 1967, the continued operation of the draft system, then calling for as many as 40,000 men for induction each month, fueled
31450-408: The war in Vietnam was a civil war that ought to have determined the fate of the country. Media coverage of the war also shook citizens at home as the television, which had become common in American homes in the 1950s, brought images of the wartime conflict to viewers in their homes. Newscasters, like NBC's Frank McGee, stated that the war was all but lost as a "conclusion to be drawn inescapably from
31635-516: The war lay with liberal intellectuals and technical experts who were providing, what he saw as, pseudo scientific justification for the policies of the US government. The Time Inc. magazines Time and Life maintained a very pro-war editorial stance until October 1967, when the editor-in-chief Hedley Donovan came out against the war. Donovan wrote in an editorial in Life that the United States had gone into Vietnam for "honorable and sensible purposes", but
31820-406: The war on moral grounds, appalled by the devastation and violence of the war. Others claimed the conflict was a war against Vietnamese independence or an intervention in a foreign civil war ; others opposed it because they felt it lacked clear objectives and appeared to be unwinnable. Many anti-war activists themselves were Vietnam veterans , as evidenced by the organization Vietnam Veterans Against
32005-585: The war. As the Vietnam War continued to escalate, public disenchantment grew, and a variety of different groups were formed or became involved in the movement. African-American leaders of earlier decades, like W. E. B. Du Bois , were often anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist. Paul Robeson weighed in on the Vietnamese struggle in 1954, calling Ho Chi Minh "the modern day Toussaint Louverture , leading his people to freedom." These figures were driven from public life by McCarthyism, however, and black leaders were more cautious about criticizing US foreign policy as
32190-406: The war. US military officials had previously reported successful prosecution of counter-insurgency in South Vietnam. While the Tet Offensive resulted in a significant victory for the US and allied militaries by bringing the Viet Cong into open battle and dismantling them as a fighting force, the American media, including respected figures like Walter Cronkite , interpreted events such as the attack on
32375-444: The wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor". King's speech attracted much controversy at the time, with many feeling that it was ungrateful for him to attack the president who had done the most for civil rights for African Americans since Abraham Lincoln had abolished slavery a century before. Liberal newspapers such as the Washington Post and the New York Times condemned King for his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, while
32560-400: The white left to escalate their resistance to the military draft in a manner similar to the black movement. Some participants in ghetto rebellions of the era had already associated their actions with opposition to the Vietnam War, and SNCC first disrupted an Atlanta draft board in August 1966. According to historians Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin, SDS's first Stop the Draft Week of October 1967
32745-494: The world's most populous nation was seen in the West as a great strategic loss, prompting the popular question at the time, "Who lost China?" The United States subsequently ended diplomatic relations with the newly founded People's Republic of China in response to the communist takeover in 1949. The United States and communist China did not re-instate diplomatic relations again until under president Nixon's visit in 1972 . Korea had also partially fallen under Soviet domination at
32930-441: Was pulling out of the race on March 31 in a televised speech. He also announced the initiation of the Paris Peace Negotiations with Vietnam in that speech. On August 4, 1969, US representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy initiated secret peace negotiations at the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris. After breaking with Johnson's pro-war stance, Robert F. Kennedy entered
33115-404: Was "inspired by Black Power [and] emboldened by the ghetto rebellions." SNCC appears to have originated the popular anti-draft slogan: "Hell no! We won't go!" On April 4, 1967, King gave a much-publicized speech entitled " Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence " at the Riverside Church in New York, attacking President Johnson for "deadly Western arrogance," declaring that "we are on the side of
33300-575: Was a sense that the objective of preventing a communist takeover of a pro-Western government in South Vietnam was a noble goal. Many Americans were also concerned about maintaining dignity in the event of disengaging from the war or, as President Richard M. Nixon later described it, "achieving Peace with Honor." Additionally, instances of Viet Cong atrocities were widely reported, most notably in an article that appeared in Reader's Digest in 1968 titled The Blood-Red Hands of Ho Chi Minh . However, anti-war feelings also began to rise. Many Americans opposed
33485-485: Was anger at "the bombing of Hanoi and the mining of Haiphong Harbor ." The organization supported the Japanese Community Youth Center, members of the Asian Community Center, student leaders of Asian American student unions, and others. The BAACAW members consisted of many Asian Americans, and they were involved in anti-war efforts like marches, study groups, fundraisers, teach-ins , and demonstrations. During marches, Asian American activists carried banners that read "Stop
33670-548: Was destroyed via death squads in the Indonesian genocide. However, proponents believe that the efforts during the containment (i.e., Domino Theory) period ultimately led to the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Linguist and political theorist Noam Chomsky wrote that he believes that the domino theory is roughly accurate, writing that communist and socialist movements became popular in poorer countries because they brought economic improvements to those countries in which they took power. For this reason, he wrote,
33855-432: Was elected President of the United States in 1968 on the platform of ending the Vietnam War and the draft . Nixon began the drawdown of US troops in April 1969. Protests spiked after the announcement of the expansion of the war into Cambodia in April 1970. The Pentagon Papers were published in June 1971. The last draftees reported in late 1972, and the last US combat troops withdrew from Vietnam in March 1973. The draft,
34040-449: Was five times the poverty budget. Black anti-war groups opposed the war for similar reasons as white groups but often protested in separate events and sometimes did not cooperate with the ideas of white anti-war leadership. They harshly criticized the draft because poor and minority men were usually most affected by conscription. In 1965 and 1966, African Americans accounted for 25 percent of combat deaths, more than twice their proportion of
34225-429: Was unacceptable and a threat to U.S. national security. Kennan was also involved, along with others in the Truman administration , in creating the Marshall Plan , which also began in 1947, to give aid to the countries of Western Europe (along with Greece and Turkey), in large part with the hope of keeping them from falling under Soviet domination. In 1949, a Communist-backed government, led by Mao Zedong , overthrew
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