7: Vietnam: towards ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’ (1965)

Background of Vietnam

• V was a F colony (French Indochina: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos: 1887–1954)

• F occupied by G in the 1940s

  • during this time J gained access to Vietnam (1940) and sought to rule it

• after ww2/Japan’s defeat France tried to reassert control

Ho Chi Minh & the Viet Minh

• “The Enlightener”

• French educated

• leader of the Viet Minh (national communist movement)

• determined to remove F rule

First Indochina War (1945–1954)

• F fought Viet Minh

• F suffered a humiliating defeat at Battle of Điện Biên Phủ (March–May 1954).

• thus, F lost control of Vietnamese colony and new communist regime emerged in North

Geneva Accords

• (May–July 1954)

• decided ceasefire and for V to be divided along the 17th parallel between N and S

• established the ICC to investigate, mediate, and observe developments

  • were meant to oversee elections, but they were not held

  • if they had been held, communists would likely have won

• ICC: Canada, India, Poland. Britain and the Soviet Union served as co-chairs.

North Vietnam

• Ho Chi Minh became the communist leader of North Vietnam

• Hanoi became the capital

• communists enacted land reform and created a refugee crisis

• Soviets agreed to give aid to Hanoi

  • motive:V as an example for other countries

United States and South Vietnam

• communist fear

  • Eisenhower delivered domino theory speech (1954) on radio

  • fear heightened by the McCarthy era

• US proposed Ngo Dinh Diem as leader of South Vietnam; Saigon became the capital

• Under JFK (after Eisenhower) US aid to South Vietnam increased

Diem

• anti-communist, described as a puppet regime supported by the CIA

• ruthless: arrested, tortured, and executed opponents; religiously intolerant

• assassinated on November 2, 1963

  • the CIA admitted it sponsored the coup that toppled him; it did not admit to personally killing him

Opposition to Diem

• in opposition, Buddhist monks began public protest

  • famously monk self-immolated in Saigon (1963)

  • others did similar

  • government announced martial law in August 1963 → “Buddhist crisis”

    • South Vietnamese protestors staged waves of demonstrations; Diem’s troops bombed entire villages

US Politics

• JFK assassinated Nov 1963, Texas

  • tv played major role in national cohesion during the funeral

• LBJ sworn in same day (aboard Air Force One because ground transfer was considered unsafe).

  • inherited US involvement in Vietnam (started under Eisenhower, continued under JFK)

  • stated he did not want to be pulled into V and was focused on domestic issues (Civil Rights, Great Society)

  • despite this, legacy became deeply associated with the V War

  • peace campaign (keeping US youth out)

• April 1964: LBJ called for “more flags”

  • seeking wider international (nonmilitary) participation in support of South Vietnam

  • Dean Rusk urged US embassies to seek contributions (May 1, 1964).

Canadian Role

• member of the ICC and thus implicated in Vietnam developments

• complicit with U.S. intervention by effectively acting as “eyes and ears” for the US through ICC participation

  • ICC remained present despite failing to effectively observe elections

Malaya

• B experience in Malayan Emergency (1948–60) influenced counter-insurgency tactics in V

  • fought indigenous “rebels” to retain control of the rubber industry

    • after losing India feared losing Southeast Asia influence

• Robert Thompson: British counter-insurgency expert

  • advised V and UK

• British “jungle warfare” tactics (large-scale bombings, chemical agents/defoliants, resettlement) were later recommended for use in V

  • resettlement program moved over half a million Chinese squatters into “new villages” encircled by barbed wire and searchlights to prevent movement at night

• British supplied arms and MI6 covertly helped transport weapons to South V

• British advised housing civilians in “Strategic Hamlets” as “safe” dwellings

  • in V, “volunteer workers” erected barbed wire and steel fence posts in July 1961, shortly after the Strategic Hamlet program began

Resistance in US

⭐ especially prominent in 1967!

1. music/tv

2. public opinion shifts

3. protests

4. draft dodgers

5. global resistance

TV/music

• music /TV influencing public anti-war identity

  → helped create empathy and protest momentum

  • Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” (1963)

  • Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” (1965)

  • 1967 = “Summer of Love” with strong anti-war messages

    • The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” (broadcast via satellite → seen globally) (1967)

    • Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” (1967)

  • Canadian Neil Young writes “Ohio” in tribute to Kent State shooting victims (1971)

  • John Lennon “Imagine” (1971)

public opinion shifts

by 1967: almost half of Americans believed the war was a mistake

Protests

• teach-ins

• poetry

  • Adrian Mitchell’s To Whom It May Concern (1965) performed in London

• campus activism

  • students targeted companies like Dow Chemical (maker of napalm)

  → prominent on campus because uni students received conscription letters

• public demonstrations

  • burned draft cards

  • protestors place flowers in soldiers’ rifles

• majority of protestors were white students

• black Americans because of fear (jail, future opportunities taken away)

Draft Dodgers

• could be achieved legally:

  • conscientious objector

  • homosexuality claim

  • student deferment

  • medical exemption

• ex. Bill Clinton deferred draft through a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford

• about 50,000 fled to Canada

• most likely white, blacks more likely to go

Global Resistance

ex. students protesting in Manila

US Response to Resistance

• LBJ: worried about costs, casualties but continued supporting South

• CIA Report (Oct 1967)

  • assessed US antiwar movement

  • findings:

    • movement diverse and widespread (students, minorities, labor, intellectuals

    • in fact not one movement, but multiple

    • all had common ground: opposition to US involvement in V

The Gulf of Tonkin

• between August 2–4, 1964 US warships allegedly attacked by North V forces

• Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara presented incidents as justification for expanded military engagement

GofT Resolution (Aug 7, 1964) gave President broad authority to use armed force in V to assist the people of Southeast Asia to protect their freedom without other ambitions in the area

• Henry Kissinger later wrote that the Tonkin Resolution “was not based on a full presentation of the facts… [it] was a small step along a road which would have brought America to the same destination… given the convictions of all the leading personalities” — Diplomacy (1994)

• during this time LBJ sought allied assistance (Thailand, Phillippines, Australia, New Zealand, UK. but the commitment remained largely US-led

Operation Rolling Thunder

(1965–1968)

Feb 1965: LBJ authorized Operation Rolling Thunder

• a heavy bombing campaign over North Vietnam

• meant to be short; lasted ~3 years

“South Vietnam is fighting for its life against a brutal campaign of terror and armed attack, inspired, directed, supplied, and controlled by the Communist regime in Hanoi.”

US State Department White Paper (Feb 1965)

Chemicals in Operation Rolling Thunder

→ chemical warfare produced severe humanitarian and ecological consequences

• napalm (a “jellied gasoline”) produced by Dow Chemical Company (US)

  • burns through skin to bone, cannot be extinguished by water

  • Dow stopped production in 1969

• Agent Orange (defoliant) was heavily sprayed to remove jungle cover

  • bad effects due to dioxin chemical

    • current gens suffer health defects; higher where sprayed

    • patients in the class video at “Peace village” are descendants of exposed

  • Canadian connection: Canadian companies produced Agent Orange and the chemical was tested in New Brunswick

• “Agent Blue”: to destroy rice crops by spraying on farmland

  • worsened food shortages

Pearson’s “Pause”

• Canadian PM Lester Pearson called for a “pause” in bombing during a 1965 University speech (on US soil)

  • did not give the customary advance copy to US host

  • said continued bombing “beyond a certain point may not bring about [a settlement]” and suggested a cease-fire then negotiations might be conditions for settlement

• LBJ allegedly angry (foul language, physically grabbed Pearson’s shirt)

Johnson’s Proposal

• (1965)

• offered $1 billion Mekong River development/modernization program as an alternative to war (April, 1965 tv speech)

  • help people struggling from disease and without educatio

• North V needed US military withdrawal, recognition of V sovereignty, and independence

• impassed reached

Escalation

• July 1965: McNamara presents memo:

  3 COAS:

  1. cut losses and withdraw

     • could be arranged under best conditions

     • humiliating to US, damaging to effectiveness of future global influence

  2. continue at present level

     • US forces limited to something like 75,000

     • would likely lead to later choice needing to be made between withdrawal and expansion

  3. expand US military promptly and substantially

     • expand against Viet Cong in South, maintain against North Vietnamese in North

     • pursue political effort, establish connections to lead to favourable outcome

     → claimed this offered best odds of best outcome for most acceptable cost

• McNamara recommends 3) military escalation

LBJ Justification for War

• July, 1965: speech

  • states opposition’s goal is to conquer south, defeat US power, expand communism

  • defends US involvement to stop this and prevent credibility loss in US protection

US Bombing Campaigns stats (1965-1968)

• over 1 m tons of bombs dropped on communist-held areas in South

  • twice as much as in North

• despite escalation, communist forces withstood and increased military capabilities in the South

US Soldiers’ Experience

• faced guerrilla warfare as Vietcong used landmines and boobytraps

  • this meant they did not need to get close to US soldiers

  • these tactics caused 11% of US casualties between 1965-70

• many returning soldiers faced physical and psychological injuries

  • PTSD: rage, fear, guilt, sleep disorders, drug/alc abuse, anxiety, intimacy issues, memory loss, hallucinations, flashbacks, depression

Ho Chi Minh’s Letter to LBJ

• Feb, 1967

• condemned US aggression

  • Vietnamese people have never harmed US

  • US gov continuously to intervene and intensify war in South with goal of turning South into neo-colony and military base for US

• demands:

  • end bombings

  • withdraw US/satellite troops from South Vietnam

  • recognize South Vietnam National Front for Liberation (Viet Cong)

  • let Vietnam settle own affairs

Civil Rights Leaders Oppose the War

• Martin Luther King Jr.

  • controversial “Beyond Vietnam” speech (Apr 4, 1967)

    • US gov = “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today”

    • critiqued hypocrisy:

      • blacks denied equality at home were sent to fight for “liberties in Southeast Asia”

      • they kill and die tgt for nation that segregates them

    • war as manipulation of the poor

  • speech broke his ties to Washington

    • LBJ disinvited him to white house

    • FBI told to investigate his communist ties

  • dies exactly one year after speech (1968)

• Muhammad Ali:

  • refused induction into draft

  • result: sentenced to prison (got out of it), stripped of boxing title and license

  • addressed white students at campus protests: “You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equal”

Continued Violence

• My Lai Massacre (March 1968):

  • US troops killed approximately 500 civilians (mostly women, children, and elderly), set fire to their houses

• Vietcong prisoner executed by South Vietnamese police

  • famous photo: shocked Americans