Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Domino Theory

Give 7 aspects of Eisenhower’s involvement in Vietnam (1953-61)

* Invited SV to join SEATO - organisation committed to stopping the spread of communism
* Launched a propaganda campaign in SV against communist North
* 1954 - sent a team of CIA intelligence agents to gather information in Saigon
* Broke 1954 Geneva agreement when he didn’t try to force Diem to hold elections in SV in 1956
* Supplied Diem’s government with supplies to help fight NLF
* Didn’t want to send combat troops - sent advisors instead
* Tried to make Diem carry out land reforms in SV

Give 6 aspects of Kennedy’s involvement in Vietnam (1961-63)

* Increased the number of advisors in Vietnam to 16,000 - trained ARVN
* Supported Strategic hamlet Programme - forced villagers into guarded villages to prevent VC recruitment and sheltering
* Kept US involvement a secret from US press - worried about public opinion
* Increased financial aid to SV: ARVN troop numbers grew from 150,000 to 170,000 by the end of 1961
* sent 300 US helicopters to strictly be used for transportation of SV troops - difficult to obey

What were Eisenhower’s views?

* worried about domino theory
* USSR and China backing Ho Chi Minh convinced him that this was an escalation of the Cold war, so he increased aid to SV

What were Kennedy’s views?

* Also believed in Domino Theory - voted in favour of Truman Doctrine
* Elected when cold war at highest tensions - he wanted a solution which would avoid large-scale committment by US, so happy to support ARVN

What was the strategic Hamlet Programme?

Introduced by Diem 1962:

* attempt to WHAM of sv people
* part of programme encouraging villagers to defend themselves from VC - reality it was to stop VC recruiting villagers and receiving intel and food/shelter from them
* Peasants moved many km from their villages to camps surrounded by barbed wire and ditches

Why was it a failure?

* by summer 1963 - over 2 thirds of population forced to move into these camps
* remote locations meant that farmers had to walk very far to rice fields
* as a result of this resentment, support for Vietcong rose by 300%
* programme had backfired - failure used to pressure Kennedy into sending more advisors to support Diem and ARVN