Confrontation in the Vietnam War

Johnson's policy in Vietnam; the Gulf of Tonkin resolution; escalation; tactics and relative strengths of the two sides; the Tet Offensive

when did LBJ become president?

November 22 1963 (until 1969)

Johnson’s aims/ beliefs

* believed in domino theory
* felt continuation of US involvement in Vietnam was a question of national honour
* partly due to the legacy of JFK
* Americanisation of the war
* High tech war of attrition

LBJ’s advisors and their significance

Robert McNamara - Secretary of Defence

Dean Rusk - Secretary of State

Curtis LeMay - Chief of the Airforce

**= retaining JFK’s advisors meant lack of fresh thinking on strategy of Vietnam**

OPLAN 34A, Jan 1964

covert action (bombings, air raids etc) progressively escalating pressure to inflict increasing punishment upon North Vietnam and designed to force Hanoi ‘to desist from its aggressive policies’

What approach did Johnson keep from Kennedy?

* strategic hamlets
* agent orange
* **employed more military advisors from 16,300 to 23,300**

why was the us/allies worried about LBJs approach to the war?

* France’s General Charles de Gaulle, warned LBJ that increased involvement could lead to a repeat of France’s failed experience in Indochina
* people did not know how far South Vietnam could successfully conduct themselves in a war, they had considered neutralism (end SV military links with external states, thus leaving it exposed to North Vietnam)

Reasons for US involvement in Vietnam 1950-65

* commitment trap
* LBJ was trapped by the policy of JFK
* role of presidents
* quagmire theory
* each president thought they could solve problems in Vietnam, but each step made situation worse
* stalemate theory
* each president continued the war as did not want to be seen as the first to lose the war
* shared responsibility of all presidents
* ideology
* US economic interests
* military industrial complex, raw materials from SE Asia

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 7 Aug 1964

3 months before 1964 election

* 2 separate attacks on US Navy destroyers on Aug 2nd and 4th

= lead to Congress passing the Blank Cheque, removed Vietnam as a campaign issue for the Republican candidate and improved his political standing with public

Blank Cheque, 10 Aug 1964

* ‘like grandmas nightshirt’ ‘Open\[ed\] the floodgates’

= Congress essentially surrendered its war making powers, **allowed Johnson to increase military support** with no opposition

What is the significance of LBJ’s landslide victory in Nov 1964?

won biggest percentage of vote in history

* allowed him to enact raft of liberal legislation
* removed constraints on his Vietnam policy

**= gave him the mandate to act as he wants!**

What contributed to the decision to escalate by the beginning of 1965?

* China provided military support to North Vietnam (domino theory)
* USSR had firm diplomatic links with the NLF, they had set up permanent mission in Moscow
* Viet Cong had a strong presence in South Vietnam
* ARVN were in a state of low morale due to poor leadership
* American global credibility rested on success of Vietnam
* feared inaction in Vietnam would result in his political opponents derailing his ‘Great Society’ (scared of being called a crypto-commie so took a hard line on Vietnam)

Pleiku incident, 7 Feb 1965

Viet Cong launched attack on American airbase, killing 8 US soldiers

= incidents like this allowed LBJ to escalate, **within 12 hrs he ordered Operation Flaming Dart to bomb select North Vietnamese targets**

Military escalation in 1965

* March 1965 - Nov 1968: **Operation Rolling Thunder**
* sustained bombardment of North Vietnam, designed to put pressure on N Vietnam and reduce their capacity to wage war
* March 1965**: 3 500 combat troops landed at Da Nang**
* Westmoreland was convinced that combat troops would be necessary to root out enemy
* search and destroy missions (1% success rate)

= raised the stakes and US military commitments

General Westmoreland’s theory

thought that their overwhelming military superiority would enable them to win easily

rapid escalation of troops

* 1965 : 185 000 troops

1968: 540 000

North Vietnam’s 4 point proposal, Apr 1965

* US troops must withdraw from S Vietnam
* Neither North nor South may enter into any military alliance with a foreign power during the temp division of Vietnam
* South Vietnams internal problems must be settled by the people of S Vietnam
* reunification of Vietnam must be settled by the people from those zones

= Johnson rejected the proposal, he feared a reunified communist Vietnam.

* Instead ordered 2 marine battalions, an air squadron and 20,000 troops to be deployed in Vietnam and publicised the escalation of the war on July 28th 1965

Ia Drang Valley, Nov 1965

first significant engagement between US forces and N Vietnam forces

**conventional battle which influence tactics of the war**

* 300 USA dead vs 2000-3000 NV dead, but both sides saw it as a victory

USA’s strengths

* had economy on their side
* massive logistical effort undertaken to ensure the forces had the most modern equipment
* 1967, 1m tons of supplies were arriving into S Vietnam each month
* helicopters, B-52 bombers

USA’s tactics

* **Operation Rolling Thunder (Mar 1965-Nov 1968)**
* bombing was undermined by the fact N Vietnam’s lost resources were replaced by China and USSR
* **Operation Ranch Hand (1962)**
* spraying chemical defoliants (Agent Orange and Blue), napalm, anti-personnel bombs, alienated Vietnamese peasants
* **search and destroy missions**
* resulted in many innocent killed, food destroyed and failed to engage rural peasants as allies

USA’s weaknesses

* failed to destroy and undermine Viet Cong with bombing
* SVA were largely uncommitted
* 1968, they were outweighed by their weakness because of the tactics they were using
* growing anti-war movement pushed by people like MLK

N Vietnam strengths

* determination of their troops
* support from China and USSR
* peasant support
* guerrilla tactics
* Ho Chi Minh trail

N Vietnam weaknesses

* dependency on the USSR and China
* economy could not stand a prolonged war
* no guaranteed support from the peasantry (like the Tet offensive, people did not uprise like the promised)

Tet Offensive, Jan-Feb 1968

**turning point**

* Viet Cong launched series of military attacks against the US targets in over 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam
* US embassy was attacked in Saigon and occupied for 6 hrs
* televised by US, damaged US reputation and propaganda victory for North

Significance of Tet Offensive, Jan-Feb 1968

USA

* exposed them on a global scale, media turning against the war
* Walter Cronkite, Apr 1968 Protests in Columbia Uni, doves come into ascendancy
* worsened credibility gap
* 4 000 US troops killed
* psychological defeat

\
N Vietnam

* uprising failed to occur
* 35 000 troops lost

My Lai Massacre, 16 March 1968

mass murder of unarmed S Vietnamese civilians, made public in Nov 1969

= further disillusioned US public

When and why did LBJ announce he will not seek re-election?

31 March 1968

had lost all credibility and announced the stopping of bombing in N Vietnam