Vietnam and Watergate.pdf

7/27/2019 Vietnam and Watergate.pdf

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Vietnam and Watergate


2/43

The longest and most costly war in American history;

Vietnam stemmed out of the Cold War and Containment

Philosophy.

Many American leaders were WWII and Cold War

veteransthey were determined to avoid another

Munich.

Unfortunately foreign policy initiatives for Southeast Asia

was often incoherent and ambiguousended in tragedy.


3/43

American involvement begins back in 1945; the U.S. sentadvisors to aid the Vietminh to oust the Japanese.

Ho Chi Minh wanted the U.S. to assist the Vietminh tounify all of VietnamIt had been partit ioned many yearsearlier during the first French occupation of Indochina.

Unfortunately the U.S., though anti-colonialism, allowedthe French to re-establish its French colonial empire toensure their participation in NATO.


4/43

58,000 American lives and over 300,000 wounded left a

legacy of bitterness and much misunderstanding;

Many had psychological issues, but manyin fact therewas 2x the drug and alcohol addiction problems than

combat injuries by the end of the war;

Vietnam left a shattered generation and an inherentdistrust of government.


5/43

Many in America changed opinions on Americas role ininternational affairsmany unrealist ically wanted to beisolationists;

Changed from the last bastion to communism to Liveand Let Live. American exceptionalism was tarnishedunti l President Reagan restored patriotic fervor.

So, how did we get there? What were the lasting affects?And does Vietnam still haunt American policy andidealism?


6/43

Vietnam Time Line

1941The Atlantic CharterAmerica denounces

colonialism and promotes self-determinism; 1945Vietnam declares independence (100yrs

Chinese, Japanese, and French occupation); Ho Chi Minhrecites the declaration of Independence Sep 2

1945; 1949China falls the communist forces of MaoTse TungAmerica fears China communism isspreading into Indochina;

1950Sec of State, Dean Acheson declares thatAmerica will secure and protect the Pacific Rimagainst communist expansion; The Korean Warsuggests that Asia is becoming unstable;


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1953Korean Conflict stalls into a perpetualtruce dividing North and South Korea; thisinstability enhances Americas resolve that Asia

also must be part of the containment policy.

1954French are now engaged in a colonial-nationalist war with the Vietminh. Ho Chi Minhvows to fight for as long as it takes. The U.S.funds 75% of the French-Indochina War; Franceis humiliated by the Vietminh and Vo NyguyenGiap at Dien Bien Phu;

1954Geneva Peace Accords partit ion Vietnamon the model of Korea


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1956--Eisenhower andCIA intervene toprevent free

electionsfearing thecommunist will win afree election.

The Domino Theory isembraced; i f Vietnamfalls soon all thePacific rim willcollapse;

1960JFK pursuesVietnam init iatives tobolster a weak South

Vietnam government


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Why did JFK pursue

Vietnam?

1) Reassert American

might after the Bay of

Pigs fiasco, the Berlin

Crisis, and the Cuban

Crisis; 2) He was raised an

ardent Cold War

Warriorsaw Ho Chi

Minh as a Soviet Pawn; 3) Supported Limited

Brush Fire Wars and

containment;


10/43

Early on, I believe thatAmerica should have beenin Vietnampastexperience was all we had

to use as a litmus testsoVietnam seemed logical;

Idealistic Americans earlyalso believed that Vietnam

was worth savingDr. TomDooley. He saw thetortured Vietnamese anddoctored many back tohealth;

After the partition manyNorth Vietnamese fled tothe South seekingdemocracy.


11/43

JFK under CIA urging stepped up the

commitment to train, supply and financially

bolster Ngo Dinh Diems regime.

Diem, however, was very unpopular; an introvert,

staunch Catholic, not a very good leaderHis

brother, head of the Secret Police, and hisbrothers wife Madam Nhu, were anti Buddhists

and anti-peasantsmade things worse for Diem.

The catholic minority ruled ruthlessly over the

ancient religious groupsespecially Buddhists.


12/43

The Priests protestedagainst thegovernment;

LBJ as VP made a factfinding trip to Vietnam,

Diem is the GeorgeWashington of Asiahe is a great leader

The Peasants andBuddhists thoughtotherwiseimmolatedthemselves in protest.


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Diem and Nhu were sounpopular, that theVietnamese Militaryunder the prodding of

CIA assassinatedDiem and his brother;

This created a change of

events of corrupt andinept leaders inVietnam;

By 1964 it was obviousthat this was going to be

an American Warif theline in the sand was tobe fixed in AsiaJFKbumped up the 750advisors to 16000


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The Tonkin Gulfresolution and Incidentof 1964.

Ostensibly, Americawas running covertand clandestineinterdictions into North

Vietnam;

In response, the NorthVietnamese sent out

small gun boats tocontest the thedestroyers andinterdiction--


15/43

President Johnson under very murky information called

these so-called unprovoked attacks as devious as Pearl

Harbor. One can see the picture and emotions this

reference conjures up.

To Johnson this was justi fication for direct military

intervention;

The congressional resolution allowed LBJ to take all

necessary measures to prevent further aggression [by

the North Vietnamese]


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Johnson initiatesOperation Roll ing Thundersaturation bombing of theNorth;

Feb 3, 1965 the VC attackand kil l 8 Americanadvisors at Pleiku Airbase;

To protect American livesagainst physicalaggression Johnsonsends Combat Troops to

Vietnam to secure andmaintain security at the

Air BasesThe Marinesland at Da Nang Feb 1965


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Marines and other Army

Units immediately

complain about the heat

and being relegated tositting ducks at these

bases;

Finally Johnson gives theOK to Search out and

Destroy the enemy

missions;

To take the countryside

away from the enemy and

pursue the VC

aggressively.


18/43

We marched into the

Rice Paddies on that

damp March afternoon,

we carried, along withour Rifles and packs,

the implicit convictions

that the Viet Cong

would be quickly

beaten and we were

doing something

altogether noble andgood. We kept our

packs and rifles; our

convictions we lost.


19/43


20/43

There has been much exaggeration about the

atrocities by U.S. soldiers on civilians;

1) Racist theorywe considered them non-

human so it was easy to inflict barbaric acts

against them;

2) frontier Heritagewe are by nature violent and

inherently murderouswe just needed a war toact out on these impulses;

Hogwashis there an element of truthmaybe

but overall what was it about Vietnam that made

otherwise normal moralistic Iowans, Georgians,

New Yorkers, or Californians sadistic and crass

to the idea of humanity and compassion?


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These observations and muses are by Sociologists and

Psychologists who never experienced first hand war and

its savagery; nor do they take into account how

monstrous the VC, NVA and even ARVN could be to theirown people.

The Korean Division took delight in cutt ing off ears etc

These academic ignore the years of barbarous warfareinflicted upon one another during the Chinese occupation

and the First Indochina War with the French.


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The evil was inherent in the circumstances of a bloody,hate fil led civi l war and social revolutioneach trying topurge each other from the landscape; add the ferocity ofJungle warfare eliminating humanity;

Atrocities were almost a badge of honor long before theAmericans arrived;

Twenty years of fratricide and ruthlessness obl iteratedany reference point of humanity;

The average age of the U.S. soldier was 19In WWII, theavg age was 26.


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I am not excusing MyLai or other atrocities,but I understand how

ethical and moral linesbecome blurred;

Regardless of your

moral compassthecompass spins losingdirection whenperpetually exposed to

crueltyand in a placewhere no mercy isgivenNo mercy isexpected.


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By 1968, 560,000 troops were in Vietnam.

The Tet Offensive changed the perception of the

war; we thought we had control of the urbanareas, but Tet proved otherwise;

Irony, VC were never able to amass another

attack as they did at Tet; their infrastructure andabil ity to make war was destroyed; however,public opinion in America changed.

Now Mom and Pop America began to oppose thewar; LBJ refused to run for off icePeacecandidates popped up everywherethe mostcredible was Eugene McCarthy and BobbyKennedyNixons plan was phased withdrawal

Peace with Honor.


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26/43

Regardless of initiatives or what the Governmentsaid, the enemy controlled the countryside andat nightwell the world belonged to Charlie.

This was the first truly mechanized war; alsofirst televised war; Body counts were on TVeach night while people ate their dinner;

Lack of frontline awareness and identity of theGood Guys or the Bad Guyslines blurredegregiously, by 1970 the morale was badover700 fraggings took placeand many refused toexpose themselves in Combatthere were manymore drug addiction cases or overdoses thanthere were combat injuries buy 1971.


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There was much domestic

opposit ion to the war;

student deferments kept

much of the Middle Classand Upper classes out of

Vietnammuch

resentment by Blacks and

Poor Whites; especially by

1970until 1970 morewhites fought in Vietnam

than the Press will admit

after 1971, there were few

left but Poor Whites andAfrican Americans and

Latinos


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Domestically, The Anti-War movement was gainingground; Tet proved the death knell to American supportsome still supported the Troops, but many did notsupport the War;

It was not until Mom and Pop America began carryingsigns around the White House that legitimatenegotiations beganNot the Counter Culture or SDS or

any other Peacenik movementgood for TV, but reality, itmade very litt le headway until after Kent StateThen,again, it was Mom and Pop America marchingwhy arewe killing one another?


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30/43

Staunton Lynd, JaneFonda and Susan Sontagactually went to NorthVietnam and posed for

pictures to support theAnti-War Movement;

Sontag, the NorthVietnamese genuinely care

about the welfare ofcaptured American Pilotsthey get more food thanthe actual Vietnamesepeople, they are larger,used to more and expectmore, so we give themmore NVA believe in thegoodness of man andare morally concerned

f


31/43

Because of thepolit ical and socialdissension in America,

the 1968 Presidentialelection became a freefor all in the streets inChicago;

Democrats were splitand this left room forRichard M. Nixon and

his Peace with Honorand Law and Orderplatform to win theelection


32/43

Nixon actually widened the war, invaded Cambodia andLaos, beefed up Bombing of North VietnamunlikeJohnson, Nixon okayed the bombing of civi lian targetsand Haiphong harborin essence almost brought the war

to an endHanoi was on its knees and teetering, butbecause they controlled their media we did not learnthis fact until the 1980s

Tet and Nyguyen Hue offensives of 1968 and 1972 was allthe VC and NVA had leftbut Nixon was trying to getHanoi back to the bargaining tablenot concerned withwinning the warat this time


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Nixon did by 1970 begin ratcheting down Troopnumbers, unti l in 1973 America completelydisengaged from VietnamYes some advisorsand CIA personnel left, but in effect America wasout of the warPOWs came homesome aguethere are stil l those therewho really knows?

The aftermath of Vietnam, however, forces

America to rethink its involvement: The brutalrepression, torture and murders of SouthVietnamese people by the victorious NorthernCommunists, the Boat People fleeing oppression,prison and death, Genocide in Cambodia andLaos and the Mekong delta regionHanoi wasabsolutely ruthless enforcing their will and powerover the southern peoples

St t i ll d


34/43

Strategically andtactically the U.S.failed;

it was the wrong warand the wrong place atthe wrong time, whenwe were losing we saidwe were winning But

as wrong as the warfought in Vietnam wasin many respects, itwas not wrong in thepurposes and

philosophy, for which itwas fought.

Being anti-communistwas and remains the

right attitude


35/43

Nixon played on the

attitudes of most of

Middle America;

Tired of the war; racial

str ife, lawlessness

and political chaos

Spoke of the SilentMajority:

1) rising crime rates

2) social violence

3) drug abuse

4) promiscuity

5)no patriot ism

Ni l d


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Nixon appealed:

1) Urban ethnic voters (Catholics, Italians, Irish and Polish

descent)

2) Blue Collar Workers 3) Southern and Suburban Whites

Developed three strategies:

1) appeal to the fears of the Blue Collar workers;

2) exploit social issues that mattered to the Catholics

3) exploit the conservativeness of the South


37/43

Though Nixon would be slow ending the warand he did

order secret invasion and bombing of Cambodia and

Laoshe also init iated saturation bombing of the North

and mined Haiphong harborhe did end the war;

1) He did withdraw troops from Vietnam

2) he advocated and got the Russians to reciprocate in

Dtente. (a partial thawing to the Cold War)initiated the Five Policemen concept to maintain global peaceful

co-existenceand police other nations.

Policemen U S ; China; Russia; Japan; and Western


38/43

PolicemenU.S.; China; Russia; Japan; and WesternEurope.

China invited America to a Ping Pong Tournament Ping Pong diplomacy opened the door for Nixon to

visit Chin and begin new open relations;

1) Realismvery populace country; markets etc

2) World Opinionmany agreed China should be

recognized;3) Bargaining ChipRussia and China traditional

enemiestwo adversaries as all ies frightened Russia;

4) Nixon could get away


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4) Nixon could get awaywith itstrongreputation againstcommunismthis is just

politics;5) Press Coveragepositive

coverage for an electionyearover look Vietnamand Watergate;

He also visited Russia:

1) SALT I missi le limitation;

2) Cooperation with spaceexploration;

3) Better trade agreementsbetween USSR and US

4) The Berlin Agreement of1972.

Watergate was truly unnecessary; however Nixon wanted


40/43

Watergate was truly unnecessary; however, Nixon wanteda mandate a landslidea show of love from the people;

Operatives called Plumbers bugged the Democraticoffices at the Watergate Complex located in FoggyBottom on the banks of the Potomac. They were caught.

Woodward and Bernstein Washin gton Post pursued thestory relentlesslywhy were these common burglarscarrying White House connections and credentials?

Nixon got his


41/43

Nixon got hismandate, but he alsohad to appear to

prosecute theWatergate Break-in;These were his guys,but he promised topursue the burglars.

Mushroomed into anational Trial on TV

Sam Ervin led a hostof Senators pursuingthe truth or expose asuspected cover-up

By chance Butterworth made an off hand comment about


42/43

By chance, Butterworth made an off-hand comment about

what he had heard in these meetings well it should be

on the Oval Office Taping system.

Stuff hits the fanall Oval Office conversations had been

taped (not that unusualthese were secret tapings);

President refused to hand over the tape ExecutivePrivilege. [national security]


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Huge battle between Executive, Legislative, and

JudicialCourt said turn them over;

18 mins were accidentally erased; The House beganimpeachment proceedings for high crimes and

misdemeanors.

Nixon became very paranoidSaturday NightMassacrefired the special counsel and all the

assistants; finally he had to resign

The OFFICE was BIGGER than the MAN!!!

Documents

Vietnam and Watergate.pdf