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Vietnam: In Search of a Strategy. Lesson Objectives. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Vietnam: In Search of a Strategy
Lesson Objectives
• Understand the timeline of events that led to the decision for major U.S. troop deployments to Southeast Asia in 1965.
• Be able to articulate the issues and discussions surrounding the 1965 decision to escalate the war in Vietnam.
• Understand the evolution of U.S. objectives and strategy for the Vietnam War.
Timeline
The Stage is Set
Mar 59 Ho Chi Minh declares People’s War to unite Vietnam
May 59 DRV establishes Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) Oversee coming war in South Vietnam
May 59 NVA* unit established to construct, maintain Ho Chi Minh Trail
Apr 60 DVR establishes universal conscription “for the duration”
* North Vietnamese Army
Review
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Phase I: Targeted state stronger militarily
Phase II: Rough military parity
Phase III: Revolution stronger than targeted state
• Revolutionaries avoid combat• Guerrilla war: raids, ambushes, sabotage, terrorism• Political conflict predominant
• Combined guerrilla and conventional war• Military and political conflict equally important
• Revolutionary forces go to totally conventional war• “General Offensive” linked to political “Great Uprising”
Review
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Objective: The seizure of power in a nation-state …
… by any means possible
Characteristics:
• Integrated military conflict and political conflict
• War on multiple fronts• Geographical• Programmatic
Review
Viet Minh StrategyAs Used In First Indochina War
North Vietnamese Strategy
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Objective: The seizure of power in a nation-state …
… by any means possible
Characteristics:
• Integrated military conflict and political conflict
• War on multiple fronts• Geographical• Programmatic
… just as they used against the French in the First Indochina War!
Review
Viet Minh StrategyAs used In First Indochina War
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965: Phase I (targeted state stronger)
• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition
As applied to the Vietnam (Second Indochina) War
Timeline
Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam 1961
2,530
Timeline
Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam
US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam
USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft
May 61
11 Dec 61
Mar 62
US Advisors(to Army of the Republic of Vietnam - ARVN)
( First 1:26 )
US Advisors
(5:00)
(to Montagnard irregulars)
The Vietnam War
Operation Ranch HandDefoliation Spray Missions
UC-123B in VNAF Markings
Aircraft Markings
USAF VNAF
Timeline
Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam
US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam
USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft
1961
11 Dec 61
Mar 62
RVN initiated Strategic Hamlet Relocation Program Mar 62
NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam 1960
Timeline
Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam
US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam
USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft
1961
11 Dec 61
Mar 62
RVN initiated Strategic Hamlet Relocation Program
May 62 VC began battalion-sized operations (Central Highlands)
1 Aug 62
Kennedy signed Foreign Assistance Act of 1962
Mar 62
• Provided assistance to countries under Communist attack
NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam 1960
Timeline
Kennedy ordered 2,530 more advisors to South Vietnam
US Army helicopters arrived in South Vietnam
USAF personnel began “training” ops in VNAF aircraft
1961
11 Dec 61
Mar 62
RVN initiated Strategic Hamlet Relocation Program
May 62 VC began battalion-sized operations (Central Highlands)
1 Aug 62
Kennedy signed Foreign Assistance Act of 1962
Mar 62
• Provided assistance to countries under Communist attack
NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam 1960
Timeline
Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force
3 Jan 63
• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN
• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government
Battle of Ap Bac
Green: Rice growing area
January 3, 1963
Timeline
Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force
3 Jan 63
• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN
• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government
Buddhist unrest, repression in South Vietnam May- Aug 63
Monk Self-ImmolationHué, RVN June 11, 1963
Diem vs. Buddhists
Timeline
Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force
3 Jan 63
• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN
• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government
Buddhist unrest, repression in South Vietnam
Kennedy Administration discusses options for Diem
CIA-supported ARVN coup overthrows Diem
May- Aug 63
Aug-Oct 63
1 Nov 63
• Diem and this brother killed by ARVN
Timeline
Battle of Ap Bac: VC inflicted major defeat on RVN force
3 Jan 63
• First time VC units had held their own against ARVN
• Significant setback for US faith in Diem government
Buddhist unrest, repression in South Vietnam
Kennedy Administration discusses options for Diem
CIA-supported ARVN coup overthrows Diem
May- Aug 63
Aug-Oct 63
1 Nov 63
• Diem and this brother killed by ARVN
22 Nov 63 President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas
John F. Kennedy
May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963
US Locked In
General William C. Westmoreland, who seven months after Diem's assassination replaced General Paul Harkins as commander of MACV, summed up the consequences of President Kennedy's involvement. “In his zeal, the young president made a grievous mistake in assenting to the overthrow of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963,” Westmoreland said.
Why It Was Impossible for the U.S. to Stay UninvolvedCol. William Wilson, USA (Retired)Vietnam Magazine, April 1997
“In my view that action morally locked us in Vietnam. If it had not been for our involvement in the overthrow of President Diem, we could perhaps have gracefully withdrawn our support when South Vietnam's lack of unity and leadership became apparent.”
Situation 1964
White House concerned about the 1964 election
Staffers realized current advising strategy was not succeeding
• Predicted North Vietnamese takeover that year
• Hoped to stave off collapse until after election
Link
Fredrik Logevall“Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam”Presidential Studies Quarterly, March 2004
Timeline
Mar 64 Secret CIA bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos began
• Civilian pilots (Air America) flying old U.S. aircraft
May 64 LBJ staff begins drafting Congressional support resolution
• Temporarily shelved due to lack of support in Senate
Summer 64 Guerilla warfare spreading throughout South Vietnam
• Now supported by NVA regulars
2-4 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Timeline
Mar 64 Secret CIA bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos began
• Civilian pilots (Air America) flying old U.S. aircraft
May 64 LBJ staff begins drafting Congressional support resolution
• Temporarily shelved due to lack of support in Senate
Summer 64 Guerilla warfare spreading throughout South Vietnam
• Now supported by NVA regulars
2-4 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Incident
7 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress
• Authorizes president to use force to protect U.S. forces
• President orders retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam
Tonkin Gulf Incident
Tonkin Gulf Incident
Tonkin Gulf Incident
Jul 65 US & Vietnamese navies conducting special operations along N Vietnam coast
Tonkin Gulf Incident
Jul 65 US & Vietnamese navies conducting special operations along N Vietnam coast
Destroyer USS Maddox providing support and conducting electronic intelligence gathering
Tonkin Gulf Incident
Tonkin Gulf Incident
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Tonkin Gulf Incident
Robert McNamara (2002)
Players: Admiral Sharp: Ulysses Simpson Grant Sharp, Jr., - CINCPAC.
General Burchinal: David A. Burchinal - Director, Joint Staff, JCS
Excerpt from The Fog of War (5:47)
Timeline
16 Oct 64 China explodes its first nuclear weapon
I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base
• First attack on Americans; five Gis killed
3 Nov 64 Lyndon Johnson elected to presidency by landslide
Attacks on US Airfields
I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigom• First attack on Americans; five Gis killed
6 Feb 65 VC attack US base at Pleiku (central Highlands)
• Eight Americans killed, ten aircraft destroyed
7 Feb 65 President orders air strikes against North Vietnam
• Operation Flaming Dart continues to 24 Feb 65
7 Mar 65 President authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder
• Progressively escalating air attack against North Vietnam
• Dual military and political objectives
• Ran until 2 Nov 68
Operation Rolling Thunder
Battlefield Vietnam Ep 10 (YouTube – 4:54)
Support for Buildup
“Even in the aftermath of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, as the Johnson administration began increasing troop levels in Southeast Asia,
Source
Joshua Zeitz"1964 - The Year the Sixties Began"American Heritage, October 2006
… 45 percent of Americans wanted to stay the course in Vietnam,”
… 36 percent wanted to 'step up the war by carrying the fight to North Vietnam,' for example, through more air strikes against communist territory,
… while only 19 percent supported pulling out. In short, by a large margin, Americans demanded victory of their leaders ...
Lyndon Johnson, then, was acting with the full faith and support of his electorate.
A
LBJ’s Dilemma
“In later years [Johnson] lamented:
Source
... But if I left that war and let the communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser, and we would both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.’”
Joshua Zeitz"1964 - The Year the Sixties Began"American Heritage, October 2006
If I left the woman I really loved, the Great Society, in order to get involved in that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, I would lose everything at home. All my programs.
'I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved.
The Great Society
LBJ’s Dilemma
Escalate or Withdraw
Discussions on EscalationFeb 65 – Jul 65
Part 1Feb-Mar 64
Part 2May64
Part 3Jun-Aug64
Part 4Feb-Jun65
Part 5Jun-Jul65
Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire
Next:
Lesson Objectives
• Describe and analyze the changes in the American home front and their impact on US conduct of the war prior to and after the Tet 1968 offensize.
• Describe and analyze the impact of technology in the Vietnam War.
• Describe and analyze the significance and history of the bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
• Be able to describe the Ho Chi Minh Trail and analyze its significance in the Vietnam War.
• Describe the operational and strategic significance of the Tet Offensive (1968) and analyze is impact on US foreign policy since.
End