Kennedy and Vietnam
Transcript of Kennedy and Vietnam
KENNEDY’S EARLY IDEAS
Kennedy‟s Early Ideas
Opposed French Colonialism
Domino Theory, Containment
and McCarthyism
Third World = new Cold War battleground >
Vietnam was important
Catholic (hated atheistic communism)
• Became president in January 1961
• Young Democratic congressman – a
lot to prove
• Attacked Truman for „losing‟ China in
1949 – could not make the same
mistake
• Criticised French Colonialism in
Indochina – unwanted rule/no outlet for
nationalism might turn the Indochinese
to Communism
Criticised Eisenhower
- said the US needed
a president ‘to get
America moving
again’
Militant anti-
Communism was a
key-note of his
campaign speeches
“freedom under God versus
ruthless, godless tyranny” -
JFK
KENNEDY’S ADVISERS
• McNamara and Rusk were
both pro-involvement
• McNamara‟s strong
personality took control
and the defence
department dominated
• Solutions to the perceived
problems in Vietnam were
often military ones
“the best and the brightest”
McNamara: Secretary of Defence Rusk: Secretary of State
Bundy: National Security Adviser Bobby Kennedy: Attorney General
EARLY ACTIONS
The Failure in Cuba
• The Bay of Pigs 1961
- US-sponsored an anti-Communist
invasion
- Failed to overthrow Castro
- Not systematically thought out
- Humiliating for JFK
The Neutralisation of Laos
• Feared a communist triumph there
- March 1961 implied the US might intervene militarily
- Held back by BOP failure/too few aircraft and soldiers
- Congress feared it would lead to a clash with China
- Sent US military advisers to assist the Laotian leader (an unpopular general)
- Sept ‟61 - Summer‟62: managed to neutralise Laos > governed by a coalition
- Vietcong continued to use Laotian trails to get to South Vietnam
- „Neither winning or losing‟
Cartoon from the Washington Star
The Bay of Pigs is portrayed as a chicken
which has come home to roost - causing
new troubles soon to hatch out for Kennedy
HOW CUBA AND LAOS LED TO VIETNAM
• Outright victories had to be won elsewhere
• JFK rejected a early privately negotiated settlement to Cuban Missile Crisis
• Backing down in Laos was countered by firm commitment to Vietnam
• Hawks within the administration would only accept neutrality in Laos in return
for activist policy in Vietnam
• Vietnam was more suitable for US intervention than Laos
- Long coastline (US naval supremacy)
- Diem seemed to have SV under control (democracy had a good chance of
working)
- Already committed to Vietnam before Kennedy‟s presidency
• US departure from Vietnam would undermine US credibility
Vietnam and Laos
1961 - DECISIONS
• 800 MAs at Kennedy‟s accession
• Increased financial aid to Diem to enable him to increase his army
• JCS and NSC recommended putting US ground troops in – JFK refused
• Emphasised counter insurgency instead of conventional war
• ARVN continued to lose ground despite help from the Green Berets
• October 1961: JFK sent General Maxwell Taylor to evaluate military situation
- Recommended sending 8000-10,000 ground troops
- McNamara wanted to send 40,000
General Maxwell Taylor
INCREASED MILITARY INVOLVEMENT
• Number of military advisers rose alarmingly
• Increasing quantities of US weaponry
• Helicopters
- Pilot advisers actively involved in the war
- JFK denied it – most info kept from US public
• Authorised use of defoliants
• MACV created (replacing MAAG) to organise increased involvement
• Initially increased involvement seemed successful
- Helicopters increased mobility
- Napalm scared the VC
• But soon lost „shock value‟
• Some disloyal ARVN warned VC away from certain areas
Year No. of
Advisers
Jan 1961 800
Dec 1961 3000
1962 12,000
Nov 1963 17,000
THE BATTLE OF AP BAC – WHAT HAPPENED?
• 2nd January 1963
• 2000 ARVN, 113 US personnel carriers, US helicopters, US Advisers went to
surround Ap Bac
• Did not know there were 350 guerrillas there
- Keen to show they could counter US firepower
- Wanted a victory to boost morale
• ARVN refused to attack the VC
- 5 US helicopters and 3 pilots were lost
- ARVN refused to mount a rescue mission
VC: 18 dead
ARVN: 83 dead
US: 3 dead
REASONS FOR FAILURE
• Strength and preparedness of VC = unexpected
• ARVN‟s General Cao = unwilling to fight
• Diem didn‟t listen to US advice on deployment of troops
- Feared losing too many men
- Used the best soldiers to keep himself in power
• US had delayed the attack by a day to enable pilots to sleep
off New Year‟s Eve excesses
The VC - unlikely
victors?
General Cao
RESULTS AND SIGNIFICANCE
• Drew unprecedented attention in the US
- ARVN performance was unfavourably reviewed
• Showed Diem was incapable of winning the war
- Despite ever-increasing military aid Diem was not winning
- Saigon controlled 49% of population & VC controlled 9% with the rest in
dispute
The ARVN – unfairly
judged?
DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS ON VIETNAM
• President De Gaulle of France: “you will sink…into a military & political
quagmire”
• Kenneth Galbraith (friend of JFK sent to assess the situation)
- Political rather than military problem - would end in defeat and humiliation
- Did not consider Vietnam strategically important & though Diem was a loser
- Little difference between French colonialism and US involvement
• McNamara: “we are winning the war” – May 1962
• George Ball: warned “we‟ll have 300,000 men in the paddies” within 5 years
• Mike Mansfield: critical of Diem and increasing US involvement
• Rusk: US involvement could provoke Hanoi and Beijing and destabilise
Laos
“like taking a drink, the
effect wears off, and you
have to take another” –
JFK on increasing
involvement
STRATEGIC HAMLETS
• Early 1962 Diem adopted the policy of strategic hamlets
• Fortified villages in which the peasants would be isolated from the VC
• VC frequently joined the other villagers
• Discontent at having to pay for and build the stockades
• Run by Nhu who was only concerned with his own power– ignored US advice
- VC captured thousands of US weapons from hamlets set up too far from
Saigon
- Ignored the social, economic and political reforms that the US suggested
should be introduced in the hamlets
• Increased opposition to the Diem/US regime
Nhu and one of his
strategic hamlets
DISCONTENT OF THE US PRESS
• Increasing criticisms of Diem‟s ineptitude
• David Halberstam of the New York Times
-Was warned that he was on Diem‟s assassination
list
-Madame Nhu told reporters he “should be
barbecued
and I would gladly supply the match”
• US press was not questioning involvement – just
the tactics pursued
• Kennedy administration tried to pressure the
New York Times into a change of viewpoint but
failed
“no Nhus is good news”
New York Times and
David Halberstam
CATHOLICS VERSUS BUDDHISTS
• 70-90% of population = Buddhist
• Diem and JFK = Catholics
• Diem regime allowed flying of Catholic flags in
honour of Diem‟s brother but banned the flying
of Buddhist flags on Buddha‟s birthday
• 10,000 Buddhists protested – Diem sent in
soldiers and 7 Buddhists were killed
• June 1963 – Quang Duc‟s self-immolation and
Malcolm Browne‟s Pulitzer Prize winning picture
Monk Quang Duc burns
himself to death to protest
against the religious
inequality
AMBASSADOR LODGE
• Arrived in Vietnam on 22nd August 1963
• Patriot and WWII military hero - Republican
• Experienced and ambitious– foreign affairs
• Good relations with the press
• Many shocked at the appointment
- JFK had low opinion of Lodge’s political talents
- Thought he just wanted to get Lodge mixed up in the ‘hopeless mess’ of
Vietnam
• Believed previous commitment meant the US had a responsibility to
stay
• Thought victory remained impossible as long as Diem was in powerWe need an
ambassador who is
tough; who can act as
a catalyst; who will
take responsibility and
make decisions
[without referring] to
Washington
THE COUP
• ARVN plot against Nhu and Diem
• White House said it would neither ‘stimulate’ or
‘thwart’ a coup and would help any new regime
• Lodge had given vital encouragement but
publicly denied US involvement
• Generals’ coup occurred on 2nd November 1963
• Diem and Nhu fled but were found dead the
next day
• JFK was said to be shocked and dismayed on
news of their deaths
KENNEDY’S ASSASSINATION
• 22nd November 1963
• Dallas, Texas
• Shot by a sniper whilst campaigning
• A ten-month investigation in 1963–64 by the
Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy
was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting
alone,
• They also concluded that Jack Ruby also acted
alone when he killed Oswald before he could
stand trial.
SITUATION AT KENNEDY’S DEATH
• The death of Kennedy left the US with nearly 17,000 American advisers
in Vietnam and no clear strategy in place
• Kennedy discussed withdrawal of advisers in September 1963
• McNamara-Taylor Report suggested the removal of 1000 advisers by the
end of the year
• Kennedy remained committed to Containment and was not prepared to
allow Communism to succeed in South Vietnam as US credibility was at
stake.
Mike Mansfield:
JFK said “I can‟t
[get out] until 1965
– after I‟m re-
elected”
Rusk and
LBJ: JFK had
no plans to
withdraw
Bobby Kennedy
said
that, effectively, hi
s brother had no
plans at all