The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships, Part I: 1945-1960 PDF
Preview The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships, Part I: 1945-1960
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam W ar COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS CHARLES H. PERCY, Illinois, Chairman HOWARD H. BAKER, Jr., Tennessee CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island JESSE HELMS, North Carolina JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOHN GLENN, Ohio CHARLES McC. MATHIAS, Jr., Maryland PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland NANCY L. KASSEBAUM, Kansas EDWARD ZORINSKY, Nebraska RUDY BOSCHWITZ, Minnesota PAUL E TSONGAS, Massachusetts LARRY PRESSLER, South Dakota ALAN CRANSTON, California FRANK H. MURKOWSKI, Alaska CHRISTOPHER H. DODD, Connecticut PAULA HAWKINS, Florida Scott Cohen, Staff Director Geryld B. Christianson, Minority Staff Director THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AND THE VIETNAM WAR Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships PART I: 1945-1960 W illiam Conrad Gibbons PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey Preface copyright © 1986 by Princeton University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be found on the last printed page of this book First Princeton Paperback printing, 1986 First Princeton hardcover printing, 1986 LCC 86-3270 ISBN 0-691-07714-2 ISBN 0-691-02254-2 (pbk.) This book was prepared for the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. It was originally published by the U.S. Government Printing Office in April 1984. The "Letter of Submittal” and "Foreword” are deleted and some typographical corrections have been made. Otherwise, contents and pagination are the same. Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, while satisfactory for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding. Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey For my mother Jessie Conrad Gibbons and in memory of my father Howard Kemper Gibbons PREFACE This is a study of U.S. Government policymaking during the 30 years of the Vietnam war, 1945-75, beginning with the 1945-60 pe riod. Although focusing on the course of events in Washington and between Washington and U.S. officials on the scene, it also depicts major events and trends in Vietnam to which the U.S. was respond ing, as well as the state of American public opinion and public activity directed at supporting or opposing the war. The purpose of the study is not to judge or to assess responsibility, but it does seek to locate responsibility, to describe roles, and to ex amine attitudes and assumptions. The goal is to provide a fair, accu rate account of policy decisions and the effects of those decisions. Conclusions are stated only when this contributes to a better under standing of U.S. attitudes and actions, and then only when there is supporting evidence. This may not satisfy those who are hopeful of confirming or justifying a particular point of view, and it will probably disappoint those who seek ready explanations and answers. It is, how ever, consistent not only with the canons of good scholarship, but with the state of available knowledge. Vital information still is being with held by the government, and the drawing of conclusions therefore con tinues to be problematical. In keeping with the nonpolitical, nonpartisan approach that befits a work of this nature, references in the text to "internationalist” or "nationalist,” "interventionist” or "noninterventionist,” or the use of such adjectives as "influential” or "powerful,” are used for descriptive purposes rather than as political labels. This first part begins with President Truman’s decision at the end of World War II to accept French reoccupation of Indochina rather than to seek the international trusteeship favored earlier by Presi dent Roosevelt. This is followed by a discussion of U.S. support of the French role, and of increased U.S. determination, especially after the Communist victory in China and the Korean war, to prevent Com munist expansion in Asia. There is then a detailed account of the events of 1954-55 when the French, after the battle of Dien Bien Phu, withdrew from Vietnam and the U.S. stepped into the leading role. Finally, there is a discussion of the Eisenhower administration’s ef forts to support the South Vietnamese Government, and of the declin ing fortunes of that government and growing doubts about the U.S. program as the 1950s came to an end. This study was prepared for the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress at the request of Senator John Sparkman, then chairman of the committee, and succeeding chairmen, Senators Frank Church, Charles Percy, and Richard Lugar, who were assisted by staff directors Pat Holt, Norvill Jones, William Bader, Edward Sanders, Scott Cohen, and Jeff Bergner and by editors Jerry Ehren- freund and Uwe Timpke. The committee has given strong and contin uous support to the project, but has never sought to influence its con tent. At the Congressional Research Service, the Director, Gilbert Gude, who served in Congress during the Vietnam war, and the Chief of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division, Dr. Stanley Hegin- botham, have provided the help and encouragement required for an undertaking of this size and complexity, and their contribution is greatly appreciated. James Robinson, Coordinator of Review, and Hugh Wolff, Alva Bowen, Dr. Joel Woldman and Robert Goldich, Sec tion Heads, were also very helpful, as were Susan Finsen, Coordinator of Management and Administration and Edgar Glick. Others who contributed were Warren Lenhart, C. Winston Woodland, Ida Eustis, Carolyn Hatcher, Cheryl Mobley, Phyllis Fitzgerald, and interns Con nie Skowronski of Lawrence University and Vanesa Lide of Cornell University. The project has also received vital assistance from George Mason University, where the author is a Visiting Professor, especially from the Chair of the Public Affairs Department, Dr. Robert P. Clark, fol lowed by Dr. Harold F. Gortner; the staff of Office Support Services, Mary Blackwell, Director; and Byron Peters, Systems Engineer of the Academic Computing Services. Also helpful were Susan Ragland and Candace Brinkley. Above all, the dedication and hard work of Anne Bonanno, the au thor’s assistant and a member of the staff of Office Support Services, deserve special praise. She has been responsible for transcribing in terviews and for typing, proofing and coding the text, as well as the myriad other tasks involved in this undertaking, and her help and constant encouragement have been indispensable. The author wants to express particular thanks to those former of ficials of the executive and legislative branches who reviewed this first volume and made suggestions for its improvement: Robert R. Bowie a professor at Harvard University (now retired) and head of its Center for International Affairs, who was Director of Policy Planning in the State Department in the Eisenhower administration, and Counselor of the State Department in the Johnson administration; William P. Bundy, who served in the CIA in the 1950s, and was then Assistant Secretary of Defense and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Johnson administration, after which he served for 12 years as editor of Foreign Affairs; Andrew J. Goodpaster, General, U.S. Army (Ret.), who was on the Eisenhower White House staff, and served in many other posts, including Deputy U.S. Commander in Vietnam and NATO Supreme Commander, and is now President of the Institute for Defense Analyses; U. Alexis Johnson, a career Foreign Service officer who served in many posi tions in which he dealt with Southeast Asia, including Under Secre tary of State, Deputy Ambassador to Vietnam, and Ambassador to Thailand; Edward G. Lansdale, Major General, USAF (Ret.), who was intimately involved with Vietnam for many years, during which he served as a key adviser to U.S. and Vietnamese officials; the late Dr. Francis O. Wilcox, Chief of Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Com mittee between the late 1940s and the mid 1950s, then Assistant Sec retary of State and Vice Chairman of the Atlantic Council; Dr. Carl Marcy, who served in the State Department during the 1940s, after which he became a member of the staff of the Foreign Relations Com mittee and succeeded Wilcox as Chief of Staff; and Mr. Boyd Craw ford, Staff Administrator of the House Foreign Affairs Committee during the entire 30 years of U.S. involvement in Vietnam (1945-75). In addition, Dr. Robert Klaus, Executive Director of the Illinois Hu manities Council offered many helpful suggestions for improving style and manner of presentation. Oral histories have been an important source of information, and with the excellent assistance of Patricia McAdams, now an attorney, and Dr. Anna Nelson, a historian, almost 150 personal interviews were conducted with persons who served in the executive and legis lative branches during the war, as well as several journalists who covered the war. The cooperation of all those involved is deeply ap preciated. Archival assistance with this volume has been generously provided by the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, especially Dr. John Wickman, Director, and Archivist David Haight; Dr. John Glennon, General Ed itor of the Foreign Relations Series, Office of the Historian, Depart ment of State; Nancy Bressler, Curator of Public Affairs Papers, See ley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University; Sheryl Vogt, Head of the Richard B. Russell Library, University Libraries, Univer sity of Georgia; and the staff of the Legislative Records Division at the National Archives. The decision of Princeton University Press to publish this study will be welcomed by all of those interested in furthering the examination of the role of the United States in the Vietnam war, and for their help with publication the author especially thanks Mr. Sanford Thatcher, Editor-in-chief and Dr. Loren Hoekzema, Assistant to the Director for Special Projects, as well as Professor Fred Greenstein of Princeton University who has been most encouraging in his support for the proj ect and for its publication by the Press.
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