Aid Under Fire: Nation Building and the Vietnam War

309 Pages·2016·4.82 MB·English

by  Jessica Elkind

Praise for
Aid Under Fire: Nation Building and the Vietnam War
“Elkind’s excellent book makes an important contribution to the
literature on early US involvement in Vietnam, offering an engaging and
well-researched social history of the American aid workers responsible
for implementing the US nation-building project. Her analysis is astute,
and she ably situates the grassroots efforts of the aid workers within the
broader context of US policy.”
—Scott Laderman, coeditor of Four Decades On:
Vietnam, the United States, and the Legacies
of the Second Indochina War
“A thought-provoking and cogently argued study of US nation-building
programs in Vietnam. Elkind’s ground-level analysis highlights the
enormous, perhaps insurmountable, obstacles that hampered the
American aid effort.”
—Philip E. Catton, author of Diem’s Final Failure:
Prelude to America’s War in Vietnam
“Aid Under Fire is an important book that expands our understanding of
the US effort to ‘modernize’ South Vietnam by revealing the critical role
played by aid workers on the ground.”
—Amanda Kay McVety, author of Enlightened Aid:
U.S. Development as Foreign Policy in Ethiopia

Aid Under Fire

Aid Under Fire
Nation Building

and the
Vietnam War
Jessica Elkind
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Copyright © 2016 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern
Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University,
Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Elkind, Jessica Breiteneicher, 1976- author.
Title: Aid under fire : nation building and the Vietnam War / Jessica Elkind.
Description: Lexington, Kentucky : University Press of Kentucky, [2016] |
Series: Studies in conflict, diplomacy and peace | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016011182| ISBN 9780813165837 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780813167176 (pdf) | ISBN 9780813167169 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam (Republic) —Politics and government. |
Nation-building —Vietnam (Republic) | Technical assistance,
American —Vietnam (Republic) | United States. Operations Mission to
Vietnam. | Intercultural communication —Vietnam (Republic) —Case studies.
| Military assistance, American —Vietnam (Republic) | Economic assistance,
American —Vietnam (Republic) | Vietnam (Republic) —Economic conditions. |
United States —Foreign relations —Vietnam (Republic) | Vietnam
(Republic) —Foreign relations —United States.
Classification: LCC DS556.9 .E55 2016 | DDC 959.704/31 —dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016011182
This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National
Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
For Ethan
And Caleb, Maya, and Sadie

Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction: Building South Vietnam 1
1. “The Virgin Mary Is Going South”: Refugee Resettlement in South
Vietnam 25
2. Civil Servants and Cold Warriors: Technical Assistance in Public
Administration 57
3. Sowing the Seeds of Discontent: American Agricultural-
Development Programs in South Vietnam 93
4. Policing the Insurgency: Police Administration and Internal
Security in South Vietnam 131
5. Teaching Loyalty: Educational Development and the Strategic
Hamlet Program 173
Conclusion: “Ears of Stone” 211
Acknowledgments 219
Notes 221
Bibliography 271
Index 279