Table Of Content

Vietnam Now in its 7th edition, Vietnam: An American Ordeal continues to provide a thor- ough account of the failed American effort to create a viable, non-Communist state in Southern Vietnam. Unlike most general histories of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, which are either conventional diplomatic or military histories, this volume synthesizes the perspectives to explore both dimensions of the struggle in greater depth, elucidating more of the complexities of the U.S.-Vietnam entanglement. It explains why Americans tried so hard for so long to stop the spread of Com- munism into Indochina and why they failed. In this new edition, George Donelson Moss expands and refines key moments of the Vietnam War and its aftermath, including the strategic and diplomatic background for United States’ involvement in Indochina during World War II; how the French, with British and American support, regained control in southern Vietnam, Saigon, and the vicinity, in the fall, 1945; the account for the formation of SEATO; and the account of the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979. The text has also been revised and updated to align with recently published monographic literature on the time period. The accessible writing will enable students to gain a solid understanding of how and why the United States went to war against The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and why it lost the long, bitter conflict. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of American history, the history of foreign relations, and the Vietnam War itself. George Donelson Moss is Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences at the City College of San Francisco, USA. His research interests include recent U.S. political, diplomatic, and strategic history. He is also the author of A merica Since 1900, 7th edition and Moving On: The American People Since 1945, 5th edition. Vietnam An American Ordeal 7th Edition George Donelson Moss Seventh edition published 2021 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 George Donelson Moss The right of George Donelson Moss to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Pearson Education, Inc. 1994 Sixth edition published by Routledge 2016 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Moss, George, 1935– author. Title: Vietnam: an American ordeal / George Donelson Moss. Description: 7th edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2020029589 (print) | LCCN 2020029590 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367630133 (paperback) | ISBN 9780367630287 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003111955 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam War, 1961–1975. | Vietnam— History—1945–1975. | Vietnam—Relations—United States. | United States—Relations—Vietnam. Classification: LCC DS557.7 .M66 2020 (print) | LCC DS557.7 (ebook) | DDC 959.704/3373—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029589 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029590 ISBN: 978-0-367-63028-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-63013-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-11195-5 (ebk) Typeset in Baskerville by codeMantra Contents List of Figures ix Preface xi New to the Seventh Edition xv Acknowledgments xvi 1 Origins of American Interventions in Southeast Asia 1 The Japanese Occupy Indochina 1 The Vietminh Revolution, August 1945 3 America Supports the French Return to Vietnam 8 2 The French Indochina War, 1946–54 11 The French Return to Indochina 11 Franco-Vietminh Non-Negotiations 14 The First Indochina War Begins 16 A Developing French-American Partnership 22 America Extends Containment to Southeast Asia 24 The Road to Dien Bien Phu 30 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 1954 33 The French Appeal to Washington for Help 36 The Geneva Conference 39 Lessons from a War 45 3 America’s Experiment in Nation-Building 54 The SEATO Protocol, 1954 54 The Advent of Ngo Dinh Diem 55 Diem Struggles to Survive 57 The Battle for Saigon, April 27 to May 3, 1955 60 Diem Consolidates His Regime 62 Social Revolution in Northern Vietnam 66 Nation-Building in Southern Vietnam 70 “Diemocracy” in Action 73 vi Contents Origins of the Southern Insurgency 77 Civil War in Laos 81 A Failing Experiment 83 4 America Raises the Stakes in Vietnam, 1961–63 89 Cold War Crises 89 Crisis in Laos 91 Hanoi Takes Over the Southern Insurgency 92 ARVN Attempts a Coup against Diem 95 Shoring Up the Diem Regime 98 A Limited Partnership 101 The Revolution in Southern Vietnam Gathers Momentum 104 Strains in the Limited Partnership 111 The Buddhist Crisis, May–July, 1963 114 Decline of Ngo Dinh Diem 116 The Fall of Ngo Dinh Diem, Nov. 1, 1963 119 A Failed Limited Partnership 121 5 America Goes to War, 1964–65 131 A Changing World Order 131 Doing the Same Only Doing More of It 132 Coup Season in South Vietnam 134 The Gulf of Tonkin Incidents, August 2–4, 1964 140 The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 145 The 1964 Election and the Developing War in Vietnam 149 Origins of the Air War over North Vietnam, 1964–65 150 The U.S. Ground War in South Vietnam Begins 157 Americanizing the War in Vietnam 165 6 Waging Limited War in Vietnam, 1965–67 176 The Concept of Limited War 176 The Strategy of Attrition Warfare 179 Initial Search-and-Destroy Operations 184 Ia Drang: The Battle That Transformed a War 185 America Escalates the War on the Ground 190 The DRV Escalates the War on the Ground 193 The Big-Unit War, 1967 194 Waging War in the Central Highlands and Northern Provinces 198 The Limits of Attrition Warfare 201 Rolling Thunder: The Air War against North Vietnam, 1965–67 204 Arc Light: The South Vietnam Air Campaigns, 1965–67 213 The Air War in Laos, 1964–68 215 Contents vii 7 The Politics and Diplomacy of War, 1965–67 221 General Ky Takes Charge in South Vietnam 221 The Buddhist Revolt: The Struggle Movement, 1966 222 Pacification Efforts in South Vietnam 224 Political Reform in South Vietnam, 1967 227 Diplomatic Charades, 1965–67 230 Cracks in the Cold War Consensus, 1965–66 234 War at Home 239 Fighting the Vietnam-Era Draft 242 Lyndon Johnson Promotes the War in Vietnam 246 8 The Tet Offensive, January 30 to March 31, 1968 251 The Military Campaigns That Changed the Course of the Vietnam War 251 Hanoi Plans a General Offensive 253 Surprise Attacks! 256 Siege at Khe Sanh 261 Stalemate 265 U.S. Military Leaders Propose to Widen the War 267 The Clifford Task Force 269 Johnson Agonistes 273 Deepening Political Troubles 274 Economic Crises 276 The “Wise Men” Opt Out of the War 277 The Speech, March 31, 1968 280 Turning Point 282 9 After the Tet Offensive, April–November, 1968 288 The First Televised War 288 The War Goes On 292 1968: The Bloodiest Year of the War 296 Post-Tet-68 Enhanced Pacification Efforts 297 The 1968 Election: War at Home 301 10 Escalation and Withdrawal, 1969–71 311 Nixon Takes Control 311 Vietnamization: Shifting the Burden of Fighting 314 Project Phoenix: The Limits of Pacification 321 Mobilizing against the Vietnam War, October–November 1969 322 The Battle of Hamburger Hill 326 The Decline of the U.S. Army 329 My Lai and Other War Crimes 333 viii Contents Widening the War: Cambodia, April 29, 1970 335 Kent State and the Revival of Student Protest 340 Congressional Opposition to the War 343 Widening the War: Operation Lam Son 719, February 8, 1971 345 11 A War for Peace, 1971–73 357 A War-Weary Nation 357 Talking While Fighting 360 The Easter Offensive 363 Linebacker: Nixon Revives the Air War against North Vietnam 370 Ending the American War in Vietnam 376 Neither Peace nor Honor: The Paris Accords, January 27, 1973 384 12 The Decline and Fall of South Vietnam, 1973–75 392 The POWs Come Home 392 The War of the Flags 393 The Decay of South Vietnam 396 The Final Offensive 399 The Ho Chi Minh Offensive, April 5–30, 1975 403 America Abandons Cambodia 404 America Abandons Laos 405 America Abandons South Vietnam 405 The End Days of South Vietnam 408 We Lost, They Won, Why? 410 The Costs of a Lost War 416 1 3 Legacies of a Lost War 421 The Endless War, 1975–92 421 Normalizing Relations, 1992–95 424 Evolving Diplomatic, Commercial, and Strategic Relations, 1995–2020 425 Vietnam Veterans Come Home 430 The Wall: The Vietnam War Memorial 433 Vietnamese Americans 435 The Specter of Vietnam 438 Tables 443 Glossary 445 Select Bibliography 450 Index 481 Figures 1.1 Vietnamese revolutionary nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh (1892–1969), born Nguyen Sing Cung 7 2.1 The Geneva Accords (July 1954) ended French colonial domination of Indochina. Cambodia and Laos emerged as sovereign nations. Vietnam was provisionally partitioned at the 17th Parallel of north latitude, pending the outcome of elections scheduled to be held within two years 44 3.1 Provinces and provincial capitals 79 4.1 The Ho Chi Minh Trail 107 6.1 Corps areas of responsibility 183 6.2 173rd Airborne Brigade loading the wounded onto a UH-1D helicopter (dubbed Huey) for evacuation. The 173rd was the first U.S. Army unit to see combat in Vietnam, June 1965 184 6.3 U.S. soldiers destroy enemy bunkers after assault on Hill 875 during the Battle of Dak To, November 22, 1967 199 6.4 Map of South Vietnam 203 7.1 Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division perform pacification operations in a hamlet north of Saigon. Two soldiers help a boy learn how to hit a baseball 225 8.1 The Tet-68 Offensive 252 8.2 Fire trucks rush to the scene of fires set during VietCong surprise attacks in downtown Saigon during the Tet holiday, January 31, 1968 258 8.3 U.S. Marines advance down a street in Hue February 21, 1968 260 8.4 U.S. Marines defend one of the perimeter bunkers protecting the base at Khe Sanh from NVA artillery and mortar fire February 29–March 1, 1968 263 9.1 Members of the 101st Airborne Division carry a wounded man to a UH-ID Medevac helicopter during the assault on Hill 937 in the A Shau Valley 298 10.1 Troops of the 101st Airbourne Division fighting at Dong Ap Bia, which became known as “Hamburger Hill,” 5/18/69 327 10.2 Map of the Cross-Border Operations, May–June 1970 328