The USA and Vietnam: 1961 - 1963
1961-1963
- The Kennedy administration
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- Created by: ArtisicBiscuit
- Created on: 05-06-10 20:31
President Kennedy
Kennedy's ideas and influences were shaped by...
- Eisenhower's Domino theory
- His Catholic upbringing
- Senator McCarthy
- The Red Scare
- The theory of containment
- Truman's "loss" of China
- Events in World War II
- Inherited policies
- Belief that the Third World was the new Cold War battleground
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President Kennedy
Kennedy's policies were shaped by his...
- Campaign rhetoric
- Youth and inexperience
- Advisors
- Events
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Kennedy's advisors
McNamara
- Believed in commitment in Vietnam
- Secretary of Defence
- Dominated Kennedy's policy
- A 'Hawk'
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Kennedy's advisors
Rusk
- Believed in commitment in Vietnam
- Bad relationship with Kennedy
- Secretary of State
- 'Dove'
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Cuba and Laos
Bay of Pigs
- Anti-Communist invasion of Cuba
- Kennedy inherited this commitment
- The US were humiliated with a defeat
- Kennedy then had to prove himself in Vietnam
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Cuba and Laos
Neutralisation of Laos
- Kennedy first sent advisors into Laos
- A coalition government was formed
- Communists were dishonest and allowed the Ho Chi Minh trail to pass into Laos
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Vietnam
Kennedy's involvement
- More suited to US involvement than Cuba and Laos
- Democracy seemed easier to achieve in Vietnam
- Kennedy inherited policies from Truman and Eisenhower
- US public supported increased involvement
- Kennedy didn't want to loose Vietnam as Truman had lost China
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Vietnam
Kennedy's Solutions
- Send more advisors to Vietnam (General Taylor was sent to evaluate and asked for ground troops)
- Change tactics (Counter-insurgancy against Guerilla warfare)
- Send more US weapons, helicopters and pilot advisors
- Use of defoliants
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Vietnam
Military escalation
- More helicopters deployed and seemed to have a positive effect
- These soon lost their impact though as the VC shot em down
- Disloyal ARVN warned off the VC
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Vietnam
The battle of Ap Bac
- 2'000 ARVN troops with US advisors and machinery
- 350 VC troops still managed to achieve victory
- This triumph boosted morale amongst the VC
Reasons for VC victory
- ARVN refused to fight
- VC's strength and preparation was unexpected by ARVN and US
- Diem didn't deploy correct ARVN units
- US delayed the attack to allow their pilots to recover from New Year celebrations
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Vietnam
Ap Bac showed that...
- Diem was incapable of winning the war
- ARVN were unreliable and unable to win the war alone
After Ap Bac
- French President Charles de Gaulle warned the US of a quagmire situation
- McNamara claimed the US were winning
- Fears arose that China would destabilise Laos
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Vietnam
Possible Solutions
- US withdrawal
- Political, social and economic reforms in Vietnam
Pursuing reforms
- Diem refused to co operate
- US Vice President Johnson was sent to persuade Diem
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Vietnam
Strategic Hamlets
- Fortified villages to isolate villagers from Vietcong
- A scheme run by Diem's brother, Nhu
- The Vietnamese were discontent with these hamlets
- They had to pay for the hamlets
- The had to build the hamlets
- Conditions within the hamlets were poor - The Vietcong used Strategic Hamlets to their advantage though
- Hamlets were built too far away from the major cities
- Discontent from the villagers was manipulated
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Vietnam
The Buddhist Crisis
- Diem was Catholic and made it illegal to fly Buddhist flags
- Buddhists protested and Diem sent soldiers to deal with these protests
- 7 Buddhists were killed but protests still continued
- The self immolation of Duc Quan made US headlines
- The US public were shocked but Madame Nhu had no sympathy
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Vietnam
Ambassador to Vietnam
- Ambassador Lodge
- Task of improving relations with US press
- Kennedy had a bad relation with Lodge
- Lodge's appointment could have been revenge from Kennedy
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Vietnam
Opposition to Diem
- Discontent villagers from Strategic Hamlets
- Lack of faith from the US
- He refused to cooperate
- His regime was corrupt
- The first lady, Madame Nhu, was also extremely unpopular
- Diem Ignored any US advice
- Ambassador Lodge leaked Diem's dealing to the US press to increase his unpopularity
- Diem needed new policies
- US reports could not agree on the success of Diem's reign
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Vietnam
Coup d'etat (Nov 2nd 1963)
- US learnt of a coup to overthrow Diem through Ambassador Lodge
- US would not initiate the coup but would not stop it either
- Diem and brother Nhu were assassinated
- Madame Nhu managed to escape
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The US
Impact of Kennedy's assassination
- Uncertain whether Kennedy was planning to escalate involvement or withdraw
- Robert Kennedy, Johnson & Rusk claimed he had no plans to withdraw
- However, Kennedy had been reluctant to send in troops so it's likely that the Vietnam war would have been very different
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