vietnam

• 8 May  might 1972
• US General abrams warned that Hue and Kantum would soon fall and the whole war migtt be lost. 
• In an attempt to block supplies that PAVN forces clearly involved in the offense, Abrams asked Nixon to inensity the bombing.
• Secrectary of state Rogers and Kissinger did not want the war extended because of the fear. 
• Consider a coalition government without North vietnamese withdrawal.
• Summit- Meetings or conferences between the US and soviet leaders were known as summit meetings.

• 24 May 1927.
• Nixon and Kissinger met with their soviet counter parts in Moscow. 
• Were exposed to a lecture and the curel policies the USA had infliced on Vietnam.
• Final soviet statement on vietnam was that US should accept the North vietnam request to remove Thieu in order to get the peace process laried.
• Kissinger asserted that the entire purpose of the soviet statement was to show their North vietnam allies they had 'capilalist'. 
• Meeting between Kissinger and soviet foreign minister.

• 15 July 1972.
• The North Vietnam moved towards a stratery for peace.

• 30th March 1972.
• NLF crossed the DM2, launched a massive conventchal invasion of South Vietnam.
• First stages, TFL launched attacks on throe front across the DM2.
• Central highlands and across the Cambodian border - North West of Saigon.
• DAVN forces quickley. Established a foothold in the Northern provices of South Vietnam.
• The battle for AN LOC on 2-13 April result in the NLF/ PAVN faces fighting in the city, in central highlands, the NLF over all the ARVN denefive points. 

• 21st April 1972.
• Easter Offensive, Kissinger continued to have secret talks with the soviets in an attempt to get them to put pressure on Hanoi.
• April 21, he informal Brezhener that the USA's two principal objectives were to
• 1. Bring about an hourable withdrawal all its forces.
• 2. Put a time frame between US withdrawal and the political process, which would then start.

• Pressurerise the North into moving concessions, but mainly to ressure Thieu of continued as commitment. 
• Nixon ordered 'Line benelz' on 18th December.
• 13-52s were allowed to bomb Hanoi and other main cities in the North. 
• Heavist bombing of the war. 
• The US suffered the highest loss of aircraft.
• Including fortteen 13-52 bomber and 92 air personnel.
• Bombing produced informational opposition including from US allies.
• Nixon approval rating plummeted to 32 percent.
• Nixon believed 'Linebacker 2' would end the war with a dramatic flourish allowing him to present the US as the victor. 

• Fortified Villages.
• Vietnamese people isolated from Vietcong.
• Diems brother - Ngo Dinh Nhu ignored.
• Led to increasing oppisition to Diems and Americans regime.
• Unpopular policies and personalities of Diem and his family.
• Their reluctance to introduce reforms helps to ensure the continued communist successes.
• Diem adopted the policy of strategic Hamlets.
• Unfortunately vietcong frequently joined.
• Containment of Communism.
• Diems brother Nhu and his wife Madame Nhu were unpopular. 

• 16th March 1963.
• Three hundred and fourty seven unarmed cilvilians were beaten and killed by American soliders.
• More bodies counted meant more promotions, Medals, r&r and rations.
• Protest in 1969.
• 14th and 19th November.
• Protests took over Washington.
• My Lai Massacre news had spread.
• Disliked the support that the Vietcong had.

• Johnson claimed that the North Vietnamese made two unprovoked attacks on the Maddoz and the Turner Joy.
• 4 August 1964.
• Johnson had asked for congressional support for avenging the attacks.
• Believed innocent lives of American sailors had been jeoporaised by the North Vietnamese, congress willingly passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.
• Resolution was expire,
• President belived,
• Situation southeast Asia was safe.
• Congress decided to terminate it. 
• June 1964, administration had drawn up a resolution.
• Aim raise Saigon's morale.
• Administration had hesitated to introduce it into congress.
• Gulf of Tonkin incident now gave Johnson the opportunity to get this resolution passed,
• Gave president prower in Vietnam.
• Wage war.
• "Like grandma's night-shirt- it covered everything".

• He never appealed to ordinary people.
• Simply saw them as rebels- failed to understand their ideas about greater economic equality.
• Disliked meeting the people.
• Only reluctantly toured South Vietnam due to American Persuasion. 

• Increased level of violence and disruption in 1958.
• Diem relocated peasants to army, protecting villages called agrovillies. 
• Peasants hated forced, expensive remorals from their homes, land, ancestral tombs. 
• Dissatifaction with the regime of "American Diem's" was increasing. 

• America was supporting a very inpopular regime in South Vietnam.
• 1960 even his own army (ARVN) contained opponents, unsuccessfully, rebelled against her. 

• Kennedy increased the financial aid to Diem within days.
• President to enable him to increase his army.
• By October there were 2000 American military advisers in Vietnam.
• Kennedys first two years he increased number of advisers from 3000 in December 1961 to nearly 12,000 by 1962.
• Increased quantites of American weaponry in South Vietnam. kept this from the American Public. 
• In summer of 1963 Kennedy paid much attention Vietnam.
• He was proccupied with other crisis.
• 1961 the journalist Stanley Karnow told the Kennedys that what he had seen in Vietnam was really aminous.
• Dean Rusk and his state department were more interested in the soviet threat in Germany and seemed content to leave Vietnam to Robert Mcnamara's defence department.
• Kennedy tended to see the Vietnam problem in terms of a military solution, especially as McNamara's team included several generals. 

• Tet Offensive marked the start of an American de-escalation process that eventually got the unitede states out of Vietnam.
• They disagree over unweather or not it was the US defeat.

• Hanoi launched an unpredicted offensive against South vietnam.
• January 1968.
• Tens of thousands of PAVN and VC attacked cities and military installiations in South Vietnam.
• Hanoi thought that the Siagon government would coalapse.
• He needed to demonstate such strength that America would give.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

• Attack broke the traditional Tet holiday time.
• Americans and South Vietnam pre-occupied with Tet festival.
• Were shocked that communist were impunity and so effective throughout the South.
• Saigon Washington and US public. 
• 11,000 American and ARVN troops three weeks to clear Siagon of comunist forces. 

• Largest set of battles fought in Vietnam up to that point.
• Tet Offensive 1 rare battle lost on both sides.
• Communist had suffered great loss.
• Hanoi had taken years to get this great effort. 
• South Vietnamese poople had not risen masse to help the communist.
• Damanged the Vietcong claim to be a libertation force.
• Showed up the weakness of the saigon regime.
• Communist position in South Vietnam counrtyside was strengthened becuase thwe communist performance in Tet.
• Oridinary South Vietnam had not railled to the Siagon regime.
• Tet seemed to show that although the US could stop the overthrow of the Saigon government.
• He failed to make it viable in the force of communist actermination.

• Sme time as the Tet Offensive the Khe Sanh was being faught.
• Distract the Americans from the Tet Offensive.
• Khe Smith,
• biggest, boldest battle of the war.
• Fight against uniformed, easily identifiable PAVN troops.
• Westland- tacticak nuclear weapons had been replaced.
• Johnson model of Khe Sanh battlefield.
• 10,000 communists and Americans dead.
• The JCS repeated requested more troops.
• Question about victory and concluded they didn't have one. 

• Kennedy acknowledged that Diem needed to change his policies and personnel - mistake for the US to get out of Vietnam.
• Kennedys administration rejected the option of using US combat troops and the idea of a total withdrawal.
• Resulted in them advising that 16,000 US forces could withdrawl by 1965.
• Kennedy publicly announced that 1000 would leave by date 1963.
• Nhu was negotiating with Hanoi confiriming the American conviction that he and Diem had to go.
• President Kennedy said there needed to be a change of government in Saigon.
• Debate about the wisdom of dumping Diem continued until the army generals coup occured on 2nd November 1963.
• After the coup Diem and Nhu fled the government bulidings.
• They were found dead the next day.
• Kennedy sending McNamara into Vietnam to report on the situation.
• Were prepared to be critical of Diem.
• Itinerary didctated by military in Vietnam. 
• Own unwillingness to admit that their earlier optimism had been unjustified everything was going well militarity. 

• ARVN ploptters now knew that they would have Americans unspoken support in their coup.
• While house did not wish 'Stimulate' a coup not 'thwart' one would help only any new regime. 

• Signing of the Paris accords.
• Few if any of the Vietnamese represntatives believed that this was the end of the struggle.
• Hanoi remianed determined to unify the counrty with Saigon.
• Saigon was determined to maintain itself as an independent state.
• Withdrawal of the US troops and return of pows were the obnly tongible gians.
• Rural areas of South Vaietnam had new struggles led by the NLF to consclidate its position.
• Them used the ARVN to destory and remove any unit of the PAVN/ ALF. 

• January 1961.
• Kennedy wanted to pass legislation in five key areas.
• Federal assistance to school.,
• Medical care for the elderly.
• Housing reforms.
• Aid to depressed areas.
• An increase in the minimum wage.

• Thought that a little bit of Vietnam was important. 
• The contemporany cold war content others believe with him.
• Kennedy confided to the NYT reporter.
• 'Now we have a problem in making our power crediable and vietnam is the place!'
• The JCS warned Kennedy that 'any reveral of US policy could have disastrous effects, not only on our relationship with south vietnam, but with the rest of our Asian and other allies as well'.

• JFK was sworn in as president on 20 January 1961
• He set himself the broad goals of his new frontier programme. 

• Confessed that wanted to domindite foreign personality self- effacing Rusk seemed a good choice.
• Rusk told a friend 'Kennedy and i simply found it impossible to communicate.

• 17,000 American advisters on Vietnam.
• Number of advisers wouldn't have gotten the US out of Vietnam.
• Kennedy had told one senator friend, ' i can't (get out) until 1965 after i'm re-ekected'.
• Kennedy's biographer James Giglio decribes Kennedy's formulation of that policy as a shambles at the crime of Kennedy's death.

• It wasn't until the summer of 63 that JFK paid attention to Vietnam.
• He was busy with other crisis.
• Rusk was more interested in the USA interest in Germany.
• Vietnam was left to Mcnamara that meant military solutions were thought of.

• This wasn't an issue.
• Report in 63 said how they would leave if the situation allowed - but the situation didn't allow.
• But US policy to protest indepence.
• Opposed to dipolmate solution - defeat insurgency.
• Kennedy didn't withdraw because he wanted to stay and defend Vietnam/

• He made withdrawal plan in 1962.
• Quiet withdrawal because it's not really justifeid unless south Vietnam got independence.
• April 13 war was going badly.
• Faith in Diem weakened.
• Public might support withdrawal.
• Sort out US own problems. 

• Kennedy's catholic family located communism.
• Anti-communist senator Joseph Mccarthy was a good friend of Kennedy's father and even dated the future president sister.
• Young democratic congress man, kennedy believed that the expastion of communism must be contained by America.
• Kennedy and Turman were both democrat's.
• Kennedy attacked president Truman for 'losing' China in 1549. 
• Kennedy believed in Elsenhower's domino theory.
• But, he criticised president Eisenhower for allowing the rise of communism in the newly emergment nations of the Third World.
• He considered the Third World to be the new cold war background.
• He critised French colonialism in Indochina.
• Kennedy believed that unless France gained independence, thwarted nationalism might turn the Indochinese to communism and the remainder of southeat Asia called wellfellow.

• Advisors- why increase? - 17,000.
• Recent coup - increased war effort.
• Superpower status.
• Laos failed.
• Not quick to withdraw.
• Opposition increasing. 

• What the report stated?

1. Military program in South vietnam had made progress over the last six months.

2. Major US support is only needed until the insurgency has been suppressed. 

The Kennedy administation was presented with a number of opportunities to reduce military escalation.

• The call for an international conference in 1962 by the vietminh, supported by China, on the neutrallisatle of Vietnam.
• The successful resolution by Kennedy of the Curban Missile crisis in late 1962, greatly increased his international presige and populararity with the American public.
• The Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam of 1963.

All these events presented the Kennedy administration with excellent opportunites to withdraw from South Vietnam and still retain the support of the US poltcians and public.

• At the beginning there were 800 US advisors.
• Days after JFK became president he upped.
• Finanical aid so Diem could increase his army. 
• JCS empasised counter insurgency.
• Diem continued to lose ground.
• Ocotber 61 JFK sent Maxwell Taylor to evulate military solutions.
• He felt counter insurgency would be effective by now.
• There was 2000 adviers in agaisnt 800-1000 troops.

• New frontier could ve judged as failure.
• He had asked for 23.8 billon over three years to help construct new schools and to increase teachers salaries.
• As a roman catholic, he was sensitive to the issue of catholic church schools.
• The firsat amendment of the US consition stated that the church was separate from the state. 
• This is so the assistance Bill didn't cover catholic schools.
• Health care for the elderly hadn't improved.
• JFK wanted to increase social security to 80.25%.

• The opposition of the Vietminh.
• Vietcong through out the period 1945-63 reveals at one level a struggle for self - determination and the right to independence for the french after the Genera confernence of 1954.
• The adminisations of both president Elisenhower and Kennedy viewed the struggle in the context of the coldwar.
• Both sought to contain the expansion of communism by paralllel and then sopporting the corrupt regime of Diem and eventually turning about what was a civil war between the North and South into a military conflict that could have been avoided.