Newspaper Page Text
— Griffin Daily News Wednesday, November 22, 1972
Page 26
Story of a war
By EDWARD NEILAN
Copley News Service
WASHINGTON - The
United States’ bet with history
has been that Southeast Asia
is important and that the in
dependence of South Vietnam
crucially affects that region.
The definition of a great
power is related not only to its
actions but to cases in which it
declines to act.
At every stage in the initial
escalation in the Vietnam
story, it seemed clear to the
leadership of the United
States that inaction would
have had the gravest effects.
Historians now at work and
others yet unborn will be
probing the validity of Ameri
can assumptions and actions
in Vietnam for years to come.
The Vietnam story is above
all a product of Vietnamese
aspirations and decisions. In
the early period of French
colonialism, the decisions
from Paris were crucial.
The first U.S. decisions af
fecting Vietnam came in 1945.
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt believed that
French colonial control in In
dochina should not be re
stored, and this attitude led
Washington to adopt in the
closing months of the war
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against Japan what the
French have always charac
terized as an obstructive atti
tude toward their return as
colonial masters.
The United States flirted
briefly with Ho Chi Minh as an
asset against the Japanese,
but declined to follow up with
the relationships established
with Ho’s coterie.
After the French returned,
the United States stood aside.
In the critical year 1946 and
over the next few years, the
French first made the Foun
tainbleau agreement and then
broke it. A major conflict be
gan, with Indochinese nation
alists fighting the French.
It has been argued that the
United States could have ex
erted greater pressure on the
French to go through with the
Fountainbleau agreement
which would have set Viet
nam on the path to early inde
pendence as a generally
united country. This failure to
exert such pressure may be
construed by some historians
as a negative policy decision
which had severe ramifica
tions.
Another period of American
decision began in 1950, just
before U.S. involvement in
the defense of South Korea
against Soviet-inspired ag-
gression.
The Communists had just
taken control in China and en
tered into the 1950 alliance
with the Soviet Union. Com
munism at that time ap
peared to American policy
makers as something ap
proaching a monolith.
U.S. policy saw the French
stand in Indochina as part of a
global attempt to repel Com
munist military adventures.
William P. Bundy, assistant
secretary of state for East
Asian and Pacific affairs in
President Lyndon Johnson’s
administration, said of the pe
riod:
“In essence we acted on two
lines of policy between 1950
and 1954. On one hand, eco
nomic and growing military
assistance to the French; on
the other hand, steady urging
that the French proceed rap
idly to grant real indepen
dence to Indochina, both for
its own sake and as the best
means of preventing Commu
nist control.”
Another period of American
decision — or lack of it — was
in the framing of the 1954
Geneva accords, following the
French defeat at Dien Bien
Phu. The United States played
mostly a background role at
Geneva, with the accords be
ing written mainly by North
Vietnam, China and the Soviet
Union on the one hand and the
French on the other.
The United States did not
sign the accords but indorsed
a protocol which said we
would view any aggression in
violation of the accords with
grave concern and that we
took the same position on
Vietnam that we took in other
■ nations now divided against
their will.”
In July, 1954, a new national
entity came into being in
South Vietnam with what ap
peared at the time to be extra
ordinarily small chances of
survival.
At the last minute, the
French — with some Ameri
can pressure — installed the
staunchly nationalist Ngo
Dinh Diem as prime minister.
This tidying up was done,
according to the best accounts
of the period, with the expec
tation that Diem would at
least last while the French
could make their exit with
some semblance of grace and
then let nature take its course.
The next set of American
decisions came against this
backdrop and in fact over
lapped part of the Geneva
conference.
The first aspect of these de
cisions was the leading U.S.
role in the formation of the
Southeast Asia Treaty Orga
nization, signed into being in
Manila in September, 1954,
and ratified by the U.S. Sen
ate in February, 1955, by a
vote of 82 to 1.
Under the SEATO pact,
South Vietnam and its territo
ry were specifically included
as a “protocol state” and the
signatories specifically ac
cepted the obligation — if
asked by Saigon — to take ac
tion in response to armed at
tack.
The second aspect of this set
of U.S. decisions evolved in
late 1954 when President
Dwight Eisenhower com
mitted the United States to
furnish economic support to
South Vietnam. Then in early
1955, without any formal
statement, the United States
began to take over the job of
military assistance, acting
within the numerical and
equipment limitations stated
in the Geneva accords for for
eign military aid. In short, the
United States in this period
moved into a major support
ing role in Vietnam.
The Geneva accords called
for free elections throughout
Vietnam in 1956. But, Diem
and a considerable segment of
American advice judged that
the voting would not be free.
One such voice was that of
the then junior senator from
Massachusetts, John F.
Kennedy, who categorically
rejected "an election obvious
ly stacked and subverted in
advance, urged upon us by
those who have already bro
ken their pledges under the
agreements they now seek to
enforce."
The south never partici
pated in the elections. But, the
promise of progress under
Diem was not fulfilled and
discontent grew.
On July 8, 1959, as Commu
nist sabotage and subversion
increased throughout South
Vietnam, a Communist ter
rorist squad broke into a rec
reation barracks at Bien Hoa
Air Base, near Saigon.
Machine gun bullets sprayed
the room and two American
advisers were killed. They
were the first American casu
alties in what was to become
the most lengthy and contro
versial war in American his
tory.
Throughout 1960 several at
tempts were made to get
Diem to liberalize his govern
ment and also to step down.
He refused and narrowed the
base of his rule. During 1960,
the American Military Advi-
Thurs., Fri., Sat.
Double Feature
(R)
"THE HARD
ROAD"
"MALAMONDO”
Last Times Tonight
Double Feature
"STANLEY”
"NIGHYMARE
IN WAX”
LWt '
jHrin m u*p' e - saeer
-W* 1 *
/
Directed by PIERRE
«MR»l»U«Har| MSM®
Now Showing IUDCDIAI
Regular Show and Matinee IlnrulilflL
June 7 ‘SO
sends M
group to
May . jL? \ w fIKR
Dien Bien Phu falls to Ho
Chi Minh. <■ , ’ ■ F1 F
* og . .1 -M w 7X
French-Indochina 8-yeor war Dee. '6l
ends; Viet na m divided at Pres. Kennedy declares U.S. is pre- [ Nov. 1-2 63
17th Parallel. pared to help S. Vietnam "preserve I Diem government falls, Diem
independence." U.S. forces in and brother Ngo Dinh Nhu
Vietnam at 3,200. killed. U.S. forces ot 17,000.
* Dec. '62
US- forces at 11,300; I .
deaths at 65.
Aug. 4 '64
Gulf of Tonkin incident; Pres. Johnson orders bombing of N.
Vietnamese bases. U.S. forces at 18,000. 7 '65 Dec '65
U.S. bombs forces 184,300;
I bases after Viet Cong at- deaths at 1,738
'X. tv I tack on U.S base at Pleiku
\ Dec. '66 F ■-
. . US forces at 385,300 ■ .
‘ deaths at 6,053.
March 31 '6B
P'es Johnson he
W p won’t run for
■''JR. -lune 23 '6B
Vietnam becomes longest oar
Dec. '67 ■■ Wk
U.S. farces at 485,600; J
deaths at 11,058.
Jan.-Feb. '6B
N. Vietnamese s - * ■- Ay,-. -■« 'StCT*
launch Tet Offen ; M '*'> ' A
sive, 350,000 refu y '
S Sept. 3 '69 j an > 69 >69
Bs *. Ho Chi Minh us troop strength reaches Peace talks begin
I July
I Pres Nixon announces troop
sory Group was increased
from 327 to 685 and then, by
year’s end, to 900.
The Communists an
nounced at the end of 1960 the
formal organization of the
National Front for Liberation
of South Vietnam (NFLSV) or
the Viet Cong.
This was the situation as
1961 dawned with new chal
lenges for the United States,
and a new president in the
White House.
1961
Disturbed by Communist
activity in Laos and Vietnam,
President Kennedy dis
patched a number of fact
finding missions to Saigon.
Among them was one led by
Gen. Maxwell Taylor, whose
recommendations ultimately
led to the increase of U.S. ad
visory forces in the country to
3,000 by the end of the year.
1962
In February, with U.S.
forces now up to 4,000 the
White House announced that a
reorganized military com
mand in Saigon would be set
up. Gen. Paul Harkins was
named to head the U.S. Mili
tary Assistance Command,
Vietnam.
The same month, Robert
Kennedy visited Saigon and
stated that U.S. troops would
remain in the country until
the Viet Cong were defeated.
Amid increasing U.S. press
criticism of the Diem regime.
Communist terrorist attacks
increased. U.S. military
strength went up to 5,400 at
midyear and to 11,300 by De
cember.
In May, Kennedy dis
patched American troops to
Thailand due to deteriorating
situation in Laos; the Geneva
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conference on Laos ended in
July with a declaration of
neutrality.
1963
The year began with the
disastrous battle of Ap Bac in
the delta with South Viet
namese troops performing
poorly. Three American ad
visers were killed, bringing
(Continued on Page 27)