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Story of war
(Continued from Page 26)
the U.S. death toll since the
start of military aid to 30.
By April there were 12,000
U.S. advisers in Vietnam.
President Diem said he would
like the number cut. A U.S.
Defense Department spokes
man said the “corner has def
initely been turned toward
victory.”
A series of riots broke out in
South Vietnam in May and
snowballed through the au
tumn; a Buddhist priest dra
matized opposition to the
Diem regime by setting him
self afire in a Saigon street.
A new American ambassa
dor, Henry Cabot Lodge, ar
rived on the scene and began
to convey Washington pres
sures that Diem must reform
his government; specifically,
take much of the power out of
the hands of Diem’s brother,
Ngo Dinh Nhu.
On Oct. 31, Gen. Harkins
announced that 1,000 Ameri
can troops would be with
drawn by year’s end. The next
day, a military coup led by
high-ranking military officers
threw out Diem. Both the
president and his brother
were assassinated.
On Nov. 22 in Dallas, Presi
dent Kennedy was assassi
nated. President Lyndon
Johnson, two days later, af
firmed continued U.S. sup
port for South Vietnam.
1964
A series of government re
alignments and struggles
weakened Vietnam’s infra
structure while Communist
terrorism increased.
By midyear, the total of
U.S. advisers jumped to
21 000.
On Aug. 4, the USS Maddox
and USS Turner Joy were at
tacked by North Vietnamese
patrol boats in the Gulf of
Tonkin. President Johnson or
dered retaliatory bombing of
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gunboats and supporting fa
cilities in North Vietnam.
Congress approved the Gulf
of Tonkin resolution, pledging
full support for U.S. forces in
Southeast Asia.
Political squabbling con
tinued among Saigon generals
and tension mounted between
Saigon and Washington.
On Christmas Eve, Com
munist terrorists bombed the
Brink Hotel officers’ billet in
downtown Saigon, killing two
Americans and wounding 52.
The year ended with 23,000
American troops in Vietnam
and the announcement that
2,000 South Korean troops
would be sent to Saigon.
1965
After Viet Cong attacks at
Pleiku airfield — killing eight
and wounding 109 Americans
— President Johnson ordered
air attacks on North Vietnam
ese military targets. The
United States also com
menced to bomb Viet Cong
concentrations inside South
Vietnam with jet aircraft.
Two battalions of U.S.
Marines were sent to Da
Nang.
A flurry of peace hints came
from Hanoi and on April 7,
President Johnson said the
United States was ready to
begin talks to end the war. He
offered a $1 billion aid pro
gram for Southeast Asia.
U.S. dollar and troop com
mitment escalated dramatic
ally with the total hitting
180,000 troops by the end of the
year. Bombing of the north
continued with sporadic halts
to assess peace feelers.
1966
In his State of the Unicm
message, President Johnson
said the United States would
remain in Vietnam until the
aggression ceased. Later in
the same month he requested
supplemental funds totaling
$12.76 billion for Vietnam war
expenses.
On March 5, Gen. Maxwell
Taylor proposed mining Hai
phong harbor — but no such
action was taken at that time.
In April the United States
began to use B-52s to bomb
Communist targets in North
and South Vietnam.
At midyear, Secretary of
Defense Robert McNamara
announced U.S. troop
strength at 215,000 with 20,000
additional forces en route.
While attending the Manila
conference in October, Presi
dent Johnson made a surprise
visit to U.S. installations at
Cam Ranh Bay. He praised
the troops and pledged full
support.
Although peace feelers con
tinued through a variety of
channels, the fighting in
creased sharply in this year.
U.S. troop strength reached
389,000, with American com
bat deaths totaling 6,644 and
wounded, 37,738.
1967
Fighting in South Vietnam,
bombing of the north, jockey
ing for peace all continued.
Elections were held in South
Vietnam, with Nguyen Van
Thieu winning the presidency
with 35 per cent of the vote.
President Johnson an
nounced on Aug. 3 that he had
authorized the ceiling on U.S.
troops in South Vietnam to be
raised to 525,000.
The Senate Foreign Rela
tions Committee held hear
ings on U.S. commitment to
Vietnam. Undersecretary of
State Nicholas Katzenbach
testified that the Gulf of Ton
kin resolution gave President
Johnson authority to use
armed forces, making formal
declaration of war unneces
sary.
Secretary McNamara, in
testimoney before a Senate
preparedness subcommittee,
said there was no reason to
believe North Vietnam could
be “bombed to the negotiating
table” and argued against
further expansion of the war.
Debate on the bombing in
tensified in Washington and in
world capitals.
1968
The Tet offensive began on
Jan. 30 with Communist at
tacks on major South Viet
namese cities. In Saigon, the
Viet Cong temporarily in
vaded the grounds of the U.S.
Embassy.
After intense fighting and
heavy casualties, South Viet
namese forces recaptured the
palace grounds of the citadel
at Hue. Widespread evidence
of Communist atrocities was
found.
On March 31, after more
peace attempts, President
Johnson announced he had or
dered cessation of all air and
naval bombardment of North
Vietnam except in the area
around the DMZ up to the 20th
parallel. He also announced
that he would neither seek nor
accept presidential renomi
nation, stressing he would de
vote his time toward the
search for peace.
After a month of contact
with North Vietnam, Presi
dent Johnson announced in
May that the United States
had agreed to meet in Paris
for preliminary peace talks.
Richard M. Nixon received
the Republican Party presi
dential nomination in August
and said he would run on a
platform of progressive de-
Americanization of the war
and an honorable peace.
Ten days before the presi
dential election in the United
States, President Johnson an
nounced the United States
would cease “all air, naval
and artillery bombardment of
North Vietnam as of Nov. 1.”
President Thieu in Saigon
stated that the United States
had taken the action unilater
ally.
There
were 543,000 American troops
on duty in South Vietnam
when Richard M. Nixon was
sworn into office as the 37th
president of the United States
on Jan. 20, 1969.
Antiwar pressures were
building across the nation and
frustrations were mounting
among most Americans at
home over the prolonged war.
Looking on at the Presi
dent’s oath-taking were 192
Medal of Honor winners to re
mind him and the country of
the intensity of the fighting in
Southeast Asia.
In his inaugural address,
Mr. Nixon quoted the hope of
Isaiah that the nations “shall
beat their swords into plow
shares.”
An ensuing period of hope
fulness was short-lived.
A week before the inaugu
ration, the long debate over
the shape of the negotiating
table at the Paris peace talks
had finally been resolved; it
would be round.
A new word — “Vietnami
zation” — was introduced to
the American public.
South Vietnamese Premier
Tran Van Huong said he felt
confident that his country
could carry on with fewer
American troops. He pro
posed that “gradual, phased
withdrawal” of U.S. troops at
a rate of 20,000 per month.
The bombing of Vietnam
had been halted since Nov. 1,
1968.
But the Communists were
unrelenting on the battlefield
and stubborn at the confer
ence table. By March, 1969,
Mr. Nixon said there is “no
prospect for a reduction of
American forces in the fore
seeable future,” and “the war
will be settled in private
rather than in public.”
On March 29, U.S. dead in
Vietnam reached 33,641, ex
ceeding the toll of 33,629 in the
Korean War.
The Nixon years of the Viet
nam drama had begun.
1969
In his first television report
to the nation, Mr. Nixon in
May presented an eight-point
Vietnam peace plan calling
for mutual withdrawal of
most of U.S. and North Viet
namese forces and exchange
of all prisoners. Training of
the South Vietnamese army
was improving, the President
said, and they could now
“take over some of the fight
ing fronts.”
On June 8, Mr. Nixon met at
Midway Island with South
Vietnam’s President Nguyen
Van Thieu. Mr. Nixon an
nounced that 25,000 American
troops would be withdrawn by
Aug. 1.
The Nixon Doctrine for
gradual American disengage
ment from Asia was outlined
in a news conference on the
U.S. Pacific island of Guam.
The doctrine’s three princi
ples were the maintaining of
all treaty commitments, pro
viding a nuclear shield if a nu
clear nation threatened the
freedom of an ally, and the
expectation that in smaller
wars the nation concerned
would provide the necessary
manpower for its own de
fense.
A “Vietnam Moratorium
Day” in October brought out
the largest number of demon
strators ever to protest the
war, but the President was on
record that “under no cir
cumstances will I be affected
whatsoever and that no gov
ernment policy is to be made
in the streets.”
In a November television
appeal for unity, the Presi
dent disclosed a summer
peace appeal he had made to
North Vietnamese President
Ho Chi Minh (Ho died Sept. 3,
1969.)
In December, with the
year’s 60,000-man pullout
completed and the troop level
down to 479,500, the President
announced that a further
50,000 men would be with
drawn from Vietnam by April
15.
1970
“We finally have in sight
the just peace we are seek
ing,” President Nixon said in
an April 20 statement. “We
can now say with confidence
... the South Vietnamese can
develop the capability for
their own defense.”
Mr. Nixon also said that he
planned to withdraw 150,000
more troops in the following
year, which would lower the
troop level to 284,000.
But there were some dis
turbing developments in other
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Indochina areas that affected
the Vietnam war. Early in the
year the North Vietnamese
army swept across the Plain
of Jars in Laos and secured
control of the area.
In the spring, Lt. Gen. Lon
Nol led a bloodless coup in
Cambodia which ousted neu
tralist chief of state Prince
Norodom Sihanouk. The
bouncy Cambodian prince
took up exile in China but
vowed to return.
At the end of April, with the
situation in Cambodia deteri
orating after the Lon Nol
coup, President Nixon an
nounced a major U.S. and
South Vietnamese offensive
into Cambodia. The White
House described it as “not an
invasion” but an “incursion”
because of North Vietnamese
control of sanctuaries.
Protests over the Cambodi
an action fueled new domestic
protest. Four students were
killed and 11 wounded by Ohio
National Guardsmen at Kent
State University.
Senate committee testimo
nies revaled that the United
States was paying Thailand
SSO million a year for the ser
vices of a Thai combat divi
sion in South Vietnam and
that more than $1 billion had
been paid to South Korea over
five years for that nation’s
50,000-man combat force in
South Vietnam.
In October the President
proposed a five-point peace
plan calling for a “cease-fire
in place” and the release of all
prisoners. Hanoi turned down
the plan, calling it “deceit
ful.”
American concern over the
fate of the POWs was re
flected in a Nov. 21-22 com
mando raid on the Son Tay
prisoner camp west of Hanoi.
An estimated 400 Air Force
and Navy planes hit North
Vietnam in the heaviest raids
since the 1968 bombing halt to
act as diversion for the com
mando raid. But, the Ameri
can prisoners had been re
moved from the camp and the
50 commandos came back
empty-handed.
On Christmas Eve, North
Vietnam released a “final and
definitive” list of 339 U.S.
Page 27
— Griffin Daily News Wednesday, November 22, 1972
prisoners, plus names of 20
who had reportedly died and
20 who were returned. Ten
known prisoner-airmen were
not included on the list and
none of the 412 missing-in-ac
tion was included.
1971
In February, aiming once
again at supply base sanctu
aries outside South Vietnam’s
borders, Saigon troops
launched a 21,000-man incur
sion into the Laotian pan
handle. They were supported
by U.S. air, artillery and lo
gistics troops from bases in
side South Vietnam.
By mid-March, the South
Vietnamese fought their way
back inside their own borders
in the face of severe resis
tance from North Vietnamese
forces.
U.S. hopes for a “model
democratic exercise” evapor
ated when Gen. Duong Van
“Big” Minh and Vice Presi
dent Nguyen Cao Ky with
drew from the South Viet
namese presidential race,
leaving President Thieu unop
posed.
In July President Nixon
stunned the world with the an
nouncement that he intended
to visit Peking before the fol
lowing May. A later an
nouncement of his intent to
visit Moscow caused diplo
matic ripples throughout the
world.
In October, the Peoples Re
public of China was admitted
to the United Nations while
presidential adviser Henry
Kissinger was in Peking dis
cussing the presidential visit
plans.
The overtures to Peking and
continued efforts at the Paris
peace talks bore scant results
in terms of a winding down of
the Communist pressures on
the ground in Vietnam.
On the day before Christ
mas, Air Force and Navy
planes began five days of
massive raids against a North
Vietnamese military buildup.
The raids revived domestic
criticism of U. S. involvement
in the war.
1972
The President, sticking to
his timetable, announced that
70,000 more troops would be
withdrawn over the next three
months, bringing the author
ized troop strength to 69,000
by May 1.
In a Jan. 25 nationwide ad
dress, the President an
nounced a secret eight-point
peace plan that he had sent to
North Vietnam via the Paris
talks on Oct. 11,1971. Included
in the package was an offer of
$7.5 billion for reconstruction
in Indochina, with $2.5 billion
of that earmarked for North
Vietnam. Mr. Nixon also an
nounced that Kissinger had
held 12 secret meetings in
Paris with North Vietnamese
diplomats from Aug. 4, 1969,
to Aug. 16, 1971,without any
notable progress.
President Nixon visited
China in February and re
turned to find the Paris talks
stalled by Hanoi. On March 23
the United States suspended
the Paris talks indefinitely.
North Vietnam’s reply was
an open invasion across the
demilitarized zone, the big
gest attack since 1968. Later
the Communists opened two
other major fronts in the of
fensive.
In April large-scale U.S. air
support of South Vietnamese
defenders was climaxed with
raids on the Hanoi area and
Haiphong harbor (including
laying of mines) against
“military targets and fuel de
pots.” Moscow protested that
a Soviet freighter was dam
aged in Haiphong harbor.
On April 17 Hanoi asked for
a halt in the bombing and a
return to the Paris conference
table. Secretary of State Wil
liam Rogers said there could
be no peace negotiations
“while this major invasion is
under way.”
The White House switched
signals and reopened the
Paris talks on April 27 and al
so commenced a fresh round
of secret talks with Kissinger
scurrying back and forth be
tween Paris and Washington
in a patter that continued
through the November elec
tion campaign.
With U.S. troop strength
dropping further — an Aug. 29
announcement cut a further
12,000 men which would leave
only 27,000 Gls in South Viet
nam by Dec. 1— the remain
ing military options were few.
Continued pounding of
North Vietnam from the air
and continued sealing of
North Vietnamese ports were
used as levers in hopes Hanoi
would come to terms at Paris
or in the secret talks.
The President has made it
unmistakable that he has no
intention of abandoning the
air war or blockade of harbors
until Hanoi budges in the ne
gotiations.
He told a news conference
Aug. 29:
“Unless there is progress on
the negotiations front which is
substantial, there will be no
reduction of the bombing of
North Vietnam and there will
be no lifting of the mining.”
In Saigon President Thieu
said he would step down after
free elections were held but
balked at the idea of a coali
tion government with the
Communists as part of a set
tlement.
On Oct. 26 Kissinger said
“peace is at hand in Viet
nam,” and requested one final
meeting with Hanoi to work
out final details.
Kissinger said President
Thieu had indicated he would
accept a cease-fire and said
that remaining difficulties be
tween Saigon and Washington
could be worked out in three
or four days — the same time
frame as the last meeting he
had with Hanoi.
A THANK
YOU NOTE
..The Calhoun family wish
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