US Military Approaches In Vietnam

“Vietnamization” aimed to end of U.S. 's involvement in the war and "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam 's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role.”

In the first essay Fear, Ambition, and Politics by Robert Dallek, he talks about the way that the United States started to really conflict with Vietnam and how some of Lyndon Johnson’s issues led the U.S. into it. One thing was clear and it was that Lyndon Johnson did not want communism to spread. Johnson’s advisors would continuously report to him that things were starting to become more serious in Saigon. Johnson did not want to send troops though, saying the he would “not permit the independent nations of the East to be swallowed up by Communist conquest, and it would not mean sending American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing themselves.” Clearly his word did not last though. Dallek seems to have a rather negative view of Johnson because he wasn’t taking the precautionary steps to prevent certain events, and he could not keep his word. Johnson seemed to disagree with his own actions about what we should do in Vietnam because it was so unpredictable. He did not want American involvement, but the pressure ended up getting the best of him. He sent one of his advisors, McGeorge Bundy, to Vietnam to talk about what we should do to help alleviate South Vietnam. Bundy thought that U.S. action was a must or “defeat would be inevitable and there is still time to turn it around.” Johnson then decided to start bombing the North on February 8th, but he was not pleased with having to make this decision. This is known as the Rolling

Following his inauguration, Nixon ordered the compilation of National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM 1) titled “Situation in Vietnam”. The Nixon administration subsequently devised policies to accelerate the transition of the lion's share of the defense of South Vietnam from U.S. forces to South Vietnamese armed forces control. The plan centered on using a three-phased approach and established a timetable for withdraw as well as redefining the mission of U.S. troops from defeating the enemy to providing maximum assistance.

In total 234 men killed and more than 250 wounded in just four days and nights, in LZ X-ray alone, was a brutal reality for the American forces. For the Americans, President Lyndon Johnson ordered Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara to Saigon to meet with Maj. Gen. Harry W.O. Kinnard, and by LTC Moore, by President Johnson. He received a brief and opinions from them and returned to Washington D.C. He then informed President Johnson that the United States had two options, solve the conflict diplomatically or give General Westmoreland the additional 200,000 troops he had been requesting and that the North Vietnamese forces had not only met, but also exceeded our escalation. The President and his council considered the options for two days before voting unanimously in favor of further escalation of the war. (Galloway) General Westmoreland concluded that every American killed was equal to twelve NVA soldiers killed. He decided that a war of attrition was the best way to break the spirit of the North Vietnamese Army. Unfortunately, that strategy was a failure. The death toll of the North Vietnamese soldiers was compensated by the high birth rates in North Vietnam. American forces did not come close to killing enough NVA to have a great impact on the war. Every year, new draftees into the NVA filled the ranks of the deceased. On the positive side, the Americans learned the value of air mobility operations. The

With the free hand recently provided by Congress, Johnson presumed that escalation would help to protect his soldiers. He ordered the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy to begin an intense series of air strikes called “Operation Rolling Thunder”. He hoped that the bombing campaign would demonstrate to the South Vietnamese the U.S. commitment to their cause, and its resolve to halt the spread of Communism. Ironically, the air raids seemed only to increase the number of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army attacks.

Johnson appointed one of the army's most distinguished officers, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, as commander U.S. MACV. Westmoreland immediately asked for more men, and by the end of 1964 U.S. personnel in the South exceeded 23,000 (Anderson, 1999). Johnson and his administration remained persistent in their advances to stop the spread of communism. The war continued with ground and air attacks with many deaths from both sides. However, the Vietcong remained in power throughout many areas of South Vietnam. The war continued to be a stalemate with continued fighting and over 485,600 U.S. troops in Vietnam without much advancement (Anderson, 1999). Many other nations including Poland and Great Britain, offered proposals intended to facilitate negotiations (Anderson, 1999). These formulas typically called upon the United States and DRV to coordinate mutual reduction of their military activities in South Vietnam, both sides firmly resisted even interim compromises with the other (Anderson, 1999).

He and the group had 3 options to deal with the pressing Vietnam Issues. The first option was to continue with the current approach of soldiers and methods in Vietnam. The second option was to escalate the war entirely and direct bombs to North Vietnam. Alternatively, the third option was to follow a series of graduated response in the area to efficiently sustain resources. After discussion between Johnson and the ITF, they fell on the option of a series of graduated response in Vietnam. The first phase in their approach was named “Operation Barrel Roll” and in this phase they decided to bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a supply route running through Laos and Cambodia controlled by the North Vietnamese (Campbell, n.pag.). Johnson’s next move was named “Rolling Thunder” where Aircraft Carriers were put into the South China Sea to expand their influence in the area and start to put pressure onto the North Vietnamese with airstrikes and bombings. This operation was escalated as a retaliatory fight due to the Viet Cong’s attack on the U.S. base named Pleiku (History.com, n.pag.). Johnson had to deal with how he would go about fighting communism in Vietnam and trying to keep both his people happy and being efficient at stopping

Up until this event Johnson’s foreign policy was quite similar to Kennedy’s, whereas after the resolution his new foreign policies deepened the U.S. involvement in Vietnam to a much larger extent. The effects could be seen shortly after the resolution, as immediate increases in military assistance were ordered, causing some 25,000 American combat troops in Vietnam by 1964. Additionally, by the spring of 1965 there were constant American aerial raids on North Vietnam, which was a part of an operation, called “Rolling Thunder”. Johnson and his advisors greatly supported this operation in the hope of damaging North Vietnam’s war-making infrastructure and its lines of supply. This operation which emerged from the Tonkin resolution also set Johnson’s foreign policy apart from Kennedy’s. It was the first sustained U.S. military operation in Vietnam, which demonstrated Johnson’s greater military commitment to Vietnam. This trend of continuously sending more and more American troops continued, which can be clearly seen when Johnson finally decided in July of 1965 for an open-ended military commitment. Johnson was able to completely Americanize the war and rush thousands of ground troops into Vietnam. This can be especially seen when comparing the maximum number of Kennedy’s military advisors of 16,000 by November 1963 with Johnson’s 500,000 American troops in Vietnam by 1968. Although

The Gulf of Tonkin was passed in 1964 and gave President Johnson authorization. It launched America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. It was a negative because citizens wouldn’t agree on it, and because of this there was not a lot of funding for the war. Operation Rolling Thunder is a bombing campaign over North Vietnam to soften up the enemy, but it has also killed a lot of kids and women and animals and also destroyed a lot of jungle and native plant life. The tunnels and traps (also known as rat

On March 30th of 1972 North Vietnam launched the Easter Offensive invasion, which was a conventional invasion of the south. At a time when only 95,000 American troops remained on South Vietnam soil (only 6,000 combat troops), the North saw this as a great time to launch this attack, combined with the fact Nixon had been reasoned with on the subject of not putting more American troops into Vietnam. They also felt a time crunch with recent negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam's major allies. The timing of the invasion was to coincide with the beginning of the American presidential campaign, hoping to strike a decisive blow that would cripple Nixon similar to what had been done to Johnson. This would offer the North Vietnamese the upper hand they were struggling to regain, they wanted to negotiate a settlement as an end result. They would take aim at ARVN forces, to make certain Vietnamization appeared to be a joke and put to an end. This would also allow the NLF offensive control of the countryside, pacification disruption, while strengthening its position prior to the final peace negotiations.

In 1960s, the US was faced with another crisis of communist expansion in the war between North and South Vietnam. The Kennedy Administration decided to further pursue their containment strategy out of fear being seen by the international community as weak towards communism. During the Johnson Administration, an attack against American vessels that happened in the Gulf of Tonkin led to President Johnson being granted the ability to conduct broad military operations without congressional approval. The American public began to largely oppose American intervention in Vietnam because the optimistic statements made by the government ran contradictory to the reports of the violent fighting by American news outlets. During the Nixon administration, the US switched to a policy, later known as Vietnamization, where the main goal was to strengthen the South Vietnamese forces and provide them with better armaments so they can better defend themselves. Vietnamization proved to be ineffective as the South Vietnamese forces were unable to hold their own against the North without US air support as proven during Operation Lam Son 719 and the Easter Offensive. The signing of the Paris Peace Accords officially ended US involvement in the Vietnam War. The US followed containment policies during beginning of the war due to the underlying fear of the spread of communism and since the policies were inherited from previous

During the 1950s, US advisors were sent to French Indochina or what is South Vietnam (Eckhardt, 1991:6). Because of many internal conflicts with the North trying to take over the South, U.S. increased their involvement in Vietnam in the 1960s, nearly quadrupling the number of American troops in South Vietnam during 1961 and in 1962 (Hayes, 2014). The US continued to deepen its involvement, so that by the end of 1964 the Gulf of Tonkin resolution gave the President the authority to assign massive

Based on the books we were provided about the Vietnam War, I wanted to focus on the relationship the Americans and NVA had with the ARVNs. More specifically, I wanted to examine how the ARVNs relationship with both sides of the war shaped our perception of the Vietnam War. I was inspired not only for personal reasons but to also see it through the lenses of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in South Vietnam.

The importance of studying history is to understand the lessons learned from the past, so that they are not repeated in the future. In the case of the Vietnam War, there are distinct messages that are taught to everyone. To fully understand them requires looking at diplomatic negotiations, Presidential leadership and cultural / social contexts. Together, these elements will highlight how critical mistakes can be avoided.

The Vietnam War will always be thought of as the perfect example of the cardinal rule, "Never underestimate your opponent." One offensive tactic of this war falls directly into this category; The Spring Offensive. Better known as the Eastertide offensive, this offensive effort took place years after the war started. Troops were beginning to fall back and only Marine Corps and the U.S. Army remained for the last push to complete "Vietnamization", or to take as much territory, supplies, and troops in Vietnam. According to Kenny Hickman, museum professional and military historian, this offensive tactic was executed to, "...move forward as a victory could influence the 1972 US presidential election as well improve the North's bargaining position at the peace talks in Paris. " While this would be beneficial for the North Vietnam warfront, this tactic was also going to be used as a political stunt, just as many war tactics are. This leads many to believe that this offensive tactic was not created to win the war indefinitely, but to eliminate vast amounts of the United States Army, and for North Vietnam to recover lost territories. The North moved many soldiers into the Demilitarized Zone and had their sights on one thing, the weakest link in the enemy forces near Camp Carroll, the strongest obstacle to the North so far.