Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire
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Transcript of Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire
Vietnam: Great Society to Great Quagmire
Lesson Objectives
• Describe and analyze the changes in the American home front and their impact on US conduct of the war prior to and after the Tet 1968 offensive.
• Describe and analyze the impact of technology in the Vietnam War.
• Describe and analyze the significance and history of the bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
• Be able to describe the Ho Chi Minh Trail and analyze its significance in the Vietnam War.
• Describe the operational and strategic significance of the Tet Offensive (1968) and analyze is impact on US foreign policy since.
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Phase I: Targeted state stronger militarily
Phase II: Rough military parity
Phase III: Revolution stronger than targeted state
• Revolutionaries avoid combat• Guerrilla war: raids, ambushes, sabotage, terrorism• Political conflict predominant
• Combined guerrilla and conventional war• Military and political conflict equally important
• Revolutionary forces go to totally conventional war• “General Offensive” linked to political “Great Uprising”
Review
Timeline
Mar 64 Secret CIA bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos began
• Civilian pilots (Air America) flying old U.S. aircraft
May 64 LBJ staff begins drafting Congressional support resolution
• Temporarily shelved due to lack of support in Senate
Summer 64 Guerilla warfare spreading throughout South Vietnam
• Now supported by NVA regulars
2-4 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Incident
7 Aug 64 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress
• Authorizes president to use force to protect U.S. forces
• President orders retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam
Review
LBJ’s Dilemma
“In later years [Johnson] lamented:
Source
... But if I left that war and let the communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser, and we would both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.’”
Joshua Zeitz"1964 - The Year the Sixties Began"American Heritage, October 2006
If I left the woman I really loved, the Great Society, in order to get involved in that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, I would lose everything at home. All my programs.
'I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved.
Review
Timeline
16 Oct 64 China explodes its first nuclear weapon
I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base
• First directt attack on Americans; five Gis killed
3 Nov 64 Lyndon Johnson elected to presidency
• Defeats Barry Goldwater by a landslide
Attacks on US Airfields
I Nov 64 VC attack Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigom• First direct attack on Americans; five Gis killed
6 Feb 65 VC attack US base at Pleiku (central Highlands)• Eight Americans killed, ten aircraft destroyed
7 Feb 65 President orders air strikes against North Vietnam• Operation Flaming Dart continues to 24 Feb 65
7 Mar 65 President authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder• Progressively escalating air attack against North Vietnam
• Dual military and political objectives
• Ran until 2 Nov 68
=> “send a message”
8 Mar 65
At LBJ’s order, Marines land at Da Nang• To protect airfield
Marines land at Da NangMarch 8, 1965
Expanding the War
( Full Speech: 0 – 21:08 )
July 28, 1965
Excerpt( click image )
Troop Levels
A Flashback in Time
August 22, 2013
( Lesson 2 )
Operation Desert Shield
General Schwarzkopf’s dilemma:
• Deploy fighting forces to defend Saudi Arabia?
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With limited mobility resources, do you first:
• Deploy logistics infrastructure to prepare for a bigger fight?
or
Review
Operation Desert Shield
General Schwarzkopf’s decision:
Deploy forces to defend Saudi Arabia
… and very aggressively!
(This would later have an adverse impact on the buildup of forces for an offensive capability)
Scott W. ConradMoving the Force: Desert Storm and Beyond, p. 26
dilemma:
Review
Operation Desert Shield
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“Some who questioned our policy in the Gulf felt this deployment was overkill, but General Norman Schwartzkopf had learned from Vietnam the problems of gradual escalation.”
Andrew Leyden“Summary of the Gulf War: Operation Desert Shield”Gulf War Debriefing BookGrants Pass, OR: Hellgate Press, 1997
* 22 Feb 1991Source: The Whirlwind War
What was different?
Vietnam: 1964 – 1968 (536,100 troops)
Gulf War: Aug 1990 - Jan-Mar 1991 (533,600 troops)*
Review
Buildup In Vietnam
Why was our buildup in Vietnam so slow?
Gradual escalation?
Vietnam: 1964 - 1968
Lack of infrastructure?
Probably a little of each!
Fear of Soviet or Chinese intervention?
(536,100 troops)
Gulf War: Aug 1990 - Jan-Mar 1991 (533,600 troops)
Vietnam: The Helicopter War
"What would we do [in Vietnam] without helicopters? We would be fighting a different war, for a smaller area, at a greater cost, with less effectiveness.
General William WestmorelandQuoted by Lieutenant General John J. Tolson, USAAirmobility 1961-1971, Chapter 13
We might as well-have asked: 'What would General Patton have done without his tanks?’”
The Helicopter War
Why did the U.S. Army adopt the Airmobile* doctrine?
* using helicopters to move forces around the battlefield
• Concept not specifically developed for Vietnam
• Conceived to move forces around an atomic battlefield
• Ideally suited for Southeast Asia
The Helicopter War
The problem in Vietnam is terrain — jungles, mountains, rivers. Maneuver's a nightmare. That's why we came up with a plan to use helicopters. Leap in and out of battle.
Dialogue from the movie “We Were Soldiers” (2002)
Battlefield Mobility
Battle of Ia Drang ValleyNovember 14–18, 1965
Battle of Ia Drang Valley
( 26:56)
November 14–18, 1965
Battle of Ia Drang Valley
( 5:03 )
November 14–18, 1965
Significance of Ia Drang
First employment of Airmobile concept
First major combat between US and NVA units
Communist shift from Phase I to Phase II in Strategy of Revolutionary War
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965: Phase I (guerilla warfare)
• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967: Phase II (combined guerilla & conventional warfare)
• Increased large unit actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
Timeline
7 Aug 64 Tonkin Gulf Resolution
2 Mar 65 8 Mar 65
1966-67
Spring 67
Early 1960’s NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing of North) begins
Marines land at Da Nang
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) increases pressure on South
Siege of Khe Sanh Begins
Siege of Khe SanhSpring 1967 - March 1968
Siege of Khe Sanh
YouTube
Timeline
7 Aug 64 Tonkin Gulf Resolution
2 Mar 65 8 Mar 65
1967
Spring 67
Early 1960’s NVA troops begin moving into South Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing of North) begins
Marines land at Da Nang
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) increases pressure on South
Siege of Khe Sanh Begins
Tet Offensive begins31 Jan 68
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965: Phase I (guerilla warfare)
• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967: Phase II (combined guerilla & conventional warfare)
• Increased large unit actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
1968 (early): Phase III (Tet Offensive) (conventional warfare)
Tet Offensive 1968
Country-wide combined VC & NVA offensive intended to inspire popular uprising
Began January 31, 1968
Attack on Khe Sanh began earlier as a diversion
Tet Offensive 1968
US Embassy Saigon attacked by VC
Tet Offensive 1968 Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
HuéThe Historic & Cultural Capital of Vietnam
Hué Citadel
In February 1966, LBJ asked Gen. Westmoreland, the US commander in Vietnam, what he would do next if he were the enemy commander
“Capture Hué,” Westmoreland immediately replied.
Almost two years to the day later, North Vietnam did just that
Tet Offensive 1968Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
HuéThe Historic & Cultural Capital of Vietnam
In February 1966, LBJ asked Gen. Westmoreland, the US commander in Vietnam, what he would do next if he were the enemy commander
“Capture Hué,” Westmoreland immediately replied.
Almost two years to the day later, North Vietnam did just that
Tet Offensive 1968Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
Tet Offensive 1968 Battle of Hué Jan 31- Mar 3 1968
Battle of Hué
Video Pt 2 - 9:09 Pt 4 - 9:10Pt 3 - 8:48 Pt 5 - 7:02
Tet Offensive 1968
Turning point of the war … politically
Saigon police chief executes Viet Cong TerroristPhotograph by Eddie Adams
Tet Offensive 1968
Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News anchor, visited Vietnam Feb1968
Post-Tet
Walter Cronkite
Upon his return to the US, Cronkite delivered an unprecedented editorial comment on this trip (February 27, 1968)
“To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.”
LBJ’s reply on hearing this: “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”
On March 31, 1968, President Johnson announced he would not seek re-election.
Source
Strategy of Revolutionary War
Timeline
1954-1965: Phase I (guerilla warfare)
• 1961-1965: Heated Politburo debate on transition
1965-1967: Phase II (conbined guerilla & conventional warfare)
• Increased large unit actions (Ia Drang, Khe Sanh)
1968 (mid): Phase II
1968 (early): Phase III (Tet Offensive) (conventional warfare)
• Military disaster (VC destroyed)• “General Uprising” did not occur • Strategic victory none the less
Vietnam: The Final Chapter
Lesson Objectives
• Understand the goals, provisions and consequences of President Nixon's Vietnamization policy.
• Describe the efforts of President Nixon to change global strategic alignments and the implications of his initiatives.
• Describe and analyze changes in the military situation in Vietnam from 1969 to 1973.
• Describe and assess the impact of US political developments from 1969 through 1975.
End