Vietnam

Chapter 1: The War Nobody Won

• Vietnam had influence on later administrations' foreign policy decisions
  • Carter administration decisions not to block revolutionary movements (Angola, Ethiopia, Iran)
  • After bombing in Beirut, Reagan withdrew forces - lesson learned from Vietnam
  • Grenada - "comic" operation allowing appearance of showing force without risk of getting bogged down in large conflict
  • American public rebuffed Central America communists - avoid another Vietnam in Central America

• Lyndon Johnson - reluctant to go into Vietnam, tiptoed in
• Contrast to Bush in Iraq:

Thus Bush assembled a force that, combined with that of its allies, numbered more than six hundred thousand - larger than the U.S. military machine in Vietnam at its peak.

"There's so much at stake," he said. "Are we willing to die for oil? Are we willing to sacrifice our kids for the sake of stimulating our economy? We're still paying dearly for Vietnam."

- Bill Fournier, former policeman in Auburn, Maine, imploring Congress

• Differences between Vietnam and Gulf War... but parallels, too
  • No clear purpose
  • Failure to define concept behind attack
  • Unclear whether victory vital to US interests, or of illusory importance

• Vietnam reconstruction - daunting task; broken economy, broken social structure, exhausted population
• Civil war tore families apart, over 1 million fled abroad

"We should have heeded the old Chinese adage: 'You can conquer a country from horseback, but you cannot govern it from horseback.'"

- Tran Bach Dang, top Communist party adviser

"This is still very much a feudal society, whatever its ideological labels."

- Dr. Duong Quynh Hoa, physician

• Following Vietnam war, Russian technicians sent to improve railroads, build power plants, etc.
• "Vietnamese lamented the Russians as 'Americans without dollars.'"

Rejecting an urgent appeal for help, Moscow cables Vietnam: "Tighten your belts." To which Vietnam replies: "Send belts."

• The US commitment to the region dated back to 1950, when President Truman decided to help the French retain their hold over Indochina to block Chinese Communist expansion.