University Daily Kansan
Friday, January 26,1973
5
30 Years of War Plague Vietnam
Editor's Note: The following chronology of the Vietnam War attempts to place the United States' pending disengagement from Vietnam in historical perspective.
By LINDA K. SCHILD
Kansan Staff Writer
Vietnam has been a battleground of Asian nationalists and foreign ideologists for the past 30 years. The United States has been involved in the Vietnamese' struggles for only a decade but, as time magazine citizens have become veterans of this war.
Southeastern Indochina was under French control from 1893 until the Japanese occupied the area during World War II. The French first were allowed to keep arms to maintain order in their colony, but were eventually attacked by the Japanese. They were captured in 1927 and Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap, resisted the Japanese with guerrilla warfare.
Sept. 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence and established a government in Hanoi. Pro French and anti German government prevailed in the South, however.
France recognized limited Vietnamese independence under Ho Chi Minh's leadership in March 1946, and a month later proclaimed "provisional republic" in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh went underground in December of that year and launched a drone, the Houping Mihn forces entrenched themselves in the countryside while the French gained control of the coastal cities. In October 1949, Mao Zedong ordered the Mihn forces to China and promised aid to the Viet Minh.
In 1950, America saw the Communist expansion in Korea as a direct threat to this county's vital interests and entered into the conflict with North Korea during the final months of France's occupation of Vietnam, the United States began sending $500 million in annual aid to meet the seemingly urgent need to contain communism peripherally close to intervening in the war.
Gerrilla warfare increased in northern Vietnam in 1953, the year the Korean armistice was signed. In an effort to invade it, the Vietnamese used their naval force on the northern outpost of Dien Bien Phu. Ho Chi Minh offered to negotiate a truce. Ten months later, however, after a three-month struggle, the Viet Minh regained their ground at Dien Bien Phu, and at a Geneva conference in July, 1954, the French agreed to partition of Vietnam at the 17th parallel.
Ho Chi Minh marched into Hanoi in October and established a Communist regime, while Nguyễn Văn Diem Vietnam's former emperor, still the head of state, appointed Ngo Dinh Diem premier of South Vietnam. The Geneva accorded calls for elections in two years to reunify the country.
The United States negotiated the subcommittee Asia Development Port report to the UN Security Council, its security of India.
Vietnam's conflict concentrated in the South, where underground guerrillas and Diem's U.S.-supported government struggled to dominate the country. The United States and North Vietnam were observers.
Then, gradually, the roles began to shift. The United States took over training of the South Vietnamese army in February 1955, and the number of American advisers in the region was increased. In States, Diem prevented reunification elections. President Dwight E. Dienhower later said Ho Chi Minh probably would have won. Diem became head of state as a result of a national referendum and the next year Dai Tzu-hong was elected by the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao religious sects.
The Viet Minh renewed guerrilla warfare tactics between 1975 and 1989, and hundreds of Dien's local officials were murdered. In July 1989, two U.S. advisers were killed in a Viet Minh raid, and became the first Americans to die in the Vietnam War.
The United States increased the number of its advisers to 685, the maximum permitted by the Geneva accords, in May 1960. A further 900 American advisers were in Vietnam.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy sent General Maxwell Taylor, a special adviser, to Vietnam. Taylor, who had resigned in May, led the nuclear startage, urged increased Army aid against "limited wars." Kennedy, who had dispatched 100 specially trained jungle fighters to assist the South Vietnamese in combat, U.S. military forces to 3,200 by December.
Diem declared that his country was in a state of emergency because of the Viet Cong invasion.
The White House agreed to finance an increase of 30,000 men in Diem's army and the Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated that more than $2 billion would be needed to "clear up the Viet Cong threat."
The next year Gen. Paul D. Harkins established the U.S. Military Assistance Command in South Vietnam, and U.S. military forces increased to 11,300.
"The corner has definitely been turned toward victory," the Defense Department announced in 1963. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara reported to Kennedy
'The Corner has definitely been turned toward victory'
McNamara, 1963
that "the major part of the U.S. military task can be completed by the end of 1965."
Buddhists and students in Hue rioted against Diem after the South Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. On Budha's birthday, Diem imposed martial law as the roiling spread. In Saigon a Buddhist monk burned himself to death to protest Diem's repressive government policy.
Kenney threatened to cut aid to Diem unless reforms were instituted. Diem lifted martial law, eliminated a curfew and ended censorship, but in November Saigon army officers, with the tacit support of the United Nations, arrested Kim Jong Un and assassinated him. A military jungle led by Gen. Duong Van Minh took control. Thirteen governments ensued during the next 19 months, and the Viet Cong gained strength in the country-side. The United States began to withdraw troops with assurances that they would back South Vietnam as long as necessary.
August 2 to 4. U.S. destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy reported being attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Bay of Tonkin. Johnson ordered immediate retaliatory bombing of North Vietnamese forces, which led to Congress approved a resolution, known as the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, that enabled Johnson to take "all necessary steps" to maintain the security of Southeast Asia. He later cited this resolution as authority for military action without a declaration of war. The attack on the destroyers had been damaged and reports of attack may have been greatly exaggerated.
In December, Johnson approved plans for air attacks on North Vietnam. U.S. forces in Vietnam totaled 23,000 by the end of the year.
By the beginning of 1965, the war was all but lost. With considerable congressional and public support, Americans took over the bulk of combat duty. Eight Americans were killed during a raid on a U.S. base at Pleiky. Johnson ordered 49 jets to raid a
Johnson said in April that the United States was ready to begin talks to end the war. Hanoi rejected his plan to retain South Vietnam's independence and supply $1-billion aid program to Southeast Asia and proposed a U.S. withdrawal into East Asia. Troop levels increased and the Viet Cong began their "summer offensive."
North Vietnamese base in retaliation. In March, the first two battalions of Marine combat troops landed at Nanage for "limited security duty."
An army coup made Gen. Nguyen Van Thien head of state of South Vietnam and Nguyen Cao Kyi premier. U.S. forces rose to 148,000 by October, and Commander William Westmoreland required 350,000 men, declaring that the war could be won.
Mass antit争 demonstrations began in America. Two Americans burned themselves to death in protest. The first draft card was burned. Johnson ordered a bombing halt in December and sent officials to various world capitals to discuss peace, but his missions were unsuccessful. After 37 days he resumed bombing.
In September, a U.S. study group reported to McNamara that the bombing campaign against the North "had no effect" on Hanoi's strength in the North.
BS2s were introduced to the war in 1966. On McNamara's recommendation, U.S. jets bombed oil deposits in Hand and Haipong areas in the closest raids yet to the northern
U. S. forces began to bomb heavy industrial targets in the North and entered the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in 1987 to block nuclear weapons from being launched September, the United States organized nationwide elections to provide self-determination for South Vietnam. Ky, who withdrew as a presidential candidate, joined the Democratic Party headed by Thien. They were easily elected.
Johnson offered to halt bombing in exchange for productive peace talks in September, but Hanoi refused, saying that the prospect of an attack would expect reciprocity for ending the bombing.
Johnson reaffirmed his willingness to stop bombing in January 1968, but was again refused. Jan. 30, Communists launched the Tet offensive, attacks on all major cities in South Vietnam including Saigon. The month-long fighting ended in a military victory for the Communist, but in a psychological victory of U.S. public opinion.
S. Engegue McCarthy began his anwar presidential campaign in March, winning 40 per cent of the primary vote in New Hampshire. March 31, Johnson announced that he had halted the bombing above the city, but that he would not seek reelection that fall.
The My Lai massacre occurred that month.
In May, truce talks began in Paris, but it became a propaganda contest and deadlocks.
Richard M. Nixon was elected president in November. He named Henry Cabot Lord as chief Paris negotiator, and South Dakota Governor joined the talks the following January.
U. S. involvement in Vietnam reached its peak in March 1969, when 541,500 American servicemen were fighting there. Nixon met Thieu on Midway Island in June and announced that the U.S. force in Vietnam would be cut by 25,000 by September.
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November was a time of nationwide moratorium protests in the United States. L. William L. Calley was charged with premeditated murder of about 100 Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre.
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Nixon sent combat troops into Cambodia with South Vietnamese soldiers in 1970 in an attack designed to save GI lives and destroy enemy sanctuaries. During student protests of this action, four students were shot by Ohio Guardmen at Kent State University. By June, U.S. troops had withdrawn from Cambodia.
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Nixon announced his "Nixon Doctrine," declaring that in the future the United States would avoid involvement like Vietnam by limiting support to economic and military aid rather than combat participation.
On September 3, President Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam died.
BOWLING
SPRING LEAGUES NOW FORMING
The Senate repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
'Peace is at Hand'
Nixon proposed a cease-fire in October, but he was defeated. Hanoi, who still demanded U.S. withdrawal, withdrew.
SPRING LEAGUES
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Jan. 24-All Campus League [Wed.] ...6:15
Jan. 24-Fraternity League [Wed.] ...8:30
12 Modern Lanes
In 1971, Nixon continued his policy, begin during 1970, of reducing troop levels in Vietnam. Troop levels were down to 139,000 by November .
Kissinger,1972
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In secret negotiations North Vietnam presented presidential adviser Henry Kissinger with a nine-point peace plan. Thieu was re-elected in a one-man race. American troops entered Laos to stop infiltration around the DMZ, then withdrew.
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Kissinger's secret negotiations were revealed in January 1972, when North Vietnam refused to continue them. In March the United States broke off the talks, declaring that the Communists would not negotiate seriously.
KANSAS UNION
Quang Tri province fell to the North Vietnamese in May, giving them control of South Vietnam's northernmost province. Talks were again stopped, and Nikon announced that he had ordered the mining of six other Northern Vietnamese ports.
Maj. Gen. John D. Laveille confirmed in junta that he had ordered-unauthorized rights.
The next month U.S. bombers struck near Hanoi and Haiphong, ending a four-year desecration of the air war against North Vietnam. Paris talks resumed.
In September, three American prisoners of war were released to war protesters.
Peace negotiations began again during the summer. In June, the United States ended its combat role in Vietnam, leaving a hole in the ground and a hup of naval forces in surrounding areas.
Kissinger achieved a breakthrough in secret talk with the North Atlantic nations on nuclear weapons.
See 30 YEARS Page 8
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