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The United States Gets Involved in Vietnam

Why did the United States increase its military involvement in Vietnam?
Overview
Students learn about the beginning stages of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Preview Students view images of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, read names from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names, and learn how long it would take to read all the inscribed names. Reading Students create a bar graph of U.S. military personnel in Vietnam and

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Materials
History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals
Transparencies 51A and 51B Placard 51 (6 copies)

annotate a timeline of key events from the period.

Activity In a Response Group activity, students participate in a national security

Lesson Masters
Notebook Guide 51 (1 per student) Student Handout 51A (6 copies) Student Handout 51B (1 for every 3 students) Information Master 51 (1 transparency)

meeting to advise President Johnson on whether to increase military involvement in Vietnam.

Processing Students respond to this question: What if President Johnson had

decided not to increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam?

Objectives
Students will investigate the Essential Question: Why did the United States increase its military involvement in Vietnam? complete a timeline of key events in Vietnam from 1945 to 1965 and create a bar graph showing increases in U.S. military personnel. analyze primary source excerpts and debate whether the United States should increase its involvement in Vietnam in 1965. learn and use the Key Content Terms for this chapter.

Vocabulary
Key Content Terms Viet Minh, First Indochina War, Geneva Accords, Viet Cong,

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Social Studies Terms domino theory, materiel, military adviser, insurgency,

escalate, surveillance
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Preview
1 Prepare the room. Before class, post sets of Student Handout 51A: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names and Placard 51: Detail of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the walls to create six stations around the room. 2 Introduce students to the memorial. Create a dramatic mood by lowering the lights. Project Transparency 51A: Veteran Visiting the Wall, and help students analyze the photograph by asking, What is this a photograph of? the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also known as the Wall Where is it located? Washington, D.C. What is engraved on the Wall? the names of U.S. veterans killed or missing in action during the Vietnam War 3 Have students analyze a list of names from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names. Send students to the stations in groups of three. Have them carefully analyze Student Handout 51A and discuss these questions: What observations can you make about the people from this part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names? Try to find at least one person on the list with whom you can make a personal connection, such as someone from your home state or with your birthday. Who is the person, and what connection do you share? 4 Have students read names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Instruct students to take turns reading each of the names on the detail of the wall shown on Placard 51 in a low, clear voice. (Note: Alternatively, read the names out loud yourself or have a couple of students with strong dramatic voices read them.) 5 Give students more information about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Share this additional information with them: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982. A 21-year-old undergraduate at Yale University, Maya Ying Lin, born in Athens, Ohio, in 1959, designed the memorial. The memorial is constructed from two 75-meter-long black granite walls. The granite came from Bangalore, India. The names of 58,253 Americans killed or missing in action in the Vietnam War are engraved on the Wall. Reading one name every 2 seconds nonstop would take approximately 32 hours. 6 Have students complete Preview 51. Project Transparency 51A again. Distribute Notebook Guide 51, and ask students to complete the Preview assignment. Have volunteers share their responses with the class.
Transparency 51A Student Handout 51A and Placard 51

Notebook Guide 51

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7 Explain the purpose of Chapter 51. Tell students they will now learn about the early involvement of the United States in Vietnam. They will take on the role of national security advisers to President Johnson in 1965 and debate whether the United States should increase its involvement in Vietnam.

Reading
1 Introduce the Essential Question. Ask students to turn to Chapter 51 and consider possible answers to the Essential Question: Why did the United States increase its military involvement in Vietnam? 2 Introduce the Key Content Terms and social studies terms for Chapter 51. Preteach the boldfaced vocabulary terms in the chapter, as necessary, before students begin reading. 3 Have students read Section 51.1. Afterward, ask them to find sentences in the reading that correspond with visual details in the photograph that opens the chapter. Have volunteers read a sentence and point out the corresponding detail in the image.

Response Group
1 Place students in mixed-ability groups of three and introduce the activity. Tell students that they will now take on the role of national security advisers and participate in a meeting in which they will advise President Johnson on whether the United States should increase its military involvement in Vietnam. 2 Have groups read and complete the Reading Notes for Sections 51.2 and 51.3. Explain that this information will help them prepare for the national security meeting. Have students follow the directions on Notebook Guide 51 to create a timeline and bar graph of the information in Sections 51.2 and 51.3. Use Guide to Reading Notes 51 to review their answers as a class, particularly the arguments from hawks and doves. 3 Have groups analyze primary source excerpts. Distribute Student Handout 51B: Primary Sources on Vietnam Involvement to each group, and review the directions at the top of the handout. Consider analyzing Excerpt 1 as a class before having groups continue on their own. 4 Have groups discuss the critical thinking question. Tell groups that they must now craft a recommendation for President Johnson on this question: Should the president significantly increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam? They will need to analyze information from their Reading Notes and the primary sources to form their recommendation and at least two supporting arguments. (Note: If you anticipate that nearly all groups will be making the same recommendation, consider assigning some groups to be hawks and some to be doves, selecting groups with strong debating skills for each side.)

Student Handout 51B

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5 Prepare for the national security meeting. Have groups position their desks as shown. Project Information Master 51: National Security Meeting Agenda and review the directions for the meeting. Have each group fold a sheet of paper lengthwise and write Hawks or Doves on it, in large bold letters, to indicate their position. Have students prop these nameplates on their desks for everyone to see. 6 Project Transparency 51B: President Johnson in the Oval Office and facilitate the meeting. Follow these tips to make the meeting lively and engaging: Alternate calling on presenters from hawk groups and dove groups. Make sure presenters address their comments to the president and begin by saying, Mr. President or President Johnson. During the rebuttal phase, make sure groups use new presenters and that these presenters first paraphrase the argument from the other side and then present their rebuttal. End the meeting by saying, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your recommendations. This meeting is adjourned. 7 Have groups read and complete the Reading Notes for Section 51.4. Tell students they will now find out whose advice President Johnson took. Once students complete these Reading Notes, review the answers as a class. Finally, ask students what connections they can make between the events on the timeline and the bar graph. Students should note that the graph indicates that soon after late 1964 and early 1965, when the Johnson administration was debating the issue, LBJ had clearly made the decision to increase U.S. involvement in Vietnam. 8 Debrief the activity. Ask students to consider this question: Did President Johnsons decision to increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam support or undermine American ideals? Then ask, How might hawks respond to this question, and why? How might doves respond? How would you respond?
Transparency 51B Information Master 51

Processing
Have students complete Processing 51 in their notebooks.

Assessment
Masters for the unit assessment appear in the Lesson Masters. Unit 15 Assessment scoring information appears after Chapter 53 in this Lesson Guide.

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English Language Learners

Option 1 Review the excerpts on Student Handout 51B as a class. For each

Emerging Reader Vocabulary aspire: to have a strong desire to achieve something contemplation: serious thought about something you want to do or understand erroneous: false unify: to combine the parts of a country, an organization, or the like to make a single unit

excerpt, follow these steps: Read through the excerpt carefully, out loud. Explain or define any challenging words or phrases. Ask groups to summarize the speakers argument in their own words. Ask groups to determine whether the speaker is arguing for or against the president increasing military involvement in Vietnam.
Option 2 Before beginning the class discussion, have each group neatly write

their answer to the critical thinking question. Make sure they include at least one or two arguments to support their position. Allow presenters to read their answer when it is their turn to speak.

Learners Reading and Writing Below Grade Level

Help students analyze the excerpts on Student Handout 51B by highlighting key words and phrases that indicate whether each speaker supported increased U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. For example, you might highlight Excerpt 1 as follows: While the military and political costs of a big US investment in [South Vietnam] may be high, I cannot think of a better place for our forces to be employed to give so much future national security benefits to the United States. Thus my conclusion is that we . . . must go all out on all three tracks: counterinsurgency, covert countermeasures, and military pressures by US forces.

Learners with Special Education Needs

Create a transparency of the graphic organizer for the Reading Notes, and model how to annotate the timeline for one of the key events from Section 51.2, such as U.S. military aid for French Indochina (see the Guide to Reading Notes). Write the name of the event, the year(s) it occurred, and a short summary of the event inside a box, and connect the box with a line to the appropriate year(s) on the timeline. Also model how to complete one of the bars on the graph.

Advanced Learners
For the national security meeting, assign students to either the Hawk position or the Dove position. Then, instead of using Student Handout 51B, have students research at least three primary sources from late 1964 to mid-1965 that they can use to support their recommendation. Encourage them to quote short, key excerpts from these sources during the class discussion.

Scholastic Aptitude Test Vocabulary ambivalent: uncertain how you feel about something funereal: of or suggesting a funeral

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L e a r n i n g

Online Resources
For related research materials on U.S. involvement in Vietnam, refer students to Online Resources at www.teachtci.com.

Using Film
Please be aware of school and district guidelines about showing movies in the classroom. Born on the Fourth of July (R) A young marine, Ron Kovic, returns from Vietnam as a paraplegic. After months of rehabilitation and soul-searching, he discovers new meaning in his life when he begins to protest against the very war that he had fought in. You might begin by showing only the opening scenes, in which an idealistic Kovic prepares to leave for the war. After Chapter 53, contrast those scenes with later scenes in the film of antiwar protests. Fog of War: Eleven Lessons Learned from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (PG-13) Robert McNamara, former secretary of defense for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, played a central role in developing the Vietnam policy of both administrations. This film has extensive archival footage and interviews. Show students the section that deals with Lesson 7: Belief and Seeing Are Both Often Wrong. This 15- to 20-minute segment deals with Johnsons decision to increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and the details of the Tonkin Gulf crisis.

Civic Learning
You may wish to have students investigate primary source documents relevant to this chapter. The Our Documents initiative is a cooperative effort of the National Archives and Records Administration, National History Day, and the USA Freedom Corps. At its Web site, www.ourdocuments.gov, you can download images and transcripts of the 100 milestone documents chosen for the initiative, along with teaching tools and resources. The document most relevant to this chapter is the following: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 1964 This resolution authorized the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States. President Johnson used this authorization to expand U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

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Following are possible summaries for each key event in the Reading Notes.

Section 51.2
Vietnam declares independence, 1945 On September 2, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Vietnamese independence movement, quoted from the Declaration of Independence when he declared Vietnamese independence from foreign rule. Members of this independence movement became known as Viet Minh. U.S. military aid to French Indochina, 19501954 President Truman, seeing the First Indochina War as a fight against the spread of communism, called for increased military aid to French Indochina. Aid increased from $10 million in 1950 to more than $100 million in 1951. Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 1954 Viet Minh forces launched a surprise attack against a large French military base at Dien Bien Phu and surrounded more than 12,000 French troops. President Eisenhower considered sending in U.S. bombers to save the French troops, but he decided not to increase U.S. involvement. The Viet Minh overran the base, and France began pulling out of Vietnam. Geneva Accords, 1954 Under the Geneva Accords, the First Indochina War ended and Vietnam was split temporarily along the 17th parallel. The Viet Minh moved north of that line; the French moved south.

Section 51.3
Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 1964 On August 2, North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on a U.S. destroyer off the coast of North Vietnam. Two nights later, U.S. sailors thought they had been attacked again; in fact, no attack had taken place. Nevertheless, LBJ used these attacks as justification to push the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through Congress. This resolution, passing with just two votes against, allowed the president to take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression by the North Vietnamese. Debate on Vietnam involvement: Arguments from hawks, 1965 Hawks argued that if Vietnam fell to communists, it would trigger the collapse of other countries and communism would spread across the region (the domino theory). against a policy of appeasement, pointing to what had happened with the Munich Pact of 1938, which was intended to appease Hitler. that the U.S. had to maintain its credibility among its alliesother countries needed to know that the U.S. would stand by them in times of crisisand that LBJ could not be seen as soft on communism. Debate on Vietnam involvement: Arguments from doves, 1965 Doves argued that sending in more U.S. troops to fight a guerrilla war in unfamiliar jungle terrain would be difficult and deadly, and the financial cost would jeopardize LBJs Great Society programs. that Vietnams strategic value was insignificant and that the U.S. should focus its attention elsewhere. that increasing U.S. involvement might draw China or the Soviet Union into the conflict.

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Section 51.4
First U.S. combat troops land in Vietnam, 1965 On March 8, about 3,500 marines arrived in Da Nang, South Vietnam. Their job was to defend the air base there, whose planes were bombing sites in the north. Soon, however, they were sent out to find and eliminate enemy forces. These search-and-destroy missions led to the first firefights with the Viet Cong. Operation Starlite, 1965 The first major assault by U.S. ground troops in Vietnam took place in August against 1,500 Viet Cong who were preparing to attack a U.S. air base near the coast. Supported by tanks and fighter planes, the marines killed more than 600 Viet Cong, while 45 of their own soldiers died.

The completed bar graph should display the following information: U.S. Advisers and Troops in Vietnam, 19591967

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The United States Gets Involved in Vietnam

Why did the United States increase its military involvement in Vietnam?
K e y C o n t e n t T e r m s

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P R E V I E W

As you complete the Reading Notes, use these Key Content Terms in your answers: Viet Minh First Indochina War Geneva Accords Viet Cong Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Answer these questions in your notebook: 1. What observations did you make about the people whose names are listed in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names? 2. What personal connections did you make with any of those people? 3. What emotions did you feel when you saw the photograph and read the names of the people listed on the Wall? 4. What emotions might the Vietnam veteran you see be feeling and why?

R E A D I N G

N O T E S
Timeline of Key Events in Vietnam

Number of Military Advisers and Troops

Copy this diagram onto two pages of your notebook. Then follow the directions for Sections 51.2, 51.3, and 51.4 to complete your timeline and bar graph.

500,000

400,000

300,000 1945 200,000 1950 1955 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967

100,000 50,000 10,000

1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967

Bar Graph of U.S. Forces in Vietnam

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Section 51.2
Read this section. Add bars to your graph to show the number of U.S. military advisers in Vietnam for each of the years from 1959 to 1962. See the example below. Next, annotate your timeline by doing the following for each key event listed below: Write the name of the event and the year(s) it occurred. Write a short summary of the event. Draw a box around the name and summary, and connect it with a line to the appropriate year(s) on the timeline. See the example below. Key Events Vietnam declares independence U.S. military aid to French Indochina Battle of Dien Bien Phu Geneva Accords

Section 51.3
Read this section. Add bars to your graph to show the number of U.S. military advisers in Vietnam for the years 1963 and 1964. Then annotate your timeline for these key events: Gulf of Tonkin Incident Debate on Vietnam involvement: Arguments from hawks Debate on Vietnam involvement: Arguments from doves

Section 51.4
After the national security meeting, read this section. Add bars to your graph to show the number of U.S. advisers and troops in Vietnam for the years 1965 to 1967. Then annotate your timeline for these key events: First U.S. combat troops land in Vietnam Operation Starlite

P R O C E S S I N G
500,000

Timeline of Key

Events in

Example Event 1

Number of Military Advisers and Troops

400,000

What if President Johnson had decided not to increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam in 1965 or had even decided to reduce or withdraw U.S. forces? Select one of the topics below and write one or two paragraphs in which you hypothesize what would have happened if Johnson had made a different decision. Be sure to discuss short-term and long-term effects of the decision. Effects on spread of communism in Asia and around the world Effects on relations between the U.S. and its allies Effects on Johnsons Great Society programs

Summarize the event here.

300,000 1945 200,000

Example Event 2 Summarize the event here.

1950

1955

1959 1960 1961

Example bar graph

100,000 50,000 10,000

1959 1960 1961

Bar Graph

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Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names

NAME RANK SVC. DATE OF BIRTH DATE OF CASUALTY CITY STATE MIA PANEL NO. LINE NO.

CODY CLYDE TERRY CODY FRANCIS WARREN CODY HOWARD RUDOLPH CODY PETER GIRARD CODY ROBERT DEAN CODY WESLEY OTERIA CODY WILLIAM DE BRECE COE BENNY BOB COE HEWETT FRANK EVASTUS COE KENNETH EUGENE COE PAUL THOMAS COE RONALD RAY COEN HARRY BOB COEN LOVELL FRANKLIN COEN ROGER LEE COEN WILLARD GILSON COERS BARRY BRYANT COFER ARTHUR WILLIAM COFER EVERETTE EARL COFER JAMES TERRELL COFFARO ANTHONY CHARLES COFFELT BOBBY J COFFEY BILLY RAY COFFEY EDWARD AUBREY COFFEY EDWARD VINCENT COFFEY JERRY EAIRD COFFEY JESSE J COFFEY RICHARD ARTHUR COFFEY ROBERT ALLEN COFFEY ROBERT DANIEL COFFEY ROBERT WILLIAM COFFEY STEVEN LYNN COFFEY WILLIAM LOUIS COFFIELD JOHN DAVID COFFIN DONALD A COFFIN JEFFREY ALAN COFFINO THOMAS PAUL COFFMAN CHARLES EUGENE COFFMAN CLYDE LEE COFFMAN DOUGLAS DAVIS COFFMAN FREDDIE LEE COFFMAN ROGER LEROY COFFROTH ALFRED PATRICK L COFIELD EDWARD CHARLES JR COFIELD JESSIE CLIFFORD COFRAN WILLIAM EARL COFRANCESCO LOUIS J JR COGDELL WILLIAM KEITH COGDILL RANDY RALPH COGGESHALL WILLIAM AYER COGGINS JAMES TERRY COGGINS LARRY FRANKLIN COGGINS TERRY LEE COGGINS WILLIAM RAY COGHILL JOHN WESLEY COGHILL MILO BRUCE COGILL PETER COHAN STEPHEN COHEN CHARLES MITCHELL COHEN GARY MARTIN COHEN GERALD COHEN HARRY COHEN LOUIS GEORGE COHEN ROBERT BRUCE COHEN SHELDON ROBERT COHEN SIDNEY COHN WILLIAM PAUL JR COHRON JAMES DERWIN

SSGT SP4 CAPT PFC PFC CPL 1 LT SP4 ENC SP4 SGT CPL SFC SMAJ SGT SFC WO CAPT SSGT SP5 PFC SP4 SP5 MSGT CPL PFC SGT SGT PFC PFC SSGT SP4 SFC PFC CPL WO SP4 PFC SP5 CPL PFC SSGT SGT FSGT CPL SGT CPL CAPT PFC SP4 PFC CPL PFC SFC ENS SSGT PFC WO PFC PVT SSGT TSG PFC CPL PFC SSGT SGT SFC

MC AR AF MC AR AR AR AR NA AR AR MC AR AR AR AR AF AR AR AR AR AR AR AR AR AR AR MC AR AR AR AR AR AR AR AR MC AR MC AR AR AR AR AR AR AR AF AR AR AR AR AR AR NA AF AR AR AR AR AR AR AF MC AR AR AR AR AR

21 JUL 42 31 OCT 48 05 SEP 34 12 JUN 45 24 DEC 44 23 AUG 49 05 SEP 45 13 JUL 45 21 JUL 26 15 DEC 45 21 DEC 48 24 JUL 47 22 SEP 48 09 JAN 20 23 MAY 48 28 FEB 26 01 OCT 48 07 DEC 41 05 SEP 35 13 AUG 47 31 JAN 45 04 DEC 46 05 JUN 49 08 JAN 34 09 JUN 47 31 MAY 44 06 OCT 35 21 OCT 41 14 SEP 50 05 NOV 49 01 AUG 37 21 JAN 51 29 AUG 43 31 MAR 31 06 MAY 49 14 SEP 50 16 MAR 51 24 JUN 48 03 NOV 49 17 OCT 46 13 APR 49 03 MAR 45 27 AUG 47 18 MAY 34 02 AUG 46 22 MAR 47 08 JUN 48 15 MAR 38 05 DEC 47 14 AUG 46 17 JUL 49 27 JUN 45 14 AUG 49 28 JAN 38 29 AUG 43 18 JUN 30 08 JAN 47 04 JAN 39 30 JAN 49 14 MAR 49 01 SEP 45 08 FEB 33 17 JUL 49 10 MAR 45 05 NOV 43 27 JAN 31 20 MAY 47 11 NOV 38

01 FEB 68 25 FEB 69 24 NOV 63 24 MAR 67 31 JAN 69 26 AUG 70 27 MAR 69 09 DEC 65 20 MAY 62 02 JUL 67 14 NOV 70 13 JUL 68 12 MAY 68 30 APR 69 22 OCT 70 27 FEB 69 25 AUG 69 10 MAR 69 03 APR 70 18 MAY 69 27 DEC 66 15 AUG 66 28 NOV 71 11 AUG 67 21 AUG 68 14 SEP 66 01 APR 66 04 NOV 65 25 FEB 69 26 MAR 71 16 FEB 67 28 AUG 70 06 MAR 71 20 JAN 66 19 JAN 68 22 NOV 70 13 SEP 70 11 DEC 68 04 APR 70 13 AUG 67 14 MAY 69 11 MAR 70 31 JAN 68 16 MAR 69 13 SEP 67 18 MAR 68 15 SEP 68 17 JAN 67 28 OCT 67 25 FEB 67 28 JUN 68 30 OCT 67 01 JUL 68 19 FEB 70 13 MAY 67 02 FEB 62 25 FEB 67 19 FEB 68 17 NOV 69 11 MAR 71 21 APR 68 19 JUL 65 02 MAY 68 12 MAY 68 29 MAY 66 15 NOV 65 21 OCT 68 12 JAN 68

POMPANO BEACH EUGENE GULFPORT DETROIT COLUMBUS WYNNE ROBINSON OWASSO ANDERSON ANTHONY CONCORD NORWALK RIVERTON RADCLIFF HOLDREGE WILEY CITY NEWVILLE SPRINGFIELD WATER VALLEY COVINGTON NEW BRUNSWICK ARCHER CITY DALLAS PITTSBURGH RICHMOND HILL PALMYRA KNOXVILLE LOS ANGELES GREENSBURG STURGIS COATESVILLE YUMA ONEIDA PHILADELPHIA LITTLE FALLS FLAGSTAFF NEW YORK PEORIA WARRENSBURG BEND HARDY COLUMBUS SEATTLE WASHINGTON NEWNAN HOMEWOOD PATERSON GREENTOWN SEVIERVILLE MARSHFIELD GRIFFIN TROY WILMER MEMPHIS CHICAGO CLARKSVILLE COHASSET MIAMI PHILADELPHIA DARTMOUTH LEVITTOWN CHICAGO PHILADELPHIA LOS ANGELES CHELSEA CAMDEN OLD MYSTIC CENTERVILLE

FL OR MS MI IN AR IL OK SC KS CA OH WY KY NE WA AL IL MS GA NJ TX TX PA NY IL TN CA KY KY IN AZ TN PA NY AZ NY IL MO OR WV OH WA DC GA IL NJ IN TN MA GA NC TX TN IL VA MA FL PA MA NY IL PA CA MA NJ CT IA

36E 31W 1E 17E 33W 7W 28W 4E 1E 22E 6W 52W 58E 26W 6W 31W 19W 3OW 12W 24W 13E 1OE 2W 24E 47W 1OE 6E 3E 31W 4W 15E 7W 4W 4E 34E 6W 7W 37W 12W 24E 24W 13W 36E 29W 26E 45E 44W 14E 28E 15E 54W 28E 54W 13W 19E 1E 15E 40E 16W 4W 51E 2E 54E 59E 7E 3E 4OW 34E

47 44 35 34 25 9 57 4 9 99 58 22 32 82 15 77 111 100 87 38 82 7 75 99 14 94 71 17 45 79 40 18 29 80 75 76 60 84 91 106 3 111 3 52 65 19 67 42 90 88 8 99 27 31 104 5 88 18 87 37 17 40 4 1 117 53 10 35

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Primary Sources on Vietnam Involvement

Follow these steps to analyze the quotations that follow: Create a T-chart in your notebook with the headings Hawks and Doves. With your group, carefully read each excerpt to determine whether the speaker supports (Hawk) or does not support (Dove) increased U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. On the appropriate side of your T-chart, write the number of the excerpt and a short summary in your own words of the argument(s) the speaker uses to support his position. Your group will use this information to help form a recommendation on this question: Should the president significantly increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam? Excerpt 1 While the military and political costs of a big US investment in helping [South Vietnam] may be high, I cannot think of a better place for our forces to be employed to give so much future national security benefits to the United States. Thus my conclusion is that we . . . must go all out on all three tracks: counterinsurgency, covert countermeasures, and military pressures by US forces. CIA Deputy Director Ray Cline, September 8, 1964 Excerpt 2 The critical moves are, I believe, these: the introduction of . . . ground forces in South Viet Nam and . . . the introduction into the Pacific Theater of massive forces to deal with any escalatory response . . . They [North Vietnamese and supporters] will not actually accept a setback until they are absolutely sure that we really mean it. They will be as searching in this manner as [Soviet leader] Khrushchev was before he abandoned the effort to break our hold on Berlin . . . The odds are pretty good, in my view, that, if we do these things in this way, the war will either promptly stop or we will see the . . . fragmentation of the Communist movement in South Viet Nam . . . At this stage of history we are the greatest power in the worldif we behave like it. State Department Official Walter Rostow, November 23, 1964 Excerpt 3 I would like to share with you my views on the political consequences [to the United States] of certain courses of action that have been proposed in regard to U.S. policy in Southeast Asia . . . If we were to get involved in a large-scale land warand a consequent increase in defense expenditures; it would tend to shift the Administrations emphasis from its Great Society oriented programs to further military outlays . . . From a political viewpoint, the American people find it hard to understand why we risk World War III by enlarging [this] war . . . If . . . we find ourselves . . . embroiled deeper in fighting with Vietnam over the next few months, political opposition will steadily mount . . . with direct spill-over effects politically for all the Democratic . . . programs to which we are committed. Vice President Humphrey to President Johnson, February 17, 1965
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Excerpt 4 The President questioned me concerning consequences of our [possible] withdrawal from Vietnam and I said that it would pave the way toward Communist takeover of all of Southeast Asia. CIA Director John McCone, February 3, 1965

Excerpt 5 Why we have not withdrawn from Vietnam is, by all odds, one reason: (1) To preserve our reputation as a guarantor [strong ally], and thus to preserve our effectiveness in the rest of the world . . . At each decision point we have gambled; at each point, to avoid the damage to our effectiveness of defaulting on our commitment, we have upped the ante . . . It is important that we behave so as to protect our reputation. Assistant Secretary of Defense John McNaugton, March 24, 1965 Excerpt 6 I think what we are doing in starting on a track which involves ground force operations . . . [will mean] an ever-increasing commitment of U.S. personnel without materially improving the chances of victory . . . In effect, we will find ourselves mired down in combat in the jungle in a military effort that we cannot win, and from which we will have extreme difficulty in extracting ourselves. CIA Director John McCone, April 2, 1965 Excerpt 7 Should we limit our liabilities in South Viet-Nam and try to find a way out with minimal long-term costs? The alternative . . . is almost certainly a protracted war involving an open-ended commitment of US forces, mounting US casualties, no assurance of a satisfactory solution, and a serious danger of escalation [with China or the Soviet Union] at the end of the road. Undersecretary of State George Ball, June 30, 1965 Excerpt 8 We must not create an impression that we have decided to replace the South Vietnamese and win a ground war in Vietnam . . . A failure to engage in an all-out war will not lower our international prestige. This is not the last inning in the struggle against communism. We must pick those spots where the stakes are highest for us and we have the greatest ability to prevail . . . [I] dont believe we can win in South Vietnam. If we send in one hundred thousand more [troops], the North Vietnamese will meet us. If the North Vietnamese run out of men, the Chinese will send in volunteers . . . If we lose fifty thousand men it will ruin us. Five years, billions of dollars, fifty thousand men, it is not for us. Unofficial presidential adviser Clark Clifford, July 25, 1965

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National Security Meeting Agenda

The White House Washington Agenda item: Should the President significantly increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam?

Meeting Protocol 1. Select a presenter for your group. 2. When called upon, have your presenter share your groups recommendation to the president. Begin your comments with Mr. President or President Johnson. 3. After all presenters have reported to the president, huddle briefly with your group and prepare one or more rebuttals to arguments made by advisers on the other side (the Hawks or the Doves). Select a new presenter to share your rebuttal arguments. 4. When called upon, have the new presenter share one of your groups rebuttal arguments. State the other sides argument first and then deliver your rebuttal. 5. When the president adjourns the meeting, stand up and say, Thank you, Mr. President.

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Chapter 51

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Why did the United States increase its military involvement in Vietnam?

51.1 Introduction
In Washington, D.C.s Constitution Gardens, not far from the Lincoln Memorial, sits a long, sloping wall made of polished black granite. Etched into the wall are thousands of names. Visitors file past this stark monument at a funereal pace. Here and there, some stop to touch a familiar name. Many simply stand in contemplation or quiet prayer, while others shed tears. Some leave letters, flowers, or personal objects, including medals, at the base of the wall. The official name of this monument is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but it is more commonly known as the Wall. The Wall lists the names of U.S. soldiers killed or missing in action in the Vietnam War. The first two men listed, Chester Ovnand and Dale Buis, were the first U.S. soldiers to die in Vietnam, according to official records. They were noncombat troops killed in a surprise attack on their camp in 1959. At the time, few Americans were paying any attention to this faraway conflict. Later, reporter Stanley Karnow, who had written a brief account of the soldiers deaths, mentioned their names at a congressional hearing. He said, I could never have imagined that these were going to be at the head of more than 58,000 names on the Wall. Today many young people visit the Wall. Some of them wonder why a list of names carved in stone has such a strong impact on other, older visitors. They wonder why the remembrance of this war provokes not only tears but also anger. The answer is complicated. It has to do with painful memories of loss, with Cold War policies, and with social rebellion. It has to do with American GIs fighting and dying in a war far from home, for reasons many did not entirely understand. Before the United States entered the war, politicians and their advisers argued about the wisdom of getting drawn into the conflict. During the war, Americans bitterly debated U.S. policy. The war divided the country more than any other issue since the Civil War. Today, many are still asking the question: Did the United States have good reasons for getting involved in Vietnam?

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial lists the names of 58,253 Americans killed or missing in the Vietnam War. For many Vietnam veterans, the Wall is a place for healing. Visiting the monument helps them come to terms with their experiences during the war, including the loss of close friends and family members. Above is a replica of the Wall that is part of a traveling exhibit.

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51.2 Three Presidents Increase Involvement in Vietnam

From the 1880s up until World War II, Vietnam was part of French Indochina, a French colony in Southeast Asia that also included Cambodia and Laos. During World War II, Japanese troops occupied part of French Indochina. But Vietnam had a 2,000-year history of resisting foreign rule. In 1941, a Vietnamese communist, Ho Chi Minh, drew on that history to stir up nationalist feelings. In northern Vietnam, he helped found a group to oppose foreign occupation. Members of this independence movement became known as the Viet Minh. On September 2, 1945, the same day that Japan formally surrendered to the Allies, Vietnam declared its independence. Ho Chi Minh made the announcement. In what seemed like a bid for U.S. backing, he began his speech with words from the Declaration of Independence. All men are created equal, he said. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Ho ended his speech with words that might have stirred the hearts of the original American patriots. The entire Vietnamese people, he said, are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty. Hos followers would show their determination over the next three decades. First they fought France when it tried to reestablish colonial rule. Later they would fight the United States, which saw them as a communist enemy. In the early stages of the war, three presidents would set the pattern for deepening U.S. involvement.
Truman Chooses Sides in the First Indochina War The Viet Minh called their country the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The northern city of Hanoi was their capital, and Ho Chi Minh was their president. France, however, refused to accept Vietnamese independence and set out to eliminate the Viet Minh. First, French troops drove the rebels out of the southern city of Saigon, the French colonial capital. Then the French launched attacks on Viet Minh strongholds in the north. In November 1946, French warships opened fire on the port city of Haiphong, killing some 6,000 Vietnamese civilians. The following month, the Viet Minh attacked French ground forces. These incidents marked the start of the First Indochina War. This war would continue for eight years. Some American officials saw this conflict as a war between a colonial power and nationalists who aspired to govern themselves. They urged France to set a goal of complete independence for Vietnam. Others, including President Truman, held views of the conflict that were more colored by the Cold War. They believed that the Viet Minh intended to create a communist dictatorship. Although Truman suspected the French might be fighting to preserve their empire, he chose to see their efforts as a fight against communism. For Truman, containing communism was more important than supporting a nationalist movement. By 1951, thousands of U.S. soldiers had already died in Korea trying to halt the spread of communism. Truman was determined to block any further communist advance in Asia. For this reason, he called for an increase in military aid to French Indochina. This aid rose from $10 million in 1950 to more than $100 million in 1951. By 1954, the United States was paying 80 percent of the cost of the war in Indochina.

Ho Chi Minh was president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. He fought for an independent, unified Vietnam. At first he sought support from the United States, but his communist ideology aroused U.S. hostility. Though considered a freedom fighter by many, he ordered the killing of thousands of North Vietnamese landowners as class enemies.

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Eisenhower Considers Increased American Involvement Despite U.S. aid,

the First Indochina War dragged on. The French controlled the cities in both northern and southern Vietnam, but the Viet Minh dominated the countryside. The Viet Minh took control of rural villages, often by assassinating local leaders with close ties to the French. They gained the support of Vietnams peasants, who made up around 80 percent of the population, in part by giving them land taken from the wealthy. The decisive battle of the war began in March 1954, when the Viet Minh launched a surprise attack on a large French military base at Dien Bien Phu, in the mountains of northern Vietnam. They soon had the base surrounded. By April, the more than 12,000 French soldiers at Dien Bien Phu appeared ready to give up. Now Trumans successor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, faced a dilemma. A loss at Dien Bien Phu might knock the French out of the war. Eisenhower briefly considered sending B-29 aircraft to bomb Viet Minh positions, but he did not want to act alone. What he really wanted was a commitment from Britain and other allies to take unified military action to stop communist expansion in Vietnam and elsewhere in Indochina. In a news conference on April 7, Eisenhower warned that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would topple like a row of dominoes. Even Japan, he said, might be lost. In the years to come, this domino theory would provide a strong motive for U.S. intervention in Vietnam. But for now, just months after the Korean War had ended, neither the United States nor its allies were prepared to fight another ground war in Asia. Senator John F. Kennedy reflected the mood of Congress when he said, To pour money, materiel, and men into the jungles of Indochina without at least a remote prospect of victory would be dangerously futile and self-destructive. Materiel is military equipment and supplies. Other policymakers feared that direct military intervention might even trigger a war with Vietnams communist neighbor, China.

The key battle of the First Indochina War took place between March and May 1954, when Viet Minh troops attacked the French stronghold at Dien Bien Phu. The French lost the battle and began to withdraw their forces from Vietnam.

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Vietnam After the Geneva Accords, 1954

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On May 7, 1954, the Viet Minh finally overran the French base, ending the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and shattering French morale. The French, lacking public support at home for the war, began pulling out of northern Vietnam. The final act of the First Indochina War would be played out at a peace conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Geneva Peace Conference Splits Vietnam in Two Representatives of France

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The Geneva Accords of 1954 split Vietnam temporarily at the 17th parallel. The French moved into South Vietnam, and the Viet Minh moved into North Vietnam. The Viet Minh left a political network in the south, however, in the hope of winning victory in the national unity election set for 1956. They also left weapons hidden in the south.

and the Viet Minh began talks in Geneva the day after the French loss at Dien Bien Phu. France wanted to maintain some control over southern Vietnam. The Viet Minh demanded that France leave the country completely and that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam be recognized as an independent nation. As negotiations dragged on, China and the Soviet Union put pressure on the Viet Minh to compromise. They did not want to antagonize the United States, fearing it would intervene militarily. Finally, in July 1954 the French and Viet Minh signed the Geneva Accords. Under this agreement, the fighting stopped, and Vietnam was split temporarily along the 17th parallel. The Viet Minh moved north of that line, while the French withdrew to the south. Under the accords, national elections to reunify Vietnam were scheduled for 1956. As France prepared to leave Vietnam, the United States began moving in. American officials believed they could form a strong noncommunist state in South Vietnam. In 1955, the United States used its influence to put an anticommunist South Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, in charge. Diem began building an army. To help shape this army, Eisenhower provided some 350 U.S. military advisersnoncombat specialists who train and equip another nations soldiers. Chester Ovnand and Dale Buis, the first U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam, were military advisers. As the election to unify north and south approached, Ho Chi Minh seemed likely to win. Diem, with U.S. approval, blocked the national vote, thus rejecting the Geneva Accords, and held elections only in the south. In October 1955, he declared himself president of South Vietnam. Diem began returning land to wealthy landlords and drafting young men from the countryside into his army. He ruthlessly attacked opponents and jailed thousands of people without putting them on trial or charging them with a crime. Viet Minh communists still living in the south launched a guerrilla war against Diems brutal government. Their strategy included terrorism and assassination. In 1960, the Viet Minh formed a group called the National Liberation Front and invited all opponents of Diem to join. Diem referred to the group as Viet Cong, slang for Vietnamese communists, even though many of its members were noncommunists. By now, North Vietnam was supplying and supporting these rebels. The stage was set for the Second Indochina War, also known as the Vietnam War.
Kennedy Tries to Prop Up South Vietnam The Viet Cong insurgency, or

rebellion, threatened to overwhelm the South Vietnamese army. Many army officers, like many leaders of South Vietnams government, were incompetent and corrupt. Some officers even sold weapons to the Viet Cong. When Kennedy became president in 1961, he sent an inspection team to South Vietnam to evaluate the situation.

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Kennedy had originally opposed U.S. military intervention to help the French. As the years passed, however, his ideas about the strategic importance of Vietnam shifted. In 1956, he offered his own version of the domino theory. JFK called Vietnam the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia, the keystone in the arch, the finger in the dike. As president, he continued to favor a policy of containing communism. When Kennedys inspection team returned from Vietnam, they told the president that South Vietnam was losing the war. They recommended more economic and military aid, including the use of U.S. combat troops. However, some political advisers urged him to pull out of Vietnam completely. JFK, unsure of the best course, opted to send more weapons and equipment and more technicians and military advisers. By mid-1962, the number of military advisers had soared to around 9,000. But JFK resisted calls to send U.S. soldiers into combat. This policy was designed, according to one policy memo, to help Diems army win its own war. Diem was losing not only the war but also the respect of his people. Besides being corrupt and brutal, Diem discriminated against the Buddhist majority. In May 1963, at a Buddhist rally opposing Diems policies, South Vietnamese police killed nine demonstrators. Several Buddhist monks protested by publicly setting themselves on fire. Kennedy realized that Diem had failed as a leader. In November, a group of South Vietnamese generals staged a coup, with the tacit approval of U.S. officials. Diem was assassinated as he tried to flee Saigon.

U.S. Advisers in Vietnam, 19591962

The United States began sending military advisers to Vietnam to help the French in the early 1950s. The number of advisers increased rapidly in the early 1960s. These advisers were not combat troops, but they played a key role in the military buildup in Southeast Asia.

In 1963, photographs of Buddhist monks burning themselves to death in South Vietnam shocked the world. The monks were protesting the corruption and brutality of the Diem regime. Diem had taken power with U.S. support, but his actions embarrassed the United States and led to his overthrow.

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51.3 Johnson Inherits the Vietnam Problem

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Three weeks after Diems death, Kennedy was also assassinated. The growing problem in Vietnam thus fell into the lap of a new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. LBJ knew that Vietnam was a potential quagmire that could suck the United States into protracted conflict. But he also believed that the communists had to be stopped. In May 1964, he expressed his ambivalent feelings about Vietnam to an adviser. I dont think its worth fighting for, he said, and I dont think we can get out. LBJ was first and foremost a politician. He knew how to get things done in Congress and how to win elections. During the 1964 campaign, his opponent, Barry Goldwater, insisted that the United States should take a more active role in the war. Johnson responded, We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves. This moderate approach to Vietnam boosted LBJs appeal to voters. Yet the president had already begun making plans to escalate, or increase, U.S. involvement in the war. In March 1964, he asked the military to begin planning for the bombing of North Vietnam.
Gulf of Tonkin Incident Riles the U.S. For years, North Vietnam had been sending weapons and supplies south to the Viet Cong over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This network of footpaths, roads, bridges, and tunnels passed through the mountainous terrain of eastern Laos and Cambodia. In mid1964, regular units of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) began heading south along this route. Johnson knew that South Vietnams weak and ineffective army would be hardpressed to stop this new offensive. The United States had to do more, he believed, or risk losing Vietnam to communism. In July 1964, Johnson approved covert attacks on radar stations along North Vietnams coast. The CIA planned the operation, but South Vietnamese in speedboats carried out the raids. U.S. Navy warships used electronic surveillance, or close observation, to locate the radar sites. On August 2, in response to the raids, NVA patrol boats struck back. They fired machine guns and torpedoes at a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. The ship was not damaged. LBJ chose not to retaliate, but he sent a message to Hanoi warning the North Vietnamese government that further unprovoked attacks would bring grave consequences. On the night of August 4, in stormy weather in the Gulf of Tonkin, American sailors thought their destroyer was again

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was actually a network of some 12,000 miles of trails. Soldiers and supplies traveled the route on foot and by bicycle, oxcart, and truck. The trip south, through the rugged mountains of Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam, could take as long as three months.

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The Gulf of Tonkin Incident provoked an escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. On August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese boats fired on a U.S. ship, causing little damage. Two days later, false reports of a second attack prompted the United States to launch air strikes against North Vietnam.
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under attack. They fired back, although they never saw any enemy boats. In fact, no attack had taken place. Back in Washington, D.C., officials quickly studied accounts of the incident. Based on erroneous evidence, these officialsand the presidentconcluded that a second attack had occurred. LBJ immediately ordered air strikes against naval bases in North Vietnam. The next day, August 5, he asked Congress to approve those air strikes and to give him the power to deal with future threats. Two days later, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution allowed the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was not a legal declaration of war, but it did, in effect, give the president permission to expand the U.S. role in the conflict. Only two members of Congress, both in the Senate, voted against the resolution. One of them, Ernest Gruening of Alaska, explained his opposition in a speech on the Senate floor:
[Authorizing this measure] means sending our American boys into combat in a war in which we have no business, which is not our war, into which we have been misguidedly drawn, which is steadily being escalated. This resolution is a further authorization for escalation unlimited.

Senator Ernest Gruening, August 1964

The U.S. Reaches a Crisis Point in Vietnam The escalation that Senator

Gruening feared began on February 7, 1965, after the Viet Cong attacked a U.S. air base in the south. LBJ responded by ordering the bombing of barracks and military staging areas north of the 17th parallel. We have kept our guns over the mantel and our shells in the cupboard for a long time now, the president said of his decision. I cant ask our American soldiers out there to continue to fight with one hand behind their backs.

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U.S. Advisers in Vietnam, 19591964

The February bombing raid led to a series of massive air strikes called Operation Rolling Thunder. Most of the presidents advisers believed that this action was needed to give a boost to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and to avoid the collapse of South Vietnam. The government, plagued by coups and corruption, was in turmoil. It had little support outside Saigon and other large cities. The military, too, was in rough shape. Units of the ARVN rarely had success against the enemy forces that roamed the countryside. ARVN soldiers deserted by the thousands each month. Besides attacking staging areas, U.S. planes began intensive bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, hoping to cut off supplies and soldiers streaming in from the north. But the flow of men and materiel from the north continued, as did the war. In light of these results, the Johnson administration decided to reexamine U.S. policy in Vietnam.
Johnsons Advisers Debate Increased Involvement President Johnson

The number of U.S. military advisers in Vietnam continued to grow in the mid-1960s. By 1964, there were more than twice as many advisers in the country as there were two years before. The figure was more than 30 times the number in 1959.

believed in a limited war to secure South Vietnams independence. His foreign policy team debated what actions were necessary to reach that objective. Most of LBJs political advisers were hawks, people who favored expanding U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. In their eyes, the defense of Vietnam was crucial in the wider struggle to contain communism. In policy debates, the hawksa group that included Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk, along with top military leadersargued in favor of escalating the war by introducing U.S. ground troops. One of their arguments had been heard many times before: the domino theory. The fall of Vietnam, they asserted, would trigger the collapse of Cambodia, Laos, and the rest of Southeast Asia. Under this scenario, communism would spread across the entire region and beyond. The hawks also argued against a policy of appeasement. They recalled the Munich Pact of 1938, which was intended to appease Hitler but allowed for the continued aggression that led to World War II. LBJ understood their point. The central lesson of our time, he said, is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied. To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next. A third argument of the hawks stressed American credibility. They said that allies must be able to rely on the United States, the leader of the free world, to stand by them in times of crisis. Only then, the hawks claimed, could the United States count on allied support in the worldwide battle against communism. They also argued that the United States had to make clear to the communists that it

President Johnson relied on advisers to help formulate Vietnam policy. Here he is shown in a meeting with military experts, including Defense Secretary Robert McNamara (with arm outstretched), in 1965. McNamara, like many of LBJs advisors, was a hawk who favored sending more troops to Vietnam. Other advisers, known as doves, urged the president to seek more peaceful means to resolve the Vietnam conflict.

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The Domino Theory

The domino theory was a key rationale for increasing U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. According to this theory, the fall of Vietnam to communism would lead to communist advances throughout Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, along with Johnson, were all strongly influenced by the domino theory.

would meet any challenge to its power. A related argument was purely political. During the Cold War, politicians were expected to take a hard line against the communist threat. LBJ could not afford to lose domestic support by being branded soft on communism. Not all of LBJs advisers took such a hard line. Some, such as Undersecretary of State George Ball, were dovesadvocates of a peaceful solution in Vietnam through negotiation and compromise. Previously they had argued against widespread bombing. Now, in policy debates, they made the case against escalating the conflict further by sending in U.S. combat troops. The doves contended that escalating the war would not guarantee victory, arguing that the war was unwinnable. They pointed to the case of Korea, where U.S. troops had fought a costly war for three years but achieved little. Fighting a guerrilla war in the unfamiliar jungle terrain of Vietnam, the doves predicted, would prove even more difficult and deadly. In addition, the expense of such a war would undermine LBJs top priority, his Great Society programs. The doves also argued that involvement in the war was not in the nations interest. They said the United States had no business becoming entangled in someone elses civil war. In addition, they questioned the strategic value of Vietnam to the United States. The huge investment the United States was making in Southeast Asia, they argued, was diverting attention from more important problems both at home and abroad. Furthermore, the doves pointed out that direct U.S. involvement in Vietnam might draw China or even the Soviet Union into the conflict. Both countries were supplying North Vietnam with military aid, and China was building an air base just inside its border with North Vietnam. The doves feared that China might counter the entry of U.S. ground troops with combat forces of its own. Increased U.S. involvement, they claimed, would not reassure its allies but instead make them more anxious that a major war could erupt in the region.

Some critics of the Vietnam War believed that the conflict could not be managed successfully. This cartoon shows President Johnson clinging desperately to the tail of a tiger, representing Vietnam, as it whips him through space. The cartoonist is implying that Vietnam could not be controlled.

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U.S. Advisers and Troops in Vietnam, 19591967

51.4 Johnson Americanizes the War

After weighing all the advice he received about American involvement in Vietnam, Johnson decided to send troops. On March 8, 1965, about 3,500 U.S. marines waded ashore at a beach near Da Nang, South Vietnam. This was the first time U.S. combat troops had set foot in Vietnam. The marines received a warm greeting from local officials. Several Vietnamese girls placed garlands of flowers around the soldiers necks. The marines knew this was no time to celebrate, though. They immediately began digging foxholes on the beach, preparing to defend against a Viet Cong attack. The next day, they continued bringing equipment and supplies ashore, including tanks equipped with flamethrowers. The marines job was to defend the air base at Da Nang, the home base for bombers taking part in Operation Rolling Thunder. Soon their orders changed, however. They were sent on patrol to find and eliminate enemy forces. These search-and-destroy missions led to the first firefights with Viet Cong guerrillas. Until the following month, LBJ kept this shift to combat status a secret from the American people.
Johnson Dramatically Increases Troop Levels By the end of April, President Johnson had approved the dispatch of 60,000 more combat troops to Vietnam. In July, after conferring with advisers, he publicly announced that he was boosting U.S. troop levels dramatically, to 125,000 men. We cannot be defeated by force of arms, he said. We will stand in Vietnam. LBJs actions and words revealed that the United States was about to undertake a full-scale war. Yet the president did not officially declare war or ask Congress for permission to expand troop levels. He based his authority to act on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. In the months that followed, the air war continued to intensify, and the pace of the ground war accelerated. The first major assault by U.S. ground troops, called Operation Starlite, took place in August 1965, against 1,500 Viet Cong who were preparing to attack a U.S. air base near the coast. The battle started with bomb and artillery attacks on Viet Cong positions. Helicopters flew many of the 5,500 marines to the battle site, and others came ashore from ships. Supported by tanks and fighter planes, the marines successfully smashed the enemy force. In this American victory, marines killed more than 600 Viet Cong, while 45 U.S. soldiers died. This pattern of delivering troops by helicopter while battering the enemy with overwhelming firepower would continue throughout the war. So would the lopsided pattern of casualties. Although many U.S. and ARVN soldiers would die in Vietnam, four times as many enemy troops would perish. Despite huge losses, however, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese managed to produce enough new fighters to keep the war going.

Source: U.S. National Archives.

U.S. troop levels in Vietnam rose rapidly after the first soldiers arrived in 1965. Four months later, the number of young men drafted into the armed forces doubled, to 35,000 a month, to meet the demand for new soldiers.

The first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam on March 8, 1965, on a beach near Da Nang. Before long, U.S. forces had taken charge of the war. As the war became Americanized, the South Vietnamese played less and less of a role.

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The United States, too, relied on ever-increasing numbers of ground troops to sweep through jungles and rice paddies and root out the enemy. By the end of 1965, U.S. combat soldiers numbered more than 184,000. That figure more than doubled in 1966, to 385,000. By late 1967, nearly half a million Americans were serving in Vietnam, and more were streaming into the country.
An American War Starting in 1965, with the landing of the first combat forces,

the conflict in Vietnam changed. The United States took over the main responsibility for fighting the war, adopting a two-pronged strategy. First, U.S. marines would take key cities and other vital sites along the coast and transform them into modern military bases. They would then use those bases to launch searchand-destroy missions against the Viet Cong. From that time forward, the South Vietnamese would play only a supporting role. This change in strategy represented the Americanization of the Vietnam War. As one of LBJs advisers, Horace Busby, put it, This is no longer South Vietnams war. We are no longer advisers. The stakes are no longer South Vietnams. The war is ours.

Summary

After World War II, nationalist and communist rebels in the French colony of Vietnam fought for their independence. A 1954 agreement ending this colonial war split the country into communist North Vietnam and democratic South Vietnam. When France pulled out the following year, the United States stepped in to prop up South Vietnam. Over the years, American involvement grew and eventually led to the introduction of U.S. ground forces.

First Indochina War In this first phase of fighting, which lasted from 1946 to 1954, Ho Chi Minh led Viet Minh insurgents in the struggle to end French rule in Vietnam. Geneva Accords The First Indochina War ended with a 1954 agreement known as the Geneva Accords. The accords split Vietnam into north and south but called for elections to reunify the country. The United States backed South Vietnam financially and militarily. Viet Cong Insurgents in the south, known as the Viet Cong, worked to overthrow the nominally democratic but corrupt government of South Vietnam. The Viet Cong received aid from communist North Vietnam. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution An alleged attack on U.S. ships off the coast of North Vietnam led Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave President Johnson broad powers to expand the U.S. role in Vietnam. Massive air strikes against North Vietnam followed. Ho Chi Minh Trail By 1965, North Vietnamese Army troops were moving south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to help the Viet Cong. The United States feared that South Vietnam would fall without more direct support. Americanization In March 1965, the United States began sending ground troops to fight the Vietnam War. The war quickly became an American conflict.

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