Origin, Causes of the Vietnam War
Reasons for Longest War in American History Go Back to World War II
Indochina conflict began with United States economic rebuilding of Japan. Political, social ideals of Communism; French Colonialism threaten post WW2 Southeast Asia.
Japan: A Far Eastern Marshal Plan?
Immediately following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, World War II in the Pacific theater came swiftly to a close. Just as in Europe, with the Marshal Plan, Americans did what no other winning nation had done in the history of the world. They began to rebuild their enemy’s country. While political structures were dramatically changed, economic and physical infrastructure was rebuilt with the goal of reaching pre-war operation. Japan’s unique geographical location caused it to draw on other nations resources and use them to manufacture goods that were shipped back to those countries and elsewhere. Japan’s main source of this commerce had been China. With China’s fall to Communist leader Mao Tse-tung, this would no longer be an option for Japan, especially while they were committed to their new alliance with the U.S. A so called “Far East Marshal Plan” was suggested and debated in congress but was rejected. Economists felt that Japan’s hopes lay in the Southeast Asian area called Indochina.
Vietnam Independence vs. French Colonialism
Indochina comprised three nations that we recognize today, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. This area had been under French domination for the last 100 years. Many chafed under this kind of rule and rebellions had occurred often during the French occupation. They now felt that the world's attitude toward freedom was their opportunity to gain full independence. While these goals were supported by U.S. foreign policy, they were at odds with their French ally. France was stubbornly holding on to their colonial ventures. Great Britain, also loath to give up their “Empire”, gave little support for French withdrawal. Even though the United States supported Indochinese independence, by 1950 she compromised with the French in order to try to insure the economic prosperity of Japan. President Harry Truman decided not to force France to withdraw and instead tried to diplomatically nudge France toward Vietnamese Independence.
Ho Chi Minh: Nationalist or Communist?
During World War II and directly after there had been telling and supportive reports on the Vietnamese freedom fighter, Ho Chi Minh. While he had ties to Moscow, his cooperation with the OSS made an initially favorable impression. At first, when America was not deviating from its goal to establish independent nations in Indochina, there were overtures of support made to Ho Chi Minh. However, U.S. toleration of the vestiges of French Colonialism in the area was seen as a rejection of Ho Chi Minh’s goal for independence. It was also a very poor PR move with relation to the Vietnamese public, who to a person (unless accepting French bribes) wanted independence as well. Unintentionally, this U.S. policy shift pushed Ho Chi Minh more toward his Moscow Allies. Many U.S. estimates began to turn and to say the Ho was more of a communist than a nationalist and that it would be foolish to back his forces.
Russian and Chinese Communists – Domino Theory
The “Cold War” of propaganda and ideas with only the threat of military action began in earnest. After World War II, the world had seen Stalin commit genocide in Russia to consolidate Communist rule. They had seen Communism, led by Mao Tse-tung come to power in China through merciless use of military strength. The world had also heard and believed the Communist threat to take over capitalist nations by tearing down their morale and encouraging internal decay through subversive people and ideas. In the 1950’s free western nations began to believe that this Red Wave had to be stopped. In Southeast Asia, Indochina specifically, Vietnam was seen as vital to secure as a non-communist nation. It was seen as only the first fall of many that would occur in President Dwight Eisenhower’s theory called “The Domino Principle”. From 1952-1963 the U.S. began to pledge more and more economic and military support to Vietnam, stopping short of supplying soldiers on the ground. Then the French finally decided that the cost of pursuing colonialism was too high and the full weight of support fell on the United States. In the divided nation of Vietnam, the northern half was controlled by Ho Chi Minh’s Communist government while the south U.S. support was experimenting in Republican government.
“It is clear that the forces of Communism are not to be underestimated” – John F. Kennedy
After the 1961 Bay of Pigs incident in Cuba, President Kennedy became more vocal about the world threat of communism. He was assisted by the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev who said of America, “I once said, "We will bury you," and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you. We will simply attend the funeral”. There was a considerable amount of American support for holding back the perceived Soviet and Chinese threat. By September 1963, Kennedy admitted to Walter Cronkite that without “popular support” this war in Vietnam cannot be won. In late October, a coup overthrew the South Vietnamese government and though there was some debate, the communists from the North were blamed. In late November, Kennedy was assassinated and within hours President Lyndon B. Johnson was quoted as saying, “I am not going to lose Vietnam. I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way that China did!” It was soon after, that American troops were openly committed. It would be another decade before Americans counted over 50,000 dead and innumerable wounded bodies, minds and spirits of military participants and civilian unrest. Many agree that the nation’s recovery from this long war is ongoing.
Sources
America in Vietnam a Documentary History edited by William Williams, Thomas McCormick. Lloyd Gardner, Walter LaFeber, 1985, Anchor Books
American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson and the Origins of the Vietnam War by David Kaiser, 2000, Harvard University Press
