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TOP 20

VIETNAM WAR QUOTES

The Vietnam War Team

www.thevietnamwar.info

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i

This e-book is un-copyrighted meaning you can copy, edit, share, smile, laugh at or do

whatever you want with it.

Credit is much appreciated but not required.

First Edition.

The Vietnam War Team.

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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:

While the designers, contributors, editors, and authors have put their best efforts in

preparing the Top 20 Vietnam War Quotes e-book, they make no warranties or

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This e-book is for educational and informational purposes only and the Vietnam War Team

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DEDICATION

To those who served and sacrificed in Vietnam.

We will never forget.

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CONTENTS

QUOTES 1

REFERENCES 15

ABOUTUS 16

INDEX 17

RECOMMENDED BOOKS 18

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www.thevietnamwar.info | 1

QUOTES

1. FINALLY, YOU HAVE BROADER CONSIDERATIONS THAT MIGHT FOLLOW

WHAT YOU WOULD CALL THE "FALLING DOMINO"PRINCIPLE.YOU HAVE A ROWOF DOMINOES SET UP; YOU KNOCK OVER THE FIRST ONE, AND WHAT WILL

HAPPEN TO THE LAST ONE IS THAT IT WILL GO OVER VERY QUICKLY.DWIGHT

D.EISENHOWER,1954.

During the Cold War, Communism and its ideology became widespread across the world. In Europe,

most eastern countries had established their own Communist regimes under Soviet spheres of

influence. In Asia, Communists continued to take control of China and North Korea in 1949 and 1953

respectively. In early 1954, as the French failed to re-establish their colonial control in Indochina,

Vietnam was in danger of falling under the rule of Viet Minh, a Communist-led organization. That chain

of events incited fear in Western democracies that in a few more years the Communists would expandand take control of Southeast Asia, thereby annihilating the free world1.

A map made in 1950 depicts the "Domino Theory" (Bettmann/CORBIS)

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In a news conference on April 7, 1954, President Eisenhowerfirst described that chain of events as the

so-called Domino Theorywhich heldthat if one country falls to Communism, its surrounding countries

would follow in a domino effect. The theory continued to be used by preceding administrations as a

legitimate reason for the U.S. to intervene all over the world including sending economic and military aid

to non-Communist South Vietnam, which led to the Vietnam War.

2. NOW WE HAVE A PROBLEM IN MAKING OUR POWER CREDIBLE, AND

VIETNAM IS THE PLACEJOHN F.KENNEDY,1961.

After the World War II, the U.S. and Soviet Union became two rival superpowers. In 1949, their rivalry

during the Cold War was heating up in Asia when the Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong took

control of the mainland China. In 1953, the Korean War, which cost nearly 37,000 American lives, ended

in a stalemate. A year later, the U.S. suffered another setback when the French their ally was defeated

by the Viet Minh backed by Soviet Union and China.

When John F. Kennedy, the youngest person ever to be elected President, took office in 1961, he

acknowledged that in order to maintain the world's respect for the U.S., they must not ignore theescalating Communist assaults on South Vietnamese government.

Particularly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco as well as his relatively poor performance against Russian

Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the Vienna summit, Kennedy did not want another defeat on his hands. He

was determined to re-establish U.S. - as well as his own - credibility in the world by first increasing

economic and military aid to South Vietnam in their war against the North Communists.

U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his inaugural address after taking the oath of office at Capitol

Hill in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20, 1961 (AP Photo)
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3."DON'T LISTEN TO WHAT THE COMMUNISTS SAY,BUT LOOK AT WHAT THEY

DO."NGUYEN VAN THIEU,SOUTH VIETNAMESE PRESIDENT.

In 1945,Nguyen Van Thieujoined the Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minhwith goal to liberate Vietnam from

the French colonialism. However, he left after just one year when realizing that Viet Minh were

Communists They shot people. They overthrew the village committee. They seized the land.2Thieu

then moved to Saigon and joined the Vietnamese National Army (VNA) of the French-backed State of

Vietnam. He rose up to a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), became head of a

military junta, and then President from 1968 until April 21, 1975 when he resigned and left the nation

nine days before the fall of Saigon.

The quote was originated from the Bible and modified by Thieu to denounce the Communist duplicity.

On the one hand, the Communists preached about justice, democracy, humanity and such, but on the

other hand, their actual actions were all about violence, killings and that they could do almost

everything to achieve their goals.At the time it circulated, the quote was used for propaganda purpose

to alert South Vietnamese people not to fall for Viet Congs lies.

The quote is still popular today among oversea Vietnamese people to mock the Communist government

at home.

4.IF ONE HAS NO COURAGE TO DENOUNCE, IF ONE BOWS TO MADNESS AND

STUPIDITY, HOW CAN ONE EVER HOPE TO COPE WITH THE OTHER WRONGS OF

HUMANITY EXPLOITED IN THE SAME FASHION BY COMMUNISTS?" MADAME

NHU,1963.

Mrs. Ngo Dinh Nhu fires a .38 pistol (Larry Burrows/Time Life Pictures via Getty)
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Tran Le Xuan, popularly known as Madame Nhu, was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu who was brother and

chief adviser to the first South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.As Diem was a bachelor, she was

considered as the First Lady of South Vietnam. After married Nhu, Madame Nhu converted from

Mahayana Buddhism (her familys religion) to her Roman Catholicism (her husbands religion). In early

1960s, Madame Nhu became an active supporter of Diem who pursued pro-Catholic policies that

antagonized many Buddhists.

In June 1963, duringthe Buddhist crisisin South Vietnam, a Buddhist monk by the name of Thich Quang

Duc immolated himself in downtown Saigon in protest against the government's favoritism of

Catholicism. In return, Madame Nhu publicly ridiculed the Buddhist suicide as a barbecue and said

that she would be glad to provide gasoline if the Buddhists wanted to have another one3.

After the New York Times criticized Madame Nhu in an editorial for being callous, she replied to the

press with a letter, in which she defended her behavior as an action of courage to denounce the

actions of madness and stupidity the words she used to describe the self-immolation of Quang Duc.

These comments apparently inflamed Nhu's repression policy of Buddhist protests and highly damaged

American faith and support for Diem regime, which later led to Diem and her husband's assassination in

a coup to overthrow them.

Thich Quang Duc burns himself to death on a Saigon street on June 11, 1963 to protest against an

alleged persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government (AP Photo/ Malcolm Browne)
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7. "EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON THE AMERICANS. IF THEY WANT TO MAKE WAR

FOR 20 YEARS THEN WE SHALL MAKE WAR FOR 20 YEARS. IF THEY WANT TO

MAKE PEACE,WE SHALL MAKE PEACE AND INVITE THEM TO TEA AFTERWARDS."

HO CHI MINH,NORTH VIETNAMESE LEADER,DEC.1966.

Ho Chi Minh(1890 - 1969) was a Vietnamese Nationalist revolutionary, who led Vietnamese insurgents

against many so-called invaders such as Japanese, French, and United States as well as his political

rivals. In the First Indochina War, Ho and his Viet Minh emerged victorious against the French in battle

of Dien Bien Phu. In the Second Indochina War, known as the Vietnam War, he led North Vietnamese

people fighting against the U.S. and South Vietnam to reunify the country.

One year after the first U.S. troops arrived in Vietnam, when asked by Martin Niemoller, a German anti-

Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor, that if North Vietnam would fight to final victory, Ho replied

without the slightest hesitation by 'final victory' you mean the departure of the Americans, then we will

fight to final victory.5 He declared that the war depended on the Americans and that he and his people

were willing to fight for 10 years or 20 years, no matter how long it was, until the last Americans left andVietnam was reunified. The quote demonstrated his and North Vietnamese people's patience and strong

determination to reunify the country, and that they would fight to achieve that goal at all costs.

The U.S. probably underestimated those patience and determination. They thought if they just pushed a

little harder with more bombings and attacks, North Vietnamese people would give up. Nonetheless,

after a long-drawn-out war, the U.S. was the one who had to withdraw from Vietnam.

8.ONE OF THE GREATEST CASUALTIES OF THE WAR IN VIETNAM IS THE GREAT

SOCIETY... SHOT DOWN ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF VIETNAMMARTIN LUTHER

KING,1967.

During his speech at the Nation Institute, Los Angeles on February 25, 1967, Martin Luther King strongly

criticized the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He stated that American casualties in Vietnam were

not just physical causalities. As a matter of fact, by involving deeply in the war, the U.S. government had

violated the Charter of the United Nations, ignored the principle of self-determination of Vietnamese

people and particularly stagnated the implementation of Great Society*.

M. L. King argued that the U.S. involvement and spending on the Vietnam War had choked off the Great

Societyplan. Billions of dollars were lavishly expended in Vietnam rather than committed to anti-poverty

programs, which resulted in many of the programs being eliminated or reduced in funding. Both at the

front and at home, the poor had to bear the countrys burden. According to King, the bombs in

Vietnam explode at home.6

* Great Society, named by Richard N. Goodwin, was a plan of President Johnson against poverty and

racial injustice. This War on Poverty included large-scale investments on education, transportation,

health, arts and cultural institutions and environment as well as civil rights.
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9. I SEE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. WALT W. ROSTOW,

NATIONAL SECURITYADVISER,DEC.1967.

On May 20, 1953, using a phrase that would haunt Americans in later years - "Now we can see [success

in Vietnam] clearly, like light at the end of a tunnel" - Gen. Henri Navarre declared his optimism about

the outcome of the First Indochina War. Nonetheless, the French tasted a bitter defeat at the hands ofthe Viet Minh in just one year later.

When Americans began to involve themselves in South Vietnam, they ran into the same kind of military

problems that had plagued the French. In 1967, after two years of military involvement, American public

started to question about the escalation of the Vietnam War and the capability of the U.S. military.

However, many American leaders, including Walt W. Rostow, optimistically reassured American people

about Vietnams situation. In late 1967, Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of the Military

Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), likewise asserted that the U.S. "had turned the corner in the

war."

However, the optimism did not last long. On January 29, 1968, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese

forces launched a series of massive attacks, known as theTet Offensive.Those surprised attacks proved

that the Communists were not weakened and the end of the war was nowhere in sight. Even though Tet

Offensive was a military failure for the Communists, it was indeed seen as a great psychological victory

for them. In fact, the offensive shocked American public,damaged Johnson administrations credibility,

peaked anti-war protests and therefore marked a major turning point in the war.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his speech
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10. WE SEEM BENT UPON SAVING THE VIETNAMESE FROM HO CHI MINH,

EVEN IF WE HAVE TO KILL THEM AND DEMOLISH THEIR COUNTRY TO DO IT....I

DO NOT INTEND TO REMAIN SILENT IN THE FACE OF WHAT IREGARD AS A POLICY

OF MADNESS WHICH, SOONER OR LATER, WILL ENVELOP MY SON AND

AMERICAN YOUTH BY THE MILLIONS FOR YEARS TO COME. GEORGE

MCGOVERN,U.S.SENATOR,APRIL 25, 1967.

Since 1963, George McGovern was one of the very first Senators who challenged the increasing U.S.

military involvement in Vietnam. In January 1965, he proposed a five-point plan advocating a settlement

involving a federated Vietnam with local autonomy and a U.N. presence to guarantee security and fair

treatment7. In November 1965, McGovern visited South Vietnam for three weeks and what he saw

deeply upset him. The statement, spoken in 1967, described his point of view on the U.S. involvement in

Vietnam as a policy of madness.

To save Vietnam from Communism, Americans had caused tremendous destruction to the countryincluding killing innocent civilians as well as destroying their lands and forests. In total, over two million

Vietnamese people were killed during the war8. U.S. aircraft dropped around 7 million tons of bombs9

on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia more than twice the amount dropped in the whole World War II. By

using the infamous Agent Orange and other defoliants, the U.S. army destroyed about 7,700 square

miles of forests six percent of Vietnams total land area10, which also caused adverse health effects on

millions of people. In addition,the war cost the United Statessome 58,000 lives, impeded many welfare

programs and brought down its economy to the crisis of the 1970s. Those severe consequences put a

big question mark over the benefits that the U.S. deep involvement in the war brought to both Vietnam

and the United States.

11.I'M NOT GOING TO BE THE FIRSTAMERICAN PRESIDENT TO LOSE A WAR

RICHARD M.NIXON,OCT.1969.

During his 1964 presidential campaign, Lyndon B. Johnson declared himself as a peace candidate.

Nevertheless,he became the first President who sent combat troops to Vietnam after just a few months

in office. A few years later, despite increasingly high U.S. casualties in Vietnam as well as massive

nationwide protests, he still refused to bring troops home and stated that he did not want to become

the first American President to lose a war.11Nixon, nine months after his election, said the same thing

to Stewart Alsop of Newsweek.

By 1969, the war stuck in stalemate. On the battlefield of Vietnam, although its casualties kept

increasing, the U.S. did not make much progress. On the home front, the numbers of people against thewar increased dramatically. Anti-war protests and demonstrations occurred across the nation. During

this time, the Congress passed a resolution that deplored past executive excesses and recognized no

Presidential commitment to continue the war12. However, Nixon claimed that as Commander of Chief he

possessed authority to order the armed forces abroad without congressional approval and ignored the

resolution13. The President and Congress were now on a collision course. In April 1970, without

consulting Congress, he launched an invasion of Cambodia.
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12. "WHO IS THE ENEMY?HOW CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE CIVILIANS

AND THE NON-CIVILIANS? THE SAME PEOPLE WHO COME AND WORK IN THE

BASES AT DAYTIME,THEY JUST WANT TO SHOOT AND KILL YOU AT NIGHTTIME.

SO HOW CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE TWO? THE GOOD OR THE BAD?

ALL OF THEM LOOK THE SAME."VARNADO SIMPSON,A U.S.SOLDIER FROM

CHARLIE COMPANY OF THE 23RD INFANTRY DIVISION,1969.

The quote portrayed the tricky situations that American soldiers had to face in their daily jobs in

Vietnam. They had to not only endure the harsh climate and difficult terrain in Vietnam but also face an

unusual enemy - the Viet Cong.

American soldiers who were unfamiliar with Vietnamese language and culture encountered many

problems trying to live in concord with South Vietnamese peasants. In fact, many peasants had the

feeling of hatred toward America as a foreign invader. Their relationship became even worse after Gen.

Westmoreland implemented the aggressive strategy of search and destroy. U.S. troops began tosearch for Viet Cong in countless villages across South Vietnam, which were suspected of harboring or

supplying the enemy. In an attempt to discover information about the Viet Cong, American soldiers

sometimes tortured the peasants. If evidence was found of the Viet Cong being in the village, the people

were punished. As a result, many peasants gradually inclined to support the Viet Cong.

Under the peasants support,the Viet Congcould easily blend in. And by wearing the same clothes and

acting the same way as peasants, they were virtually indistinguishable from one another. Thus, the

missions of eradicating the Viet Cong often seemed impossible to American forces.

A Marine escorts a suspected Viet Cong member, August 1965
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14.IF THE AMERICANS DO NOT WANT TO SUPPORT US ANYMORE, LET THEM

GO,GET OUT!LET THEM FORGET THEIR HUMANITARIAN PROMISES!NGUYEN

VAN THIEU,SOUTH VIETNAMESE PRESIDENT,APRIL 1975.

In 1973, President Nixon, in a letter to convince Thieu to sign the Paris Peace Accords,had promised afull force response if the settlement would be violated by the North Communists. However, when the

NVA and Viet Cong attacked Phuoc Long province - a main province in northern Saigon in December

1974, which was a blatant violation of the accords, the U.S. made no military retaliation at all.

Five months later on April 21, 1975, under intense political pressure as Saigon and South Vietnam were

on the verge of collapsing, Thieu resigned as President. In his televised farewell speech, he admitted the

wrong decision on evacuation from the Central Highlands and Northern provinces that had led to

debacle and then went on to criticize the U.S. who had not respected its promises".

15. TODAY,AMERICA CAN REGAIN THE SENSE OF PRIDE THAT EXISTED BEFORE

VIETNAM. BUT IT CANNOT BE ACHIEVED BY REFIGHTING A WAR THAT ISFINISHED AS FAR AS AMERICA IS CONCERNED.WE,OF COURSE,ARE SADDENED

INDEED BY THE EVENTS IN INDOCHINA. BUT THESE EVENTS, TRAGIC AS THEY

ARE, PORTEND NEITHER THE END OF THE WORLD NOR OF AMERICA'S

LEADERSHIP IN THE WORLD.GERALD FORD,1975.

After North Vietnamese forces had captured Phuoc Long province on January 6, 1975, President Ford

requested a $522 million aid package for South Vietnam17, which was previously promised by the Nixon

administration. However, Congress rejected the Presidents request by a wide margin18.

In April 1975, around one hundred thousand North Vietnamese soldiers were advancing toward Saigon.

Meanwhile, the world waited to see how the United States would react to the pending collapse of South

Vietnam which they had fought hard to preserve. South Vietnam also looked for U.S. reactions as their

last slim chance to survive.

The U.S. answer soon came from President Ford in his address at a Tulane University Convocation on

April 23 - two days after South Vietnamese President Thieu resigned blaming the U.S not keeping their

promises. During the speech, Ford declared that the Vietnam War was over as far as America is

concerned. This announcement was reportedly met with thunderous applause.

A week later, Saigon felland South Vietnamese government surrendered unconditionally. Vietnam was

reunified as a Communist country.
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16. TELEVISION BROUGHT THE BRUTALITY OF WAR INTO THE COMFORT OF THE

LIVING ROOM.VIETNAM WAS LOST IN THE LIVING ROOMS OFAMERICA,NOT ON

THE BATTLEFIELDS OF VIETNAM. MARSHALL MCLUHAN, A CANADIAN

PHILOSOPHER OF COMMUNICATION THEORY,1975.

The media role in the Vietnam Warwas probably best described by media scholar Marshall McLuhan in

the Montreal Gazette, 1975. According to Marshall, the U.S. lost the war to their media in the living

rooms of America rather than to the Viet Cong on the battlefield of Vietnam. Few would disagree with

him. In fact, Vietnam was the first American war reported daily on television, in color, during dining

hours with relatively uncensored images19. It was also the first war being discussed enormously by

American public.

While the fact that more and more young men drafted to fight in an increasingly unpopular war led to

the first anti-war movements, candid images of brutal battles, dead and wounded soldiers and civilians

on both sides sparked massive protests growing both in size and intensity throughout the country. The

Tet Offensive in 1968 exemplified the important role of the media in the war. Although the offensivewas a terrible loss for the Communists, grisly TV pictures and reports that led the notion that the enemy

could launch such massive attacks after years of war shook American publics confidence. Many dreadful

incidents such as My Lai massacre and Pentagon Papers broadcasted widely by the media critically

damaged the governments credibility as well as fueled the furious public.

The dramatic plunge in support for the war contributed to Johnson's decision not to run for the second

term, preliminary peace talks in Paris, and then NixonsVietnamizationstrategy and eventually the Paris

Peace Accord signed in 1973. Television and the media in general arguably helped bring about the end

of the Vietnam War.

17. ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FORESTS" A SHORTENING OF THE U.S. FOREST

SERVICE FAMOUS WARNING TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC "ONLY YOU CAN PREVENTFOREST FIRES".SIGN IN ROOM OF U.S.AIRMEN SPRAYING DEFOLIANTS.

Only you can prevent forests was a sign hung over the Operation Ranch Hand Ready Room door in

Saigon.

During the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong regularly utilized lush jungles for food and shelter. To deprive

them of food and hiding places, Operation Ranch Hand was conducted with the aim of eliminating forest

cover as well as crops which might be used to feed them by defoliation. From 1962 to 1970, there were

about 19 million gallons of herbicides sprayed in South Vietnam20.

As a consequence, South Vietnamese environment was heavily damaged. Around 10 million hectares of

agricultural land and 10 percent of tall trees in inland forests were destroyed 21. In coastal areas,

mangrove forests were terribly damaged and steadily eroded.
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19. NO EVENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY IS MORE MISUNDERSTOOD THAN THE

VIETNAM WAR.IT WAS MISREPORTED THEN,AND IT IS MISREMEMBERED NOW.

RARELY HAVE SO MANY PEOPLE BEEN SO WRONG ABOUT SO MUCH. NEVER

HAVE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR MISUNDERSTANDING BEEN SO TRAGIC.

RICHARD M.NIXON,1985.

This line was the first line in the first paragraph of No More Vietnams written by former President

Nixon as an attempt to explain American failure of letting South Vietnam fall into the hands of the North

Communists. Throughout the book, Nixon illustrated how the publics misunderstanding about the war

in Vietnam had contributed to the overall failure.

Although the war was the subject of over 1,200 books, thousands of newspapers and magazine articles,

scores of motion pictures and television documentaries24, too many people still misunderstood about

the cause, purpose, soldiers as well as North and South Vietnamese political backgrounds. According to

Nixon, many myths as a result of North Vietnamese propaganda such as America was a foreign invader,

and that South Vietnam was just a puppet regime had influenced American publics points of view. Andas the war was misreportedthen, and misremembered now, it led totragic consequencesfor both

Vietnam and the U.S. after the end of the war.

20. AMERICA HAS MADE NO REPARATION TO THE VIETNAMESE,NOTHING.WE

ARE THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD AND THEY ARE AMONG THE POOREST.

WE SAVAGED THEM,THOUGH THEY HAD NEVER HURT US,AND WE CANNOT FIND

IT IN OUR HEARTS, OUR HONOR, TO GIVE THEM HELP BECAUSE THE

GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM IS COMMUNIST. AND PERHAPS BECAUSE THEY

WON.MARTHA GELLHORN,THE FACE OF WAR,1986.

Following the end of the Vietnam War, Hanoi began to put efforts to normalize their relations with the

United States in the belief that they could obtain $3.3 billion in reconstruction aid which President Nixon

had secretly promised after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 197325. However, those efforts were

neglected due to the high-tension political climate in the wake of the war.Worse still, Washington also

imposed a trade embargo on Vietnam right after the war, which was only lifted after twenty-long years

in 1994.

This quote was added in an update of the book The Face of War written by Martha Gellhorn, one of

the greatest war correspondents. In this book, Martha Gellhorn condemned U.S. policies as they had

ignored their responsibility for Vietnam and Vietnamese people after the end of the war. By punishingVietnam, the U.S. had kept the country ruined and thus forced it into complete dependence on the

Soviet Union. Those ruthless policies are regarded by Martha as nothing more than malign ill will

toward a small distant country.
http://thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-impact/http://thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-impact/http://thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-impact/http://thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-impact/

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INDEX

Agent Orange .......................................................... 6, 10, 13

Curtis E. LeMay ................................................................... 4

Domino Theory ............................................................... 2, 4Eisenhower ......................................................................... 2

George McGovern............................................................... 6

Gerald Ford ................................................................... 9, 13

Ho Chi Minh................................................................ 3, 5, 6

Johnson ......................................................... 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10

Kennedy .............................................................................. 2

Kissinger .............................................................................. 8

Le Duc Tho .......................................................................... 8

Madame Nhu ................................................................ 3, 13

Marshall McLuhan .............................................................. 9

Martha Gellhorn ............................................................... 11

Martin Luther King ....................................................... 5, 13

Ngo Dinh Diem................................................................... 3Nguyen Van Thieu.................................................... 3, 8, 13

Nixon ................................................. 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13

Paris Peace Accord....................................................... 8, 10

Ronald Reagan.................................................................. 10

Thich Quang Duc ................................................................ 3

Viet Cong............................................................. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8

Viet Minh .................................................................2, 3, 5, 6

Walt W. Rostow.............................................................. 5, 6

Westmoreland .......................................................... 6, 7, 10

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