40th Anniversary of the Fall of South Viet Nam

Joseph Radzikowski, Lt. Col. USMC, Retired

Associate Professor, Historian of Military Studies and Foreign Policy

San Diego City College

World Cultures Program Presentation

April 30, 2015

The 40th Anniversary of the Fall of South Vietnam

The lecture will cover the following three phases:

The French Legacy 1945-1954

The Advisory/Americanization of the War 1954-1972

The Final Days of South Vietnam 1973-1975

French Indochina 1850-1954

First Indochina War 1946-1954the prelude

To understand U .S. involvement in Vietnam conflict it ‘s vital to start with the legacy of the French involvement in Indochina.

The French Indochina defines the contours, the events and determines the outcome of the American war.

Why? The First Indochina war does not settle the principles it was fought for political unity/ unification independence from foreigners.

It does not solve and creates for the basis for the Americanization of the war.

Historical Background Sept 1945 Japanese surrender and Ho Chi Minh proclaimed

the founding Provisional Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Lt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Vietnam, is shot and killed in Saigon. Dewey was sent to Vietnam to search for missing American pilots and to gather information on the situation in the country after the surrender of the Japanese.

The Vietminh waged an insurgency against France which culminated in the siege of the French base in northern Vietnam at Dien Bien Phu and the defeat of French forces in 1954.

Geneva Accord 1954

A peace conference at Geneva, Switzerland, sought to extricate France from Vietnam.

Vietnam would be divided in half along the 17th Parallel. 

The Vietminh would control the northern section, the State of Vietnam would control the south.

General elections would occur in both north and south on July 20, 1956, to decide which Vietnam would govern the whole country.

The agreement meant the Vietminh, who occupied significant territory south of the 17th Parallel, would have to withdraw to the north.

Consequences of the Geneva Accord

The U.S. and the State of Vietnam never signed the agreement.

The U.S. doubted that, without United Nations supervision, any election in Vietnam would not be democratic.

The Geneva Accords got France out of Vietnam.

It did nothing to prevent an escalation of discord between free and communist spheres.

It only hastened American involvement in the country.

Ho Chi Minh Vietnam’s Enigma

The Nationalist 1919

The Revolutionary 1945

Ho Chi Minh’s Dream or Illusion

For thirty years 1910-1949 , he clung to the hope that the United States was different.

A new kind of power that had been born out of an anti-colonial reaction.

An advocate of self determination for all nations, large and small.

He believed that America could be the champion of his cause.

The French Solution Bao Dai ( 1950-54)

Create a puppet government around Bao Dai in order to both consolidate support within France for the war and to gain American support for the French effort.

The French believed that he could create popular support for French rule his support came from Parisian Vietnamese who were more French than the French.

They came from Cochin-China, the southern most state in Vietnam

The Truman Administration 1946-1952The Cold War Expands to Southeast Asia

In 1950, President Truman recognized French sovereignty over Indochina

Dean Acheson , self defender of Western civilization.

The “Domino Theory”

On May 1, 1950, President Truman authorized the first military assistance ( Military Assistance and Advisory Group ) to Indochina.

Indochina was a critical Cold War battlefield to preserve the region against further Communist aggression.

The Domino Theory was central to the way Americans viewed the threat in the 1950s.

By 1954 the U.S . was paying 75 % of the French war effort.

May 7, 1954, Dien Bien Phu fell, exhausted , the French stopped military operations in Indochina and sought peace at Geneva.

The Eisenhower Administration 1952-1960Bernard Fall argued “that Americans were dreaming different dreams than the French but walking in the same footsteps.”

What happened to the French would not happen to us, they were not a mighty power

Dulles was not at all happy over the French defeat in Indochina. For Dulles ‘ We have a clear base there now without the taint of colonialism

An Experiment in Nation Building

Colonel Edward Lansdale, chief of the CIA's Saigon Military Mission, meets with President Diem after the CIA entered Vietnam in 1954 to help the pro-Western Vietnamese.

Without the assistance of Lansdale and the black operations of his CIA team, Diem's success in achieving power and giving birth to the Republic of South Vietnam.

The American Solution“The right man for the U.S. but the wrong man for Vietnam”

South Vietnamese prime minister Ngo Dinh Diem

and his brother/principal aide Ngo Dinh Nhu 

America Raises the Stakes 1961-63We are going to win in Vietnam. We will remain here until we do win. ( Kennedy 1962)

The U.S sponsored “ secret war “ in Laos under the operational control of the CIA

More assistance to SVN increase Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG)

A Limited Partnership with South Vietnam

Kennedy’s decision to violate the military provisions of 1954 Geneva agreements and to increase significantly U.S. military support levels for the GVN were intended to keep Diem in power.

Keep U.S. commitment to South Vietnam limited advisory and support roles.

Maintain U.S . control of events in Vietnam.

Kennedy was not trying to win the in Vietnam ; he was doing enough not to lose.

The Advisor’s WarJFK solution to winning the war 1962-1963

“ Project “ Beefup” send helicopter, transport and reconnaissance aircraft to add firepower and mobility to Diem’s army.

Kennedy had over 15,000 military advisors including Green Berets in South Vietnam to help train and equip the South Vietnamese military forces.

JFK ‘ s solution Green Berets and counterinsurgency /pacification 1962-63

For much of the Vietnam War, the 5th Special Forces Group trained and led CIDG mobile strike forces and reconnaissance companies that comprised ethnic minority tribes and groups from the mountain and border regions. These strike forces essentially conducted reconnaissance by means of small-unit patrols and defended their home bases.

OP PLAN 34 & the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

The operation started in early 1960s under the CIA.

President Kennedy’s the covert plan expanded the use of PT boats in assisting South Vietnamese clandestine naval /commando operations against the North.

The operation involved U.S. destroyers patrolling off the coast of North Vietnam that assisted with relaying intelligence to South Vietnamese forces regarding North Vietnamese naval operations and coordinating commando raids against the North.( The Gulf of Tonkin incident 1964)

Shift from Advisor's War to The Americanization of the War

Diem’s ouster and murder in 1963 ushered in a period of political instability and a series of military coups.

Based on unfolding events such as, The Gulf of Tonkin incident , in late 1964, Johnson decided to escalate the war.

Operation Rolling Thunder( Air Campaign in North Vietnam)

Marines land in South Vietnam

Search and Destroy Missions

Attritional warfare

Body Count culture

“The Light at the end of the Tunnel mentality”

Americans go to war

On March 8, 1965 the first U.S. Marines from the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade from Okinawa landed at Da Nang, Vietnam.

Johnson expected a relatively quick and cheap U.S. victory that would save South Vietnam and allow him to implement his Great Society and war on poverty.

The Strategy of Attritional warfare

General Westmoreland devised the strategy of attritional warfare from 1965-until President Nixon supplanted it with Vietnamization in 1969.

Attrition played to the American strengths ( firepower and mobility) and minimized casualties.

Attritional warfare promised to win the war more quickly than protracted counterinsurgency operations.

Attritional warfare would incorporate large tactical unit sweeps into enemy basing areas “SEARCH AND DESTROY MISSIONS.”

Search and Destroy missions would find, fix, and finish the enemy and provide security for an expanded pacification program.

The TET Offensive 1968

The massive NVA surprise attack during the 1968 Tet holiday was a crucial turning point in the war.

The NVA tactical objective was to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its support of the Saigon regime.

Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks, news coverage of the offensive shocked / dismayed the American public and further eroded support for the war effort.

Despite heavy casualties, North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive.

The Beginning of the End 1969-1973

Johnson overwhelmed by Tet announced in March 1968 that he would not run for reelection.

Richard M. Nixon won the 1968 election and has a plan to take the nation out of the war while preserving national honor. (A peace with honor)

Nixon plan was called “Vietnamization “ but it also meant changing the existing strategic and tactical rules of the game.

In March 1969, North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia were bombed.

May 1970 South Vietnamese troops moved in Cambodia and Laos ( a privileged –sanctuary policy was finished)

Vietnamization 1970-73

1970 the number of troops in Vietnam stood at 150,000 down from 1968 of 565,000.

In 1971 the policies of Vietnamization and renewed pacification of the countryside continued with some success but the public outcry in America against the war increased.

April 1972 , the NVA launched their “Easter Offensive.”

Despite the massive invasion across the DMZ into the Central highlands the offensive was stopped by the South Vietnamese with the aid of overwhelming American tactical air power.

While, in Oct 1972, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was carrying out negotiations, the NVA renewed their military attacks.

Peace Accord 1973

Nixon ordered the strategic bombing of North Vietnam Operation Linebacker I & II which forced the North Vietnamese back to the peace talks. North and South Vietnam signed the peace accord , and the United States agreed to withdraw.

In Jan 1973 , South Vietnam was promised immediate American military support in the face of any further northern aggression, and substantial military aid.

March 1973 the release of American POWs ( 591) the only positive accomplishment of the Peace agreement.

While giving the United States a way out of the war , the Paris agreements ironically brought no peace to Vietnam and left substantial Communist forces in place in the south.

Economic downward spiral

South Vietnam was facing severe economic problems.

Since the early 1960s the economy was driven by massive American aid and spending power of US forces.

Construction projects alone employed in excess of 100, 000 South Vietnamese workers.

The withdrawal of US forces /decline in American aid sent the economy downward .

Inflation hit 65% and unemployment hit 40 %.

South Vietnamese government kept an army of 1.1 million soldiers worsened the economic situation.

Political/Military Situation 1973

The Soviet Union increased shipments of weapons and financial assistance to North Vietnam by 400 percent.

To counter Moscow’s aid to Hanoi, the United States funneled 3.2 billion in military aid to South Vietnam.

Congress passed the Wars Powers Resolution in October 1973.

The North Vietnamese were watching Washington politics very closely and had no intention of abandoning the dream of unification and independence.

Continued decline in funding for South Vietnam

Pham Van Dong and Le Duc Tho were cautious about the next offensive.

They knew that the Nixon administration was weakening under the pressures of Watergate, but they did not underestimate Nixon.

Le Duc Tho was certain that if Nixon had the chance , he would unleash the B- 52’s again and he did not want another Easter offensive 1972.

Mid 1974 Congress limits aid to South Vietnam to $1.1 billion from $ 3.2 billion the year before, and funding in 1975 to 700 million.

Nixon, Watergate and the Fall of South Vietnam

Nixon’s cover-up of the Watergate would eventual lead to his resignation and the fall of South Vietnam.

Nixon was unable to deliver on its promise to rescue South Vietnam if Hanoi broke the 1973 agreement.

Watergate scandal enveloped him and his presidential authority to prevent the coming South Vietnamese crisis declined.

When the final North Vietnamese offensive came in 1975 , he was in exile in San Clemente.

On April 29 , 1975 , President Ford implemented Operation Frequent Wind , the airlift evacuation of American and South Vietnamese civilian /military personnel from Saigon.

The Evacuation and Departure

On April 29 , 1975 , President Ford implemented Operation Frequent Wind , the airlift evacuation of about 7000 American and South Vietnamese civilian and military personnel from Saigon.

Additional U.S. naval ships ferried more than 70,000 South Vietnamese to American ships in the South China Sea

April 30 , 1975 , Ambassador , Graham Martin departed on the last helicopter the U.S. Embassy in South Vietnam.

The Vietnam Era: Critique

President Eisenhower , Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all expressed their fear of becoming the first president to lose a war , like Truman over the loss of China to the Reds in 1949.

Inflation , opposition to the war, and the Oil Embargo affected the American domestic politics against supporting the conflict.

The increasing antiwar forces in the United States influenced by the media.

A genuinely idealistic venture to save the world from Communism ended in 1970s as a face –saving game to get out of a quagmire.

The Political Critique

The war was fought with no clear policy goal established that would satisfy the American public.

American and civilian policy makers never realized they were fighting a revolutionary protracted war not a conventional war.

American military leaders allowed civilians to dominate military strategy and even tactics to an that extent that efficient war-making became impossible.

The media, especially television , was allowed to dominate the interpretation of the war after 1968.

The United States fought a wrong kind of war against an enemy it did not understand.

The Military Critique

Both the French and Americans hoped to draw the insurgent/regular forces into a battle of attrition, where superior firepower would be decisive.

The United States military , especially the Army approached the Vietnam War with a conventional mindset.

It organized, trained, and equipped the South Vietnamese forces into the American model.

The U.S. approach to counterinsurgency warfare was timely /costly.

The Military Critique

Like the French the U.S. mobility and firepower could take them anywhere in Vietnam, but they could not stay and could show only wasted resources and time for their efforts.

Neither the French or Americans completely embraced the idea of counterinsurgency tactics.

The solution to the insurgency was almost purely a military approach which ignored the political /social realities on the ground.

In the end , the American defeat was a failure to understand and imagination.

Peace with dishonor

Nixon’s domestic political troubles arising from Watergate and his resignation , together with the passage of the War Powers Resolution in 1974 sealed South Vietnam’s fate and any hope of survival in the face of mounting northern military activity.

A deterioration of South Vietnamese society and the continuing cuts in American support for Thieu’s failing regime by the Ford administration triggered the final NVA OFFENSIVE Dec 1974 to April 30, 1975.

The Final Chapter 31 years Later“Time heals all wounds”

First Vietnamese Brigadier General In the United States Army

Left South Vietnam 30 April 1975 with family at the age of 10 years old, however, two weeks ago a success story was in the making of the American dream.