The United States’ views of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh during World War II and during the Cold War changed quite dramatically.
It is important to analyze the results of shifting perspectives during this period. The Tonkin Resolution in 1964, which will be summarized later, delineated the changes to United States policy and actions in Vietnam.
Like many Americans, I did not have a robust comprehension of the causative factors for the Vietnam War. Although the war was active during all my school years, it rarely intruded into my sheltered bubble of reality.
My Dad left the Marine Corps and assimilated into the civilian sector prior to the war’s escalation. Later, I married an Army veteran.
John transmitted the last signals- (SIGINT) related message from a base in Thailand a year after Saigon fell, thus ending all US presence in Southeast Asia.
In-depth research has clarified in totality the history of Vietnam, its conflicts, alliances, ideology, etiology and America’s involvement in the Vietnam War from both sides.
Making comparisons serves an important role in the study of history to identify similarities and differences in their historical contexts.
The purpose of comparison is to analyze different historical topics, reveal their complexities and move from observation to evaluation, as illustrated in the following comparison table.
| The United States Changing Views of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh | ||
| Categories of Comparison | During World War II | During Cold War |
| Was US Allies with France? * | No | Yes |
| Was US Allies with Soviet Union? | Yes | No |
| Was US Allies with Japan? | No | Yes |
| US Economic Gain? | No | Yes |
| US Supplied Arms & Training to Viet Mihn Troops? | Yes | No |
| US Self-Image as Global Guardian of Democracy? | No | Yes |
| US as a Dominant World Power? | No | Yes |
| US Racial Bias? | No | Yes |
| Cultural Myth of American Exceptionalism? | No | Yes |
*US support of the Free French resistance continued in Europe and Southeast Asia during WW II.
What precipitated these extreme changes? In the pre-World War II years, French Indochina consisted of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, all of which were considered French colonies going back to the mid nineteenth century.
Vietnam was first occupied by the French in 1858 and was routinely exploited for it rubber output for decades, with the Michelin Plantation in the 1930s being a notable example.
The French viewed Vietnam as a gold mine. Thailand, through skillful negotiations and its policy of bending with the wind, was able to remain out of the French Indochina sphere of influence and was never occupied by France.
The French rule over Indochina came to an abrupt halt in 1940 with the invasion of Southeast Asia by Japanese Imperial troops, who were motivated by the Axis invasion of Poland a year earlier.
Japan became an active and crucial member of the Axis, along with Germany and Italy.
During the war years, Imperial Japan held complete military and economic control of French Indochina, along with China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Laos, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, New Guinea, Myanmar, Narau, East Timor, and Guam.1.
During WW II, the defeat of Japan in Southeast Asia was the goal of a Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese patriot.
When it became imminent Japan was on the precipice of defeat at the end of the war, Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese freedom fighters formed a communist organization called the Viet Minh and dedicated itself to Vietnamese independence.
The United States helped counter Japanese invaders by training and equipping arms to the Viet Minh troops. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent country. 2.
In 1947, President Harry Truman announced the United States would help any free country under the threat of a Communist takeover.
Although the Soviet Union had been an ally to the United States during WW II, post- WW II found the USSR as the United States main adversary in the Cold War, for more than four decades.
By 1954, the French were expelled by the Viet Minh. 3.
In 1960 and 1961, the internal political climate in South Vietnam worsened. 4.
A Department of the State Bureau of Intelligence memorandum written in 1962 disproved the South Vietnamese optimism that the recent Vietnamese-US counterinsurgency struggle against the Viet Cong was improving. 5.
The memo refuted South Vietnam’s claims that the Viet Cong were weakened nor was the national liberation war abated. The Viet Cong had expanded and increased its efficacy and terrorism, in addition to having influence in nearly half of all villages.
Peasant unrest increased, as their morale in the Diem government to protect them decreased. The memo warned a military coup was highly likely to succeed.6.
In a September 1963 interview with news broadcaster Walter Cronkite, President Kennedy said although the US would support Vietnam’s efforts with US aid, it was ultimately Vietnam itself who had to win their own war against communists.
Two months later, Kennedy was dead.
Four days after President John Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon Johnson signed a National Security Action memorandum setting the stage for increased assistance to the South Vietnamese.
It nullified Kennedy’s prior memorandum to withdraw most US personnel by the end of 1965.
Four months afterwards Johnson signed another NSA memo authorizing the takeover of Vietnamese activities. 7.
Ho Chi Minh stepped up his support of the Viet Cong at the same time Johnson renewed the American commitment to beat them.
Each responded to the chaos in Vietnam with new resolve. 8.
A pivotal event occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin, northwest of the China Sea, that would forever change the trajectory of United States and Vietnam history.
Three North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats allegedly attacked the USS Maddox for 22 minutes while the destroyer was in international waters off North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin in broad daylight on August 2, 1964.
The US Navy reported the destroyer was on routine patrol, but this was proven later to be untrue.
It was precipitated by earlier US incidents against North Vietnam.
A second nautical attack under the cover of night and bad weather by the North Vietnamese against the USS Maddox allegedly happened within two days but it was later determined inaccurate. 9.
President Johnson seized the opportunity as the impetus he needed to push the Vietnam War to Congress, despite his campaign rhetoric for limited Vietnam involvement.
The Tonkin Resolution was whisked through Congress in two days and was voted on unanimously in the House.
There were only two dissidents in the Senate.
The Tonkin Resolution gave President Johnson the power to make war without a declaration of war.
Congress gave Johnson full power to take military action in southeast Asia.
Thus, Johnson removed the war issue from his contentious presidential campaign against Senator Barry Goldwater.
Johnson won a landslide victory. 10.
Before the Tonkin Resolution, the Americans had served as advisors to the South Vietnamese Army but failed to make strategic gains.
After the Tonkin Resolution, President Johnson used his newly appointed power to send American troops to South Vietnam to prevent the communists from taking over.
Over the next two years, the American Force built up to nearly a half million troops. 11.
By 1965, the war had changed because America’s bombing campaign to win by attrition was not working.
The Army of South Vietnam was near collapse.
Vietnamese civilian government disintegrated, and the military seized control.
President Johnson televised staged peace talk debates, but it was propaganda because he had already secretly made the decision to send 200,000 US troops to Vietnam.
Johnson kept his decision low-key and there were no public debates.
For the first time, American B-52 bombers supported American troops in the fields of Vietnam.
Johnson’s ratings in mid-1965 plummeted from a 70% approval rating to below 40% two years later, and with it, his manipulation of Congress and the American people.12.
In 1968, a massive Vietcong and North Vietnamese offensive took place on Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, and struck the cities of South Vietnam.
The attacks were televised into American living rooms and split White House staff. 13.
American television revealed a different sight than what Americans had been told about the war and exposed the war’s inhumanity.
The coverage of a captured Vietcong POW’s execution brought home the real horror of war.
The brutal realization was the beginning of the end, although it would not lead to a truce.
The Vietnam War would rage on until 1975, ending with North Vietnamese communists as the victors.
By its conclusion, America lost over 58,000 lives during the Vietnamese War.
Welcome home, Vietnam War veterans. Not just on March 29th, but every day.
References
- Dobbs, Professor Michael, University of Maine at Presque Isle, POS 439, The Vietnam Wars; Columbia University Press, The United States Historical Background, pages 1-8.
- Jesse, 2024 March 12, Vietnam: A Televised History Part 1, Unedited VHS version, video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?=vwgohcX-Ip7E, 2018.
- Dobbs, Professor, University of Maine at Presque Isle, POS 439 Vietnam Wars, State Department Assessment in 1962, The Political Situation, Background Rapid Deterioration, page 3.
- Dobbs, Professor, University of Maine at Presque Isle, POS 439 Vietnam Wars, State Department Assessment in 1962, page 1.
- Dobbs, Professor, University of Maine at Presque Isle, POS 439 Vietnam Wars, State Department Assessment in 1962, page 14.
- Stone, Roger, The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ; Skyhorse Publishing, 2013, pages 191-192.
- Travis, Phillip W., 2024 March 12, LBJ Goes to War, video, YouTube, https://youtube.com/watch?v=He7cukt6a-w, 2018.
- Paterson, Pat, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy, The Truth About Tonkin, Naval History Magazine, Volume 22, Number 1, 2008. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2008/february/truth-about-tonkin, February 2008, page 1.
- Travis, Phillip W., 2024 March 12, LBJ Goes to War, 2024, video, YouTube, https://youtube.com/watch?v=He7cukt6a-w, 2018.
- The Vietnam War, 2024 March 12, Vietnam: A Televised History, America Takes Charge, video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6myyhyRIWLU&t=3073s
- Travis, Phillip W., 2024 March 12, LBJ Goes to War, video, YouTube, https://youtube.com/watch?v=He7cukt6a-w, 2018.
- Travis, Phillip W., 2024 March 12, LBJ Goes to War, video, YouTube, https://youtube.com/watch?v=He7cukt6a-w, 2018.
- Casper’s Cave, 2024 March 12, Vietnam, A Televised History, Tet, video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIAvlURbfoA&t=22s, 2020.