OVERVIEW: THE VIETNAM WAR
“I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved. If I left the woman I
really loved—the Great Society—in order to get involved with that bitch of a war on the other side
of the world, then I would lose everything at home… But if I left that war and let the Communists
take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an
appeaser and we would both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the
entire globe.”
1
—President Lyndon B. Johnson
The roots of the conflict between the United States and the North Vietnamese went all the
way back to when French authorities and military personnel arrived on Vietnamese soil during
the second half of the nineteenth century. The French conquest of Indochina was part of a larger
pattern of European imperialism, as the French took advantage of the Vietnamese land and people
to export rice, rubber, and coal. During the early 20th century, however, resentment of French rule
helped spur the rise of Vietnamese nationalism. It was during this time that Ho Chi Minh, who
would later lead the North Vietnamese in the war against the United States, became a committed
Communist revolutionary.
2
In 1945, at the end of World War II and Japanese/French occupation, Ho Chi Minh declared
Vietnam to be an independent country, free of imperial rule. Years of fighting between the French
and Vietnamese followed. The U.S. sent aid, committing money and resources to support the French
in the hopes of preventing the spread of communism. Ultimately, however, the French were dealt
a devastating defeat at Dien Bien Phu; shortly afterward at the Geneva Conference, they formally
withdrew from Vietnam, and a treaty divided the country at the 17th parallel. The northern half
of Vietnam, ruled by Ho Chi Minh, was committed to communism and the southern half of
Vietnam was committed to democracy. The Kennedy and Johnson administrations, in the wake
of the Cold War, felt it necessary to prevent the spread of communism into South Vietnam at all
costs. The “Domino theory,” subscribed to by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and other
Johnson advisers, maintained that if one country became communist, neighboring countries would
themselves become communist, falling like dominoes.
In 1964, after a skirmish between North Vietnamese ships and U.S. destroyers in the Tonkin
Gulf just off Vietnam, Johnson presented Congress with what came to be known as the Gulf of
Tonkin resolution. The resolution essentially gave Johnson the power to increase the American
military presence in Southeast Asia, and marked the beginning of full-scale U.S. involvement in
the conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. It would take roughly fifteen years for the
United States to find peace both at home and abroad. The fighting in Vietnam was characterized by
“search and destroy” missions, often leading frustrated U.S. soldiers into poor and/or unoccupied
villages. Troops neither spoke the language, nor could they easily identify the enemy. The
Vietcong—familiar with the climate, terrain, and seasons—engaged the United States in guerilla
warfare on their own territory,. The U.S. engaged in massive bombing campaigns that often spilled
1. “Vietnam, An American Ordeal” by George Donelson Moss pg. 157.
2. Please note that it is difficult to summarize the entirety of the Vietnam War in two pages or less. I recommend, “Vietnam, An
American Ordeal” by George Donelson Moss as an excellent resource on the U.S./Vietnam Conflict.
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