My favorite general in history is General Matthew Ridgway (1895-1993), who replaced General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in 1951 as commander of American forces in Korea. (The following information relates to our Government's decision to fight in Vietnam.)Earlier in 1951, masses of Chinese soldiers had crossed the Yalu River, between North Korea and China, to aid North Korean forces battling South Korean forces. MacArthur's forces were isolated and barely escaped. General MacArthur then proposed to take the fighting into China. But the USA was unprepared for such extensive fighting and (as noted below) could not be prepared for such operations for two years. Meanwhile we would be fighting Chinese forces --- capable of "living off the land" -- on their own grounds with American forces which needed extensive supplying to function. When Gen. MacArthur bypassed President Truman by appealing to members of Congress, President Truman removed him from his post and appointed Gen. Ridgway to replace him. This aroused a storm of protest at that time and for years after.
I pause to argue that Gen. MacArthur was arguing for two violations of strategy. In an associated file at this Website, I define military strategy as fighting the enemy on grounds of your choosing. But this inolved fighting Chinese forces on grounds of their choosing. Secondly, a very dangerous action is to place your supply lines in jeaopardy. (In an associated file regarding the 1961 "Bay of Pigs" debacle, I note that Castro immediately moved to crush the invading forces by using his small air force to sink the supply ships off shore. This defeated invasive forces in a few days.) But MacArthur would be leading American forces into battle with American supply lines constantly in danger or cut off.
Before commenting on differences between MacArthur and Ridgway, I cite further relevant information about Truman's decision. Some time after this, I was taking a course in Statistics at New York University, in pursuit of a Master's Degree in Mathematics. Our professor had been a government statistician at the time of the above events. A fellow student in this class called attention of our professor to stories we'd heard that "input-output analysis" of Russian-American Wassily Leontief (1905-99) was involved in Truman's decision to remove MacArthur. (This models national auditing for long-term planning and national budgeting, and had successly predicted a 1946 steel shortage which slowed home and building construction. For this work, Leontief was awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize in Economics.) When our professor merely looked at the ceiling and changed the subject without replyibg, we assumed this to mean that the story was true. Apparently, Leontief was asked to estimate what invading China would mean. When the simulation returned the result that our troops would not be supplied effectively for two years from entry into China, advisors of Truman who had previously supported MacArthur now agreed with advisers who counseled removal of MacAthur.
During the years 1972-83, TV viewers learned about the "Korean Police Action", in the show, M*A*S*H", shown in reruns in the years since. Repeatedly, references were made to "Dugout Doug", meaning Gen. MacArthur stayed behind the lines. In contrast, Gen. Ridgway immediately moved among his forces. His "signature" was a hand grenade pinned to his collar, for immediate use in combat, if necessary. His popularity with his troops contributed to his salutary action in turning back enemy forces and defending South Korean teritory. He might have achieved a victory, but politicians opted for a truce, which lasts to this day. In effect, we are still "at war" with North Korea.Dwight Eisenhower -- my absent (jn NATO) University President when, earlier, I earned a Batchelor of Science Degree in Physics at Columbia University (1948-52) -- visited Korea after his election as President in 1952. He chose Gen. Ridgway to be his adviser, who soon retired in frustration. Upon Ridgway's death (1993, at age 98), the New York Times noted that Ridgway had strongly urged Eisenhower not to get involved in helping French forces in colonial French Indochina. But President Eisenhower apparently ignored Ridgway's advice (ASTRATEGIC!), so it was Eisenhower who involved US in Vietnam, and succeeding Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon) inherited this "quadmire".
The label "Vietnamese" means "non-Chinese people south of China". Becoming part of the Chinese empire in 111 BC, Vietnamese people long struggled for their freedom from China, achieved in 938 AD, but cultural influence remained. In the 17th century, French missionaries arrived and began converting some of the people, especially urging monogamy. Local resistance increased and some Roman Catholic priests were murdered. In 1847, French troops arrived to protect missionaries, and in 1858 colonialization began, followed by fighting with the indigenous people and with Chinese troops until 1885. In 1893, neighboring regions of Cambodia and Laos were adjoined, to form French Indochina. Profiting from shipment to France of local zinc and rubber, French colonialists built a network of roads, canals, railways, and developed mines and plantations. To educate indigenous administrators, schools teaching French were opened, and in 1902 Hanoi University Was founded.One of the university students was Ho Chi Minh. Attracted by the Russian Revolution, Ho visited Russia in 1924 and decided to organize his people to overthrow their French masters. So, in China, Ho organized Vietnamese exiles into the Vietnam Revolutionary League (Vietminh). In 1940, Japanese forces invaded Indochina and the French quickly capitulated, But the Vietminh, under General Vo Nguven Giap, began guerrilla warfare against Japanese troops, receiving weapons from the Soviet Union and (after Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor) from the United States. After defeat of the Japanese by Allied Forces, Ho Chi Minh, in September, 1945, annoounced formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, secretly at their Potsdam meeting, President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin agreed on subdivision of Vietnam into a northern secion under China and a southern section governed by the British. But both China and Britain relinquished their claims and the French government -- refusing to recognize Ho's Democratic Republic -- installed exiled Emperor Bao Dai as Head of State.
Since this immediately provoked Fighting between French colonials and the Vietminh, the appointment of the Emperor was ASTRATEGIC. The French advantage was weakened when Mao Zedong's Communist armies defeat Chung Kai Shek in China, because the Vietminh now had a haven in China to care for their wounded and to train new troops. By 1953, the Vietmoinh controlled large sections in the north. The war and its costs in money and lives became unpopular in a France, struggling to recover from World War II, so the attempt of the French government to continue its colonialism as ASTRATEGIC. The French commander in Vietnam, General Navarre, thought he had a strategy for quickly defeating forces under General Giap, and a historic battle -- waged from December, 1953, to May, 1954 -- developed at Dienh Ben Phu, which soon appeared ASTRATEGIC. Unable to obtain help from the United States and Britain, the French surrendered and gave broad concessions to the Vietminh. At the Geneva peace conference of 1954, the United States delegation proposed Ngo Dinh Diem to head South Vietnam, in spite of French protests that Diem was "incapable" and "mad". Once installed, Diem quarreled with American supporters and took actions that alienated many of his people, strengthening the cause of the Vietminh, so his appointment was definitely ASTRATIGIC.
Disturbed at the spread of Communism in south East Asia, yet Eisenhower knew the problems that would arise from American participation in a new war so soon after the "Korean police action", so he sent a small negotiating team. Reminded by the North Vietnamese government that a General Election for the whole country was due in January, 1956, Diem rejected this and put 100,000 of his people into prison camps, including children for anti-Diem graphitti. Diem's "98.2%" election of 1955 was considered fraudulent. South Vietnamse people began leaving their homes to hide in the forests as insurgents. An estimated 1,200 of Diem's government officials were murdered. In December, 1960, Ho Chi Minh organized the National front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF, labeled "Vietcong" by Americans), composed of both Communist and non-Communist groups. Its programme became popular among South Vietnamese peasants, who felt oppressed by Diem.
Taking office in 1961, President John Kennedy declare intention to follow the Eisenhower policy in Vietnam. The "Domino Theory" appeared, arguing that if one country fell to Communism, another would, and another, until the threat appeared in the United States. However, President Charles De Gaulle (France's WW II heroic leader) warned that American support in Vietnam could become "a bottomless military and political swamp". (Ignoring this warning was ASTRATEGIC.) In violation of the Geneva Agreement, Kennedy secretly sent military advisers to train South Vietnamese troops. In 1962, the American proposed the (ASTGRATEGIC!) "Strategic Hamlet" Program, penning thousands of South Vietnamese in stockade-like villages patrolled by military guards. Protests at having to travel longer distances to reach their rice paddies increased anti-American resentment and sent more to join the Vietcong. The NLF support increased 300% in two years, now controlling one-fifth of South Vietnam villages.
Rman Catholics composed only 10% of population of Buddist South Vietnam, but were the favored relgionists under the French and under Diem (a devout Catholic). The Roman Catholic Church was the largest landowner in South Vietnam, and Diem's administrators were mostly Catholic. On May 8, 1963, Buddhists gathered in Hue to celebrate the 2527th birthday of Buddha. In trying to disperse them, police killed one woman and eight children. Thousands of Buddist monks were arrested, some to disappar forever. On June 11, 1963, began a succession of six Buddhist monks burning themselves to death in protest. This ASTRATEGIC event was a turning point in Vietnam historic.
Now persuaded that Diem could not unite his country, but aware of the prevailing policy that we could not kill a ruler of another country, Kennedy changed the policy for the CIA. In November, 1963, when American security was withdrawn, Diem was assassinated. Three weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated. When Vice-President Lyndon Johnson became President, he reaffirmed the "Domino Theory", saying, "If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we'll be fighting in Hawaii and next week in San Francisco." But, advised by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to send combat troops to South Vietname, Johnson told them, "Just get me get elected [in 1964 elections], and then you can have your war." But Johnson ran as "the peace candidate", saying he would not "send American boys five or ten thousand miles away to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves." Johnson was opposed by Republican candidate, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on Hanoi in North Vietnam. (A influential Johnson TV ad, "Morning in America", showed a little girl picking flowers, just as a nuclear bomb explodes in the background.)
On August 2, 1964 (prior to November elections), it was reported that the U. S. Destroyer "Maddox", in the Tonkin Gulf, was fired upon by three North Vietnamese ships and, in retaliating fire, sank one of them. However, Captain Herrick of the "Maddox" later sebt a doubtful message: "Review of action makes reported contacts and torpedoes fired appear doubtful. Freak weather reports and over-eager sonar men may have accounted for many reports. No actual sightings by 'Maddox'. Suggest complete evaluation before further action."
Ignoring this second Herrick message, Johnson felt he had the excuse he wanted and ordered execuation of a plan made months before, to bomb four North-Vietnamese torpedo-boat bases and an oil-storage depot. President Johnson spoke on TV to the country: "Repeated acts of violence against the armed forces of the United States must be met not only with alert defence, but with a positive reply. That reply is being given as I speak to night." Congress approved Johnson's order in the historic "Tonkin Gulf Resolution", passed by the Senate in votes of 88 to 2, and by the House of Representatives by a vote of 418 to 0. This authorized President Johnson to take all necessary measures against the NLF in Vietnam.
Johnson won a landslide victory from a public who did not know that Johnson had only waited for this power to take many of the (nonnuclear) actions advocated by his defeated opponent, Goldwater.
Thus, as with "the Korean police action", America began warfare for dubious reasons, putting our young military personnel "in harm's way" without the Congressional Declaration of War set forth by the founders of our Republic. To the date of this writing, the United States of America has not engaged in a war DECLARED CONSTITUTIONALLY BY CONGRESS since August, 1945. This ASTRATEGY may long harm our Republic.
Vietnam continued.