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The Vietnam War
An online book by Dr. John Guilmartin covering all aspects of the war.
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From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese had struggled for their independence from France during the First Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam.
- North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and who aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule.
- The South was controlled by Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French.
In the early 1960s, elements of the U.S. Army Special Forces, The Green Beret,  were sent to South Vietnam as military advisors to train and assist the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) for impending actions against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the National Liberation Front (NLF or Viet Cong).
On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox was said to have been attacked by three North Vietnamese P-4 torpedo boats, resulting in damage to the three boats. Two days later the Maddox (having been joined by the destroyer USS Turner Joy) reported an attack by North Vietnamese vessels. This second supposed attack was later discovered to be fabricated. These two attacks would become known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
Because of the "incident", the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, passed by Congress on August 7, 1964, giving President Johnson the power to resolve the conflict with any means necessary.
The Vietnam War
The United States entered the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of a wider cold war strategy called containment.
Agent Orange is the name given to a specific blend of herbicides used in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. During Operation Ranch Hand, the U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides to remove leaves from trees that provided cover for enemy forces. Spraying was halted in 1971 after it was found Agent Orange was highly contaminated with the most dangerous form of dioxin, TCDD, which was known to cause serious health problems.
Timelines of Phases of the War:
Tet Offensive, 1968
Although intelligence estimates indicated an unprecedented amount of supplies were moving down the Ho Chi Minh Trail and three North Vietnamese Division Headquarters with seven regiments (about 15,000 men) had arrived near Khe Sanh, north of Hue, the U.S. leadership did not fully understand the gravity of the situation. Speeches by senior leaders indicated that a possible all-out offensive might develop, but it was unlikely.
Tet, or the lunar new year, the Vietnamese most festive holiday, resulted in a declared 36 hour truce and home leave for many of South Vietnam's military. Although some leaves were cancelled, ARVN strength was only about about 50% at the time of the attacks.
Attacks were launched on five of the most important cities in South Vietnam, thirty-six provincial capitals, sixty-four district capitals, and fifty hamlets. In the city of Hue, eight battalions stormed the city isolating the U.S. Advisory team. In well-coordinated attacks in the capital of Saigon, three U.S. military barracks, the Presidential Palace, the city radio station, Ton Son Nhut Air Base, and the recently constructed U.S. Embassy were all attacked.
American soldiers, on alert for the possible attacks, reacted quickly and well and fought stubbornly in small units. The battle for the northern city of Hue went from house to house and lasted for a month. The North Vietnamese lost 45,000 men, over half of the strength they committed, and were unable to attack in strength for the next two years. The American public, watching graphic footage on the televised evening news, began to question the Johnson administration's handling of the conflict.
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The Tet Offensive brought the war to the cities for the first time and the resulting devastation created many refugees. General William Westmoreland moved quickly to establish Operation Recovery to coordinate the rebuilding process. While the North Vietnamese failed in their attempt to start a mass uprising in the cities, they controlled the villages and the countryside, making the U.S.-led Pacification program more difficult.
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During the conflict, approximately 3 to 4 million Vietnamese on both sides were killed, in addition to another 1.5 to 2 million Lao and Cambodians who were drawn into the war.
Opposition to the War:
The draft initiated protests on May 5, 1965. Student activists at the University of California, Berkeley marched on the Berkeley Draft board and forty students staged the first public burning of a draft card in the United States.
Another nineteen cards were burnt May 22 at a demonstration following the Berkeley teach-in.
There were several draft classifications. Classification 1-A indicated a person was available for service. Classification 2-S indicated a current college student. At the height of the war, student deferrments were only given to upper classmen with very high grade points. Many who were classified 1-A joined the National Guard (at the time, the National Guard did not serve outside its own state) or entered the Peace Corps as a way of avoiding being drafted. All of these issues raised concerns about the fairness of who got deferments, since it was often the poor or those without connections who were drafted.
A formal draft lottery was not instituted until December 1, 1969.
A Timeline of Opposition to U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War
- Vietnam Veterans Against the War
- Students for a Democratic Society
- Anti-War Demonstration, New York City, 1967
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a vocal opponant of the war.
- Two personal stories related to the draft in 1967:
- Abbie Hoffman and the The Chicago Seven
- 1968 Democratic National Convention
- Richard M. Nixon made a political campaign promise to end the draft.
- Columbia University student revolt - April 1968
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono (in bed), Tommy Smothers (with guitar), and
Timothy Leary (foreground) at the 1969 Montreal Bed-in protesting the war.
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- The Weather Underground - 1969
- Kent State shootings - May 4, 1970
13 Seconds That Ended Flower Power
- The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "Ohio"
- Documentary produced by Kent State Public Radio
- Eyewitness account by Howard Ruffner
- Eyewitness account by Tom Grace
- 2000 interview with Dean Kahler, one of the wounded students.
- The Student Strike of 1970 - the only nationwide student strike in U.S. history
- The last man was drafted in December 1972 and reported for training in June 1973.
- In accordance with the Nixon Doctrine, Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird instituted all-volunteer military recruiting on 1 July 1973.
- On January 27, 1977 President Carter pardoned most of the 10,000 "draft dodgers".
Movies About The Vietnam War:
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A movie with original footage and interviews documenting the anti-war movement within the Vietnam era military.
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The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular war in American history. The hostilities in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans - with another 304,000 wounded.
Over 1500 Americans are still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.
History of the POW/MIA Bracelets Site1
Site2
P-38 C-Rations Can Opener
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