THE VIETNAM WAR

AP World History Period 4

Omowale
Elite Scholars Academy
Pages & 1250 words
Ja-Karis Brown, April 29, 2016

Ja-Karis Brown

How It All Started

Some people may have the misconception that the Vietnam War was a conflict between
the United States and Vietnam. The war initially started off as a result of the United States
Strategy of Containment during the Cold War, which targeted to prevent communism throughout
the world, but the Vietnam war was actually a long armed conflict between North Vietnam and
its allies and South Vietnam and the United States. Conflict between the two foes is known to
stretch back as far as the 1940s, but the actual Vietnam War started in the year of 1954. The
conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam accumulated when the North Vietnams
government and the Viet Cong (its allies) wanted to reunify Vietnam as a whole under
communist rule. Ho Chi Minh, who was the ruler of North Vietnam, wanted to have control over
everything including land, citizens, and government.
The War Rises
A coup by some of his own generals succeeded in toppling and killing Diem and his brother,
Ngo Dinh Nhu, in November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,
Texas. The ensuing political instability in South Vietnam persuaded Kennedys successor, and
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to further increase United States military and economic
support. The following August, after DRV torpedo boats attacked two United States destroyers in
the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North
Vietnam. Congress soon passed the, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson broad warmaking powers, and United States planes began regular bombing raids, codenamed Operation
Rolling Thunder, the following February. In March 1965, Johnson made the decision, with solid

support from the American public, to send U.S. combat forces into battle in Vietnam. By June,
82,000 combat troops were stationed in Vietnam, and General William Westmoreland was calling
for 175,000 more by the end of 1965 to shore up the struggling South Vietnamese army. Despite
the concerns of some of his advisers about this escalation, and about the entire war effort as well
as a growing anti-war movement in the U.S., Johnson authorized the immediate dispatch of
100,000 troops at the end of July 1965 and another 100,000 in 1966. In addition to the United
States, South Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand also committed troops to fight in
South Vietnam (on a much smaller scale).
The Gulf of Tonkin
After World War II, France reoccupied its former colonies in Southeast Asia, but were kicked
out again by the forces of Communist Leader Ho Chi Minh. In 1954, as the conflict winded
down, the worlds super powers reached an agreement to temporarily divided Vietnam in two,
with all Ho supporters going north and all French supporters going south. Elections were
supposed to reunite the country within a couple of years, but the United States opposed them
over concerns that Ho Chi Minih would win the presidency. Instead, it propped up the corrupt
and authoritarian government of Ngo Dinh Diem. South Vietnam was essentially the creation of
the United States, the Defense Department would later admit in the Pentagon Papers. Within a
few years, a rebellion had sprung up against Diem, aided by Hos forces in the north, who
oversaw a string of assassinations against non-Communist village leaders.
Under presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson, the United States gave France and South Vietnam economic aid and weapons to fight
the Communist rebels. It also sent over more and more military advisors, some of whom
participated in raids despite ostensibly being there only for self-defense. As part of one such

covert operation, the United States trained and directed South Vietnamese sailors to bombard
radar stations, bridges and other targets along the North Vietnamese coast. Meanwhile, U.S.
warships such as the Maddox conducted electronic espionage missions in order to give
intelligence to South Vietnam. The rebels continued gaining ground, however, both before and
after U.S. officials sanctioned a coup in which Diem was murdered. At this point, U.S.
involvement in Vietnam remained largely in the background. But early in the morning of July 31,
1964, U.S. packed patrol boats shelled two North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin, after
the Maddox headed to the area. As it cruised along on August 2, it found itself facing down three
Soviet-built North Vietnamese torpedo boats that had come out to chase it away. The massive
Maddox fired first, issuing what the U.S. authorities described as warning shots. Courageous, the
three boats continued approaching and opened up with machine-gun and torpedo fire of their
own. With the help of F-8 Crusader jets released from a nearby aircraft carrier, the Maddox badly
damaged at least one of the North Vietnamese boats while emerging completely unharmed,
except for a single bullet that lodged in its superstructure. The following day, the U.S. destroyer
Turner Joy was sent to reinforce the Maddox, and U.S. backed raids took place against two
additional North Vietnamese defense positions. Then on August 4, the Maddox and Turner Joy
reported that they had been ambushed with enemy boats firing 22 torpedoes at them. In response,
President Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnamese boat bases and an oil storage
depot. Aggression by terror against the peaceful villagers of South Vietnam has now been
joined by open aggression on the high seas against the United States of America, he said that
evening in a televised address. He also requested a congressional resolution, known as the Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution, which on August 7 passed unanimously in the House and with only two
opposing votes in the Senate, essentially giving him the power to wage war in Southeast Asia as

he saw fit. Throughout these hectic few days, the Johnson administration asserted that the
destroyers had been on routine patrol in international waters. In actuality, however, the destroyers
were on an espionage mission in waters claimed by North Vietnam. The Johnson administration
also described the two attacks as unprovoked; it never disclosed the covert U.S.-backed raids
taking place. Another problem: the second attack almost certainly never occurred. Instead, its
believed that the crewmembers of the Maddox mistook their own sonars pings off the rudder for
North Vietnamese torpedoes. In the confusion, the Maddox nearly even fired at the Turner Joy.
Yet when U.S. intelligence officials presented the evidence to policy makers, they deliberately
omitted most of the relevant communications intercepts, according to National Security Agency
documents declassified in 2005. The overwhelming body of reports, if used, would have told
the story that no attack had happened, an NSA historian wrote. So a conscious effort ensued to
demonstrate that an attack occurred. The Navy likewise says it is now clear that North
Vietnamese naval forces did not attack Maddox and Turner Joy that night.
In private, Johnson himself expressed doubts about the Gulf of Tonkin incident,
reportedly telling a State Department official that those dumb, stupid sailors were just shooting
at flying fish! He also questioned the idea of being in Vietnam at all.
IN THE END
At a news conference, President Richard Nixon says that the Vietnam War is coming to a
conclusion as a result of the plan that we have instituted. Nixon had announced at a conference
in Midway in June that the United States would be following a new program he termed
Vietnamization. Under the provisions of this program, South Vietnamese forces would be built
up so they could assume more responsibility for the war.

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