Conflict from u. S. Escalation in 1965 to the fall of saigon in 1975. He argues that the United States was in vietnam to prove the viability of capitalism and the american system of government. His class is about an hour, 15 minutes. So we talked about the kind of the leadup to the American Intervention of vietnam on tuesday. Were going to look at the war today. Before we kind of jump into the actual war, any questions concerning the stuff we covered on tuesday . No. I am that good, arent i . So i want you guys to pay especially good attention today, because as it turns out, this is the only thing im actually qualified to teach. [ laughter ] i didnt know there was a war in korea until i read the textbook with you guys. But the vietnam war is your thing. Ive tried to present concise history of the war and hopefully it makes some sense to you. So on tuesday, were talking about how starting in 1964, as a result of developments in hanoi, North Vietnam under its new leader starts to escalate the insurgency in Southern Vietnam. And it escalates to a point where by late 64 we effectively have a state of war in Southern Vietnam. We have big war, as i mentioned, in Southern Vietnam. And then at that point, the position of the americans is what do we do about whats going on . Do we just effectively allow the south to fall or do we do more than merely send advisers to preclude a collapse of this proamerican, anticommunist regime in saigon. In response to the escalation and this existence of a state of war in Southern Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson decides to deploy combat troops, it begins with 3,000 marines and it keeps going up from there. He deploys these combat troops to Southern Vietnam and at the same time he initiates a sustained Bombing Campaign against the north. The idea being that the north needs to be punished for all the troubles in the south as far as johnson and his advisers are concerned, whatever difficulties the americans are facing in the south are all the result of this collusion by hanoi of this involvement by hanoi. As we established on tuesday, as it turns out, the insurgency in Southern Vietnam was begun by southerners against the wishes of hanoi. So johnsons approach is to fight the insurgents in the south with American Military personnel and to bomb the north for its support of this state of war in Southern Vietnam. Thats significant because for the people of northern vietnam, this is all lost on them. As far as theyre concerned, the americans are bombing us for no reason that we can understand and thats one of the reasons why the bombing will be counterproductive. If anything, it inspires northers to fight more valiantly once they get deployed to the south. They eventually buy into the narrative presented to them that the effect that the american war in vietnam is unprovoked american aggression against our poor, innocent people. Now, always keep this in mind, right, we talked about this on tuesday. As far as johnson and his team are concerned, its important to do something about vietnam. At a minimum, as to prove that the u. S. Is not a quote unquote paper tiger, as mao has been saying about the u. S. And to demonstrate resilience in the american cold war. If you dont take anything else from todays lecture, please remember this, the vietnam war was never about vietnam for the United States. Its about the larger cold war. Its about its about the credibility of the presidency, its about the credibility of the United States. Its about the credibility of the entire american system, right . People kind of try to rationalize how vietnam, which had been so small before had suddenly become so important to the United States. The cold war context that accounts for why vietnam becomes so important. Its also that same cold war context that accounts for why johnson, even though he really doesnt want war in vietnam, ends up intervening and matching what happens. Keep this in mind, yes, vietnam is small and from the perspective of the big powers, its technically ins coinsle. It assumes an importance that is tremendous. We talked about cuba earlier. The world almost ends because of cuba. Thats what the cold war does. It gives this importance to places which otherwise would become completely small. This is about much more than vietnam itself. If you fail to recognize that, nothing about the vietnam will make sense to you. Always, always keep this many mind. As far as the conduct of the war itself in vietnam is concerned, thats the purview of an American General by the name of william wes moreland. And his entire approach is predicated on this search and destroy tactic and body counts. So basically what he seeks to do to achieve victory is kill as many enemy troops as he can. So whenever americans go into combat, once combat is over, they have to count how many vietnamese bodies are left behind. And based on the numbers provided, he measured how successful the u. S. Was in the war in terms of finding the enemies, they recognize theyre no match for American Forces. If anything, the troops will try to avoid as much as they can actually engaging americans in combat. Theyll go after troops of the South Vietnamese regime feeling confident about their odds against them, but try to avoid major combat with american troops. And so thats why westmoreland does this. They have to go out and search for enemy troops, find them and then destroy them, right . So for your typical american soldier in vietnam, the war is its not easy. Essentially youre Walking Around until you make contact. And contact usually means until somebody starts shooting at you. Vietnam is very interesting because of that. Something like 90 of the cases, its always the other guys opening fire first. And thats ironically enough how westmoreland wants it. They have to draw these guys out, make them initiate contact at which point american troops can fire back and then call for artillery support and air support and destroy communist units that way, right . But if youre the american soldiers involved in that enterprise or the marines involved in that enterprise, its not particularly fun. Youre Walking Around, effectively, waiting to get shot at. The last thing you want to be is the first guy walking through the jungle, right . So typically whenever platoons go out and embark on these search and destroy missions, we rotate who is on point. Because you know if its always you, its a matter of time before you get shot. So thats why. Its a really, really kind of traumatic experience for people your age, right . The average age of the combat soldier in the vietnam is 19 years old. Theyre kids, right . And then youre in vietnam and this is your job, to walk around until somebody shoots at you. Ill show you images in a moment. This is a situation we have by mid, late 1965, right . The hard liner is firmly in charge in hanoi, right . Then we have a general, running things in saigon. His picture is on this slide. Hes the counterpart in the south. And then as before the war began, the North Vietnamese are obtaining significant support from the chinese and the soviets. Theres countless other countries that offer material, political, moral support, but ultimately what really allows hanoi to wage that war is the Material Support they get from the chinese and the soviets. And then in saigon, we have got the americans, obviously, right, who provide significant military and economic assistance, but then unbeknownst to many people, theres other countries that contribute assistance, including troops, to the anticommunist struggle. Some of the flags you see here, which you probably cant recognize, but so weve got beyond the u. S. , whats the white flag with the circle . South korea. Very good. South korea. The one next to it, whats the one next to it . Australia. And the one above it, thailand. Excellent, very, very good. So those theyll actually be australian troops in vietnam. There will also be thai troops in vietnam. There will be South Koreans also fighting in vietnam. I talked to some veterans from the North Vietnamese side and they said they were terrified of the south korean troops. They were ferocious troops and the communist north creates a special unit to deal with the South Koreans because theyre thought to be so intimidating from the perspective of communist forces. Also little known fact, 35,000 canadians will volunteer to serve in vietnam. Canada itself doesnt fight in vietnam, but 35,000 canadians volunteer because they think thats the good fight, which is brought why you lost the vietnam war. Were great fighters. Were great fighters. Heres 65, right . Marines, initially 3,000 of them landing in Southern Vietnam. Theyre expecting action and what they get is young vietnamese women with leis. You that in that upper lefthand corner. And then theres the bombing of the north. Spring of 65, the war becomes americanized through the deployment of this first contingent of u. S. Troops in the form of marines and then the beginning of these sustained bombing runs against northern vietnam. Kind of cool picture. I got this from the vietnamese archives. The americans bomb and of course the North Vietnamese population will rally to defend the homeland. What do you guys notice about the picture . Who is featured predominantly in this picture, right . Kids. And thats when you try to understand why they win and the u. S. Loses, for the vietnamese, this is a total war situation. Right . For americans, vietnam is there only if you have to fight in vietnam. For everyone else, its pretty much life as it was before. For the people of North Vietnam, because of the state of war and because of the bombing, every man, woman and child, effectively starts contributing to the war effort in one way or another, right . So, a lot of the guys end up being drafted and send south to fight. The women are being employed to fill in bomb craters or else to go to the south, not to fight, but to serve as nurses, as medics and so on and so forth. And then kids end up being cooped, as part of your school curriculum, you study math and history and all that great stuff in the morning, and in the afternoon, you put out fires. Thats usually more of an impromptu thing. You fill in bomb craters, contribute to the rebuilding of bridges, so on and so forth. Everyone in the north is mobilized for the purposes of the war effort which helps the cause. Recognize him . John mccain. John mccain. The archives in vietnam, they have this photo collection and im going through stuff. And theres a picture of mccain got shot down in 67. His plane crashed in a lake in hanoi. If you go to hanoi, theres a plaque where mccain was captured. It was a big deal for them. We captured john mccain and tortured him. But thats not on the plaque. This was mccain moments after he was shot down. I guess one of the first photos that was taken of mccain. I sent that to his office and i got a response back. I said, here is a picture of the senator after he was captured. This is what the war was like for American Marines and soldiers. Basically, youre Walking Around through jungle. Its again, Vietnamese Forces know how vulnerable they can be if theyre exposed. They go in the deepest areas of the country, usually mountainous, jungle regions and they wait for the americans to come to them. Now, Something Like 3 million americans serve in vietnam. You see these guys, vietnam vet. Their license plate. As it turns out, only 20 of americans who served in vietnam were actually in combat. The overwhelming majority of americans who served in vietnam were not in combat. Of the 20 in combat, 10 only ever actually experienced combat. So only a minority of americans who served in vietnam actually did the stuff that you see in the picture and is movies. And those are the guys who sometimes suffer various from various ailments. Again, the nature of the war was such it was hard for a 19yearold to cope with. For a lot of americans, the war was actually the best time of their lives. If you were 19 years old stuck in an Airconditioned Office in saigon, things could be good. And that was the reality for most americans who were in vietnam. So people always ask, at one point, almost 600,000 americans in vietnam, how could the u. S. Have lost . Again, most of these guys are effectively support personnel. Theyre not actual ground forces. Theyre not soldiers. Theyre not marines who are out there searching for communist forces. That partially explains why the outcome was not what american policymakers intended. I told you about this search and destroy tactic developed by westmoreland. American troops go deep in the jungle, search for the enemy and destroy the enemy. But these kinds of pictures start coming out and people start thinking of search and destroy as what . You search peoples homes and then you destroy the homes. Exactly. So among the things that end up playing against the american effort and that account for its unpopularity is ironically enough the very name of the tactic that westmoreland used. For most americans, for Many Americans, not most, but for many, search and destroy came to mean, american troops going into vietnamese peoples homes, searching those homes and then setting them on fire. Of course, that kind of explains why very quickly many people turn against the war. We dont want our country to be involved in searching peoples homes and just destroying them. As it turns out, search and destroy meant searching for the enemy in the jungle and destroying the enemy, not going after innocent peoples homes. Thats westmoreland. Hes a real interesting character. Some people consider him a hero who given the chance could have won the vietnam war. Some people think that it was the way civilian policymakers ran the whole thing that accounted for the tragic outcome. Others will tell you that the u. S. Effectively lost the vietnam war because of westmoreland, because of the way he chose to deal with the communist presence in Southern Vietnam. So hes a great guy to some, hes viled by others. And just like so many other issues when it comes to vietnam, theres no consensus on westmoreland. Like so many issues having to do with vietnam, he was either great or he was really, really bad. Remember, right . People are never particularly objective when it comes to vietnam. Its all good or all bad when it comes to policies, to policymakers, or in this particular case, to the american commander responsible for military affairs. Cover of life magazine, the war will be extensively covered by the world media, including the american media. And so the war effectively becomes in escapable if youre an american citizens. If its not on the magazines youre reading, on the tv news youre watching or the radio programs that youre listening to, right . People listen to the radio during that period. And initially its fine, right . These are brave americans and of course theyre going to suffer casualties, but as casualties mount and as these images start coming into peoples living rooms, night after night, month after month, year after year, people become disillusioned, right . Relatively speaking, american casualties in vietnam were low. If you compare to the casualties suffered by their enemies, but for americans, to see American Kids dead, American Kids wounded really had an impact. And so the American People generally will kind of accept the cost of the war through 65, 66, 67. Starting in 68 we start witnessing a much more vocal movement opposing the war in vietnam. Its these kinds of images which were relatively well received initially which in time start really kind of affecting the american position visavis the war in vietnam. These are the big three on the american side. You recognize johnson in the middle, flanked on his left by mcnamara, the secretary of defense, and on his right, the secretary of state. Those are kind of the architects of the war in vietnam. And those are the individuals who will effectively be blamed, we should say, for getting the u. S. Involved in the vietnam war. As we talked about on tuesday, right, its unfair to pin all of this on johnson, right . His predecessors, kennedy, eisenhower, before him, really made consequential decisions which i would argue made it almost impossible for johnson to just avoid an increased american commitment in vietnam. So, yeah, technically, american combat troops enter vietnam under johnsons watch. But in a way, thats kind of the logical culmination to a process set in motion earlier when the u. S. Starts helping the french fight its own war. Speaking of the motivations, right, this whole domino theory, issue of credibility, this whole idea that if we dont hold the fort in vietnam, than other countries will fall and well have a domino effect. Theres great quotes about what would happen if we didnt do anything about vietnam. My favorite, having lived in hawaii for a long time, was johnson saying if we dont stop them in vietnam, well be fighting them on the beaches of waikiki. Thats what the thinking was. And from the evidence, it really seems to be legitimate. They truly genuinely believe, at least for a period, that unless they acted in vietnam, unless they did something about vietnam, long term, the u. S. Would face a much bigger threat by from the communist bloc. So again, its not vietnam itself informing american decisionmaking. Its the whole cold war context. This is an interesting chart. U. S. Troop strength in vietnam. You see under johnson. Its a gradual process of escalation. It peaks in 68. We have close to 600,000 soldiers and marines in vietnam. Nixon becomes president and the number starts to decline. So its a gradual escalation which, by the way, al