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A highly quotable article from 1963 that articulates precisely how highly organized the Communist guerrillas were in the Vietnam War.
The Reds fight a fluid war that may last for years. They do not make the mistake of saying the war will be won in three, five or ten years.
The Difficulties of This War (United States News, 1963) Read More »
The 1963 struggle in Vietnam was important for a number of reasons: as the year began the world saw the first major defeat for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam at the hands of the Viet Cong guerrillas at Ap Bac. Five months later Buddhist clergymen revealed their deep distaste for the war effort which quickly resulted in the Diem administration putting numerous Buddhist pagodas to the torch. Ngo Dinh Diem himself would be put to the torch in November when he and his brother would be overthrown in an American-backed coup. Historians have long maintained that by meddling in the internal political affairs of South Vietnam, JFK had unwittingly doomed any chance for their self-reliance; following the November coup, that country became more and more reliant upon the United States – and when the U.S. abandoned the cause of a free and independent South Vietnam, their fate was sealed.
1963: A Pivotal Year (United States News, 1963) Read More »
Here is an article by a respected American journalist who was dispatched to South Vietnam in order that he might see for himself what the problems were as to why the Republic of Vietnam seemed so incapable of maintaining military dominance in the field. Everywhere he went he got the same answer:
A highly respected professor at Saigon University [remarked]:
‘If you have to make a choice between supporting the Ngo family
and withdrawing from South Vietnam, you might as well pull out.
You cannot win with the family.’
What To Do About Diem? (United States News, 1963) Read More »
In South China, 6,000 French troops stood ready to reenter French Indo-China. A portion of the French fleet and a French air force unit prepared to back them up.
We are definitely taking over.
In 1954 the French gave up on Vietnam and the U.S. accepted the challenge – click here to read about it…
The French Return To Vietnam (Newsweek Magazine, 1945) Read More »
Hanoi is now the fountainhead of the largest and most successful anti-French insurgent movement ever mounted in Indo-China. Here Vietminh (first and last words of Viet Nam Doclap Dong Minh, meaning the league for the independence of Viet Nam) has set up the provisional government of the Viet Nam Republic. Viet Nam is the ancient name for the coastal provinces of Indo-China. Vietminh has been actively in existence since 1939. The President of Viet Nam and leader of the whole insurgent movement is a slight, graying little man of 55, named Ho Chi Minh who commanded guerrillas in collaboration with American officers in Northern Tonkin… For 43 years he has devoted himself to anti-French activity. Constantly reported captured or dead, he never actually fell into French hands.
The Vietminh (Newsweek Magazine, 1945) Read More »
The 1961 letter from U.S. President John Kennedy in which he remarked to President Diem that North Vietnam was in violation of the 1954 Geneva Accords that it was obliged to respect. President Kennedy acknowledged that the relentless offensives launched by the North Vietnamese Communists against South Vietnam needed to be stopped and as a result his administration intended to increase American military aid.
Click here to read a 1961 article about Jacqueline Kennedy’s influence on American fashion.
President Kennedy to President Diem (Why Vietnam, 1965) Read More »
The 1961 letter from U.S. President John Kennedy in which he remarked to President Diem that North Vietnam was in violation of the 1954 Geneva Accords that it was obliged to respect. President Kennedy acknowledged that the relentless offensives launched by the North Vietnamese Communists against South Vietnam needed to be stopped and as a result his administration intended to increase American military aid.
Click here to read a 1961 article about Jacqueline Kennedy’s influence on American fashion.
President Kennedy to President Diem (Why Vietnam, 1965) Read More »
Marking the fifth anniversary of Vietnam’s independence from French rule, President Eisenhower wrote an official letter of congratulations to President Diem. The president clearly cautioned that Diem should not anticipate seeing any American boots on the ground, but American aid would continue to flow:
Vietnam’s very success as well as its potential wealth and strategic location have led the Communists of Hanoi, goaded by the bitterness of their failure to enslave all Vietnam, to use increasing violence in their attempts to destroy your country’s freedom…Although the main responsibility for guarding that independence will always, as it has in the past, belong to the Vietnamese people and their government, I want to assure you that for so long as our strength can be useful, the United States will continue to assist Vietnam in the difficult yet hopeful struggle ahead.
President Eisenhower’s Second Letter to Diem (Why Vietnam, 1965) Read More »
Marking the fifth anniversary of Vietnam’s independence from French rule, President Eisenhower wrote an official letter of congratulations to President Diem. The president clearly cautioned that Diem should not anticipate seeing any American boots on the ground, but American aid would continue to flow:
Vietnam’s very success as well as its potential wealth and strategic location have led the Communists of Hanoi, goaded by the bitterness of their failure to enslave all Vietnam, to use increasing violence in their attempts to destroy your country’s freedom…Although the main responsibility for guarding that independence will always, as it has in the past, belong to the Vietnamese people and their government, I want to assure you that for so long as our strength can be useful, the United States will continue to assist Vietnam in the difficult yet hopeful struggle ahead.
President Eisenhower’s Second Letter to Diem (Why Vietnam, 1965) Read More »
Marking the fifth anniversary of Vietnam’s independence from French rule, President Eisenhower wrote an official letter of congratulations to President Diem. The president clearly cautioned that Diem should not anticipate seeing any American boots on the ground, but American aid would continue to flow:
Vietnam’s very success as well as its potential wealth and strategic location have led the Communists of Hanoi, goaded by the bitterness of their failure to enslave all Vietnam, to use increasing violence in their attempts to destroy your country’s freedom…Although the main responsibility for guarding that independence will always, as it has in the past, belong to the Vietnamese people and their government, I want to assure you that for so long as our strength can be useful, the United States will continue to assist Vietnam in the difficult yet hopeful struggle ahead.
President Eisenhower’s Second Letter to Diem (Why Vietnam, 1965) Read More »
