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P
ERHAPS THE MOST REMARKABLE FACT
about the Vietnam War is that it
was not even about Vietnam. It was,
instead, a prolonged battle of the Cold
War, fought to block the expansion of
communist power in Asia. Like the
Civil War and the Great Depression, the Vietnam War
marked a turning point for Americans: it brought not
only the first defeat for the U.S. military, but also a
profound loss of faith in government and authority. Vietnam, 1965
As the HBO film Path To War makes clear, this war Viet Cong
control
shattered President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s dreams Laotian
Communist
control
of ending poverty at home and ultimately forced Viet Cong HQ
L.B.J. out of the White House. But how and why did HQ Saigon
line M i l e s t o n e s o n t h e P a t h to W a r
Sept. 2, 1945 May 1950 April 7, 1954 May 7, 1954
Communist leader Ho President Harry Truman President Dwight D. Communist Viet Minh
Chi Minh declares sends 35 U.S. military Eisenhower predicts that forces defeat the French
Vietnam independent of advisers to Vietnam and if the communists gain in a historic battle at
French colonial rule; war promises to aid the control of South Vietnam, Dien Bien Phu, which
breaks out in 1946. In French military in its war then the other countries becomes known as the
1920, Ho had been a with Ho Chi Minh. By of Southeast Asia would “French Waterloo” in
founding member of the 1952, there are 400 fall to communism “like a Vietnam. France with-
French Communist American military row of dominoes.” In this draws its armed forces
Party. He later lived in advisers in Vietnam. They world view, the forces of from Southeast Asia,
both Russia and China are part of a military communist aggression, in setting the stage for U.S.
as an agent of Russia. mission called the U.S. the form of Russia and involvement.
Military Assistance China, seek to take over
Advisory Group (MAAG), free democracies in order
established in Saigon in to tilt the balance of
the fall of 1950. power away from Europe
and the U.S.
2
1945 1950 1954
“Our Position Hasn’t Changed At All”
efforts against the communists, pump- and the Viet Cong—a term used to
3
1959 1961 1963
end, the urgency of funding the war took precedence over
longer-term spending on social programs. Faced with sharp
The Best and criticism over his handling of the war, Johnson stunned the
nation when he announced that he would not seek re-election
in 1968. Richard Nixon, a Republican, succeeded Johnson
line
August 2, 1964 Nov. 3, 1964 Feb. 24, 1965 April 6-8, 1965
The U.S. destroyer Johnson and Vice Sustained U.S. bombing of President Johnson
Maddox reports being President Hubert North Vietnam, called authorizes the use of U.S.
attacked by North Humphrey defeat “Operation Rolling ground forces for
Vietnamese patrol boats Republican Barry Thunder,” gets underway; offensive operations in
in the Gulf of Tonkin. In a Goldwater in a landslide the operation lasts until South Vietnam. He also
televised address to the presidential election. October 1968. offers aid to North
nation, President Johnson The President convenes Vietnam in exchange for
asks Congress to approve the Working Group to March 8, 1965 peace, an offer immedi-
the Gulf of Tonkin examine policy A battalion of Marines, ately rejected by the
resolution. The Senate alternatives in Vietnam, the first American communists. Later in
passes the measure by a launching a series of combat troops, arrives in April, Secretary of Defense
vote of 88 to 2; the House internal debates that Vietnam with a mission Robert McNamara states
approves it in a unani- continue through to protect Danang that the U.S. is spending
mous voice vote. the winter. air field. $1.5 billion per year on
the Vietnam War effort.
24
1964 1965
Attorney CLARK books, the evidence suggests that Goodwin had lost faith in
CLIFFORD, an adviser to President Johnson. Goodwin has indeed authored a number of
Presidents Kennedy and books, including Remembering America: A Voice from the
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Johnson, joined the govern- Sixties, but has stayed away from public life.
ment as a naval aide to
President Harry Truman and DEAN RUSK, Johnson’s Secretary of State, served in Asia
then became Truman’s during World War II and was Assistant Secretary of State
special counsel. Clifford’s for Far Eastern Affairs during the Korean War. Rusk was
views on the war shifted several times between 1964 and known to be a good diplomat: hard-working,
WALLY MCNAMEE/CORBIS
1968. While he initially expressed skepticism about U.S. patient, steady, not flashy. As L.B.J. made a
involvement in the war, reasoning—with great foresight—that series of decisions to escalate the war in
it would destroy Lyndon Johnson’s legacy, by 1965 he publicly Vietnam, Rusk resolutely stuck to his hawk-
supported L.B.J.’s decision to widen the U.S. role in the war. ish, mid-century State Department position.
Yet by January 1968, when he succeeded Robert McNamara He opposed settlement efforts in 1964 and
as Secretary of Defense, Clifford had again grown skeptical 1965, arguing that Viet Cong control over
about the possibility of achieving American objectives in much of South Vietnam would leave the U.S.
Vietnam. By that point, he doubted that the war was actually in a weak bargaining position. Rusk
winnable. Clifford urged Johnson to stop all bombing north of earnestly believed in the “domino theory”
the 20th parallel; Johnson accepted Clifford’s advice and and feared that if the communists took over
announced the policy change to the Vietnam, the country would ultimately fall
BETTMANN/CORBIS
nation in a March 1968 speech. In under the control of communist China. After leaving public
interviews, Clifford said the work he office, Rusk served as a law professor at the University of
did to extricate the U.S. from what he Georgia. His autobiography, As I Saw It, was published in
called that “wretched conflict in 1990; he died in 1994 at the age of 85.
Vietnam” was his most important
contribution as a public servant. As Undersecretary of State, GEORGE BALL was among
Clifford died in 1998 at 91. L.B.J.’s principal advisers on Vietnam—yet most of his advice
went unheeded. Ball believed American involvement in
Speech writer RICHARD GOODWIN Vietnam was a mistake and wrote a now-famous 1966 memo
helped draft John F. Kennedy’s in which he advised L.B.J. that by bombing North Vietnam,
legendary “Ask not what your country the U.S. would be more likely to
FRANCIS MILLER
can do for you” inaugural address, strengthen than weaken the commu-
and later came up with the phrase “The Great Society” while nists’ determination to keep fighting.
working in the Johnson administration. Before becoming a Persuaded that he could not change
speech writer, Goodwin served as a lawyer for the House White House policy, Ball resigned
Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight and investigated the from the State Department in 1966.
rigged game shows of the 1950s. Though he insisted that he He went on to write several books,
did not leave the White House because of his opposition to including Democracy for a Crowded
the Vietnam War, but rather because he wanted to write World, prior to his death in 1994.
April 17, 1965 Dec. 25, 1965 Jan. - Dec. 1966 August 1967
Students for a President Johnson A major escalation of the Secretary of Defense
Democratic Society (SDS) suspends bombing war occurs; American Robert McNamara
holds the first major rally sorties in an effort to allies Australia, Thailand, testifies before a Senate
against the war, in convince North Vietnam South Korea and the subcommittee that U.S.
Washington, DC. to negotiate. The Philippines join the war bombing of North
overture is rebuffed, and by sending troops. By the Vietnam is ineffective.
July 28, 1965 bombing resumes on end of the year there are
President Johnson January 31, 1966. more than 400,000
approves General William American soldiers in the
Westmoreland’s request Southeast Asia theater
for 44 additional of operations.
battalions. By December,
there are 185,000
U.S. soldiers on the
ground in Vietnam.
5
1966 1967
Lessons of
C The Lost War
The tight limits that the U.S.
imposed on itself in the Vietnam era
have yielded to a new approach
W
HEN LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON
committed American troops to BATTLE FATIGUE:
L.B.J. is overcome
fight in Vietnam, he believed he by grief as he
was following the lessons of World listens to a tape-
War II. If Hitler had been chal- recorded account
lenged early, he was convinced, of U.S. losses.
then the carnage of World War II might have been
avoided. By challenging Chinese and Soviet aggression the war on the ground in the South, and Washington
line
Oct. 21-23, 1967 Americans kill more than March 31, 1968 November 5, 1968
An anti-war rally in 300 unarmed civilians, on L.B.J. announces a Richard M. Nixon
Washington, DC draws the presumption that the partial bombing halt, defeats Hubert
50,000 people. villagers are actually Viet and tells a stunned Humphrey to become
Cong soldiers. Commander nation that he will not President of the U.S.
January 31, 1968 Lt. William Calley is later run for re-election.
Tet Offensive begins with court-martialed and
major attacks by North sentenced to life in prison May 1968
Vietnam on the cities of for the crime of murder, North Vietnamese and
South Vietnam. Fierce though he wins release in American delegations
fighting continues for a 1974. Calley testifies that arrive in Paris for
month. During February, March 16, 1968 he was carrying out the peace talks.
Viet Cong and North In the aftermath of the commands of Captain
Vietnamese massacre Tet Offensive, members of Ernest Medina, who had
2,800 civilians in Hué. the U.S. Army enter the ordered the entire village
village of My Lai. The slaughtered.
6
1967 1968
reach a point when it would be unwilling to continue Assessing the
ASSOCIATED PRESS
making those terrible sacrifices,” and negotiate a settlement.
But that point never arrived, as the U.S. was on the Mistakes of War
strategic defensive for the entire war. It didn’t always look Robert McNamara, architect of the
that way because U.S. forces roved far and wide on vast Vietnam War, talked with TIME in 1991
about the lessons of Vietnam.
search-and-destroy missions to root out communist bases.
But those were tactical efforts; the Americans were not Q: Did you ever imagine anything like the large number of
casualties that the U.S. experienced in Vietnam?
allowed to march north to face the enemy at its source. The
A: Certainly at the beginning there was no anticipation of
North kept the initiative, choosing when to attack and
that. That is correct.
when to lie low and rebuild its strength. Although 1.1
million of its soldiers were killed in the war of attrition, the Q: Did Lyndon Johnson feel that you’d misled him,
North continued to sacrifice them until the U.S. negotiated that you had led him to believe the war could be won?
its own withdrawal in 1973. A: No. No. No. No. He never felt that. I know that. To this
day I don’t know if I quit or I was fired as Secretary of
“No More Vietnams” Defense. The reason is that Johnson and I had an
Ten years later, after 241 American troops on a mission in extremely close and complex relationship. Toward the
Beirut were killed by a suicide bomber, Secretary of end there was tremendous tension between us over Vietnam.
Defense Caspar Weinberger offered a checklist for eval- But I loved him and he loved me.
uating the future uses of U.S. military forces abroad. Such But he expressed the frustration. He’d say, “Why in the
hell, McNamara, are you being so goddam difficult?”
actions should be necessary to protect vital national
It was that kind of feeling. All the way through to the end.
interests, he advised, and permit the use of powerful
You know, he had dreams for the country. The war had
force to achieve a decisive victory. The objective must broken his dreams. But I think history will record that that
be clear and attainable by military means, and it must be man contributed immensely to this nation. In a sense,
supported by Congress and the people. Johnson’s objectives in the civil rights bill and Vietnam were
During the Gulf War, Colin Powell—the former the same. He was passionate about human liberty and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who went on to freedoms and believed he was advancing their cause in both
become Secretary of State—embraced and extended instances. In hindsight it looks absurd to say that, perhaps.
Weinberger’s guidelines. According to the “Powell But without that civil rights bill—if he did nothing other than
Doctrine,” U.S. troops should never be sent into battle that, and he did a lot other than that—where would we be?
without clearly stated political objectives, an exit strategy
and an iron-clad commitment to give them whatever
resources it takes to achieve overwhelming superiority— recently, in President Bush’s war on terrorism—there
thereby ensuring that there will be no more Vietnams. would be no Vietnam-style limits. “Lives must not be
As a young officer, Powell served in Vietnam and saw risked,” Powell insists, “until we can face a parent or a
firsthand the impact of the limitations that L.B.J. spouse or a child with a clear answer to the question of why
imposed on U.S. forces. In the Gulf War—and, more a member of that family had to die.”
with its one-time enemy. “I think it is time to write 80 Percent of Americans who approved of
a new chapter here,” L.B.J.’s performance as President in
says Clinton. December 1963.
To learn more about the making of Path To 38 Percent who approved in June 1967.
War, visit www.hbo.com/films/pathtowar
Additional resources for students Copyright © 2002 Time Inc. inTIME is a trademark of Time Inc.
and teachers are available at Published in association with HBO. Printed in the U.S.A.
Path To War artwork © Home Box Office, a Division of Time
www.timeclassroom.com/vietnam Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. All rights reserved. HBO®
is a service mark of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P.
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198219952000