In 1954 the war in Vietnam officially began, the conflict dating back to the mid-1940’s, it was the North Vietnamese and its southern allies, the Vietcong, fighting for communism vs the South Vietnamese fighting for democracy. The US main foreign policy during the Cold War was containment, therefore they got involved in the Vietnam war fighting for the South Vietnamese attempting to contain communism.
But by January 1969 US citizens were getting tired of the “meaning less war in Vietnam” and didn’t want to send their young men and soldiers over any longer. “One factor that influenced the failure of the United States in Vietnam was lack of public support” (ushistory.org) They were told by the media that the US were winning but after the failed but very strong Vietcong attacked the US citizens realized they were not dominating as much as their government had told them. Because of this January 16, 1969 a Vietnam peace conference opened in Paris, the attending delegations represented the United States, the South Vietnamese government, the North Vietnamese government, and the rebel movement in South Vietnam, the Vietcong or Front De Liberation National (FNL). During these peace talks the conversation was slow and there were many terms that could not be agreed upon, but there was one major argument that could be agreed upon by the two major powers, the North Vietnamese and the United States. “The Americans wanted to withdraw their forces, and the North Vietnamese wanted to see them go” (The High Tide of Détente). But of course on this subject as well, the two powers disagreed. The Americans “wanted to withdraw on conditions which would safeguard their protégés in South Vietnam, and salvage at least some part of their prestige…They also wanted the North Vietnamese to return American prisoners of war before the United States forces withdrew from Vietnam” (The High Tide of Détente). “The North Vietnamese demanded the unconditional withdrawal of American forces. In short, the Americans sought a compromise, but the North Vietnamese intended to win” (The High Tide of Détente).
The Americans were weak in their bargaining position, they had no power because they were in fact losing the war and because the demand the North Vietnamese wanted was the same the allies demanded at the end of WWII so it was no completely unreasonable and new to the Americans as many other peace treaties had been in the past. “The United States was left with only two choices: unconditional withdrawal; or the ‘Vietnamization’ of the war by shifting the burden of the fighting onto the South Vietnamese while Americans gradually left the country” (The High Tide of Détente). The first option was completely unreasonable to the Americans, therefore there was no way they could choose it, but the latter they knew was not a great option either. They knew the South Vietnamese were weaker and would ultimately lose to the North Vietnamese but the United States still chose the latter option, but only had limited success.
But finally, after years of waiting and a deadlock broken when Nixon was re-elected, on January 27, 1973 “an agreement to end the Vietnam War was signed in Paris by the four parties to the discussions: the United States and South Vietnamese Government, and North Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam” (The High Tide of Détente). The final agreement took four years to come about and it was technically a win for the North Vietnamese because the United States and democracy left South Vietnam allowing communism to spread.
The High Tide of Détente
During a time when the fear of communism was so high, this seems to be one of the first times the government made a major decision against containment and fighting communism that instead reflected more closely the public opinion of the war. Do you think this marked the beginning of a change in priorities, or was this an isolated decision that didn't affect future ones?
ReplyDeleteOn April 30, 1975, Saigon would fall and with it, the nation of South Vietnam. After the American withdrawal from Vietnam, the North was able to largely overpower the undertrained and inefficient Southern government. This was the end of the Vietnamese War as the North claimed victory and the last remnants of the old government fled with the Americans in Operation Frequent Wind. Nixon saved the United States from more years of dragged out war by turning to the weak Vietnamization strategy.
ReplyDeleteThe peace and subsequent years also showed the Americans what was wrong with their idea of containment and the domino theory. Although Communism did spread to nearby neighbors on the continent, it failed to spread to the nearby nations of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. It debunked the Domino Theory because it revealed that the Communist was not one unified bloc, rather a group of governments who wanted to fix their own people, just like any other government. While their methods may be questionable, Vietnamese leaders didn't want to have a worldwide war for the spread of Communism.