Despite these tactics and the massive American aid, however, the VC numbers continued to increase. By November 1961, the VC fighting forces had grown from the 2000 fighters that had been left after Diem's ruthless anti-Communist campaign in 1957, to 16 000.
Regardless of American weapons and money, the VC were winning the support of the villagers. South Vietnam's government and the Americans assisting them were too often seen by villagers as foreigners or their representatives, it was the VC who were seen to be Vietnamese fighting for Vietnamese independence.
The US military response to the deteriorating position in South Vietnam was to apply more military force. The Joint Chiefs of Staff wanted six US divisions, 200 000 men to be sent immediately to South Vietnam. Kennedy responded with caution and refused to send in US ground forces. Under Kennedy, the US commitment remained at an advisory level.
Advisors in Vietnam
700 up until 1960
1,376 by December 1961
9,865 by December 1962
16,575 by December 1963
23,300 by December 1964
103,000 by June 1965
184,000 by December 1965
322,000 by June 1966 2
Above we can clearly see how the US gradually increased its involvement in Vietnam, in six years 321,300 advisors were sent to Vietnam. That’s a massive 53,550 advisors a year. We also learn from this source how desperate the situation was becoming for the US in south-east Asia, clearly one theory that can be interpreted is that the US may have been losing to a undeveloped, minor country that was in tatters, thus forcing the US to increase its involvement. This, however, made the situation even worse; that the Vietminh were winning a war against the worlds super power. The US may have been frightened to face the rest of the world if it lost a war to such an inferior nation, it may have looked like a loser if it pulled out of Vietnam especially when the cold war was starting to heat up. The US would not have been able to bear the insults it would’ve received from the USSR. It would have been seen as a communist victory, something the US would not have tolerated, because Kennedy had clearly stated that the US would do everything to protect liberty. That is why once the US had become involved they did not pull out easily as the consequences would have been very severe.
Then on 22 November 1963 a tragic event took place. President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed as he was riding in an open limousine through the streets of Dallas. His Deputy Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in as President, the same day. LBJ further increased the number of advisors and equipment being sent to Vietnam, he wanted to declare war and destroy North Vietnam and Communism as soon as possible, even if he had to sacrifice his plans for a ‘Great Society.’
‘Losing the Great Society was a terrible thought, but not so terrible as the thought of being responsible for America’s losing a war to the Communists. Nothing could possibly be worse than that.’ 3
This source clearly shows the sense of urgency LBJ had. At no point was he willing to back away from Vietnam, quite the contrary, he saw the US as the worlds policeman and an ambassador to Capitalism, that had a duty to wipe out Communism.
This war was different from all other wars that had been fought, it was uncensored and nearly everything that took place in Vietnam was shown on US television, this had a profound effect on the American public. To begin with, the United States media were in favour of the war. The chief editor of Life Magazine in 1965 wrote that ‘the war is worth winning’. Gradually though, attitudes began to change. Two years later, that same editor wrote in October 1967 that the United States was not really threatened by the communists in Vietnam and that the war was not worth the lives of young Americans. By 1967 a national movement against the war had developed. Opposition came from a variety of political points of view. Some were socialists or radicals who sympathised with the struggle of the people of Vietnam to create an independent and unified Vietnam. Others were pacifists who were against the war on moral and religious grounds.They believed that all war is wrong and that this one in particular was against Christian teaching.
Peace demonstrations taunt military police during an antiwar demonstration outside the Pentagon in Washington DC in 1967.
‘I’m against all wars. I did this as a religious act’ 4
The above sources show that all kinds of people protested against the war and that it affected the Society in general and not just certain parts of it. Black Americans were against it because draft laws hit them hardest. About 12 per cent of Americans were black but the percentage of draftees who were black was 16 per cent. One famous person that spoke out for black Americans was Martin Luther King, he actively took part in protests and believed that young black men were, once again, being treated unfairly because they were poor and so were being targeted by the draft law.
‘We were taking the young black men who had been ruined by our society and sending them 8000 miles away to defend freedom in South East Asia – a freedom which they had not found in their own country, in places like South West Georgia and East Harlem. Instead, we have repeatedly seen the cruel image of Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to provide schools in which Negro and white children can sit together’ 5
Many middle-class Americans were also against the war. By 1967, the death rate had risen to 160 American deaths a week. American parents did not want their sons to die far from home in a war they did not understand. This clearly shows one negative impact the war had on society as the people of the US fought in a war they did not even comprehend, this shows the carelessness of the US politicians who failed to meet the needs of their own people.
The growing number of protests forced the federal government to increase the number of young men summoned for military service. The draft was necessary because not enough young men volunteered for the army. Once an American male turned 18 years of age, he was under federal order to register with Selective Service, which provided him with an identification card. Applying for the card made the local draft boards, composed of groups of civilians, aware of available young men. This led to further chaos for the government as many people dodged conscription by fleeing to neighbouring Canada or by simply burning their draft cards. Some burnt their cards in public, others just refused to report for training. Both were criminal offences and by the end of 1969 there were 34,000 draft-dodgers wanted by the police.
‘My name is John Lacey. I was born in 1945 and brought up in New York. I left America in 1967 just after leaving college. I did this to avoid being drafted. I went to Canada and then to Sweden where I lived till there was an amnesty for the draft-dodgers which let me return to the USA’ 6
Vietnam: Conflict and Change in Indochina by Alan Pollock
2 Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco.
3 President Lyndon B. Johnson.
4 Roger LaPorte, member of the Catholic Worker movement, quoted in wire-service story after setting himself on fire in front of the United Nations building, 1965.
5 Martin Luther King speaks out against the war. Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco.
6 J. Cannon et al., The Contemporary World, Conflict or Co-operation?, p.26