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How was North Vietnam so effective against the far wealthier France and US?
Vietnamese resistance to foreign rule was based on a centuries-long history of Vietnam fighting against imperial and colonial overlords. Raised on stories of generations of fighting against imperial China, Vietnamese Communists were willing to make huge sacrifices and fight patiently for decades. Moreover, the Vietnamese Communist forces had an unusually able body of leaders. In contrast to the often-corrupt French- and US-backed leadership in southern Vietnam, northern Vietnam’s leaders were sincere and about their nationalism. Ho Chi Minh, who exemplified this skillful, unified leadership, had years of experience in the West and appropriated his learning to use against France and the United States.
Strategically, the decentralized command structure of the Vietnamese Communist forces and the agrarian nature of the North Vietnamese economy made it difficult for US bombing campaigns to find targets that would disable Vietnam’s military effort. North Vietnam’s pre-industrial status negated the impact of military technology that the United States had developed for use against highly industrialized nations such as Germany in World War II. This strategic hurdle, combined with the fact that the Vietnamese Communists were willing to accept an enormous human cost to win the independence of their homeland, made the US task exceedingly difficult.
How was US media coverage of the Vietnam war different from that in prior wars?
Increasingly as the Vietnam War progressed, the American media did not act simply as a partner with the US government as it had in many previous wars. Instead, it served as a powerful check on government power. This dynamic first emerged in January 1963, when journalists reported the defeat of the South Vietnamese army at the Battle of Ap Bac, contrasting sharply with official government reports that the battle had been a victory. Another example of media exposure revealing cracks in the façade of the anti-Communist efforts occurred June 1963, when a Buddhist monk protesting the US-backed South Vietnamese government burned himself to death in full view of news photographers in the city of Hue. Images of the monk’s self-immolation appeared on front pages of newspapers across the world and alerted the American public, greatly tarnishing the reputation of the US-supported Diem regime.
What impact did the Tet Offensive on the war and on the American public?
During the Vietnamese New Year, Tet, in January 1968, Viet Cong insurgents launched the war’s largest coordinated attack to date, on about 30 U.S. military installations in South Vietnam, along with dozens of other South Vietnamese cities. Although US forces were initially caught off guard, they defeated the guerrillas relatively quickly and decisively. But despite this victory, the Tet offensive frightened the American public because it seemed to contradict Johnson’s assurances that the US was firmly in control. US public opinion worsened when General William Westmoreland requested 200,000 additional U.S. troops after the offensive, on top of the nearly 500,000 Americans already serving in Vietnam.
Westmoreland’s request startled not only the American public but members of Congress, policy makers, and even Johnson himself. Many government officials privately began to question whether Vietnam was “winnable” at all and, if so, whether the US was using the right tactics. Former secretary of state Dean Acheson voiced his disproval, as did Johnson’s own secretary of defense, Robert McNamara, who resigned his position. So, the apparent victory gradually came to be recognized as a defeat in that shattered the illusion that a US victory was inevitable, or even possible.
How did critical US media coverage of the War intensify after the Tet Offensive?
Media resistance to the U.S. government’s official statements increased as the war progressed. The Tet Offensive in 1968, though a tactical victory for the United States, was perceived as a major defeat as the media recast the meaning of the battles. During the Tet offensive, prominent journalist Walter Cronkite editorialized during a nationally televised newscast that it did not look like America could win the war. In 1971, when the New York Times and other newspapers published excerpts of the top-secret Pentagon Papers, public distrust of the US government deepened, causing a scandal in the Nixon administration. In the end, this public discontentment had concrete effects, as the antiwar movement became a prominent force and compelled Nixon to start withdrawing U.S. troops.
While the Vietnam War was fought in the jungles of Vietnam, there was a simultaneous battle occurring over public opinion regarding the war’s validity. This was a battle that both Johnson and Nixon ended up losing, and that ultimately brought an end to US involvement in Vietnam.
