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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest Read: The Early Years

Advice and Support: The Early Years, 1941-1960 by Ronald Spector. This is the first in a series by the United States Army’s Center of Military History regarding the Vietnam War. This publication provides a critical appraisal of America’s initial steps across Indochina.

In the early 1950s most Americans could not find Vietnam on a map. Ronald documents how lacking any plan for Indochina would eventually draw America into a generational confrontation.

However, The Early Years clearly provides an understanding of events pushing America towards Indochina prior to World War II.

Churchill’s March 1946 famous “Iron Curtain” speech (Full PDF) at Westminister College in Truman’s home state of Missouri set the stage. On April 24, 1950 NSC memorandum 64 identifies a new US position to contain communism across Indochina.

This US position was further solidified by President Eisenhower in 1953 with NSC 162/2. These efforts document well known mistakes and large policy shifts that resulted in our long war in Vietnam. The lessons certainly remain important to this day.

I can quote many sections of this book at length. Yes, this book is that well written. Stumbling right out of the gate, Truman viewed Indochina in an emerging Cold War confrontation.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest Read: Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations

Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations, 1954-1955 by Lawrense Kaplan, Denise Arraud, and Mark Rubin. This research is certainly a very intriguing collection of American and French academics re-approaching the relationship during the key event that would be driving American foreign policy for a generation.

Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations

Published in 1980, these insights offers the west deep new, modern insights into post World War II Asia. Therefore I have embedded an extended series of quotes which highlight the historical, complex, and strained relationship between France and the United States during the siege that would cast aside France from the world’s stage as a power.

Readers can certainly view Japan’s attack of Pearl Harbor, Truman’s betrayal of FDR, and Eisenhower’s failures in a new light. The papers also addresses the domino theory, the deep conflicts between Ely and Radford that ultimately focused on the failed attempt at Operation Vulture. Yet nothing could save France from defeat even with atomic weapons.

Finally, the French 1955 attempted coup d’état reveals the absolute desperation of French attempts to claw back into Vietnam. These topics jumped out as key strains between Franco-American relations that linger into the 1960s. My Dien Bien Phu retrospective is certainly expanding via this research.

Table of Contents:

Prologue: Perceptions by the United States of its interests in Indochina
1. Franco-American conflict in Indochina, 1950-1954
2. The French military and U.S. participation in the Indochina War
3. Britain and the crisis over Dien Bien Phu, April 1954
4. Eisenhower, Dulles, and Dien Bien Phu: “The day we didn’t go to war”
5. Military necessity, political impossibility: French overview on operation Vautour
6. Redefining the American position in Southeast Asia
7. From Geneva to Manila: British policy toward Indochina and SEATO
8. Passage of empire: the United States, France, and South Vietnam, 1954-55
9. Repercussions of the Geneva Conference: South Vietnam under a new protector
10. Spring 1955: Crisis in Saigon
11. The United States, NATO, and French Indochina
12. France between the Indochina War and the European defense community

Even the Prologue: Perceptions by the United States of its interests in Indochina by Richard Immerman will startle readers. Immerman suggests Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor an intentional ploy to divert global interest away from their aims across Indochina. Certainly this appears true today.

Yet for Americans this is a rather stark suggestion. Yet upon reflection there is merit to the Japan’s single strike. Why risk resources in Indochina when a full defensive strategy against America would culminate in the the atomic bombing of their mainland.

Japan had already invaded and conquered China. France surrendered to Japanese troops across Indochina, yet managed to negotiate terms after Japan’s invasion of French Indochina in 1940. At the height of the second French colonial empire, Paris ruled almost 9% of the global population.

Set against Communist China and the Soviet Union, President Eisenhower ultimately shaped a policy leading America to war for a generation. Resource rich Indochina would be providing Japan much needed raw materials to drive their war effort. When American banned oil sales to the Japanese mainland, Indochina became their target.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest Read: Valley of the Shadow

Valley of the Shadow: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu by Kevin Boylan and Luc Olivier. What makes this book so valuable is their access to Vietnamese research never before published. This illustrates n new view of the siege. My Dien Bien Phu retrospective will now place Boylan and Olivier’s work as the most detailed order of battle.

Valley of the Shadow

Bernard Fall’s Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu remains the most essential work. Valley of the Shadow compliments and introduces those new Vietnamese insights. This provides the West with deeper sights as we approach a 70 year remembrance of the siege.

Boylan and Olivier also shed insight to Navarre’s initial plan. Amazingly, he wanted to cancel the entire operation at the last possible minute. Yet firm dates for the Geneva Conference already in place. France hoped for a repeat of their victory at Na San and a strong negotiation advantage.

Interestingly, Valley of the Shadow reflects upon the pompous views of French officers. Their suggestions following Na San, that the Viet Minh would simply fall victim a second time proved so foolish.

Boylan and Olivier offer a few new details to attack plan “Fast Strike, Fast Victory” proposed by Giap. Planned for January, Giap modified to “Steady Fight, Steady Advance.” As victory was within reach, Strike Fast would be delivering a final blow to the French command HQ.

Dedicating a full chapter to the opening 72 hours of the siege provides richer insights. Most importantly, new datasets help confirm early Viet Minh’s attack victories.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest Read: The Eagle Weeps

The Eagle Weeps by Lieutenant colonel Keith Honaker offers stunning lessons from his deployment to Vietnam in February 1952. He arrived in Saigon as a member of the US Military MAAG Vietnam program. His experience illustrates the repeated failures of France to defeat the Viet Minh.

the eagle weeps by Lt. Col Keith Honaker

At the same time, Lieutenant colonel Honaker invited his family to join him in Saigon. Only a select few American officers brought their families to Vietnam. Shockingly his wife Wilma was abducted by Viet Minh agents during a trip to Hanoi. Only a French officer saved her from departing a safe zone around Hanoi. Can you imagine if Wilma had been taken prisoner or killed by the Viet Minh? Certainly shocking to read 65 years later.

During his deployment, France was seeking to remove American officers from the field. Lieutenant colonel Honaker and his fellow American officers in Saigon were not even informed of the French plans for the Dien Bien Phu until after the airlift began.

Likewise there are additional moments in the book that reveal a deep misunderstanding to the early American MAAG mission. As Lieutenant colonel Honaker describes in the opening chapters, his arrival in Vietnam was like landing in another world. His experiences are very foretelling to the next for next 23 years for America.

Surprisingly, as we would later learn, the Viet Minh were preparing a very strong defense of their country. A mature network of spies including those who served American military families as house servants greeted the Honaker family upon their arrival.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest Read: Replacing France

Replacing France: The Origins of American Intervention in Vietnam by Kathryn Statler. This book vividly illustrates failures by France and America in determining a free and democratic Vietnam. Kathryn directly addresses America’s tenuous relationship with France, watching as the French consistently flailed at war in Vietnam.

replacing france by kathryn statler

Kathryn sheds much needed light across a very complicated 10 year relationship (1950-60) at the dawn of the cold war. Her research helps fill gaps between US support for France and where we took over the war. The timeline begins stumbling forward in the late 1940s. Her scholarship is elevated by recently released archival materials from the US and Europe.

This is a much longer book review than normal. Even with multiple references, below simply I cannot fully address the deep impact of Kathryn’s research in a single post. This should be required reading for any college history class on the American war in Vietnam.

France made every effort to re-enter Indochina, patiently waiting for any chance to re-enslave the peoples of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Britain also fought to regain colonial control over Malaya at the end of World War II.

Since 1887, every aspect of Vietnamese society was under French control. This colonial monster had 80 years to metastasize across every aspect of Indochinese life. Among my Dien Bien Phu retrospective, this book helps answer how the tumultuous relationship between of France brought America into the war.