Tag: maxwell taylor

Latest read: Death of a Generation How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date August 12, 2015

Death of a Generation: How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War by Howard Jones is a compelling well written topic that focuses on the critical years of the Kennedy Administration and the evolving US war in Vietnam. Jones has painstakingly researched how Diem was a key part of the increase of Vietcong success in and around Saigon from 1960.

The first half of the book details the repeated frustration all political and military leaders had with Diem only to see in 1961 the transfer of power to his brother Nhu.

Jones brings the opening eight chapters into focus on Diem’s inability to reform the political and social process in the south, locking his family into full control of the country’s wealth. The role of the US ambassadors were to move the Diem family towards democracy. We never succeeded.

At the same time the coming crisis is revealed with behind the scenes accounts of the multiple clashes within the Kennedy Administration. This contributed to Kennedy’s lack of trust with the Joint Chiefs of Staff following their Bay of Pigs fiasco. Jones has done well to bring the European and Cuban conflicts into the scope of how the US was approaching Vietnam, and ultimately China and the Soviet Union.

The Battle of Ap Bac in 1963 proved to be a perfect sign of how bad the South would fight in their first major battle. John Paul Vann‘s role in Ap Bac is now legendary. Coupled with the June Buddhist crisis and the worldwide attention to the self-immolation of Quang Duc which forever turned the south against Diem and his family. It was the fallout of this event that the Kennedy administration began exploring how to engineer a coup de tat.

Tags Buddhist crisis, dean rusk, edward landsdale, elbridge durbrow, frederick nolting, henry cabot lodge, john f kennedy, lucien conein, madame nhu, maxwell taylor, ngo dinh diem, Ngo Dinh Nhu, tipping point, Vietnam War

Education Reading

Pentagon Papers: A most difficult lie

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date December 30, 2011

Finally stumbled through one of the larger hidden lies in Volume IV C5 of the Pentagon Papers. During discussions regarding initial deployment of American troops to Vietnam, President Johnson, General Westmoreland along with military and White House policy advisers discussed how to salvage honor if the war was lost. It was a truly sobering read. How did they get to a point where discussions danced around losing Vietnam before we actually became engaged by deploying initial troops to South Vietnam?

Pentagon Papers I feel that more reports documenting a losing effort will continue to surface as I make my way through all 7,000+ pages of the study. On the surface it should shock Americans today to read the reports and both military and diplomatic cables that show President Johnson, General Westmoreland & their aides planed how to deal with losing the war in Vietnam in mid 1965. Regrettably if you read previous volumes of the Pentagon Papers its very clear America had absolutely no reason to back Diem and the South in its war against the communist North….other than the domino theory that was gripping global politics. They knew well before ’65 that South Vietnam would fall to the communists.

Tags command vietnam, initial deployment, john mcnaughton, maxwell taylor, pacification, pentagon papers, policy advisers, president johnson, presidential administrations, william bundy

Education Reading Vietnam War

Pentagon Papers Marine combat units to Da Nang

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date December 4, 2011

Reaching page 1,758 of the Pentagon Papers (Part IV-C4 Evolution of the War Marine Combat Units Go to Da Nang, March 1965) provides a growing stream of reports and studies that the war in South Vietnam was “lost” as early as 1960. Yet both Kennedy and Johnson decided to ignore those studies and marched America into Vietnam.

As Part IV-C.4. reveals research, studies & politics all concluded that South Vietnamese armed forces were on the brink of collapse against the Viet Cong. The document provides the data that should have not only questioned the decision to deploy US forces but the questioned the role of the US in Vietnam vs Laos.

It was just one terrible decision by the White House after 20 years of continued support for the South Vietnamese. The “no surprise at the time of deployment” was an existing 20,000 American force of military and policy advisers supporting the South Vietnamese air force and government.