Why did the US lose in Vietnam?

– The Americans

LO: analyse the American failings

that lead to defeat in Vietnam
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO22ttuwxQ4
 Overview
• Failure to understand the enemy.
• Couldn’t work well with the S-Vietnamese government – Diem, Thieu, etc
all poor leaders who didn’t listen to US recommendations.
• Too much emphasis on technology and not on the people. High tech
weapons distanced troops from the people.
• Too much time spent thinking about other things e.g., sex, drugs, partying,
rest and relaxation, etc. ‘Comfortable war.’
• No historical understanding of the country or the situation.
• Poor relationship with the S-Vietnamese people.
• Soldiers and officers not on duty for long enough – serve their time, leave,
then a new lot in to be trained. (365 day tour of duty) High turn over and
many incidents of ‘Fragging’.
• Problems for Officers and Grunts.
• US soldiers had difficulty telling who was a genuine communist or peasant
farmer. (Targets to fill!)
 What motivated American Soldiers?
• Of 26.8m American men of fighting age in the 1960s,
10.93m served in the military; 2.2m were drafted,
but 8.7m were volunteers.
• They were inspired by a sense of duty, patriotism,
family tradition or a belief in the rectitude of
America’s cause.
• Recruiters played on the ‘John Wayne Syndrome’.
• “Fear nothing, and either emerge with the medals or
the girls, or die heroically”.
 American Disunity
In Vietnam
• American and allied forces were disunited;
marines were linked with the Navy and
not keen to obey orders from
Westmoreland’s army. Unconventional
Green Berets aroused antagonism.
• Americans distrusted the ARVN; at Khe
Sanh Westmoreland sent for ARVN
representation as an afterthought then
deployed them somewhere less
important.
• Ordinary soldiers served 365 days,
marines 13 months. There was not time to
build up the espirit de corps vital to moral
and performance.
• Racial Divide: 13% of Americans in
Vietnam were black, but 28% were in
combat units.
• Disagreement with the war and tactics led
to indiscipline.
At Home
• Anti-war feeling grew at home in the late
1960s.
• Soldiers became confused about what
they were fighting for.
• Unlike soldiers during WWII who were
treated like heroes, those in Vietnam were
treated as villains.
• Many were jeered, ostracised and spat on
upon their return home.
• Soldiers fought hard for ground and had
to leave it knowing that the VC would
move in again. Meanwhile they were
called ‘baby-killer’ at home.
• The collapse of the home front was
crucial; it damaged troop morale and
hampered the government in Vietnam.
 Trying to Fight a ‘Comfortable’ War
• “If we fail it will be because the American way
simply isn’t as effective as the Communist way... I
have an uneasy feeling that this may be the case.
We give them the most modern arms, we
emphasise the material to the exclusion of the
spiritual and the Spartan life, and it may be that
we soften them up rather than harden them up
for the battle”

President Nixon
 Trying to Fight a ‘Comfortable’ War
• “You ask me what I thought of the Americans. We
thought the Americans were handsome soldiers but
looked as if they were made with flour... It was
difficult for them to suffer all the hardships of the
Vietnamese battlefront. When we had no water to
drink, they had water for showers! We could suffer
the hardships much better than they could. That was
probably the main reason we won.”

The opinion of an NVA soldier.

 Sex and Drugshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=se7lljRDNjk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vckrprWIadI

Drugs
• In 1970 approx. 58% of
Americans in Vietnam smoked
marijuana and 22% shot up
heroin.
• In 1971 5,000 needed
treatment for combat wounds
and 20,529 for serious drug
abuse.
• Hard to take action over the
drug market as so many
government officials in Saigon
were involved.
Sex
• In 1966 there were over
30,000 war-orphaned child
prostitutes, but they could
not cope with American
demand!
• Around 25% of American
soldiers caught sexually
transmitted diseases.
 Problems for the Officers
• Americans of different ranks had different
experiences.
• An army officer did 5 months in the front line
and would probably be less experienced than
some of the soldiers under his command.
• It wasn’t enough time to get to know the men.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Z3Y7AYiNY
• Between 1969 and 1971 there were 730
‘fraggings’, killing 83 officers.
 Military Strategy
• Failed to defeat Giap’s army and guerilla’s.
• ‘Search and Destroy’ was not successful in destroying
a guerilla force.
• Superior technology alienated the Vietnamese and
did not halt the flow of men and supplies coming
from the North.
• The wrong strategy? Years later, McNamara
admitted that US tactics were wrong!
 Task

Work your way
through the sources
and use them to
explain why US
forces were unable
to win in Vietnam.
 Homework
• Create a summary diagram like that on page
130.
• Use the information on pages 122 to 129 to
capture historical detail as evidence to
support the reasons listed.