Table Of ContentA
viETNAm
WAR
READER
hunt, A Vietnam War Reader final pages, i
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A
A Documentary History from
American and Vietnamese Perspectives
viETNAm
WAR
edited by
michael h. hunt
R EADER
the university of north carolina press chapel hill
hunt, A Vietnam War Reader final pages, iii
© 2010
the university of
north carolina press
All rights reserved
Designed by Kimberly Bryant The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
Set in Arnhem, The Sans, and permanence and durability of the Committee on
Coldharbour Gothic types by Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Rebecca Evans Council on Library Resources.
Manufactured in the
The University of North Carolina Press has been a
United States of America
member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A Vietnam War reader : a documentary history
from American and Vietnamese perspectives /
edited by Michael H. Hunt. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8078-3350-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8078-5991-9 (pbk : alk. paper)
1. Vietnam War, 1961–1975 — Sources.
I. Hunt, Michael H.
ds557.4.v626 2010
959.704´3 — dc22 2009031224
The map of Vietnam is from The World Trans
formed: 1945 to the Present by Michael H. Hunt.
Copyright © 2004 by Bedford/St. Martin’s. Used
with permission.
cloth 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
paper 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
hunt, A Vietnam War Reader final pages, iv
To the students
in my Vietnam War course at
Colgate University, UNC–Chapel Hill,
and Williams College (1978–2008),
whose enthusiasm for these documents
fed my own.
hunt, A Vietnam War Reader final pages, v
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Contents
Preface xiii
Introduction. The Vietnam War: From Myth to History xvii
Guide to Abbreviations xxiii
Chronology xxv
Map of Vietnam xxix
1. The Setting: Colonialism and the Cold War (to 1954) 1
Emergence of a Nationalist Vision 4
1.1 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, funeral oration, 1861 4
1.2 Phan Boi Chau, call for Vietnamese to awaken, 1907 5
1.3 Phan Chu Trinh, open letter to the French governor-general, 1907 6
Ho Chi Minh’s Rise to Prominence, 1919–1945 8
1.4 Recollections of discovering Communist anticolonialism in
July 1920 8
1.5 Statement on behalf of the Indochinese Communist Party,
18 February 1930 10
1.6 Proclamation of the Viet Minh–led independence struggle,
6 June 1941 12
1.7 Declaration of independence, 2 September 1945 12
The Popular Appeal of Revolution 14
1.8 Nguyen Thi Dinh on her political awakening in the 1930s 14
1.9 Truong Nhu Tang on his conversion to the nationalist cause in
the mid-1940s 17
1.10 Peasants in the Red River Delta on the Viet Minh in the late
1940s 19
Deepening U.S. Engagement in Indochina, 1943–1954 21
1.11 U.S. policy shifts from self-determination to containment,
1943–1950 22
1.12 Ho Chi Minh, denunciation of U.S. intervention, January 1952 24
1.13 The Eisenhower administration on the French collapse,
March–April 1954 25
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2. Drawing the Lines of Conflict, 1954–1963 29
A Country Divided or United? July 1954–December 1960 32
2.1 Ho Chi Minh, report to the Communist Party Central Committee,
15 July 1954 32
2.2 “Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference,” 21 July 1954 33
2.3 The Eisenhower administration on the Geneva accords,
July and October 1954 34
2.4 Ngo Dinh Diem, speech to the Council on Foreign Relations,
13 May 1957 36
2.5 Hanoi goes on the offensive, 1959–1960 37
The Perspective of nlf Activists 41
2.6 Le Van Chan, interview on rural organizing during the
late 1950s 41
2.7 Regroupees interviewed on returning to the South in the
early 1960s 44
Reacting to nlf Success, 1961–1963 46
2.8 The Kennedy administration wrestles with an insurgency,
November 1961 47
2.9 Central Intelligence Agency, secret memo on the nlf,
29 November 1963 49
The Diem Regime in Crisis, July–November 1963 50
2.10 John F. Kennedy, press conference, 17 July 1963 50
2.11 Diem, press interview, 26 July 1963 51
2.12 Communist leaders’ appraisals of the U.S. position,
summer and fall 1963 52
2.13 The Kennedy administration contemplates a coup,
August–November 1963 53
3. From Proxy War to Direct Conflict, 1963–1965 57
The Saigon Government on the Ropes, November 1963–August 1965 59
3.1 A new president faces an old problem, November–December
1963 59
3.2 Communist Party Central Committee, resolution 9,
December 1963 61
3.3 pavn officer, interview on the military effort, 1963–1964 64
3.4 James B. Lincoln, letter comparing Vietnamese forces,
14 August 1965 65
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Johnson Escalates, August 1964–April 1965 66
3.5 Tonkin Gulf resolution approved by Congress, 10 August 1964 67
3.6 McGeorge Bundy to Lyndon Johnson, 7 February 1965 68
3.7 Johnson, speech at Johns Hopkins University, 7 April 1965 69
Hanoi Prepares for War, October 1964–May 1965 71
3.8 Conversations between Vietnamese and Chinese leaders,
October 1964 and April 1965 71
3.9 Pham Van Dong, statement on terms for a settlement,
8 April 1965 73
3.10 Le Duan, letter to Nguyen Chi Thanh on U.S. military escalation,
May 1965 73
“G oing off the Diving Board,” June–July 1965 75
3.11 Johnson, comments to Robert Mc Namara, 21 June 1965 76
3.12 George Ball opposes a major troop commitment,
June–July 1965 77
3.13 Mc Namara, memo to Johnson, 20 July 1965 79
3.14 Johnson, meetings with advisers, 21–25 July 1965 80
3.15 Johnson, press conference statement, 28 July 1965 83
4. The Lords of War, 1965–1973 85
Strategies for Victory, September–November 1965 87
4.1 Le Duan, letter to comrades in cosvn, November 1965 88
4.2 William Westmoreland, directive to U.S. commanders,
17 September 1965 89
4.3 Mc Namara’s deepening doubts, November 1965 and May 1967 90
The Tet Offensive Gamble, July 1967–March 1968 93
4.4 Hanoi’s difficult strategic decision, July 1967 and January 1968 93
4.5 The impact on the Johnson administration, March 1968 96
4.6 Communist Party assessment, March 1968 98
Getting beyond Stalemate, November 1968–July 1969 100
4.7 drv delegation, meeting with Chinese leaders,
17 November 1968 100
4.8 Richard Nixon plots a way out, March–May 1969 103
4.9 Ninth cosvn conference, resolution, early July 1969 105
hunt, A Vietnam War Reader final pages, ix
