Agent Orange: Contaminating Americans and Vietnamese
Lending A Hand
During the Cold War that started after World War II in 1945, colonies under European control worldwide sought independence including what was then French Indo-China. The Leader Of the Viet Cong Ho Chi Minh, defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The U.S. intervened on behalf of western business interests to support the non-communist Diem government in South Vietnam. The U.S. sent advisers to train South Vietnamese ARVN, Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The U.S. commitment swelled to a half million U.S. troops by its height in 1968.
Maps of Vietnam
Map of Vietnam 1954, Image Courtesy of University of Texas Libraries
Map of Vietnam During the Indo-China War 1954, Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
"Our resistance will be long and painful, but whatever the sacrifices, however long the struggle, we shall fight to the end, until Vietnam is fully independent and reunified."
~ Ho Chi Minh, Leader of the Viet Cong
Leaders of North and South Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh Leader of the Viet Cong, Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
Ngo Dinh Diem President of South Vietnam, Image Courtesy of Daily Telegraph
"It was patriotism, not communism, that inspired me." ~ Ho Chi Minh, Leader of The Viet Cong
"Follow me if I advance! Kill me if I retreat! Revenge me if I die!" ~ Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam
Presidents Before John F. Kennedy
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
Dwight D. Eisenhower's Letter to Ngo Ding Diem, Image Courtesy of Docs Teach
President Lynden B. Johnson, Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
"You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is a certainty that it will go over very quickly."
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower, Presenting The "Domino Theory"
"Why are we in South Vietnam? We are there because we have a promise to keep. Since 1954 every American President has offered support to the people of South Vietnam.
~ Lynden B. Johnson, Speech on Vietnam 1965
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy stated,
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
President Kennedy inherited the Southeast Asian policy of containment (United States will help any nation to prevent the spread of communisum) and the Domino Theory.
President John F. Kennedy, Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
President John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, Video Courtesy of CBS News
Only in hindsight, with the publishing of the Pentagon Papers in 1970, did the American public learn that the Vietnam War was a civil war for independence from foreigners. The suffering and deaths on both sides were preventable.