Excellent article! Nixon got a bad rap in history, only remembered for Watergate. He did the right thing. I'll bet not many are taught about the fall of Saigon and history that led up to the final end of Vietnam. It's a shame.
I don't like Trump and what he's been doing. He's nothing like any previous presidents, has no morals or values system, not intelligent. Only interested in gaining as much money for himself. Well, maybe LBJ, oh right Trump claimed to be a Democrat. How ironic. 🙄😏👍
Thank you Mr. Martin for this article. I am old enough to remember the fall of Saigon. I watched the news footage of people escaping. I was ten years old in 1975. The priest at my parish was one of those children rescued. I learned about the whole fiasco in college, but I do not know if it is taught in the elementary or high school years. My late father loathed LBJ for his "botching" of the whole situation. Too many Americans died because of his poor decisions.
I’m so glad you republished this article, Dr. Martin! 51 years ago today, Saigon tragically fell to the North Vietnamese Communists. What followed was horrific: hundreds of thousands sent to reeducation camps, thousands were executed, a massive refugee crisis was born, the South Vietnamese people were trapped in a totalitarian system, and Laos and Cambodia would soon fall to Communism. But here’s the thing, the United States had the war won. Henry Kissinger had negotiated a heck of a deal at Paris in 1973. North Vietnam agreed to extend official recognition to South Vietnam and to respect is sovereignty. The North and South also signed a ceasefire and North agreed not to invade the South. But if they did, America would start bombing again as Richard Nixon assured Nguyen Van Thieu. But history had other plans. Nixon was forced to resign from office because of Watergate. Gerald Ford who succeeded Nixon wanted to help South Vietnam.
With Nixon’s resignation and Watergate going on, North Vietnam sensed now was the time to strike. They promptly invaded South Vietnam in an all-out campaign to conquer the country and unify Vietnam as one Communist nation. President Ford bravely called for Congress to send aid immediately to the ARVN. But the Democrat controlled Congress was sick of the war and wouldn’t give a penny more to the South Vietnamese. South Vietnam quickly collapsed and Ho Chi Minh’s dream of one Marxist Vietnam was fulfilled. While I understand why Congress was tired of the war, we essentially abandoned our allies in their time of need. Worst yet, Eisenhower’s Domino Theory was proved to be 100% correct. Laos and Cambodia fell to Communism and Pol Pot and the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge was born.
We abandoned the ARVN and the South Vietnamese to their fate and that is utterly shameful! I will say that at least President Ford signed the Indochinese Refugee Act into law. This helped bring thousands of desperate Vietnamese refugees to America. These folks have made so many valuable contributions to this country. Why did Vietnam becoming the first war America ever truly lost and a quagmire? I will answer that question here. First off, the United States should’ve done a lot more to support the French in their fight against the Viet Minh. The French were the kindest masters warts and all, the Vietnamese people ever had. A French victory would also have meant Communism in Vietnam would have been snuffed out. At the very least, after independence the French should’ve been allowed to keep troops in the country.
As Richard Nixon talked about in his classic and underrated book, No More Vietnams, Kennedy and Johnson should’ve took decisive action early on to deal with the Communists. What were the United States’ biggest mistakes in Vietnam? They would be as follows. First off, Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Nhu were competent leaders for South Vietnam. Their overthrow and assassinations was a HUGE mistake. This negated all the substantial gains the South Vietnamese had made to that point. Nor was any South Vietnamese leader ever as effective or as competent as Diem. The United States destroyed the South Vietnamese middle class with radical land reform too. LBJ had several options at his disposal that would’ve allowed the South Vietnamese to continue the war without a massive infusion of U.S. troops.
But Johnson rejected them because of assumptions that were based on faulty intelligence. The U.S. government also lied to the American people about the war and didn’t do good job articulating our goals in the war. If U.S. troops had been allowed to operate beyond Vietnam and go into Laos and cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail would’ve gone a long way towards defeating the Communists. But Kennedy and Johnson would never allow this. Lastly, we should have kept the pledge we made to the South Vietnamese in Paris in 1973 and resumed bombing when the North Vietnamese invaded as Dr. Martin talks about here. I also want to debunk a prominent myth about Ho Chi Minh. Yes, he was a nationalist. But he was primarily a hardcore Communist. He actually got frostbite while visiting Lenin’s tomb in Moscow. He was also by the way, a brutal dictator and a mass murderer. His successor Le Duan was even worse. Also, from the very beginning the Viet Cong were controlled by the North Vietnamese government. They were never independent of it at any time. The two had always been colluding with one another.
Thank you for this, Rod. This article changed my position on our entrance into the war, which I previously misunderstood as a mistake. I can see now, bc of your article, how the US’s original intent was a noble and just cause. Thanks again…
It really was, and thank you. The sad part (one of many) is that we spent years doing everything wrong (despite winning every engagement). Curtis LeMay actually had the better strategy, as Nixon demonstrated in December 1972. But LeMay was shut down by "the best and the brightest".
Excellent article! Nixon got a bad rap in history, only remembered for Watergate. He did the right thing. I'll bet not many are taught about the fall of Saigon and history that led up to the final end of Vietnam. It's a shame.
A footnote: ultimately he won the war by instituting Curtis LeMay's plan. Trump will win in Iran the same way.
But it didn't matter, because all of that was betrayed. Heartbreaking.
I don't like Trump and what he's been doing. He's nothing like any previous presidents, has no morals or values system, not intelligent. Only interested in gaining as much money for himself. Well, maybe LBJ, oh right Trump claimed to be a Democrat. How ironic. 🙄😏👍
Thank you Mr. Martin for this article. I am old enough to remember the fall of Saigon. I watched the news footage of people escaping. I was ten years old in 1975. The priest at my parish was one of those children rescued. I learned about the whole fiasco in college, but I do not know if it is taught in the elementary or high school years. My late father loathed LBJ for his "botching" of the whole situation. Too many Americans died because of his poor decisions.
Amen and amen.
I’m so glad you republished this article, Dr. Martin! 51 years ago today, Saigon tragically fell to the North Vietnamese Communists. What followed was horrific: hundreds of thousands sent to reeducation camps, thousands were executed, a massive refugee crisis was born, the South Vietnamese people were trapped in a totalitarian system, and Laos and Cambodia would soon fall to Communism. But here’s the thing, the United States had the war won. Henry Kissinger had negotiated a heck of a deal at Paris in 1973. North Vietnam agreed to extend official recognition to South Vietnam and to respect is sovereignty. The North and South also signed a ceasefire and North agreed not to invade the South. But if they did, America would start bombing again as Richard Nixon assured Nguyen Van Thieu. But history had other plans. Nixon was forced to resign from office because of Watergate. Gerald Ford who succeeded Nixon wanted to help South Vietnam.
With Nixon’s resignation and Watergate going on, North Vietnam sensed now was the time to strike. They promptly invaded South Vietnam in an all-out campaign to conquer the country and unify Vietnam as one Communist nation. President Ford bravely called for Congress to send aid immediately to the ARVN. But the Democrat controlled Congress was sick of the war and wouldn’t give a penny more to the South Vietnamese. South Vietnam quickly collapsed and Ho Chi Minh’s dream of one Marxist Vietnam was fulfilled. While I understand why Congress was tired of the war, we essentially abandoned our allies in their time of need. Worst yet, Eisenhower’s Domino Theory was proved to be 100% correct. Laos and Cambodia fell to Communism and Pol Pot and the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge was born.
We abandoned the ARVN and the South Vietnamese to their fate and that is utterly shameful! I will say that at least President Ford signed the Indochinese Refugee Act into law. This helped bring thousands of desperate Vietnamese refugees to America. These folks have made so many valuable contributions to this country. Why did Vietnam becoming the first war America ever truly lost and a quagmire? I will answer that question here. First off, the United States should’ve done a lot more to support the French in their fight against the Viet Minh. The French were the kindest masters warts and all, the Vietnamese people ever had. A French victory would also have meant Communism in Vietnam would have been snuffed out. At the very least, after independence the French should’ve been allowed to keep troops in the country.
As Richard Nixon talked about in his classic and underrated book, No More Vietnams, Kennedy and Johnson should’ve took decisive action early on to deal with the Communists. What were the United States’ biggest mistakes in Vietnam? They would be as follows. First off, Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Nhu were competent leaders for South Vietnam. Their overthrow and assassinations was a HUGE mistake. This negated all the substantial gains the South Vietnamese had made to that point. Nor was any South Vietnamese leader ever as effective or as competent as Diem. The United States destroyed the South Vietnamese middle class with radical land reform too. LBJ had several options at his disposal that would’ve allowed the South Vietnamese to continue the war without a massive infusion of U.S. troops.
But Johnson rejected them because of assumptions that were based on faulty intelligence. The U.S. government also lied to the American people about the war and didn’t do good job articulating our goals in the war. If U.S. troops had been allowed to operate beyond Vietnam and go into Laos and cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail would’ve gone a long way towards defeating the Communists. But Kennedy and Johnson would never allow this. Lastly, we should have kept the pledge we made to the South Vietnamese in Paris in 1973 and resumed bombing when the North Vietnamese invaded as Dr. Martin talks about here. I also want to debunk a prominent myth about Ho Chi Minh. Yes, he was a nationalist. But he was primarily a hardcore Communist. He actually got frostbite while visiting Lenin’s tomb in Moscow. He was also by the way, a brutal dictator and a mass murderer. His successor Le Duan was even worse. Also, from the very beginning the Viet Cong were controlled by the North Vietnamese government. They were never independent of it at any time. The two had always been colluding with one another.
I cry too when I think about it. What a smart and sensitive eight year old you were.
Thank you.
Thank you for this, Rod. This article changed my position on our entrance into the war, which I previously misunderstood as a mistake. I can see now, bc of your article, how the US’s original intent was a noble and just cause. Thanks again…
It really was, and thank you. The sad part (one of many) is that we spent years doing everything wrong (despite winning every engagement). Curtis LeMay actually had the better strategy, as Nixon demonstrated in December 1972. But LeMay was shut down by "the best and the brightest".