Kennedy initially opposed French colonialism in Vietnam and the policies of containment and McCarthyism. As president, he increased U.S. military advisers in Vietnam due to fears that failure in Vietnam would undermine U.S. credibility globally. However, the ARVN performed poorly and the strategic hamlet program failed to win over the population, leading to growing doubts within the administration over escalation in Vietnam. Kennedy was assassinated before implementing a withdrawal strategy.

2. KENNEDY’S EARLY IDEAS
Kennedy‟s
Early
Ideas
Opposed French
Colonialism
Domino
Theory, Containment
and McCarthyism
Third World = new Cold
War battleground >
Vietnam was important
Catholic (hated atheistic
communism)
• Became president in January 1961
• Young Democratic congressman – a
lot to prove
• Attacked Truman for „losing‟ China in
1949 – could not make the same
mistake
• Criticised French Colonialism in
Indochina – unwanted rule/no outlet for
nationalism might turn the Indochinese
to Communism
Criticised Eisenhower
- said the US needed
a president ‘to get
America moving
again’
Militant anti-
Communism was a
key-note of his
campaign speeches
“freedom under God versus
ruthless, godless tyranny” -
JFK

3. KENNEDY’S ADVISERS
• McNamara and Rusk were
both pro-involvement
• McNamara‟s strong
personality took control
and the defence
department dominated
• Solutions to the perceived
problems in Vietnam were
often military ones
“the best and the brightest”
McNamara: Secretary of Defence Rusk: Secretary of State
Bundy: National Security Adviser Bobby Kennedy: Attorney General

4. EARLY ACTIONS
The Failure in Cuba
• The Bay of Pigs 1961
- US-sponsored an anti-Communist
invasion
- Failed to overthrow Castro
- Not systematically thought out
- Humiliating for JFK
The Neutralisation of Laos
• Feared a communist triumph there
- March 1961 implied the US might intervene
militarily
- Held back by BOP failure/too few aircraft and
soldiers
- Congress feared it would lead to a clash with
China
- Sent US military advisers to assist the Laotian
leader (an unpopular general)
- Sept ‟61 - Summer‟62: managed to neutralise
Laos > governed by a coalition
- Vietcong continued to use Laotian trails to get
to South Vietnam
- „Neither winning or losing‟
Cartoon from the Washington Star
The Bay of Pigs is portrayed as a chicken
which has come home to roost - causing
new troubles soon to hatch out for Kennedy

5. HOW CUBA AND LAOS LED TO VIETNAM
• Outright victories had to be won elsewhere
• JFK rejected a early privately negotiated settlement to Cuban Missile Crisis
• Backing down in Laos was countered by firm commitment to Vietnam
• Hawks within the administration would only accept neutrality in Laos in return
for activist policy in Vietnam
• Vietnam was more suitable for US intervention than Laos
- Long coastline (US naval supremacy)
- Diem seemed to have SV under control (democracy had a good chance of
working)
- Already committed to Vietnam before Kennedy‟s presidency
• US departure from Vietnam would undermine US credibility
Vietnam and Laos

6. 1961 - DECISIONS
• 800 MAs at Kennedy‟s accession
• Increased financial aid to Diem to enable him to increase his army
• JCS and NSC recommended putting US ground troops in – JFK refused
• Emphasised counter insurgency instead of conventional war
• ARVN continued to lose ground despite help from the Green Berets
• October 1961: JFK sent General Maxwell Taylor to evaluate military situation
- Recommended sending 8000-10,000 ground troops
- McNamara wanted to send 40,000
General Maxwell Taylor

7. INCREASED MILITARY INVOLVEMENT
• Number of military advisers rose alarmingly
• Increasing quantities of US weaponry
• Helicopters
- Pilot advisers actively involved in the war
- JFK denied it – most info kept from US public
• Authorised use of defoliants
• MACV created (replacing MAAG) to organise
increased involvement
• Initially increased involvement seemed successful
- Helicopters increased mobility
- Napalm scared the VC
• But soon lost „shock value‟
• Some disloyal ARVN warned VC away from certain
areas
Year No. of
Advisers
Jan 1961 800
Dec 1961 3000
1962 12,000
Nov 1963 17,000

8. THE BATTLE OF AP BAC – WHAT HAPPENED?
• 2nd January 1963
• 2000 ARVN, 113 US personnel carriers, US helicopters, US Advisers went to
surround Ap Bac
• Did not know there were 350 guerrillas there
- Keen to show they could counter US firepower
- Wanted a victory to boost morale
• ARVN refused to attack the VC
- 5 US helicopters and 3 pilots were lost
- ARVN refused to mount a rescue mission
VC: 18 dead
ARVN: 83 dead
US: 3 dead

9. REASONS FOR FAILURE
• Strength and preparedness of VC = unexpected
• ARVN‟s General Cao = unwilling to fight
• Diem didn‟t listen to US advice on deployment of troops
- Feared losing too many men
- Used the best soldiers to keep himself in power
• US had delayed the attack by a day to enable pilots to sleep
off New Year‟s Eve excesses
The VC - unlikely
victors?
General Cao

10. RESULTS AND SIGNIFICANCE
• Drew unprecedented attention in the US
- ARVN performance was unfavourably reviewed
• Showed Diem was incapable of winning the war
- Despite ever-increasing military aid Diem was not winning
- Saigon controlled 49% of population & VC controlled 9% with the rest in
dispute
The ARVN – unfairly
judged?

11. DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS ON VIETNAM
• President De Gaulle of France: “you will sink…into a military & political
quagmire”
• Kenneth Galbraith (friend of JFK sent to assess the situation)
- Political rather than military problem - would end in defeat and humiliation
- Did not consider Vietnam strategically important & though Diem was a loser
- Little difference between French colonialism and US involvement
• McNamara: “we are winning the war” – May 1962
• George Ball: warned “we‟ll have 300,000 men in the paddies” within 5 years
• Mike Mansfield: critical of Diem and increasing US involvement
• Rusk: US involvement could provoke Hanoi and Beijing and destabilise
Laos
“like taking a drink, the
effect wears off, and you
have to take another” –
JFK on increasing
involvement

12. STRATEGIC HAMLETS
• Early 1962 Diem adopted the policy of strategic hamlets
• Fortified villages in which the peasants would be isolated from the VC
• VC frequently joined the other villagers
• Discontent at having to pay for and build the stockades
• Run by Nhu who was only concerned with his own power– ignored US advice
- VC captured thousands of US weapons from hamlets set up too far from
Saigon
- Ignored the social, economic and political reforms that the US suggested
should be introduced in the hamlets
• Increased opposition to the Diem/US regime
Nhu and one of his
strategic hamlets

13. DISCONTENT OF THE US PRESS
• Increasing criticisms of Diem‟s ineptitude
• David Halberstam of the New York Times
-Was warned that he was on Diem‟s assassination
list
-Madame Nhu told reporters he “should be
barbecued
and I would gladly supply the match”
• US press was not questioning involvement – just
the tactics pursued
• Kennedy administration tried to pressure the
New York Times into a change of viewpoint but
failed
“no Nhus is good news”
New York Times and
David Halberstam

14. CATHOLICS VERSUS BUDDHISTS
• 70-90% of population = Buddhist
• Diem and JFK = Catholics
• Diem regime allowed flying of Catholic flags in
honour of Diem‟s brother but banned the flying
of Buddhist flags on Buddha‟s birthday
• 10,000 Buddhists protested – Diem sent in
soldiers and 7 Buddhists were killed
• June 1963 – Quang Duc‟s self-immolation and
Malcolm Browne‟s Pulitzer Prize winning picture
Monk Quang Duc burns
himself to death to protest
against the religious
inequality

15. AMBASSADOR LODGE
• Arrived in Vietnam on 22nd August 1963
• Patriot and WWII military hero - Republican
• Experienced and ambitious– foreign affairs
• Good relations with the press
• Many shocked at the appointment
- JFK had low opinion of Lodge’s political talents
- Thought he just wanted to get Lodge mixed up in the ‘hopeless mess’ of
Vietnam
• Believed previous commitment meant the US had a responsibility to
stay
• Thought victory remained impossible as long as Diem was in powerWe need an
ambassador who is
tough; who can act as
a catalyst; who will
take responsibility and
make decisions
[without referring] to
Washington

16. THE COUP
• ARVN plot against Nhu and Diem
• White House said it would neither ‘stimulate’ or
‘thwart’ a coup and would help any new regime
• Lodge had given vital encouragement but
publicly denied US involvement
• Generals’ coup occurred on 2nd November 1963
• Diem and Nhu fled but were found dead the
next day
• JFK was said to be shocked and dismayed on
news of their deaths

17. KENNEDY’S ASSASSINATION
• 22nd November 1963
• Dallas, Texas
• Shot by a sniper whilst campaigning
• A ten-month investigation in 1963–64 by the
Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy
was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting
alone,
• They also concluded that Jack Ruby also acted
alone when he killed Oswald before he could
stand trial.

18. SITUATION AT KENNEDY’S DEATH
• The death of Kennedy left the US with nearly 17,000 American advisers
in Vietnam and no clear strategy in place
• Kennedy discussed withdrawal of advisers in September 1963
• McNamara-Taylor Report suggested the removal of 1000 advisers by the
end of the year
• Kennedy remained committed to Containment and was not prepared to
allow Communism to succeed in South Vietnam as US credibility was at
stake.
Mike Mansfield:
JFK said “I can‟t
[get out] until 1965
– after I‟m re-
elected”
Rusk and
LBJ: JFK had
no plans to
withdraw
Bobby Kennedy
said
that, effectively, hi
s brother had no
plans at all