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the world called for approaching Amer–
ica by way of the east and southeast -
that China wou1d go Communist.
lt
did, September 21, 1949. But
NOT
under Kremlin domination. Communist
leader Mao Tse-tung was the leader. He
proclaimed it "The People's Republic of
China." Chou En-lai .was named Pre–
mier and Foreign Minister, October 1,
1949.
Before the war, three associated states
of Indochina - Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam, were under French colonial
rule. They were known as French Indo–
china. For nearly two decades prior to
World War II, the Vietnamese, led by
exiled Communist Ho Chi Minh,
carried on an underground struggle for
independence from France. Ho Chi
Minh was a veteran Moscow-trained
Communist. In 1941, the Japanese
occupied Indochina. And between 1941
and 1945, the United $tates provided
military aid to Ho Chi Minh. Another
ally who was in reality our enemy. The
very enemy we are fighting now! This is
where the United $tates lirst became
involved in Vietnam!
On the Communist side.
On September 2, 1945, following the
Japanese defeat, Ho Chi Minh pro–
claimed froro Hanoi the independence
of all Vietnam. For eight years a
colonial war against the French ensued,
scarcely noticed by the people in the
United States.
By 1946 the government at Washing–
ton began to wake up to the fact that
the Communists were in fact our enemies
- not our friends. Under the Trumao
administration, in 1950, the United
States began the pol icy of sending mili–
tary
and economic assistance to anti–
Communist . forces in Indochina. In
August, 1950, the first U. S. military
advisers arrived !n Vietnam - 35 of
them.
That was the beginning of United
States involvement in Vietnam. Also the
United States was left holding the bag
after the French defeat. That cost the
U. S. between 1 and 3 billion dollars in
military and economic aid ! Other
nations sap our strength. It seems we
are the prize "easy touch" people.
Aftec China went Communist in
1949, Red China began to send aid to
Communist forces in Vietnam. Ho Chi
The
PLAIN TRUTH
Minh's forces were called the Viet
Minh.
President Eisenhowec took office in
1953. He was forced into a virtually
immediate decision on Indochina. The
French were still fighting there. Presi–
dent Eisenhower decided to continue
and increase U. S. aid to the French.
The French collapse accelerated. The
U. S. was left underwriting a high per–
centage of the cost of
their
war.
With the French military catastrophe,
President Eisenhower had to decide
whether America should now intervene
directly. He declared he could not "con–
ceive of a greater tragedy for America
than to get heavily involved now in an
all-out war in any of those regions
( lndochina]."
On July 21, 1954, a 14-nation con–
ference was held at Geneva. It did not
indude the United States. They suppos–
edly ended the war by
dividing
Viet–
nam at the seventeenth parallel into a
Communist North Vietnam, and a free
South Vietnam. France, Britain, and the
Soviet Union signed that agreement. All
signatories were pledged to respect the
neutrality and independence of Laos
and Cambodia.
What these diplomats did not under–
stand was the
METHOD
OF WARFARE
being used over there. There is no
front-line warfare. There are no fronts.
lt
is guerrilla warfare, here, and there,
and in spots. The partitioning of Viet–
nam into North and South could not
stop Communist aggression.
The diplomats at the París Confer–
ence should have known that Com–
munism will
NEVER
stop
prtShing.
To assume they would remain peace–
ably north of that 17th parallel was
ridiculous!
To further guarantee peace in the
area, President Eisenhower led in set–
ting up the Southeast Asia Treaty Orga–
nization (SEATO) - September 8,
1954, at a meeting in Manila.
U. S. Becomes Directly Involved
Then on October 23, 1954, President
Eisenhower took a fateful step. He
wrote to Premier Diem (pronounced
Dzee-·em) of South Vietnam that hence–
forth American aid would not be given
through the French authorities but
May 1971
directly to the government of South
Vietnam.
That was, in reality the
1st step
in
U. S. direct iovolvement.
Step 2:
On February 12, 1955,
the U. S. Mi litary Assistance Advisory
Group took over the training of the
South Vietnamese army. One great error
here was the fact that the United States
military people did not yet realize
THE
KIND
of war being fought there.
Step
3:
A week later, the Southeast
Asia Collective Defense Treaty carne
into force. Under it, the United States
was pledged to go to the aid of aoy
party requesting assistance against
aggression. The United States was
COM·
MITTED -
and
STILL JS.
Step
4:
The Geneva Agreements had
called for a national plebiscite through–
out all Vietnam by
July,
1956.
That
election
was
never he/d.
Diem knew it
would be a popular contest between
him and Ho Chi Minh, and he would
lose.
His decision foreshadowed a
renewal of guerrilla warfare.
It
became
daogerously widespread and brutal in
1959-60.
It is pertinent to add here that when
the Republic of Vietnam was boro, in
1955, its economy was a shambles. But
South Vietnam was outstripping the
Communist north like West Germany
has outstripped Communist East Ger–
many, economically, and South Korea
has prospered more than Communist
North Korea.
Step
5:
As a result of this economic
prosperity in South Vietnam, the North
held a meeting in Hanoi, September 23,
1960 - during the U. S. Presidential
campaign - calling for full-scale guer–
rilla warfare to conquer and take over
South Vietnam by force. Cadres of vet–
eran guerrilla fighters were sent into
South Vietnam from the regular army.
In every village they organized a sub–
versive apparatus and intelligence net–
work with informers and sympathizers
in every village. A reign of terror was
launched. It was aimed at liquidating
all leadership in South Vietnam, from
village chiefs and school teachers up to
and induding the Diem government in
Saigon.
President Eisenhower stuck to his
basic position that, if there was a solu-