I was surprised to learn how early and how heavily America had been involved in Vietnam.
The graph below shows that the US was providing aid to France during its war to suppress Vietnamese independence. Between 1950 and 1954, the US proportion of total war expenditures went from 20% to almost 75%.
Quote from American Dwight Eisenhower, US President in 1953: "Suppose we lost Indochina. If that happened, tin and tungsten, to which we attach such a high price, would cease coming. That is why when the US decides to give an aid of 400 million dollars to this war. It does not make a gratuitous offer. In reality, we have chosen the least costly means to prevent one of the most terrible thins for US security, its strength and its possibility to obtain what it needs among the riches in Indochina and Southeast Asia."
Quote from JF Dulles, US Secretary of State in 1953: ".... Meanwhile in Indochina a desperate war, whose consequences are affecting our vital interests in the Western Pacific, has entered its eighth year. We have largely contributed, in material and money, to the common efforts of France, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos."
"Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, by Gore Nakamura
"The Vietnam war had ended in April 1975. But the Ranch Hand operation defoliation tactics that had been employed for 10 years from 1961 to 1971 have left a deep scar to this day. The objective of the operation was to trigger desertification of the tropical rain forest, where the Liberation forces were ambushing and disabling the Anti-American Liberation forces to hide in the dense foliage. The defoliants known as agent orange that the American military aircraft sprayed day after day on the rain forest contained high-densify dioxin, a highly virulent contaminant. Four million Vietnamese people had been exposed to it. It also had genotoxic effects, lasting multiple generations. Viet Nam and its people were not the only ones harmed by the agent orange used as a chemical weapon in Vietnam war. 90,000,000 liters of chemical were indiscriminately sprayed upon American soldiers at the battlefront and the Korean soldiers who had been dispatched to Viet Nam.
As the time marches on, the memories of the Vietnam war and its calamity recedes. But the war crime called Ranch Hand operation and its facts must be remembered not only by the Vietnamese people, but also by all humankind, in hopes that such tragedy would never happen again."
Areas Affected by U.S. Ordnance 1964-1972
Sign in the War Remnants Museum, summarizing American involvement Vietnam:
"In 1947, US President Truman emphasized the risk of Communism and then took a hard line against Communism and the Soviet Union.
The reason whey the USA joined the Vietnam war was from the 'domino theory,' which was of the view that if Vietnam became a Communist country, then the neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia, as well as other Asian countries and Middle East countries will follow suit.
In the battle from 1946 between French Army and the Viet Minh (Vietnam Independent Alliance) led by Democratic Republic of Vietnam, America paid at the end 80% of the French armament expenditure. However, the French army was defeated.
1955, the Republic of Vietnam of Ngo Dinh Diem was established in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and supported by America; then Vietnam was divided into the North and South.
1960, the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam was formed. The civil war with Saigon government was intensified.
1965, it was the first time that the US Navy was sent to Vietnam from Okinawa. And then, the US Military continued to increase their troops. In 1969, the maximum of the troops was about 550,000.
However, US Military withdrew from Vietnam without obtaining the victory. Not understanding the strong feeling for independence of Vietnamese people, trying to control them by military forces were the causes of the US military defeat."
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