A Study On The Rural Pacification Policy Of The United States During The Vietnam War

Affected by the containment theory and the Domino theory, the United States was gradually involved in the Vietnam War after World Ⅱ. Generally speaking, the Vietnam war was actually divided into two parts, one was conventional war, which is directed against communist main force units, and the other one was pacification, aimed at winning loyalty of the rural population, or as it was known, "the other war". While both were vital part of the strategies employed in the Vietnam War, the United States put more emphasis on the former and pacification failed to get enough attention.The United States had helped South Vietnam initiated a series of non-military activities since 1950s to win the active support of the villagers, which was the biggest part of the South Vietnam’s population, and maintain the stability of the Saigon government. The United States not only gave advice and suggestions for the pacification plans, but invested enormous financial and human resources. Unfortunately, hoping to achieve a quick victory in the Vietnam War, the United States didn’t have enough patience for the pacification plans which took much time and had a slow effect, and that’s why they changed frequently. From the Agroville Program to Strategic Hamlet Program and Revolutionary Development Program, pacification didn’t receive good results. So Johnson administration made the pacification organization reorganized to save it, and finally developed a unified civilian-military structure—the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support(CORDS), which represented a watershed, "Phoenix" Program and Accelerated Pacification Campaign managed by CORDS had a grander scale and received more comprehensive support, but Johnson’s political life had come to an end. Nixon administration viewed pacification as a means to achieve the goal "peace with honor", with the signing of the cease-fire agreement and American forces left South Vietnam, pacification stopped completely.Pacification failed to win the "hearts and minds" and save the South Vietnamese government, so it was generally a failure. There are many reasons to explain the failure of pacification, The United States, the Saigon government and Vietnam National Liberation Front (NLF) should take part of the responsibility for the failure. But pacification also had a limited role in weakening NLF’s armed forces, enhancing the control of rural people and promoting social and economic development in rural areas. So pacification has a potential to do much if implemented properly, the non-military effort shouldn’t and can’t be ignored.