A Study Of US Covert Actions To Vietnam:1954-1963

After WWII, affected by the containment theory, the policies of the United States Government toward Vietnam had experienced a series of changes,transferring from counter-colonization to helping France return to Indo-China. Along with the expansion of Cold War to Asia and the formation of Cold War situation in Asia, and especially after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the Truman Administration decided to overtly interfere the Indo-China issue, giving the French massive material support in their war against the Viet Minh. However, as the failed battle in Dien Bien Phu and the signing of the Geneva Agreement, French withdrew from Vietnam, and the US picked up the burden of resistance to. the Viet Minh. Backed by the US, Ngo Dinh Diem created an anti-Communist nation south of the 17th parallel, versus the DRV in north Vietnam. In order to consolidate the South Vietnam government as the anti-Communist base, the US had paid high prices on Vietnam,and taken any means what they can, in which the covert operation is an important one.During the Cold War, the covert operation became an important strategic tool in the complementation of the US foreign policies, which was refer to as the third option, one between diplomacy and open warfare. From Diem's rise to power to his collapse, the US had taken a series of covert operational measures, covering many areas, and produced a lasting influence. Including of conspiratorial destroy to the DRV, and pacification in the Viet Minh controlled zones and later areas controlled by the NLF. While these measures had made certain effects, owing to the authoritarian rule, the Diem government was resisted by the South Vietnamese, which led to the South Vietnam under Diem's governing faced with collapse. The US tried to persuade Diem to change his policy, but it was in vain. Then the Kennedy Administration decided to support a generals' coup,which aimed to overthrow the Diem Government. The coup was a milestone in the further intervention of the US in the Vietnam, which had an important influence on the US foreign policies to Vietnam.The US covert operations to Vietnam was associated to the big context of the detente of the Cold War. While the US aimed to contain the so-called expansion of the communism in Indo-China, the probable intervention of China and Soviet made it impossible to make a decision to dispatch huge-scale combat forces to the south Vietnam.As the deterioration of the South Vietnam situation, the covert operations failed to solve the South Vietnam Army's problem. The US expected the army government could save the bad circumstance of the South Vietnam, however this hope was dashed to the ground eventually. The US had to dispatch huge-scale combat forces to the south Vietnam, which led to an American war.