The decade of the 1960s changed America forever, and the Vietnam War was at the heart of the tragic saga of transformation. In the first episode of "Vietnam: A Television History," a number of essential themes emerge:
THE FLAWED FOREIGN POLICY OF CONTAINMENT: American presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon relied heavily upon diplomat George Kennan's theory of containment to justify the "domino theory" as the rationale for war in Southeast Asia. The presidents twisted the notion of thwarting the international spread of communism in the Third World as their goal of fighting for "freedom." Gullible Americans bought into this program. But those who resided in the Third World nations recognized it as merely a new form of nineteenth-century colonialism. The flawed and disingenuous pretext for the Vietnam War has continued to be used for senseless wars fought by Americans in the Middle East.
APPROACHING THE SUBJECT OF VIETNAM AS A TOPIC OF HISTORICAL INQUIRY: The major question raised in the program was whether the Vietnam War was a "noble cause" or "a shameful venture." Any dispassionate study will demonstrate that it was a shameful venture, leading to the destabilization of Southeast Asia, wanton loss of human life, and destruction of the ecology of Vietnam. Such apologists for the mismanagement of the war as H. R. McMaster tap dance around the major question, refusing to acknowledge that we never should have been Vietnam in the first place.
VIETNAMESE NATIONALISM: Despite the multiple occasions when Vietnam has been divided arbitrarily between North and South by external powers, the Vietnamese themselves see themselves as one people. The American military and political power elite never seemed to grasp this important point. The situation in Vietnam was not Korea, in which the south had been invaded by the north. And it was not like Munich, where Chamberlain caved in to Hitler.
A TURNING POINT: On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh gave a major speech after the surrender of the Japanese to the allied forces, which had ended World War II. Following this speech, wherein Ho quoted from the American Declaration of Independence, OSS officer Archimedes Patti observed that "we had Ho on our platter." In other words, this was the moment when American policy makers should have supported Vietnamese independence. The USSR was preoccupied with Eastern Europe. The Chinese communists under Mao had not yet seized control. And the British and French were essentially finished with their colonial empires. FDR was committed to the emergence of nationalism in the new world order. But Roosevelt was dead, and Truman, with no understanding of Southeast Asia, chose not to respond to Ho's letters requesting support. The die was cast when Americans backed the French in a vain attempt to salvage Indochina.
FIRST AMERICAN CASUALTY: Peter Dewey was an OSS agent who became the first American casualty when he was killed by machine gun fire. It is possible that Dewey was mistaken for a Frenchman when he was killed by the Vietminh. Dewey was on his way to the airport after the British authorities had kicked him out of Vietnam for being outspoken. Dewey's legacy was as an eyewitness to the scramble for Vietnam occurring immediate after World War II: "Cochinchina is burning, the French and British are finished here, and we ought to clear out of Southeast Asia." Peter Dewey was the first in a long line of prophets who recognized the dangers of imperial hubris and offered warnings about military engagement Vietnam.
THE FLAWED FOREIGN POLICY OF CONTAINMENT: American presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon relied heavily upon diplomat George Kennan's theory of containment to justify the "domino theory" as the rationale for war in Southeast Asia. The presidents twisted the notion of thwarting the international spread of communism in the Third World as their goal of fighting for "freedom." Gullible Americans bought into this program. But those who resided in the Third World nations recognized it as merely a new form of nineteenth-century colonialism. The flawed and disingenuous pretext for the Vietnam War has continued to be used for senseless wars fought by Americans in the Middle East.
APPROACHING THE SUBJECT OF VIETNAM AS A TOPIC OF HISTORICAL INQUIRY: The major question raised in the program was whether the Vietnam War was a "noble cause" or "a shameful venture." Any dispassionate study will demonstrate that it was a shameful venture, leading to the destabilization of Southeast Asia, wanton loss of human life, and destruction of the ecology of Vietnam. Such apologists for the mismanagement of the war as H. R. McMaster tap dance around the major question, refusing to acknowledge that we never should have been Vietnam in the first place.
VIETNAMESE NATIONALISM: Despite the multiple occasions when Vietnam has been divided arbitrarily between North and South by external powers, the Vietnamese themselves see themselves as one people. The American military and political power elite never seemed to grasp this important point. The situation in Vietnam was not Korea, in which the south had been invaded by the north. And it was not like Munich, where Chamberlain caved in to Hitler.
A TURNING POINT: On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh gave a major speech after the surrender of the Japanese to the allied forces, which had ended World War II. Following this speech, wherein Ho quoted from the American Declaration of Independence, OSS officer Archimedes Patti observed that "we had Ho on our platter." In other words, this was the moment when American policy makers should have supported Vietnamese independence. The USSR was preoccupied with Eastern Europe. The Chinese communists under Mao had not yet seized control. And the British and French were essentially finished with their colonial empires. FDR was committed to the emergence of nationalism in the new world order. But Roosevelt was dead, and Truman, with no understanding of Southeast Asia, chose not to respond to Ho's letters requesting support. The die was cast when Americans backed the French in a vain attempt to salvage Indochina.
FIRST AMERICAN CASUALTY: Peter Dewey was an OSS agent who became the first American casualty when he was killed by machine gun fire. It is possible that Dewey was mistaken for a Frenchman when he was killed by the Vietminh. Dewey was on his way to the airport after the British authorities had kicked him out of Vietnam for being outspoken. Dewey's legacy was as an eyewitness to the scramble for Vietnam occurring immediate after World War II: "Cochinchina is burning, the French and British are finished here, and we ought to clear out of Southeast Asia." Peter Dewey was the first in a long line of prophets who recognized the dangers of imperial hubris and offered warnings about military engagement Vietnam.