Vietnam War

Background to U.S. Involvement

The healing powers of time have provided opportunity for the physical and mental wounds suffered as a result of the Vietnam War to scar over; and for the strong and often bitter emotions it evoked, a chance to begin to subside. As this healing continues, and as many of the world threats change, there is an increasing interest in researching the Vietnam experience to review the lessons learned and consider their application to current events.

The goal of this article is to give the researcher a head start in locating the archival materials pertaining to all aspects of the relationship between the United States and Vietnam before, during, and after the Vietnam conflict.

The date or time frame of the United States' entrance into the Vietnam conflict is not as easily pinpointed as the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor or the June 24, 1950 invasion of the Republic of Korea by the communist forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The official Library of Congress subject heading for American involvement is Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-l 975, indicating involvement covering 1961- 1975. For many who participated, the Vietnam War period is defined as beginning when the 3rd Marine Regiment landed at Da Nang in March 1965 and ending with the withdrawal of the Army's 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry in August 1972. By the time the Marines landed in 1965, there were already over 23,300 U.S. military advisors in-country, and U.S. Navy and Air Force personnel had already participated in combat operations against North Vietnam. Although to a steadily decreasing extent, U.S. military involvement continued until the fall of Saigon in April 1975 (Robert Hopkins 63)

Confining one's study to all or part of the 1961-1975 time periods would certainly yield an abundance of materials, but, depending on the intent of one's research, it is important to remember there is much, much more. For the historian or researcher wanting to analyze fully the breadth and scope of U.S. involvement, it is necessary to review more than just the events associated with the war itself. To do justice, it is important to look back at the long, tempestuous history of Indochina, its inner turmoil, and its fight with France as well as the foreign policy and level of engagement by the United States. (Harry 6)

The first official American awareness of Vietnam can be traced back to 1787 when Thomas Jefferson, then American Minister to France, expressed an interest in acquiring rice seed from Cochinchina (now Vietnam). The first American merchant ship eventually anchored in Turon (present-day Da Nang) Bay in May 1803, but American consular presence was not established in Saigon until the close of the century . U.S. relations and interests in Indochina were sporadic, with limited attention being paid to it until 1950 when the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) submitted a memorandum to Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson regarding the strategic importance of Southeast Asia. The main point of this memorandum was that the JCS considered mainland ...