Phoebe Felton
The Escalation & de-Escalation
On August 2, 1964, gunboats of North Vietnam fired on ships belonging to the United States Navy stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin. The US
took this attack extremely seriously and personally.
When reports that further firing occurred on August 4, President Johnson needed Congress to respond. With nearly unanimous consent, members of the Senate and House empowered Johnson to "take all necessary measures" to respond to North Vietnamese aggression.
Thousands of US troops were sent to Vietnam to provide aid. Because of the selective civil service act, any male born in the US is required to register for the draft, stating a contractual obligation that when they turn 18 they will be sent to war. At the time, many men were patriotic and honored to serve, but as time went on this morale was gradually decreasing and they realized maybe this war wouldn't be so great after all. Their main opponent was North Vietnam and their army.
President Johnson, in 1965, made the decision to send U.S. combat forces into fight in Vietnam. He was looking out for the South Vietnamese army that was struggling in battles and was dwindling in numbers. He wanted to throw in a large number of troops at the start of the war. Despite the concerns about this escalation, Johnson authorized the immediate dispatch of 100,000 troops at the end of July 1965 and another 100,000 in 1966. By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam was approaching 500,000, and U.S. casualties was approaching 15,000 dead and 109,000 wounded. The climax of the war was the Tet Offensive, a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. After the climax, the moral of the soldiers was dropping faster than bodies themselves and by this time Nixon was in charge. He had to do something fast.
President Nixon brought the War in Vietnam back on to the forefront of issues during December when he ordered an escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam to the highest level of his administration. Nixon's escalation at this time indicated that despite a decrease in the number of American troops in Vietnam, the United States is still deeply involved in this war with Vietnam.
The bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong was the ultimate consequence of Nixon's program of Vietnamization, which pretty much turned over nearly all the casualties, to the South Vietnamese army. Since the South Vietnamese army is clearly unable to bear the brutal fighting, Nixon must have U.S. troops to do the job for them.
However, bombing, even when most effective strategically, can only temporarily prevent attacks. The bombing couldn't destroy the North Vietnamese potential for fighting and supplying its armies in the South because North Vietnam does not manufacture its own supplies but receives most of them as aid from China and the Soviet Union. This was just a nice reminder to Nixon that they were still stronger. If he wanted South Vietnam to still stand a chance the bombing must be heavy and continuous as long as there is any threat of a North Vietnamese offensive.
Nixon has now dropped a greater amount of bombs on Indochina than Johnson did during his term of office. Nixon tried to sell the American public that only military and strategic targets are being bombed. But of course, that was false and he was doing so to protect himself.
The bombing also shows Nixon's total lack of interest in any effort to negotiate with the Vietnamese, whether the negotiations concern ending the war or even the release of American prisoners-of-war. Nixon's escalation will only prolonged the war.
In the summer of 1969, Nixon announced the first withdrawal of troops in Vietnam. Nixon wanted to establish 'peace with honor" and withdraw these troops without a fight and maintain US dignity. His morale was high and inn 1973, the US signed an "Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam".