In 1955, President Eisenhower and his policy makers, following the Domino Theory, sent U.S. troops to Vietnam to act as advisors to the South Vietnamese ARVN. The U.S. also sent massive amounts of foreign aid in an effort to establish a stable political regime under Diem. The hope was that the U.S. could play a limited role that would prevent the South from falling to the Communists. Thus started American involvement that was to last almost 20 years. (Tuchman, pp. 271-275; Hakim, pp. 345-348, Reader’s Digest, p. 458.) Diem was totally unable to stabilize the situation in the South. He was eventually removed in a CIA sponsored coup.
“The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh,” written and performed by Ewan MacColl, the husband of Peggy Seeger, Pete Seeger’s step-sister, (1954), (https://youtu.be/fjzMWumVhV8 ), paints a sympathetic picture of the North Vietnamese leader and his nationalist movement.
Far away across the ocean,
Far beyond the sea’s eastern rim,
Lives a man who is father of the Indo-Chinese people,
And his name it is Ho Chi Minh.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.From Viet back to the Saigon Delta
From the mountains and plains below
Young and old workers, peasants and the toiling tenant farmers
Fight for freedom with Uncle Ho.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.Now Ho Chi Minh was a deep sea sailor
He served his time out on the seven seas
Work and hardship were part of his early education
Exploitation his ABC.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.Now Ho Chi Minh came home from sailing
And he looked out on his native land
Saw the want and the hunger of the Indo-Chinese people
Foreign soldiers on every hand.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.Now Ho Chi Minh went to the mountains
And he trained a determined band
Heroes all, sworn to liberate the Indo-Chinese people
Drive invaders from the land.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.Fourteen men became a hundred
A hundred thousand and Ho Chi Minh
Forged and tempered the army of the Indo-Chinese people
Freedom’s Army of Viet Minh.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.Every soldier is a farmer
Comes the evening and he grabs his hoe
Comes the morning he swings his rifle on his shoulder
This the army of Uncle Ho.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.From the mountains and the jungles
From the rice lands and the Plain of Reeds
March the men and the women of the Indo-Chinese Army
Planting freedom with vict’ry seeds.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.From Viet back to the Saigon Delta
Marched the armies of Viet Minh
And the wind stirs the banners of the Indo-Chinese people
Peace and freedom and Ho Chi Minh.Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh.
Phil Ochs’ song “We Seek No Wider War,” (1965) comments on the political situation in South Vietnam, cynically noting the political repression of the Diem regime, and the American concept of limited war. (https://youtu.be/TmosS8G03Y8)
Over the ashes of blood marched the civilized soldiers
Over the ruins of the French fortress of a failure
Over the silent screams of the dead and the dying
Saying please be reassured, we seek no wider warThe treaties were signed, the country was split into sections
But growing numbers of prisons were built for protection
Rapidly filling with people who called for elections
But please be reassured, we seek no wider warNgo Dinh Diem was the puppet who danced for the power
The hero of hate who gambled on hell for his hour
Father of his country was stamped on the medals we showered
But please be reassured, we seek no wider warMachine gun bullets became the bloody baptizers
And the falcon ‘copters don’t care if someone’s the wiser
But the boy in the swamp didn’t know he was killed by advisers
So please be reassured, we seek no wider warAnd fires were spitting at forests in defoliation
While the people were pressed into camps not called concentration
And the greater the victory the greater the shame of the nation
But please be reassured, we seek no wider warWhile we were watching the prisoners were tested by torture
And vicious and violent gasses maintained the order
As the finest Washington minds found slogans for slaughter
But please be reassured, we seek no wider warThen over the border came the Bay of Pigs planes of persuasion
All remaining honor went up in flames of invasion
But the shattered schools never learned that it’s not escalation
But please be reassured, we seek no wider warWe’re teaching people freedom for which they are yearning
While were dragging them down to the path of never returning
But we’ll condescend to talk while the cities are burning
But please be reassured, we seek no wider warAnd the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders
But the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers
And a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war
We seek no wider war
“Hello Vietnam,” written and sung by Johnny Wright (1965) (https://youtu.be/Fs4puvFVRmI), is a song (particularly the second and third to last verses) that represents the conservative establishment point of view regarding why the United States was involved in Vietnam.
Kiss, me goodbye and write me while I’m gone
Goodbye, my sweetheart, Hello Vietnam.America has heard the bugle, call
And you know it involves us, one and all
I don’t suppose that war will ever end
There’s fighting that will break us up again.Good bye, my darling, Hello Vietnam
A hill to take, a battle to be won
Kiss me goodbye and write me while I’m gone
Good bye, my sweetheart, Hello Vietnam.A ship is waiting for us at the dock
America has trouble to be stopped
We must stop Communism in that land
Or freedom will start slipping through our hands.I hope and pray someday the world will learn
That fires we don’t put out, will bigger burn
We must save freedom now, at any cost
Or someday, our own freedom will be lost.Kiss me goodbye and write me while I’m gone
Good bye, my sweetheart, Hello Vietnam.