Program Information

At the end of January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army regular forces attacked South Vietnam's cities. For the Allies it was at once a great victory and a great defeat.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Lead: At the end of January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army regular forces attacked South Vietnam's cities. For the Allies it was at once a great victory and a great defeat.

Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Almost from the moment of partition of Vietnam in 1954 and the departure of the colonial French, the communist regime in the north began organizing the second Vietnam War. North Vietnam established a network of political and military operatives in the south known as the Viet Cong. This organization recruited indigenous sympathizers and conducted low-level partisan guerilla warfare aimed at destabilizing the government of South Vietnam and the work of the south's principal ally, the United States.

The U.S. got involved in Vietnam after World War II when it rebuffed the overtures of its former ally, Ho Chi Minh. Ho had been an agent of U.S. intelligence in the war against Japan in Southeast Asia, but when he pleaded with America to help establish an independent Vietnam, Washington sided instead with the colonial French who returned after Japan's defeat. Despite enormous U.S. aid, the French were overwhelmed by the Viet Minh, thrown out of Vietnam, and the nation partitioned in the mid-1950s. From that point on, South Vietnam was an American client state. It became official U.S. policy to support the south as a so-called "bastion of freedom" against the swelling tide of international communism. Like Korea, South Vietnam became a lonely outpost on the front line of the Cold War. United States' support was at first diplomatic and financial, then military advisors came in 1962 and combat troops followed at mid-decade.

In retrospect, the task U.S. policy makers set for themselves in Vietnam was almost impossible. It is clear from the beginning that the vast majority of southerners did not wish to live under a communist dictatorship, but support for the regime in Saigon, initially led by civilian President Diem and after his assassination a variety of military rulers, was tepid at best. The justice of its intent aside, America had chosen to prop up the weaker of two sides in a civil war.

In addition, militarily the U.S. pulled its punches. It crept into Vietnam, slowly escalated its involvement and with some exceptions, fearing international criticism, confined its ground operations to the south. It refused to invade the north, but exacted fearsome damage in bombing raids there. Hanoi felt no such compunctions and operated freely throughout the south, but hesitated to take on U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in large-scale open attacks. Therefore, by 1967 the war was in stalemate. Then came Tet. Next time: two strategic mistakes.

The producer of A Moment In Time is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

Virginia Standards