Canada's Complicity & U.S Aggression in the Vietnam War

Canada 's Complicity & U.S Aggression in the Vietnam War

Submitted by:
CHST 711
Canada and The United States
July 11, 2013

Canada’s status during the Vietnam was officially that of a non-belligerent passive observer. Despite this, Canada would remain a major supplier of goods to the United States during the war, many of which would end up going to Vietnam to support the war effort. Canada traded raw materials to the United States as well as military gear, munitions, napalm, and allowed U.S military testing of Agent Orange in Canadian grounds. This supported their ally and also provided Canadian industries with a great deal of prosperity in their trade by way of the war. The attraction to prosperous trading opportunities may have contributed to Canada’s overall apologetic and compliant attitude towards American war policy during the Vietnam War era.

After the end of the Second World War, the world was left with two superpowers with competing ideologies: The United States of America and the Soviet Union. The Americans had come out of the war with a surging economy and served as the flagship for the capitalist nations of the West. The Soviets on the other hand practiced Communism, an ideology that was seen as a great threat to the Western way of life. 1 Though they had been allied at the end of the war, both nations quickly moved to bolster their military and economic infrastructure to prepare for the era of pseudo-colonialism and competition between the two powers they both knew would follow. By 1949, the Soviets would become the world’s second nuclear power, launching most of the world into a full out cold war between the communist East and the capitalist West. Competition between these ideologies meant that each side would fight to protect their influence in foreign nations, to spread their ideologies to new nations, and to protect against the spread of their enemy’s ideology to new nations; a policy the West called “containment.”2 During the Cold War period, Vietnam was in a state of flux. Before WWII, the region consisting of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, known as Indochina, had been a French colony. Following the defeat of France by the Germans in 1940, control of the area was given to the Japanese. After the war, France returned to resume authority over Vietnam which was permitted by Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, a communist, under the assurance that the country would gain its independence as an ally to France. When talks between the two countries broke down, a war ensued resulting in a divided Vietnam split between a Communist North led by Ho Chi Minh, and a capitalist south, now without the protection of the French military.3
Following the departure of France in 1954, America quickly moved in to South Vietnam to protect its interests in the region. At this time there had been growing support in the South for Communism and unification with the North. America feared that Communism would gain momentum after having failed to fully defeat the Communist threat in North Korea. From 1955 on, American and South Vietnamese troops and installations in South Vietnam were exposed to terrorism tactics and guerilla warfare from Communist sympathizers in the South known as the Viet Cong. The first major American death toll came in a 1957 terrorist bombing in Saigon. 4 During this period, America was becoming increasingly concerned over the aggression by communist Vietnamese revolutionaries, and more so by their growing influence in South Vietnam. The infamous 1964 incident known as the “Golf of Tonkin Incident” would provide the excuse for escalation that the Americans desperately wanted. The incident involved alleged attacks on U.S. naval vessels by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. In a recently released NSA report on the incident concluded that in actuality the North Vietnamese boats were fired upon first by the USS Maddox, and the alleged second attack was merely a salvage effort of the boats fired upon days earlier. 5
Nevertheless, the United States quickly responded by enacting “Operation Rolling Thunder,” a massive bombing campaign in North Vietnam, and accompanied it by deploying 200,000 troops to South Vietnam by 1965, with more than as many on their way in the next several years. By this time the Vietnam War was fully underway, with a decade of violence still to come.6

In 1968, the North Vietnamese planned a massive operation in South Vietnam during the traditional cease-fire for the Vietnamese winter holiday, “Tet” that would become known as the “Tet Offensive.” American, South Vietnamese and other allied forces were attacked in positions that spread out across almost every major city and military position in South Vietnam. Though North Vietnamese and Vietcong casualties were extreme during the offensive, the enormity of the strife caused by the attacks changed the already withering support of the war by the American public. To many Americans, it was just not worth the American deaths and civilian casualties that it. As historian Ronald H. Spector states, “Nixon...recognized that the United States could not win a military victory in Vietnam.”7 The resulting period after the Tet Offensive became characterized by the strategy of “Vietnamization”. The overwhelming belief that that war was not winnable, combined with the massive number of enemy killed during the Tet Offensive set the table for a massive troop recall over the next several years.7 This trend would continue and South Vietnam was being prepared to defend itself, until there were just over 24,000 troops remaining in Vietnam in 1972 from the nearly 500,000 that had been in country at a time in the late 60’s. By 1973 America had all but removed its military presence from Vietnam. Despite the efforts to prepare the South to defend itself, following the departure of America the South would fall to Communist control by 1975, thus ending the war.8

In his infamous farewell address, President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, the man who had been supreme commander of Allied forced in Europe during WWII, warned the nation of the threat of what he called the “military industrial complex”. The military industrial complex can be explained as the relationship between private military and arms manufacturing companies, as well as the various contracting companies and shipping companies, etc. that supply a nations military, and the economic self interest this market has on influencing a democratic nation to go to war. 9 As Eisenhower states, “...we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”10 The importance of this statement coming from such a trusted military and political veteran cannot be understated, and neither can its timing. Eisenhower gave his farewell address in January of 1961, three years before the aforementioned Gulf of Tonkin incident that lead to the escalation of the war.
One might make a connection between the utterance of this warning and the years of conflict which would ensue, conflict which would be enormously profitable for those invested in the military industrial complex. President Eisenhower was warning of the “disastrous rise of misplaced power” that the private entities of the military industrial complex had gained. It stands to reason that new power gained by private military businesses contributed to the culture that lead to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the escalation and aggression of American military activities in Vietnam. It is also important to consider that these private businesses that profit from aggressive war policy include those based in Canada, a major exporter of military and war effort-related goods to the U.S. during the war. 11

An important footnote to the Vietnam War is the fallout from the use of chemical defoliants in North Vietnam. Compounds such as Agent Orange were sprayed by military planes over heavily forested areas in order to expose military targets. Before being used in Vietnam, Agent Orange was tested in Canada at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick. Canadians at the base, as well as anyone who came into contact with the chemical have been exposed to heightened cancer rates as well as severe birth defects and other major ailments. This use of such a volatile chemical on areas inhabited by humans, though not necessarily intended to have the extreme consequences to human life that it caused, is an example of chemical warfare.12

Officially, Canada was a non-combatant in the Vietnam War. The Canadian government did not send troops to fight in the war, nor did it commit its air force or navy in aggression against Communist Vietnamese forces. It did, however, continue to trade with the Americans on a massive scale, without which the American war effort would undoubtedly have been vastly limited. Over the course of the war, Canada sold billions of dollars in war materials, and millions in food and war related raw materials such as oil, lead, copper, brass and nickel to the Americans. Though much of this trade was done through private enterprises in Canada, the impact of the total economic contribution of Canada was essential to continue the expensive and protracted war between 1955 and 1973.
Unofficially, Canada also contributed nearly 40,000 troops who joined U.S. armed forces units, many of whom had hoped to live up to the tradition of their fathers who had fought in the Second World War. Around seventy Canadians died fighting for the United States in Vietnam, and seven are still listed as missing in action. These men are not officially recognized as Canadian soldiers killed in action in official Remembrance Day Ceremonies. There is however a private memorial to Canadians killed in the Vietnam War that can be seen on display in Windsor, Ontario. 13
Relations between the United States and Canada were not as positive near the end of the war as they had in the beginning. Revelations of American atrocities such as the My Lai Massacre in 1968, and overall abuse of military force, as well as the turning tide of the war had caused much criticism to come from Canadian social and political elites.8 Over the course of the war, some 50,000 to 125,000 Americans would flee to Canada in fear of the draft or in general opposition to the war. Some of these “draft dodgers” as they were to become known as, would settle down in Canada, even after being pardoned following the end of the war by President Jimmy Carter. This influx of young American men would be a great benefit to Canada culturally as a large percentage of them were well educated upon leaving the States. 14

In conclusion, the global attitudes of East vs. West during the Cold War as well as the influence of the military industrial complex, led both the America and the Canadians who served for its military into one of the bloodiest and complex wars in its history. When all was said and done the West had lost control of the country to Communist forces, and gained nothing but proof of its fallibility. The war would forever change the opinions of Americans and Canadians alike about war in general, and have a lasting effect on the social and political landscape of the West that affects the world today. There are still Vietnam War related deaths in the form of Agent Orange victims that serve as a lasting reminder of a violent and chaotic era in American and Canadian history.

Work Cited
1. "Text of U.S. Note to Soviet Union on Vietnam." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), Jul 24, 1966. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/142783257?accountid=13631.
2. Black, Eric and Staff Writer. "Containment // Policy Directive from 1950 Still Guides our Dealings with the Soviet Union." Star Tribune, Aug 15, 1988. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/417922174?accountid=13631.
3. Carter, James M. "Inventing Vietnam: The United States and Statemaking in Southeast Asia." Order No. 3153740, University of Houston, 2004. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/305195878?accountid=13631.
4. Compiled by DAVE VENDITTA, The,Morning Call. "VIETNAM TIMELINE - WAR STORIES -- VIETNAM WAR: DEFINING THEIR LIVES." Morning Call, Apr 30, 2000. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/392913787?accountid=13631.
5. "Joe" Vasey, Lloyd,R. "TONKIN: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT." United States Naval Institute.Proceedings 136, no. 8 (08, 2010): 66-71. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/744716118?accountid=13631

6. "VIETNAM WAR: TIMELINE - FACT SHEET." US Fed News Service, Including US State News, Nov 01, 2007. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/470955879?accountid=13631.
7. Caron, Erin Toth. "Vietnam War Drama 1966-2008: American Theatrical Responses to the War and its Aftermath." Order No. 3403539, University of Southern California, 2010. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/365494149?accountid=13631.
8. "VIETNAM WAR: TIMELINE - FACT SHEET." US Fed News Service, Including US State News, Nov 01, 2007. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/470955879?accountid=13631.
9. Westbrook, Robert. "Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex." The Christian Century 128, no. 9 (May 03, 2011): 35-37. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/866276159?accountid=13631.
10. Wagner, Lorraine. "Reader 's View on this Memorial Day, Consider Cost of Going to War." South Florida Sun - Sentinel, May 28, 2012. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1018000340?accountid=13631
11. Westbrook, Robert. "Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex." The Christian Century 128, no. 9 (May 03, 2011): 35-37. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/866276159?accountid=13631.
12. Arsenault, Christopher. "CANADA: AGENT ORANGE SETTLEMENT COVERS LIMITED TIME FRAME." Global Information Network, Sep 20, 2007. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/457541595?accountid=13631
13. "Canadian, U.S. Soldiers Honor Vietnam War Dead." The Windsor Star, Sep 19, 1988. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/253727476?accountid=13631.
14. Maxwell, Donald William. "Unguarded Border: The Movement of People and Ideas between the United States and Canada during the Vietnam War Era." Order No. 3432124, Indiana University, 2010. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/822233769?accountid=13631.

Cited: 1. "Text of U.S. Note to Soviet Union on Vietnam." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), Jul 24, 1966. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/142783257?accountid=13631. 2. Black, Eric and Staff Writer. "Containment // Policy Directive from 1950 Still Guides our Dealings with the Soviet Union." Star Tribune, Aug 15, 1988. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/417922174?accountid=13631. 3. Carter, James M. "Inventing Vietnam: The United States and Statemaking in Southeast Asia." Order No. 3153740, University of Houston, 2004. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/305195878?accountid=13631. 4. Compiled by DAVE VENDITTA, The,Morning Call. "VIETNAM TIMELINE - WAR STORIES -- VIETNAM WAR: DEFINING THEIR LIVES." Morning Call, Apr 30, 2000. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/392913787?accountid=13631. 5. "Joe" Vasey, Lloyd,R. "TONKIN: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT." United States Naval Institute.Proceedings 136, no. 8 (08, 2010): 66-71. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/744716118?accountid=13631 6 10. Wagner, Lorraine. "Reader 's View on this Memorial Day, Consider Cost of Going to War." South Florida Sun - Sentinel, May 28, 2012. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1018000340?accountid=13631 11 12. Arsenault, Christopher. "CANADA: AGENT ORANGE SETTLEMENT COVERS LIMITED TIME FRAME." Global Information Network, Sep 20, 2007. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/457541595?accountid=13631 13