Why was the USA unable to defeat Communism in Asia between 1965-1973

Why was the USA unable to defeat Communism in Asia between 1965-1973?
The policy of containment in Asia was probably one of America’s worst executed political strategies of the last centaury. There were a number of fatal flaws that meant the USA could never really claim a total victory in the war. These reasons can be separated out into Military and Political reasons, these include events that were occurring thousands of miles away from the conflict zone. These failures culminated in a Peace with Honour strategy that would never be counted as a defeat of Communism.

The first thing to evaluate in America’s failure in Asia was their political strategies. Only 2 years before this period started there was the Missile Crisis in Cuba, although this does not appear to have any link to the strategy in Asia in fact it does. The Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in the USA never committing its self to “total victory” because of the idea that this may result in Soviet/Chinese intervention and therefore nuclear war. This would of course be disastrous for the whole world not just America. This meant that despite all their military dominance the USA were never “whole hearted” in their campaign for victory over communism.

A further issue with the political strategy in fighting Communism was that the government was unable to call on significant political expertise due to the effects of McCarthyism and the Red Scare in the early 1950’s. This process had removed many of the “experts on communism” from the American society for fear that they were sympathisers or spies. As a result, the advisors left were inexperienced and unable to adapt their policies with the changing nature of the war. It was this inflexibility that was one of the main factors in the failure to defeat communism.

The continuing corruption in the South Vietnamese government also meant the war was elongated more than was necessary. The weakness of the military government and their vulnerability to corruption made it very hard to convince both the Vietnamese natives and the rest of the world that they were a better alternative to communism. This again represented a failure in the American policy to win the “Hearts and Minds” of the Vietnamese people and made the task of defeating communism in Asia all the more difficult.

As a result of the failures of both the politicians and the military, the Asia conflict became more of an exercise in keeping the hearts and minds of the American people as opposed to winning over others. As the casualties started to mount up and victory seemed to be getting further away it was increasingly more difficult to keep up public morale and support for the war. The government strategies such as kill ratios and the ill-fated draft lead to increasing opposition and a desire to pull out of Asia all together. The issue was that the American people could see exactly what was happening on the front line thanks to journalists like Walter Cronkite. Such honest journalism made any government propaganda almost ineffective, as the people knew the truth. The key turning points in the war were the My Lai massacre and Tet Offensive. Broadcasts of thousands of innocent people being slaughtered and key US strongholds being overtaken shook the American public and ultimately lead to the resignation of Lyndon B Johnson as president. It was again his failure to change flawed strategies that were still in place from the Kennedy administration made the Generals job to obtain victory even harder.

As well as all of these reasons the military tactics also had some defects. The heavy handed approach of things like operation rolling thunder and the use of napalm turned the natives against the army and made them more likely to support the Viet Cong. This in turn made things like search and destroy and the phoenix program even more difficult and unpopular than they already were. It was also the attitude of the army personal that affected the success of the missions. Having only served a one-year tour of duty and with an average age of 19 the inexperience of the army thrown in to an increasingly violent conflict zone resulted in many negative outcomes. Most notably their motivation and effectiveness as well as this drug and alcohol use was rife through the lower ranks. These teenagers were unprepared to watch their comrades die next to them and didn’t believe in the cause for which they were fighting. Obviously when the army is in a state such as this it is inevitable that you will not be able to win a war.

In addition to this, there were numerous miscalculations in what the most effective operations would be that would force the VC to the negotiating table. In the war of attrition that America were fighting their opponents always had the upper hand as they were fighting on home soil and had no where to retreated to. Problems that the American military faced, such as opposition to the draft and anti war feeling back home, did not affect the Vietnamese as is they refused to fight or there was anti-war sentiment amongst the Vietnamese public then they would loose their homeland. In hindsight this proved to be the best motivation for Vietnam and this sense of nationalism was something that America continued to underestimate. The failure of military tactics resulted in the politicians over ruling decisions made by military leaders and as soon as this happens it becomes very difficult to win a war.

However, some credit must be given to the guerilla tactics employed by the VC. They could move around the jungle and the American army like “fish in water”. This was something the Americans could just not cope with. They could not see their enemy and they were constantly at risk from the traps and enemy snipers hiding in the trees. Ho Chi Minh said of the American army “ you can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours but even at these odds I will win and you will loose”. America could not and did not want to compete with this and this was what force Nixon to seriously consider a quick withdrawal when he was elected as president. A withdrawal however is in no way a victory and so they were unable to defeat communism.

The USA was unable to defeat Communism in Asia between 1965-1973 for a number of reasons. They were mistaken in thinking that superior military firepower would always win a war against a lesser force. They were mistaken in thinking that they did not need to be flexible in their political thinking in order to win the war and they were mistaken in thinking that a western style democracy is the best option for any country anywhere in the world. But the biggest mistake they made was thinking they could fight a battle of attrition against people who were fighting for the very existence of their own country.