Hanoi's Road to the Vietnam War, 1954-1965

by Asselin, Pierre

  99. “Manifesto of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation,” in Manifesto of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation (undated, no publisher), 6.

  100. “Program of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation” in ibid., 10–15.

  101. On the NLF generally, see Truong Nhu Tang, A Viet Cong Memoir (New York: Vintage Books, 1985); Douglas Pike, Viet Cong: The Organization and Techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1966); Brigham, Guerrilla Diplomacy; and Tran Van Tra, Nhung chang duong lich su cua B2 thanh dong, Tap I: Hoa binh hay chien tranh [History of the B2 Theater, Volume 1: Peace or War] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Quan doi nhan dan, 1992), 231–42, which describes Hanoi’s position regarding the NLF.

  102. Tran Minh Truong, Hoat dong ngoai giao cua Chu tich Ho Chi Minh tu 1954 den 1969 [Diplomatic Activities of President Ho Chi Minh from 1954 to 1969] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Cong an nhan dan, 2005), 45–46.

  103. Nguyen Dy Nien, Ho Chi Minh Thought, 139. On “people’s diplomacy,” see Harish C. Metha, “‘People’s Diplomacy’: The Diplomatic Front of North Vietnam during the War against the United States, 1965–1972” (PhD diss., McMaster University, 2009).

  4. BUYING TIME, 1961

  1. “Chi thi cua Bo Chinh tri, ngay 24 thang 1 nam 1961: Ve phuong huong va nhiem vu cong tac truoc mat cua cach mang mien Nam” [Politburo Instruction, 24 January 1961: On the Direction and Tasks Facing the Southern Revolution], in Dang Cong san Viet Nam, Van kien Dang—Toan tap, Tap 22: 1961 [Party Documents—Complete Series, Vol. 22: 1961] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2002) [hereafter VKD: 1961], 153–55.

  2. Ibid., 155.

  3. “Du thao de cuong gio thieu ve tinh hinh ve duong loi cach mang mien Nam” [Draft of Presentation on the Situation and Revolutionary Line in the South], undated [1962], Ho so 252: Du thao de cuong ve tinh hinh va duong loi cach mang Mien nam 1962, Phong Uy ban Thong nhat Chinh phu, Vietnam National Archives Center 3, Hanoi [hereafter VNAC3], 10; “Chi thi cua Bo Chinh tri, ngay 24 thang 1 nam 1961,” 158, 163.

  4. William J. Duiker, The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam, 2nd ed. (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996), 219.

  5. William S. Turley, The Second Indochina War: A Concise Political and Military History, 2nd ed. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), 44.

  6. Le Duan, “Gui anh Muoi Cuc va cac dong chi Nam Bo, ngay 7 thang 2 nam 1961” [Sent to Brother Muoi Cuc and the Nam Bo Comrades, 7 February 1961], in Thu vao Nam [Letters to the South] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Quan doi nhan dan, 2005), 7–15.

  7. Turley, Second Indochina War, 45; Bo Quoc phong—Vien Lich su quan su Viet Nam, Lich su quan su Viet Nam, Tap 11: Cuoc khang chien chong My, cuu nuoc, 1954–1975 [Military History of Vietnam, Volume 11: The Anti-American Resistance for National Salvation] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2005), 141.

  8. Canadian Delegation [ICSC], Saigon, to Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, Ottawa, 19 January 1966, 20–22-VIET S-1, Vol. 9387 [Part 3], Record Group [hereafter RG] 25, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa [hereafter LAC], 1. Hanoi infiltrated 6,300 personnel in 1961, and 12,850 the following year.

  9. For an outline of the origins and functions of the organization, see Le Xuan An, “Chien khu D, Chien khu Duong Minh Chau—An toan khu cua Trung uong Cuc mien Nam trong khang chien chong My, cuu nuoc” [Resistance Zone D, the Duong Ming Chau Resistance Zone: Secure Zone of the Central Office for South Vietnam in the Anti-American Resistance for National Salvation], Tap chi Lich su Dang [Journal of Party History], no. 186 (January 2006): 47–49, 60.

  10. David W. P. Elliott, The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930–1975, concise ed. (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2007), 158; Turley, Second Indochina War, 47.

  11. “Intelligence Summary on Lao Dong Central Committee Membership of the Central Office for South Vietnam,” Folder 25, Box 01, United States Department of State Collection, Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University [hereafter VATTU], 1. According to Edwin Moïse, “When the decision to establish the [COSVN] was first made, the intention may have been to give it authority over the Communist war effort in South Vietnam as a whole.” “But if so,” Moïse noted, “this idea was abandoned almost immediately,” as “it was instead given authority over what became known as the B2 Front, roughly the southern half of South Vietnam.” See Edwin E. Moïse, Historical Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2001), 409.

  12. Elliott, Vietnamese War, 158–59.

  13. “Dien mat cua Trung uong gui XU Nam Bo, LKU V, so 28/DM, ngay 14 thang 3 nam 1961: Ve to chuc va nhiem vu cua Trung uong Cuc mien Nam” [Secret Cable from the Center Sent to the Executive Committees of Nam Bo, Interzone V, no. 28/DM, 14 March 1961: On the Organization and Tasks of the Central Office for Southern Vietnam], in VKD: 1961, 263–65.

  14. “Intelligence Report on Command Relationships between the Lao Dong Party and the Central Office for South Vietnam,” 1964, Folder 25, Box 01, United States Department of State Collection, VATTU.

  15. “Intelligence Summary on Lao Dong Central Committee Membership,” 1.

  16. Elliott, Vietnamese War, 137, 161. According to Elliott, political indoctrination courses could last anywhere from one week to one year (ibid., 139). By official account, there were approximately 35,000 party members below the seventeenth parallel in 1961 (ibid., 152).

  17. “Danh sac can bo di B trong nam 1961” [List of Cadres Who Went South in 1961], undated, Ho so 876: Danh sac can bo di B trong nam 1961, Phong Uy ban Thong nhat Nha nuoc, VNAC3.

  18. Douglas Pike, Viet Cong: The Organization and Techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1966), 73.

  19. “Chi thi cua Trung uong Cuc mien Nam, so 4, ngay 27 thang 11 nam 1961: Ve van de doi ten Dang cho Dang bo mien Nam” [Central Office for Southern Vietnam Instruction, no. 4, 27 November 1961: On the Problem of Changing the Name of the Southern Party Committee], in VKD: 1961, 653–54.

  20. French Embassy, Saigon, to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris [hereafter MFA], 27 January 1962, #1, Asie-Océanie [hereafter AO]: Vietnam Conflit [hereafter VC], Archives Diplomatiques de France, La Courneuve [hereafter ADF], 2–4.

  21. “Intelligence Summary on Lao Dong Central Committee Membership,” 3.

  22. Pike, Viet Cong, 73.

  23. “Du thao de cuong gio thieu ve tinh hinh ve duong loi cach mang mien Nam,” 10.

  24. Nguyen Vu Tung, “Coping with the United States: Hanoi’s Search for an Effective Strategy,” in Peter Lowe, ed., The Vietnam War (London: MacMillan Press, 1998), 42.

  25. British Embassy, Saigon [hereafter BES], to Foreign Office, London [hereafter FO], “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1961,” 31 January 1962, FO 371/166697, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew [hereafter NAUK], 5.

  26. Nguyen Chi Thanh, “We Must Study, Support and Develop What Is New,” Hoc tap (June 1961). Reproduced and translated in Folder 12, Box 10, Douglas Pike Collection [hereafter DPC]: Unit 08—Biography, VATTU, 4–5.

  27. “Bao cao tai Hoi nghi Ban Chap hanh Trung uong lan thu tam, ngay 26 thang 3 nam 1963” [Report at the Eighth Plenum of the Central Committee, 26 March 1963], in Dang Cong san Viet Nam, Van kien Dang—Toan tap, Tap 24: 1963 [Party Documents—Complete Series, Vol. 24: 1963] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2003), 256.

  28. Adam Fforde and Suzanne Paine, The Limits of National Liberation (London: Croom Helm, 1987), 39.

  29. Dong’s remarks are reported in British Consulate General, Hanoi [hereafter BCGH], to Southeast Asia Department, London [hereafter SEAD], 19 July 1961, FO 371/160122, NAUK, 1.

  30. Balazs Szalontai, Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era: Soviet–DPRK Relations and the Roots of North Korean Despotism, 1953–1964 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2005), 155.

  31. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1961,” 1.

  32. Fre
nch General Delegation, Hanoi [hereafter FGDH], to MFA, May 1961, #31, AO: Vietnam Nord [hereafter VN], ADF, 2.

  33. FGDH to MFA, 1 September 1961, #71, AO: VN, ADF, 1.

  34. Ibid.

  35. FGDH to MFA, 1 October 1961, #72, AO: VN, ADF, 21.

  36. Céline Marangé, Le communisme vietnamien, 1919–1991 [Vietnamese Communism, 1919–1991] (Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, 2012), 283.

  37. FGDH to MFA, 1 June 1961, #71, AO: VN, ADF, 1, 3, 12.

  38. FGDH to MFA, 1 August 1961, #71, AO: VN, ADF, 3.

  39. For more on U.S.-RVN clandestine operations in the DRVN, see Thomas L. Ahern, Jr., The Way We Do Things: Black Entry Operations into North Vietnam, Center for the Study of Intelligence (May 2005), available through the website of the National Security Archive.

  40. FGDH to MFA, 1 August 1961, 1, 10, 21.

  41. FGDH to MFA, 25 July 1961, #44, AO: VN, ADF, 1.

  42. FGDH to MFA, July 1961 [day illegible], #19, AO: VN, ADF, 1.

  43. FGDH to MFA, 1 August 1961, 1, 10, 21.

  44. FGDH to MFA, 16 August 1961, #19, AO: VN, ADF, 1; FGDH to MFA, 1 September 1961, 10.

  45. FGDH to MFA, 1 September 1961, 1.

  46. FGDH to MFA, 1 October 1961, 22.

  47. Ibid., 1, 10, 21; FGDH to MFA, 1 September 1961, 1, 9, 11.

  48. FGDH to MFA, 1 October 1961, 4; FGDH to MFA, 1 November 1961, #72, AO: VN, ADF, C.3; FGDH to MFA, 1 December 1961, #72, AO: VN, ADF, 3; FGDH to MFA, 1 January 1962, #72, AO: VN, ADF, C.4.

  49. FGDH to MFA, 1 December 1961, #72, AO: VN, ADF, A.6.

  50. FGDH to MFA, 1 October 1961, 3; FGDH to MFA, 1 November 1961, A.11.

  51. “Calendar of Events in North Vietnam during 1961,” undated, FO 371/166697, NAUK.

  52. “Bai noi cua Chi tich Ho Chi Minh tai Hoi nghi lan thu nam Ban Chap hanh Trung uong Dang (khoa III)” [Speech by President Ho Chi Minh at the Fifth Plenum of the Party Central Committee (Third Session)], in VKD: 1961, 410.

  53. “Calendar of Events in North Vietnam during 1961.”

  54. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1961,” 1.

  55. “Bao cao cua Bo truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem ve ket qua cua Hoi nghi Gio-ne-vo ve Lao (tay ky hop thu 5 cua QH khoa 2, ngay 23 thang 10 nam 1962)” [Report of Foreign Minister Ung Van Khiem on the Results of the Geneva Conference on Laos (at the Fifth Meeting of the Second Session of the National Assembly, 23 October 1962)], 23 October 1962, Ho so 740: Ho so ky hop thu nam cua QH khoa II tu ngay 22.27.10.1962. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 23.10.1962: Bao cao to trinh, Nghi quyet cua QH UBTVQH, PTT ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, ve tong quyet toan ngan sach Nha nuoc, ket qua Hoi nghi Gionevo ve Lao, ve to chuc HDND va UBHC cac cap, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 8.

  56. “‘Bao cao ve tinh hinh mien Nam va tinh hinh dau tranh thong nhat nuoc nha cua ta’ cua Uy ban Thong nhat” [“Report on the Situation in Southern Vietnam and the Situation of the Struggle for Reunification of Our Country” by the Committee for Reunification], 24 October 1961, Ho so 728: Ho so ky hop thu ba cua QH khoa II tu ngay 23–27.10.1961. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 24.10.1961: Bao cao, to trinh cua UBTVQH, Bo Ngoai giao, Uy ban Thong nhat, Bo Tai chinh, Phu Thu tuong ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, tinh hinh the gio va cong tac ngoai giao, mien Nam ve thong nhat nuoc nha, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 1.

  57. FGDH to MFA, 20 March 1961, #44, AO: VC, ADF, 2.

  58. French Embassy, Saigon, to MFA, “Note d’information: République Démocratique du Viêtnam” [Information Note: Democratic Republic of Vietnam], 11 May 1961, #31, AO: VN, ADF, no page number (file page number 156).

  59. “Bao cao cua Uy ban Thuong vu QH do Pho chu tich UBTVQH, Nguyen Xien” [Report by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly by the Vice-President of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, Nguyen Xien], 24 October 1961, Ho so 728: Ho so ky hop thu ba cua QH khoa II tu ngay 23–27.10.1961. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 24.10.1961: Bao cao, to trinh cua UBTVQH, Bo Ngoai giao, Uy ban Thong nhat, Bo Tai chinh, Phu Thu tuong ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, tinh hinh the gio va cong tac ngoai giao, mien Nam ve thong nhat nuoc nha, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 4.

  60. “Tham luan ve cong tac ngoai giao cua CP cua Ong Phan-van-Su, dai bieu Vinh-long” [Address on the Diplomatic Work of the Government by Mr. Phan Van Su, Representative from Vinh Long], 26 October 1961, Ho so 729: Ho so ky hop thu ba cua QH khoa III tu ngay 23–27.10.1961. Tap 3: Phien hop ngay 26.10.1961: Thuyet trinh ve tong quyet toan ngan sach Nha nuoc nam 1960, tham luan ve tang cuong phap che, tinh hinh mien Nam va dau tranh chong My, thong nhat dat nuoc, cong tac ngoai giao, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 2.

  61. Foreign Ministry cable to Prime Minister, 4 December 1961, Ho so 7727: Bao cao cua PTT ve viec cong nhan va dat quan he ngoai giao voi cac nuoc nam 1960–61, Phong Phu Thu tuong, VNAC3, 1; Minister for Foreign Trade cable to Prime Minister, 2 March 1961, Ho so 7795: Cong van cua PTT, BBNG, Uy ban doan ket nhan dan A phi cua Viet Nam v/v giup do nhan dan An-gie-ri 200 tan bot mi nam 1961, Phong Phu Thu tuong, VNAC3, 1.

  62. “‘Bao cao tinh hinh the gio va cong tac ngoai giao’ doc truoc ky hop thu ba cua Quoc hoi khoa hai (ngay 24 thang 10.1961)—Bo Truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem” [“Report on the World Situation and Diplomatic Tasks” Read before the Third Meeting of the Second Session of the National Assembly (24 October 1961—Foreign Minister Ung Van Khiem)], 24 October 1961, Ho so 728: Ho so ky hop thu ba cua QH khoa II tu ngay 23–27.10.1961. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 24.10.1961: Bao cao, to trinh cua UBTVQH, Bo Ngoai giao, Uy ban Thong nhat, Bo Tai chinh, Phu Thu tuong ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, tinh hinh the gio va cong tac ngoai giao, mien Nam ve thong nhat nuoc nha, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 11.

  63. Vien nghien cuu chu nghia Mac-Lenin va tu tuong Ho Chi Minh, Lich su Dang Cong san Viet Nam, Tap 2: 1954–1975 [History of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Volume 2: 1954–1975] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 1995), 161.

  64. “Thong tri cua Ban Bi thu, so 45-TT/TW, ngay 31 thang 10 nam 1961: Ve mo mot cuoc dau tranh rong rai va manh ma chong am muu can thiep moi cua de quoc My o mien Nam Viet Nam” [Secretariat Circular, no. 45-TT/TW, 31 October 1961: On Opening a Wide and Strong Struggle against the New Aggression Scheme of the American Imperialists in Southern Vietnam], in VKD: 1961, 484–89.

  65. FO to BES, 12 January 1962, FO 371/166725, NAUK, 1.

  66. “Tham luan cua ong Dang-thai-Mai, dai bieu Nghe-an” [Address by Mr. Dang Thai Mai, Representative from Nghe An], 26 October 1961, Ho so 729: Ho so ky hop thu ba cua QH khoa III tu ngay 23–27.10.1961. Tap 3: Phien hop ngay 26.10.1961: Thuyet trinh ve tong quyet toan ngan sach Nha nuoc nam 1960, tham luan ve tang cuong phap che, tinh hinh mien Nam va dau tranh chong My, thong nhat dat nuoc, cong tac ngoai giao, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 4.

  67. Seventy-two percent of the ICSC’s rulings were in Hanoi’s favor between August 1954 and January 1959. See Ramesh Thakur, “India’s Vietnam Policy, 1946–1979,” Asian Survey 19, no. 10 (October 1979): 961.

  68. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1961,” 3.

  69. Thakur, “India’s Vietnam Policy,” 963.

  70. FGDH to MFA, 1 July 1961, #71, AO: VN, ADF, 2.

  71. Quoted in Thakur, “India’s Vietnam Policy,” 963. See also Mieczyslaw Maneli, War of the Vanquished (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 77–78.

  72. Douglas A. Ross, “Middlepowers as Extra-Regional Balancer Powers: Canada, India, and Indochina, 1954–62,” Pacific Affairs 55, no. 2 (Summer 1982): 197, 204–5. Ross concludes that the behavior of the ICSC “did serve to inhibit the North Vietnamese leadership. At the very least, it made the option of indirect attack on the south far more attractive than invasion.” “It is very possible that the ‘indirect’ attack on the Saigon government,” he continues, “which received Hanoi’s blessing sometime in 1959, might very well have begun in earnest two to three years sooner,” in which case American intervention “might . . . have been required in 1958–59, not in 1963–64” (ibid., 207, 208).

  73. “Thong tri cua Ban Bi thu, so 45-TT/TW,” 485.

  74. “Chi thi cua Ban Bi thu, so 21-CT
/TW, ngay 4 thang 7 nam 1961: Ve mo dot dau tranh chinh tri rong lon nhan dip 20-7-1961” [Secretariat Instruction, no. 21-CT/TW, 4 July 1961: On Opening a Wider Political Struggle on the Occasion of 20 July 1961], in VKD: 1961, 365–66.

  75. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1961,” 3–4.

  76. Bo Ngoai giao, Chan dung nam co Bo truong Ngoai giao [Portraits of Five Foreign Ministers] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2005), 592–93.

  77. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1961,” 2. By one account, during his trip Dong also asked his hosts that all debt owed by the DRVN to its allies as of 1 January 1961 be “liquidated,” that is, forgiven. See FGDH to MFA, 14 August 1961, #31, AO: VN, ADF, 1.

  78. “‘Bao cao tinh hinh the gio va cong tac ngoai giao’ doc truoc ky hop thu ba cua Quoc hoi khoa hai (ngay 24 thang 10.1961)—Bo Truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem,” 4.

  79. “Nghi quyet ve tinh hinh the gioi va cong tac ngoai giao cua CP” [Government Resolution on the World Situation and Diplomatic Work], Ho so 730: Ho so ky hop thu ba cua QH khoa II tu ngay 23–27.10.1961. Tap 4: Phien hop ngay 27.10.1961: Nghi quyet ve tong quyet toan ngan sach Nha nuoc nam 1960, sap nhap Dong Trieu vao Hong Quang, ve tinh hinh the gioi va cong tac ngoai giao cua CP, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 2.

  80. Quoted in FGDH to MFA, “Visite de M. Bernard Fall au Président Pham Van Dong” [Visit of Mr. Bernard Fall with President Pham Van Dong], 16 July 1962, #31, AO: VN, ADF, 7.

  81. “Nghi quyet Hoi nghi Trung uong lan thu 15 (mo rong): Ve tang cuong doan ket, kien quyet dau tranh giu vung hoa binh, thuc hien thong nhat nuoc nha” [Resolution of the Fifteenth Plenum (expanded): On Increasing Unity and Determination to Struggle to Preserve Peace and Achieve Unification of the State], in Dang Cong san Viet Nam, Van kien Dang—Toan tap, Tap 20: 1959 [Party Documents—Collected Works, Vol. 20: 1959] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2002), 67. During a visit to Hanoi in September 1960, a representative of the Moroccan Communist Party declared that Vietnamese political and military successes had encouraged Moroccans to strive for independence, and currently, “the light of your example” guided “our valiant Algerian brothers.” Quoted in FGDH to MFA, 12 September 1960 (I), #16, AO: VN, ADF, 2.