State Department Blames Vietnam War on Communist Aggression
The Vietnam War is often viewed through the lens of Cold War ideology, with significant emphasis placed on the notion of communist aggression. The United States government, particularly through the State Department's reports, framed the conflict as a struggle against a deliberate campaign of aggression orchestrated by North Vietnam. This perspective argues that the war was not merely a local rebellion but rather a calculated effort by the North to conquer the South, with substantial backing from communist allies like China.
Key figures and military personnel in the Vietcong, the guerrilla forces operating in South Vietnam, were said to be trained and directed by the North Vietnamese regime, indicating a coordinated effort to undermine the government in South Vietnam. The conflict was characterized as a violation of international agreements and a direct threat to the sovereignty of South Vietnam, leading to the U.S. involvement framed as a defensive action to protect a sovereign nation from external aggression.
Supporters of this viewpoint contend that the U.S. had a responsibility to assist South Vietnam in its struggle for independence, while critics argue that this perspective oversimplifies the complex socio-political landscape of Vietnam and neglects the historical grievances of the Vietnamese people. This framing continues to influence discussions about the Vietnam War and its legacy, reflecting a broader debate over the nature of intervention and the motives behind international conflicts.
State Department Blames Vietnam War on Communist Aggression
State Department Blames Vietnam War on Communist Aggression
On February 27, 1965, the United States Department of State released an official report concerning the Vietnam War. It is a fascinating historical piece from the cold war, viewing the Vietnam conflict entirely through the narrow ideological prism of the time. The legitimate historical, economic, social, and political grievances of the Vietnamese people are brushed aside, and the blame for the war is placed squarely on the communist North Vietnamese. Edited excerpts from this report, entitled “Aggression from the North,” are set forth below. The viewpoints expressed therein, such as the statement that “the war in Vietnam is not a spontaneous and local rebellion against the established government,” help explain why the American government would stubbornly cling to the Vietnam conflict for another decade.
South Vietnam is fighting for its life against a brutal campaign of terror and armed attack inspired, directed, supplied and controlled by the Communist regime in Hanoi [the capital of North Vietnam]. This flagrant aggression has been going on for years, but recently the pace has quickened and the threat has now become acute.
The war in Vietnam is a new kind of war, a fact as yet poorly understood in most parts of the world. Much of the confusion that prevails in the thinking of many people, and even governments, stems from this basic misunderstanding. In Vietnam a totally new brand of aggression has been loosed against an independent people who want to make their way in peace and freedom.
Above all, the war in Vietnam is not a spontaneous and local rebellion against the established government.
In Vietnam a Communist government has set out deliberately to conquer a sovereign people in a neighboring state. And to achieve its end, it has used every resource of its own government to carry out its carefully planned program of concealed aggression. North Vietnam's commitment to seize control of the South is no less total than was the commitment of the regime in North Korea in 1950. But knowing the consequences of the latter's undisguised attack, the planners in Hanoi have tried desperately to conceal their hand. They have failed and their aggression is as real as that of an invading army.
This report is a summary of the massive evidence of North Vietnamese aggression obtained by the Government of South Vietnam. This evidence has been jointly analyzed by South Vietnamese and American experts. The evidence shows that the hard core of the Communist forces attacking South Vietnam were trained in the North and ordered into the South by Hanoi. It shows that the key leadership of the Vietcong, the officers and much of the cadre, many of the technicians, political organizers, and propagandists have come from the North and operate under Hanoi's direction. It shows that the training of essential military personnel and their infiltration into the South is directed by the Military High Command in Hanoi. In recent months new types of weapons have been introduced in the VC army, for which all ammunition must come from outside sources. Communist China and other Communist states have been the prime suppliers of these weapons and ammunition, and they have been channeled primarily through North Vietnam.
The directing force behind the effort to conqueror South Vietnam is the Communist Party in the North, the Lao Dong (Workers) Party. As in every Communist state, the party is an integral part of the regime itself. North Vietnamese officials have expressed their firm determination to absorb South Vietnam into the Communist world. Through its Central Committee, which controls the Government of the North, the Lao Dong Party directs the total political and military effort of the Vietcong. The Military High Command in the North trains the military men and sends them into South Vietnam. The Central Research Agency, North Vietnam's central intelligence organization, directs the elaborate espionage and subversion effort.
Under Hanoi's overall direction, the Communists have established an extensive machine for carrying on the war within South Vietnam.
The focal point is the Central Office for South Vietnam with its political and military subsections and other specialized agencies. A subordinate part of this Central Office is the Liberation Front for South Vietnam. The front was formed at Hanoi's order in 1960. Its principal function is to influence opinion abroad and to create the false impression that the aggression in South Vietnam is an indigenous rebellion against the established Government.
For more than ten years the people and the Government of South Vietnam, exercising the inherent right of self-defense, have fought back against these efforts to extend Communist power south across the 17th parallel. The United States has responded to the appeals of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam for help in this defense of the freedom and independence of its land and its people.
The record is conclusive. It establishes beyond question that North Vietnam is carrying out a carefully conceived plan of aggression against the South. It shows that North Vietnam has intensified its efforts in the years since it was condemned by the International Control Commission. It proves that Hanoi continues to press its systematic program of armed aggression into South Vietnam. This aggression violates the United Nations Charter. It is directly contrary to the Geneva Accords of 1954 and of 1962 to which North Vietnam is a party. It is a fundamental threat to the freedom and security of South Vietnam.
The people of South Vietnam have chosen to resist this threat. At their request, the United States has taken its place beside them in their defensive struggle.
The United States seeks no territory, no military bases, no favored position. But we have learned the meaning of aggression elsewhere in the post-war world, and we have met it.
If peace can be restored in South Vietnam, the United States will be ready at once to reduce its military involvement. But it will not abandon friends who want to remain free. It will do what must be done to help them. The choice now between peace and continued and increasingly destructive conflict is one for the authorities in Hanoi to make.