Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War [1 ed.] 9781502610331, 9781502610324

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Tech In the Trenches

Strategic Inventions of the Revolutionary War Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War Strategic Inventions of World War I Strategic Inventions of World War II

Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

Small

Strategic Inventions of the Civil War

Tech In the Trenches

Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

Cathleen Small

Tech In the Trenches

Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War Cathleen Small

Published in 2016 by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC 243 5th Avenue, Suite 136, New York, NY 10016 Copyright © 2016 by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC First Edition No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Request for permission should be addressed to Permissions, Cavendish Square Publishing, 243 5th Avenue, Suite 136, New York, NY 10016. Tel (877) 980-4450; fax (877) 980-4454. Website: cavendishsq.com This publication represents the opinions and views of the author based on his or her personal experience, knowledge, and research. The information in this book serves as a general guide only. The author and publisher have used their best efforts in preparing this book and disclaim liability rising directly or indirectly from the use and application of this book. CPSIA Compliance Information: Batch #CW16CSQ

All websites were available and accurate when this book was sent to press. Cataloging-in-Publication Data Small, Cathleen. Strategic inventions of the Vietnam War / by Cathleen Small. p. cm. — (Tech in the trenches) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-5026-1032-4 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-5026-1033-1 (ebook) 1. Vietnam War, 1961 - 1975 — Juvenile literature. 2. Vietnam War, 1961 - 1975 — Technology — Juvenile literature. 3. Military weapons — Vietnam — History — 20th century — Juvenile literature. I. Small, Cathleen. II. Title. DS559.8.S9 S63 2016 959.704'34—d23 Editorial Director: David McNamara Editor: Kristen Susienka Copy Editor: Nathan Heidelberger Art Director: Jeffrey Talbot Designer: Alan Sliwinski/Amy Greenan Senior Production Manager: Jennifer Ryder-Talbot Production Editor: Renni Johnson Photo Research: J8 Media The photographs in this book are used by permission and through the courtesy of: EcoPrint/ Shutterstock.com, cover; Andrey Armyagov/Shutterstock.com, 4; catwalker/Shutterstock.com, 6; Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock.com, 8; © iStockphoto.com/pjmandala, 10; Larry Burrows/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images, 13; Robin Kay/Shutterstock.com, 15; Photo12/UIG via Getty Images, 26; Universal History Archive/Getty Images, 28; Hulton Archive/Getty Images, 32; Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com, 35; Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com, 37; AP Photo/Eddie Adams, 40; images/Newscom, 44; Larry Burrows/Time Magazine/The LIFE Picture Collection/ Getty Images, 49; United States Army Heritage and Education Center/File:AH-1G Cobra Vietnam. jpg/Wikimedia Commons, 52; AP Photo/File, 54; Dick Swanson/The LIFE Images Collection/ Getty Images, 58; Jack Cahill/Toronto Star via Getty Images, 64; Carl Mydans/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images, 66; Lee Lockwood/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, 68; AO- HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images, 74; Getty Images/Getty Images News/Getty Images North America, 77; CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images, 79; Howard Ruffner/The LIFE Premium Collection/ Getty Images, 84; Stephen Meese/Shutterstock.com, 88; John Stillwell - Pool/Getty Images, 91; Sipa via AP Images, 93; Photo12/UIG via Getty Images, 95; Twin Design/Shutterstock.com, 96. Printed in the United States of America

Contents Introduction 5 The Long War One 11 The Vietnam War Two 33 War and a Century of Innovation Three 45 Attack Helicopters: The Bell AH-1 Cobra Four 55 Herbicidal Warfare: Agent Orange Five 65 Photojournalism and Video Footage Six 75 The Vietnam War and the Double-Edged Sword Seven 89 Innovation Today Glossary 100 Bibliography 103 Further Information

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Index 109 About the Author

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Jet aircraft were one of many technological innovations of the twentieth century.

Introduction

The Long War

F

rom the eighteenth century to the twenty-first century, the world has seen much progress and many amazing

innovations. It started with the Industrial Revolution, which changed the face of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with a flurry of invention and development. This pace did not slow as the nineteenth century moved into the twentieth and later the twenty-first centuries. These eras saw innovation abound and introduced new concepts such as the steam engine, the telegraph, dynamite, vaccines, the radio, the telephone, the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, the camera, the video camera, antibiotics, the jet engine, the microscope, the atomic bomb, the microprocessor, the Internet, mobile technology—the list goes on. Each of these technologies contributed to society not only

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in and of itself but also in the way it inspired other technologies. Without the airplane, there would be no jet engine. Without the jet engine, there would be no fighter planes. Without fighter planes, there would be no attack helicopters. Invention leads to other inventions in a never-ending process. What spurs such inventions? What brings to mind a new idea? The factors can be many. For instance, the Wright brothers were reportedly inspired to create the airplane by playing with a small toy stick that twisted and flew, given to them by their father, and

The innocuous Slinky was invented by a World War II naval engineer.

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by watching how birds flew; the helicopter, invented by Igor Sikorsky, was inspired by the science fiction novel Clipper of the Clouds by Jules Verne; and Martin Cooper, inventor of the first cell phone, said he was inspired by a device used in Star Trek. One factor that consistently inspires innovation, though, is war. War creates necessity for change, and thus many inventions are born out of war. Some of the inventions aren’t particularly impactful—for instance, a favorite childhood toy, the Slinky, was invented during World War II when a naval engineer dropped a spring and watched as it walked away. Tabasco sauce was invented during the Civil War, and feminine-hygiene pads were invented during World War I when they were used for bandaging wounds. However, some wartime inventions make an indelible mark on society. The antibiotic penicillin, discovered during World War II, is still widely used today. Radio navigation—the precursor to GPS—was also invented during World War II, as was radar technology. So was the jet engine, which is used on all commercial airplanes nowadays. Going further back, the zipper was perfected during World War I, to keep the military troops’ coats closed so they’d stay warm. Look down at your clothes or your backpack and no doubt you’ll find at least one zipper. The Tech in the Trenches series serves to detail great inventions during wartime. This particular book will cover three innovations of the Vietnam War: the attack helicopter, the use of herbicide—specifically, Agent Orange—in warfare, and the rise of photojournalism and video capture. The Vietnam War

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The development of the zipper helped keep World War I troops warm during cold months.

was a very long conflict, and so it naturally bred a number of innovations. However, when you consider those inventions, these are three that rise to the top in terms of importance and long-term impact. Vietnam: War or Conflict? Technically, the situation in Vietnam was not a war; it was a conflict. What’s the difference? For something to officially be called a war, Congress must declare war on a country

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(or countries). In the case of Vietnam, Congress never officially declared war on North Vietnam, so it must be classified as a conflict instead—at least as far as the government is concerned. In fact, by the congressional definition of war, the United States has not declared war since 1942, during World War II. Anything since has been a conflict, not a war. For most of us, however, Vietnam meets the Webster’s definition of a war: “a state or period of fighting between countries or groups.” So in this book we will consider the Vietnam War. Come along as we explore the long and fascinating span of the Vietnam War, and look at how it spawned these three technologies and how they developed over the course of the war. We’ll also examine the effect the technologies had on the Vietnam War and its immediate aftermath, and what role they play in society today. The Vietnam War was incredibly complex, but the technologies it spawned are nothing short of fascinating. Enjoy the ride!

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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, stands as a somber reminder of the lives lost in the conflict.

Chapter

One

The Vietnam War

T

he Vietnam War, which lasted from 1954 to 1975, was largely a conflict between North Vietnam and South

Vietnam. The North Vietnamese communist government also had allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong. The United States was an ally of the non-communist South Vietnamese government. Because of the United States’ involvement, in Vietnam the war was sometimes called the American War, and since the conflict extended into Cambodia and Laos as well, the war is sometimes referred to as the Second Indochina War. In America, though, it is known simply as the Vietnam War. The Pre-War Years The original conflict between North and South Vietnam arose in response to the First Indochina War, which lasted from 1946

The Vietnam War

11

until 1954. Nationalist groups in the North Vietnam region were opposed to colonial rule, first by the Japanese and then by the French. The United States supported France in their fight to retain colonial rule, but in 1954, one of the nationalist groups, the Viet Minh, led by communist Ho Chi Minh, defeated the French in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. As a result, the Geneva Accords were established, which set the 17th parallel as a temporary dividing line between the French military and the Viet Minh. Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh occupied what was North Vietnam (also called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam), and the capital was Hanoi. The French occupied what was South Vietnam (also called the Republic of Vietnam), and its capital was Saigon. At this point, South Vietnam was controlled by former Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai. The plan was to create a demilitarized zone where any civilians who wished to leave North or South Vietnam could do so safely, and nationwide elections were planned for 1956 to determine the future of North and South Vietnam. The demilitarized zone was to be created by both North and South Vietnam removing their troops from north and south of the 17th parallel. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite go according to plan. Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh formed the Vietnamese Workers’ Party (later called the Vietnamese Communist Party). They wished to unify North and South Vietnam under one communist regime, such as the ones in China and the Soviet Union, both of which supported the North Vietnamese government. The South Vietnamese government was not in favor of this model

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The 17th parallel divided North and South Vietnam, per the Geneva Accords.

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and continued to rely on US support, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, as they struggled to maintain their government structure. Viet Minh leaders were determined to continue attempting to unify the nation under one communist party, leaving in place their political agents below the 17th parallel. Ngo (pronounced NO) Dinh Diem had been installed as premier, or leader, of South Vietnam, and his attempts at retaining the country’s political structure were challenged by these political agents, as well as by the Communist Party in North Vietnam. Meanwhile, nearly a million refugees from North Vietnam fled to South Vietnam. Ngo had his own agenda, though. He was not in favor of the planned 1956 elections to determine the future of North and South Vietnam, so in late 1955, he declared himself president of the Republic of Vietnam. The US government supported Ngo’s leadership, but before long it became apparent that he was not effective. His government was corrupt, with extortion and bribery being commonplace. Although the North Vietnamese had not opposed Ngo when he first took the presidency, they slowly rebuilt their strength. Their supporters in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, grew quickly and quietly, thanks to citizens of South Vietnam becoming dissatisfied with Ngo’s leadership. Soon the Vietnamese Communist Party resolved to use armed force to overthrow Ngo’s government. Dissatisfied South Vietnam citizens went quietly to North Vietnam to be trained as insurgents and then went back to South Vietnam, now armed and ready to do their part to overthrow Ngo’s leadership. Thus, what we know as the Vietnam War began.

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Much of the terrain of South Vietnam is jungle and mountainous.

The War Begins Although the South Vietnamese army (also known as the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, or ARVN) had strong support from the United States and other allies, they weren’t a very effective military. Many high-ranking officers gained their positions through nepotism, and they were often corrupt, incompetent, or simply didn’t care about the cause. The Viet Cong had also secured agents into positions in the South Vietnamese army as drivers, clerks, radio

The Vietnam War

15

operators, and even senior headquarters officers. Further, the US military support wasn’t particularly well equipped to fight in the swamps and jungles of Vietnam; they were used to fighting on roads. The South Vietnamese army and the US military were no match for the North Vietnamese military, which received support, weapons, and supplies from both China and the Soviet Union. A further blow was dealt when communists residing in South Vietnam formed the National Liberation Front (NLF)—a political organization for the Viet Cong and for anyone who wished to end Ngo’s regime. The NLF’s army was small, but it was just one part of the Viet Cong—the larger component was the People’s Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), which was made up of guerrilla fighters who formed a ragtag army of part-time volunteers. These guerrilla fighters used persuasion and intimidation to try to gain support for the NLF. The PLAF used booby traps, raids, kidnapping, and murder to intimidate the opposing government, police, and security. The guerrillas were one part of the PLAF; another part was made up of full-time regional soldiers based in remote areas of swamps, jungles, and mountains. The Viet Cong quickly established their power by ambushing and attacking. In late 1959, they attacked more than one hundred posts a month, and in 1960 they assassinated 2,500 supposed enemies of the Viet Cong, many of whom were government personnel. The US military had been present in Vietnam in the 1950s, but in small numbers. In light of the activities of the Viet Cong, by 1961 the American military presence in South Vietnam was much stronger.

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Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

A New President Faces the War By this time, Eisenhower’s term as US president had come to an end. He was succeeded by John F. Kennedy, who took office in January 1961. As a new president in the early 1960s, Kennedy faced several obstacles: conflicts in Laos, the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, and the construction of the Berlin Wall, as well as the threat of communism. Kennedy strongly supported the defeat of a communist regime in Vietnam, as he saw a United States–supported victory in this instance as proof of the United States’ determination to avoid the spread of communism in Third World countries. While the Kennedy administration dealt with these and other issues, the Viet Cong continued to increase their power in South Vietnam. Membership in the NLF grew, and communists from the North continued to filter into the South. The North sent weapons and ammunition to their forces in the South via the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a system of mountain and jungle paths that ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam via Laos and Cambodia. Ironically, the Viet Cong received even more arms from an unlikely source: the United States. Corrupt officials in Ngo’s military sold them to the Viet Cong, and in some cases the Viet Cong intercepted them from the armed forces in Saigon. The Kennedy administration soon recognized that South Vietnam was losing the war with the Viet Cong. To combat this, the United States increased their support, including providing helicopters, armored personnel carriers, and more weapons to the South Vietnamese army. The administration also increased the

The Vietnam War

17

presence of the US military in the region, but President Kennedy did not want to deploy active US combat troops at that point, despite being urged by key advisors to do so. Unfortunately, the helicopters and armored personnel carriers proved to have limited effect. The Viet Cong used small-arms fire to damage or destroy helicopters and to stop armored personnel

The Battle of Ap Bac On January 2, 1963, South Vietnam suffered a brutal defeat at the hands of the Viet Cong. The battle of Ap Bac took place at the village of the same name, located 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southwest of Saigon. Approximately 2,500 South Vietnamese troops surrounded a group of 300 Viet Cong guerrilla fighters for what should have been an easy victory. The South Vietnamese army far outnumbered the Viet Cong in the battle and were armed with automatic weapons, equipped with armored amphibious personnel carriers, and supported by bombers and helicopters, but the Viet Cong were superior in strategy and spirit. By the end of the battle, 80 soldiers had been killed and over 100 more were injured. Clearly, the South Vietnamese army and the US armed forces needed to up their game. Defeats such as the one at Ap Bac proved the need for more inventive strategies and weapons on the part of the South Vietnamese and US troops.

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Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

carriers. Moreover, the equipment was only as good as its army—the South Vietnamese forces were still not an effective fighting group. In one 1963 battle in the Mekong Delta, the South Vietnamese army surrounded and outnumbered the Viet Cong, but the Viet Cong still emerged victorious, having killed eighty South Vietnamese soldiers and three American advisors and destroyed five helicopters. Further, the Ngo leadership was growing ever more unstable. Ngo Dinh Diem’s brother, Nhu, who was influential in the regime, smoked opium on a daily basis and was thought to be negotiating secretly with the North Vietnamese. In 1963, the family got in a quarrel with Buddhist leaders; when Buddhist supporters in Saigon and Hue staged strikes and demonstrations in protest, the South Vietnamese army responded with violence. To protest the repression of the Ngo regime, a Buddhist monk doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in public—an event that did not escape American attention. The Ngo regime was looking more and more erratic. Assassinations and Tensions Tensions grew, and later that year a group of South Vietnamese generals staged a coup and seized control of Saigon. The Ngo brothers were captured and murdered—just three weeks before President Kennedy was assassinated. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who took office after Kennedy’s assassination, stepped into a firestorm where Vietnam was concerned—the Kennedy administration had handled the situation in Vietnam with

The Vietnam War

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indecision and halfhearted involvement, and the tense situation was now left in Johnson’s hands. After conferring with numerous key advisors, Johnson decided to continue with Kennedy’s support of South Vietnam. He increased the number of US troops in the region from 16,000 to 23,000 and replaced then-commander of US forces, General Paul D. Harkins, with General William Westmoreland. This was partly in response to the members of the American press believing that Harkins had artificially inflated the news of US and South Vietnamese successes in the war. The situation in South Vietnam continued to worsen. The Viet Cong presence in the region continued to increase, and the removal of the Ngo regime did not lead to any sort of unity. Rather, the South Vietnamese soon found themselves under a dictatorship led by General Nguyen Khanh, who was part of the coup to overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem. The North Vietnamese army saw in the shaky Nguyen dictatorship a chance to seize victory. They sent troops along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to South Vietnam, with aid and support promised by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, as well as the Soviet Union. The United States decided to strike back against the North Vietnamese with a series of small raids and parachute drops of agents and commandos into North Vietnam. As the Pentagon made plans for a series of air strikes in North Vietnam, the North Vietnamese took action and torpedoed the USS Maddox destroyer while it patrolled the Gulf of Tonkin.

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Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

The attack may have been in retaliation for raids conducted by the South Vietnamese navy that the North Vietnamese presumed the US military was involved in. The USS Maddox was not destroyed, but President Johnson took the attack on it seriously. He sent a second destroyer, the Turner Joy, into the Gulf, and two days after the first attack, the Maddox and the Turner Joy reported another torpedo attack. Although there was no conclusive evidence to prove that the North Vietnamese were behind the second attack or that a second attack ever occurred, in response, the Johnson administration ordered several air strikes against North Vietnamese naval bases. The president also requested that Congress support a broad resolution, named the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, that authorized him to take whatever action he felt necessary to deal with any future threats to US forces or allies in Southeast Asia—a step that his advisors had urged him to take earlier but that he had shelved because it introduced a controversial topic during an election year. As it turned out, Johnson’s actions actually helped cement his win in the 1964 presidential election. Operation Rolling Thunder and the US Offensive Meanwhile, the South Vietnamese government continued its shaky spiral. There were numerous coups, and some coalitions were in power for less than a month. The South Vietnamese government continued to weaken, while the Viet Cong continued to grow in strength, winning many skirmishes against the South

The Vietnam War

21

Vietnamese army. The brazen communists started deliberately targeting the US military, beginning with an attack on a US air base near Saigon late in 1964. Most of Johnson’s administration favored retaliation against the North Vietnamese, in the form of air strikes or bombing campaigns. Two members of the administration, however, advised Johnson against attacking—Undersecretary of State George Ball and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Both warned Johnson that such retaliation would lead to greater American commitment to the war and potential political problems on US soil. Johnson chose to take the advice of the majority of his administration, and in February 1965, the United States began a series of air strikes against North Vietnam, with the codename Rolling Thunder. Unfortunately, the air-strike campaign did not have the desired effect. It had little impact on the South Vietnamese army, and the Viet Cong continued to gain ground in the region. General Westmoreland and the Joint Chiefs of Staff advised Johnson that it was time to commit US troops for combat. By July 1965, one hundred thousand active American combat units were dispatched, and the United States was effectively committed to a full-scale war. A further hundred thousand troops were to be dispatched in 1966. The dispatch of troops resulted in a bit of chaos. There was no concrete plan as to what to do with the troops once they arrived. The US and South Vietnamese armies coordinated their operations to some extent, but they did not act as a single unified body. The South Vietnamese army units generally had

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US advisors, but they still existed separately from the US Army units. General Westmoreland was still in a leadership role, serving as senior advisor to General Cao Van Vien, the chief of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff. Thankfully, the political structure of South Vietnam had calmed down—at least temporarily. Army General Nguyen Van Thieu acted as the head of state, and Air Force General Nguyen Cao Ky served as prime minister until 1968, when leadership was left solely to Thieu. Despite the chaos upon the arrival of US combat troops, the US military did make some significant progress in setting up an infrastructure in South Vietnam. They quickly constructed four new air bases with jet-capable runways, six deepwater ports, seventy-five tactical air bases, twenty-six hospitals, and many warehouses. General Westmoreland theorized that US troops could best fight the enemy in less-populated areas, such as the jungle and mountain regions, where the enemy often lived. The US troops would provide a metaphorical “shield” for South Vietnamese soldiers, who would eliminate the Viet Cong in these rural areas and reassert control. In their role as “shield,” the American troops could use their firepower to eliminate as many Viet Cong and members of the North Vietnamese army as possible. In short, Westmoreland believed that the sheer firepower of the US military could help the South Vietnamese regain control. Once implemented, General Westmoreland and the US government insisted that the war was being won with this strategy, but the

The Vietnam War

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American public was skeptical. The United States had established a reputation for inflating the body counts of the enemy and their own successes. Another problem with this strategy was that once the US and South Vietnamese militaries completed their sweeps of these rural villages and posts and believed that they had succeeded in wiping out the Viet Cong, the troops would move on, and the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army would quickly return. The United States decided to try another strategy—essentially, deforestation by spraying herbicides such as Agent Orange over the forested areas and croplands. If they destroyed the forests, they reasoned, then the Viet Cong could no longer hide in them. Also, if they destroyed the crops, the Viet Cong would have no food supplies. This strategy, however, had side effects. Once used, it meant ecological ruin to the sprayed areas and the exposure of thousands of people to highly toxic chemicals. Agent Orange didn’t discriminate—a South Vietnamese civilian was just as likely to be exposed as was a member of the Viet Cong. Many people— civilians and military personnel on both sides of the conflict— suffered or died as a result of the use of herbicides. Meanwhile, the United States’ air strikes against North Vietnam continued, but not terribly successfully. North Vietnam did not have much industry that could be destroyed by bombs—it was mostly agricultural land. So, despite the fact that by 1966 the United States had dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than it had during the entire Korean War, the communists in North Vietnam continued to thrive, particularly with the continual

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Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

support from communist China and the Soviet Union. That support included the two countries providing North Vietnam with radars, anti-aircraft guns, missiles, and jet fighters so North Vietnam could effectively defend themselves against the air strikes. So effective was North Vietnam’s defense that by the end of the year, the United States had lost nearly five hundred aircraft and hundreds of soldiers. Communism and the Tet Offensive The communists in North Vietnam were growing restless. They were holding their own against the US and South Vietnamese militaries, but they wanted victory. So, in the summer of 1967, communist leaders planned a massive, simultaneous series of attacks and uprisings that would take place throughout South Vietnam. They planned these to occur in early 1968, during Tet, the lunar New Year festival. North Vietnam began a series of diversionary attacks before Tet, hoping to lead the US military away from the large cities they planned to hit during Tet. It worked. General Westmoreland and President Johnson believed that an attack against the Khe Sanh Combat Base was North Vietnam’s main focus, so they sent most of their troops there. However, with fifty thousand US and South Vietnamese troops lured to Khe Sanh, North Vietnam was free to launch its offensive throughout the rest of South Vietnam, attacking thirty-six of forty-four provincial capitals, sixty-four district capitals, five of six major cities, and more than twenty-four

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This photo shows the aftermath of a communist attack on the Da Nang base in 1967.

airfields and bases. General Westmoreland’s Saigon headquarters and the US embassy weren’t even safe—both fell under attack. The communists took control of more than half of the cultural, spiritual, and educational center of South Vietnam—a city called Hue—and held it for almost three weeks. The United States and South Vietnam fought back. Since the North Vietnamese attacks weren’t very well coordinated or guarded, the US and South Vietnamese forces were able to recover many towns and bases. The Viet Cong lost many soldiers, as well as a lot of support in South Vietnam. Their Tet attacks were so destructive that many former supporters of the Viet Cong began

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to withdraw their support, despite their continued distaste for the government in South Vietnam. A Call for Peace On March 10, 1968, believing a South Vietnamese victory was near, General Westmoreland requested 206,000 more US troops be sent. However, newly installed Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford determined that sending more troops was a poor idea and that the United States government should reassess the entire war effort. Clifford and some of President Johnson’s advisers made the case that a better move was to attempt to de-escalate the conflict and make a gesture for peace. Johnson then halted most of the bombings in North Vietnam and announced that he was interested in negotiating an end to the war. North Vietnam replied that they were prepared to engage in peace talks with America. Unfortunately, the peace talks went nowhere. North Vietnam wanted the United States to stop all of its bombing before engaging in peace talks, which the Johnson administration was not prepared to do. As a result, not only was there no end to the war, but the fighting and casualties actually worsened. North Vietnam planned for two more waves of attacks following the Tet Offensive, and General Westmoreland was determined to continue fighting the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. Within just eight weeks, 3,700 more US soldiers had been killed, and 18,000 had been wounded. Forty-three thousand North Vietnamese soldiers were killed in that time period, and it is thought that around seven thousand

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South Vietnamese soldiers also died in this timeframe. It was an incredibly bloody two months. In October 1968, the United States, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam again tried to engage in peace talks, but no progress was made. At the same time, Richard M. Nixon was elected president when Johnson did not pursue another term in office. By this point,

The Tet Offensive caused much damage and destruction. Here, people sort through rubble in Saigon in 1968.

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Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

the US military presence in Vietnam had grown to more than half a million soldiers, and public opinion was that the US government had no business committing any more troops to the conflict. Nixon knew the Americans and South Vietnamese could not win the war without more troops, but he didn’t want to hastily withdraw US troops and support, which he feared would undermine their credibility. Instead, he focused on trying to achieve an honorable settlement with North Vietnam. One way Nixon intended to show America’s strength and thus “encourage” the North Vietnamese to work on an honorable settlement was to threaten massive force against them. This resulted in covert bombings of communist bases in Cambodia, a tactic that remained secret until a journalist named William Beecher broke the story in the New York Times in May 1969. The Cambodian premier had actually approved the attacks because he was unhappy with the communist Vietnamese presence in the supposedly neutral country, but once the news was released, Nixon’s plan was discontinued. Giving Back the War When the plan for the Cambodian bombings fell through, Nixon implemented a program called Vietnamization, where the US provided South Vietnam with high-quality weapons and training so they could take over fighting the ground war and the US could begin to withdraw its troops. Perhaps not surprisingly, this program was quite popular among those on US soil, who were anxiously awaiting the return of loved ones from the war-torn region.

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However, the program was not so popular with the troops stationed in Vietnam. It seemed to underscore just how pointless the war was—thousands of men had died for a cause that now apparently wasn’t even worth fighting for. By 1970, morale among the US troops was low. Drug abuse among troops was on the rise, as were racial incidents, and some troops were even using hand grenades to murder or maim their officers in a practice known as fragging. Desertion was running rampant, too, with more than thirty thousand US military personnel receiving dishonorable discharges for desertion between 1965 and 1973. Back in the United States, more than two hundred thousand men were charged with draft evasion—these so-called draft dodgers refused to respond to draft notices and sometimes fled the country to avoid being arrested for draft evasion. The Vietnam War was becoming increasingly unpopular on both South Vietnamese and US soil. By 1970 it was reported that nearly three-quarters of Americans thought the US government had made a mistake in sending troops to Vietnam. The US Pulls Out The Nixon administration continued to engage in peace negotiations, but demands and actions on both sides made it impossible to come to an agreement. Frustrated, in December 1972, Nixon ordered a massive bombing campaign against Hanoi, in North Vietnam. After eight days of bombing, North Vietnam agreed to sign the peace agreement that the nations had been haggling over, as did South Vietnam. The Agreement on Ending

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Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

the War and Restoring Peace in Viet-Nam was signed by all involved parties on January 27, 1973. It dictated an immediate cease-fire, withdrawal of US forces, dismantling of US bases, and a release of all prisoners of war. North and South Vietnam would not yet be reunited, but an international force would help keep the peace between the two counties. Within two months, the last US troops left Vietnam, but North and South Vietnam continued to fight, with each side accusing the other of violating the peace agreement. The US, however, stepped out of the disagreement. While still supporting South Vietnam, they did not take any further military action. The fighting between North and South Vietnam continued for two more years before South Vietnam fell. On July 2, 1976, the two countries were united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The capital was Hanoi, and Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, after the communist leader who had been instrumental in starting the conflict. It was a sad end for the South Vietnamese citizens who had for so long resisted communist rule.

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The twentieth century saw all people assume new roles. Women, for example, worked in factories that were typically operated by men.

Chapter

Two

War and a Century of Innovation

T

he twentieth century in its entirety was a period of major technical innovation for the United States. Radio

became a prominent medium for communication, and wireless technology first appeared in 1901. The Wright brothers made their revolutionary flight in 1903, and Henry Ford followed not long after with the introduction of the Model T automobile. Aeronautical and automotive developments came fast and furious, but that wasn’t the only area of technical innovation in the twentieth century. The television and electric refrigeration were invented in the 1920s (though neither was common in American homes until later), along with magnetic tape, which led to later developments in audio and video recording.

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The first programmable computer was invented in the 1930s, along with radar technology. The World War II era brought the development of the devastating atomic bomb. The revolutionary bipolar transistor was invented in the late 1940s and later gave rise to devices such as personal computers, CD players, and fax machines. The 1960s introduced laser technology, which revolutionized everything from medical technology to supermarket cash registers to modern warfare; and human space travel also was experienced for the first time. Intel brought us the microprocessor in 1971, which led to the birth of personal computers—coincidentally, right around the same time the Internet was invented, although computers weren’t available for home users until much later. That’s just to name a few. Describing all of the innovations of the twentieth century would require an entire book—or an entire series! One might wonder what brought about this incredible era of development? What catalyzed inventors to create such mindboggling innovations? The Need for Innovation The answer to what prompts invention and innovation is probably more than one factor. First, innovation breeds innovation. Many inventions were inspired by existing technologies or concepts. When the Wright brothers took their historic flight in 1903, they opened the door to a world of possibilities. If these two brothers could fly, why couldn’t everyone? Before long, inventors from a number of countries were experimenting with flight technology and developing rudimentary airplanes. However, it was the Wright

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Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War

The Wright brothers took their first flight in late 1903.

brothers’ discovery that inspired others to design and create in the field of aeronautics. The same holds true for pretty much any other invention: Once it’s created, others are inspired by it and build off of it, resulting in more and more innovation. This is partly why we have patents, in fact—the original creator of an invention wants to protect his or her interests when others get wind of the idea and start developing similar technologies. Patents protect a person’s invention. For example, Henry Ford may have been a pioneer in the auto business in America, but before long he had a whole bunch of competitors in the field. He patented many different ideas. Another factor that prompts innovation is need. Going back to Henry Ford, when he invented the Model T, there was a need for reliable, affordable, mass-produced transportation. Ford saw that need and fulfilled it. When the refrigerator was invented, there was a need for a cooling unit. Physician John Gorrie used technology developed by an American inventor, Oliver Evans, in the early 1800s to build a refrigerator to cool the air for patients suffering from yellow fever. Gorrie’s machine served its purpose,

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and without it, we might not have refrigerators today! The point is that inventors see a need and seek to fill it. As society has advanced, so too have ways of fighting, and war naturally brings need. For example, women can thank, in part, World War II for getting them into the workforce. Before the war, women stayed at home and cared for the house and children. Unmarried women usually stayed at home with their parents. During World War II, thousands of men were sent overseas to fight, leaving women to fill the jobs that were left vacant. There were also job opportunities brought about by the war and designed specifically for women, such as nurses stationed in the war zones. Even when the men returned from war, many women chose to stay in these new roles. Different wars have brought different technologies, such as advanced machinery, weapons, and chemical warfare. Each technology has filled a need or was created with a specific goal in sight. The Vietnam War may have started nearly fifteen years after the end of World War II, but it was no different in having a need for invention and creating a space for that innovation to take place. The Climate in Vietnam The political and wartime climate created a need for invention during the Vietnam War. It was a long war, lasting for the better part of twenty years, and by the end of the two decades it spanned, the Vietnam conflict was wildly unpopular among US citizens. It didn’t start that way, though. In the mid-1950s, when the conflict in Vietnam began, most Americans felt that it was a worthwhile

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World War II was instrumental in creating a workplace for women.

cause for the nation to become involved in. Communism was spreading around the globe, and US citizens feared that allowing communist North Vietnam to take over South Vietnam was simply one more step in further communist takeover in Southeast Asia and beyond. Then-president Eisenhower described this possibility as a “falling domino” principle: If one country fell to communism, the rest of the countries in the region were likely to fall quickly, just as a row of dominoes falls quickly when the first one is tipped. Thus, because it was in Americans’ interest to support free governments and free trade, they supported US involvement in South Vietnam’s efforts toward resisting communist takeover.

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However, the war dragged on, and Americans began to be suspicious of the government’s claims that America and South Vietnam were winning the war and that victory was near. If they were really winning, people wondered, then why weren’t American soldiers coming home? Why were they still being killed daily in the air and on the battlegrounds of Vietnam? A feeling of unrest grew. A Demand for Better Reporting This skepticism on the part of the American public led to the need for better reporting of wartime events. Wars and foreign events had long been covered in newspapers, but the news often wasn’t immediately current. The American public wanted to know more, and they wanted to know it in a timelier manner. Enter photojournalism and video coverage of the war. Photojournalism had been around since the 1920s and had been used during World War II and the Korean War to some extent, but it became a prominent method of relating the news during the Vietnam War. Weekly magazines such as Life presented the stories from the battlefront in stark pictorials. People could see with their own eyes what was happening in Vietnam—and in many cases, they didn’t like it. A 1969 Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph called Saigon Execution may be one of the best examples of how photojournalism influenced public opinion of the war: Although the execution victim was a member of the Viet Cong and thus not supported by the majority of the American public, the stark brutality in the image of the South Vietnamese chief of police

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shooting the handcuffed, unarmed Viet Cong officer in cold blood shocked viewers and drove home the inhumanity in the war. The shooting was also captured on video by a cameraman for NBC. During the Vietnam War, photojournalism and video footage worked in tandem to present the images of the war to the American public. Unfortunately for General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the South Vietnamese police chief whose reputation was ruined by what was perceived as his cold-blooded execution of a Viet Cong officer, the video footage of the shooting had the same problem as the still photograph: it didn’t tell the whole story. The general lived out the rest of his life in disgrace, fleeing to the United States, where he opened a pizza restaurant in a mall outside Washington, DC, from which he had to retire when his identity as the executioner in the famous photograph was publicly disclosed. Even with the limitations of photojournalism and video, the fact remained that the Vietnam War created a need for these innovations. Given that, by nature, people are very visual creatures, the stories in pictures and film spoke to the American public in a way that words couldn’t. People weren’t content to sit back and wait for printed news about the situation in Vietnam— they wanted answers, and they wanted them now. A Demand for Safer Aircraft Despite the US government’s claims that American troops were fighting a successful battle in Vietnam, the reality was that communist North Vietnam and the Viet Cong in South Vietnam were powerful, and the disorganized South Vietnamese military

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Two Sides to Any Story One danger in photojournalism is that an image shows only a split second in time—it does not tell the viewer much of anything about the situation leading up to the moment depicted. In the case of Saigon Execution, the image shows the South Vietnamese police chief, General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, shooting a handcuffed Viet Cong officer, and the

In the eyes of its photographer, Saigon Execution recorded two deaths: that of the handcuffed Viet Cong and that of the police chief who pulled the trigger.

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pain on the victim’s face is clear as the bullet rips through his skull. In the eyes of the viewing public, the South Vietnamese police chief was a monster—a villain even among the side that the US was fighting on. However, there’s a reality not shown in the picture: the handcuffed Viet Cong who was shot was actually the commander of a Viet Cong death squad who had murdered dozens of unarmed civilians earlier that same day—the innocent family members of South Vietnamese National Police officers. Eddie Adams, the photojournalist who took the iconic photo, later wrote of the image: “Two people died in that photograph: the recipient of the bullet and General Nguyen Ngoc Loan. The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapons in the world. People believe them; but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only halftruths.” A 2009 documentary about Adams is aptly called An Unlikely Weapon, supporting the idea of photography as a “weapon.” Adams apologized to General Nguyen for the damage the photograph did to Nguyen’s reputation, and after Nguyen’s death, Adams called him a “hero.” The Pulitzer was a bit of a bitter prize to Adams, who expressed that he would’ve rather been known for the pictures he shot of Vietnamese boat people, which eventually led President Jimmy Carter to grant those two hundred thousand refugees asylum.

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was no match for them. The US military was doing its best to lend support, but it quickly became clear that some of their warfare needed updates. The most glaring need was for safer aircraft better suited for the dense and mountainous territory in South Vietnam. The US military was attempting to bring troops and supplies into South Vietnam via their military helicopters, but the helicopters were unarmed, and the Viet Cong quickly realized that they could disable the helicopters quite easily by using ground fire. The US had plenty of fighter jets—that technology had been around for quite a while—but jets didn’t really solve the problem because they required runways and air bases, neither of which were readily available in the rural, heavily vegetated areas of South Vietnam. The US needed helicopters that could drop troops and supplies and land in nearly any flat, open area, but they needed the helicopters to be armed so that troops could better defend themselves against enemy fire. A number of aircraft developers rose to the challenge and submitted designs for what became called attack helicopters. The US government ultimately awarded a contract to Bell Helicopters, who designed the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter that became an iconic symbol of US involvement in the Vietnam War. The Challenges of Terrain The same rugged, heavily vegetated territory that made it difficult to bring fighter planes into Vietnam presented another problem: it made for excellent cover for hiding Viet Cong, waiting to ambush South Vietnamese troops and incoming US troops. The United

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States’ answer to this dilemma was to implement a technology they had been working on with the United Kingdom: the use of herbicides for deforestation. Herbicides had been used to kill weeds and other undesirable vegetation for a while, but the United States hadn’t yet used them in a military situation. That changed with Vietnam—the United States saw herbicides as a means to an end. They could kill the vegetation in which the Viet Cong hid and thus expose the enemy. An added benefit, in the government’s eyes, was the fact that the herbicides would also kill the crops that Viet Cong guerrillas were using as a food supply. If they had no food, they would become malnourished and would be unable to continue fighting. The government ultimately ordered the spraying of more than 19 million gallons (72 million liters) of herbicide over 4.5 million acres (1.8 million hectares) of Vietnamese land. Three Technologies Change the Face of War There’s no doubt that the development and use of photojournalism and video footage; the design, development, and implementation of attack helicopters; and the spraying of herbicide for deforestation purposes changed the face of the Vietnam War. These inventions were developed to meet needs, and like many innovations, they ultimately had positive and negative ramifications on the war and on society as a whole. Their impact on the world lasted much longer than the war, however, and in many instances, they continue to shape societies around the world today.

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The Bell AH-1 Cobra became a symbol of the Vietnam War.

Chapter

Three

Attack Helicopters: The Bell AH-1 Cobra

B

elieve it or not, the idea of the helicopter was conceived of long before the Wright brothers ever started toying with

the science of flight. The ancient Chinese can be credited with creating the hand-spun “helicopter” toy that ultimately inspired the Wright brothers’ interest in flight, and in the mid-1500s, Leonardo da Vinci drew a machine that resembled the precursor to what is now the helicopter. In the late nineteenth century, the internal combustion engine was invented, and people used it to create full-sized helicopter models. However, these early models suffered from problems of torque. One nineteenth-century inventor with a particular interest in helicopters was Thomas Edison, but he eventually abandoned his work on them after a near-fatal accident that almost claimed the life of one of his cohorts.

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Invention continued into the early twentieth century, with much trial and error. The earliest helicopters were prone to flipping, for example, because of problems with the dissymmetry of lift. The French had some successes with early helicopter technology, as did the Spanish, the Dutch, the Italians, and even the Americans, but the first truly functional, practical helicopter, the Focke-Achgelis FA-61, was developed by the Germans in 1936. The Americans weren’t far behind, though. While the FA-61 was being developed and released, Russian-born inventor Igor Sikorsky was working on a helicopter in the United States. His VS-300 was released in 1940. Soon, the helicopter became a popular new method of air transport, especially for supplies. Before US involvement in the Vietnam War escalated in 1961, the United States military recognized a need for armed helicopters that could be used as attack aircraft. The standard military helicopters were susceptible to attack by the Viet Cong when the military would attempt to drop troops and supplies, or when they would try to evacuate soldiers in need of medical attention. Without any artillery, the helicopters could not protect themselves or the troops. It soon became clear that an attack helicopter would be a necessary part of the military’s tactics in the Vietnam War. Why Helicopters? Attack aircraft were nothing new—the military had been using them for decades—but the helicopters had several features that fighter planes did not. First, they were much easier to land. Much of the terrain where the Vietnam War was being fought was

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dense—there were jungles, of course, but even where it wasn’t jungle, the landscape often had heavy foliage. The landscape was also very mountainous in many parts. As such, landing strips required by fighter jets weren’t terribly common or practical. Helicopters, on the other hand, could land without runways. They were quick and easily maneuverable, particularly in landing situations. Thus, they were ideal for providing ground support, as well as for use in search-and-rescue missions and for medical evacuations. Further, they were excellent for surveillance— helicopter pilots would track down the enemy and report to US ground forces so that the ground forces could overtake them. However, there was an obvious problem. Because helicopters were typically unarmed, they were prime targets for the enemy. Sometimes armed aircraft would accompany helicopters and protect them from enemy fire, but this wasn’t always possible or feasible, depending on the terrain and the situation. It soon became clear that helicopter crews needed a way to protect their craft and the people aboard it, and arming the helicopter was the only logical solution. Arming wasn’t only for defense and protection. When designing an armed helicopter, it naturally followed that the helicopter would also serve in an attack capacity. Helicopters’ mobility and firepower were recognized as very valuable resources in the United States military’s strategy. The attack helicopter became more than just an aircraft with a defense capacity; it became a vital weapon. So important was the

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helicopter’s role in the Vietnam War that the war is sometimes referred to as the Helicopter War. The Prototypes The initial attack copter designed was the Bell UH-1 Huey. Bell Helicopters, a Texas company begun as Bell Aircraft Corporation in Buffalo, New York, in 1935, initially designed and built fighter planes, such as the P-59 Airacomet, which was the first American jet fighter. Bell expanded into helicopters in 1941 in an attempt to broaden its business base. Bell’s UH-1 Huey is sometimes seen as the iconic aircraft of the Vietnam War, but it was actually the predecessor of the more widely used Bell AH-1 Cobra (sometimes called the AH-1 HueyCobra). The problem with the UH-1 Huey was that it wasn’t robust enough to protect the crew and survive on the battlefield. The US Army was keen for a copter that could provide the necessary weapons capability and transport troops. The army was impressed by the Huey but recognized it as only a temporary solution until something more robust could be developed. The army put out feelers and began investigating other options. They created the Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) design competition in 1963, which yielded a number of submissions, such as the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne. However, like the Huey, the Cheyenne didn’t quite work for the army’s needs. At the same time, several other companies were developing potential attack copters, including Boeing-Vertol, Kaman, Piasecki,

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The UH-1 Huey When the Vietnam War broke out in 1961, the Bell UH-1 Huey had already been in use by the military for a couple of years. It was used for mountain rescue, troop transport, and anti-armor and anti-submarine warfare. Its specifications were similar to that of the AH-1 Cobra, but the Cobra was designed to be more robust for wartime situations. Although the AH-1 Cobra ended up being the attack copter of the Vietnam War, the UH-1 Huey is actually a more common helicopter—in fact, when you see images of helicopters used in Vietnam, you will often see the Huey. To date, 16,000 have been built, compared to the Cobra’s 1,116. The Huey was used extensively in the war, but not for the same attack purposes as the Cobra. Sadly, it suffered a rough fate in the war—the military lost more Hueys in the war than any other type of aircraft.

The Bell UH-1 Huey was a predecessor of the AH-1 Cobra.

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and Sikorsky. Meanwhile, Bell Helicopters went back to the drawing board and modified several designs. The US Army reviewed AAFSS entries for attack helicopters from Lockheed and other companies, but Bell was not involved in the competition. However, the AAFSS suffered from political and technical difficulties, and the army eventually asked Bell, BoeingVertol, Kaman, Piasecki, and Sikorsky to submit quick designs for attack copters. Bell responded with the Model 209 prototype, which eventually became the AH-1 Cobra after the army ordered 110 to be built. And the Winner Is: The Bell AH-1 Cobra The Cobra became the attack helicopter of the Vietnam War and eventually logged 1,038,969 flight hours during the war. The Cobra took its first flight in 1965 and was deployed into military action in 1967. It measured 58 feet (17.7 meters) long and just over 14 feet (4.3 m) high. It weighed more than 14,000 pounds (6,350 kilograms). Weaponry could include 70mm Folding Fin Aerial Rockets (FFARs), M200 nineteen-tube rocket launchers, a chin-mounted turret, multi-barrel mini-guns, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers, and other mission-specific weaponry. The Cobra’s maximum speed was 175 miles per hour (282 kilometers per hour), and it could fly at a height of just over 11,000 feet (3,353 m). Its flight range was about 450 miles (724 km). The Cobra was based on the engine, transmission, and rotor system of the UH-1 Huey, with a revised fuselage. The team at

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Bell Helicopters went through numerous designs before settling on the design of the Cobra. The final design placed the pilot and weapons specialist in a tandem cockpit, behind a short-nose assembly, with the pilot sitting behind the weapons specialist. The copter featured a large armored canopy made of plexiglass, which allowed the pilot and weapons specialist to have excellent visibility. The weapons station was turreted, and the profile of the cockpit was slim, with only one turboshaft installed behind the cockpit. The Cobra’s main rotor overhead had two wide blades, and the copter also featured a twin-blade tail rotor, which was on the starboard side of the craft next to the vertical tail fin. There were horizontal planes on the side of the tail stem, and wingstubs next to the fuselage allowed for mounted weapons. The Cobra’s undercarriage featured fixed landing skids. Sea Cobras Impressed by the maneuverability and arming capability of the AH-1 Cobra designed for the army, the US Marine Corps also ordered Cobras for use in Vietnam. The Marines’ version had a Pratt and Whitney Twinpac T400 engine, which was built of two 900-horsepower turboshaft engines put together. This engine resulted in increased power. The Marines also ordered the AH-1J Sea Cobra version, which had a new nose gun turret and a threebarrel XM-197 20mm cannon, as well as other improvements. Helicopter Losses Although combat helicopters such as the AH-1 Cobra were formidable weapons in the Vietnam War, they were not invincible.

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The United States Marine Corps reportedly lost a total of 270 helicopters, 7 of which were AH-1 Cobras. The United States Army lost a total of 5,086 helicopters, 270 of which were AH-1 Cobras. Interestingly, there were reported to be 11,827 helicopters used in the Vietnam War, which means the lost helicopters work out to be about 43 percent of the total number of helicopters involved. Five percent of the helicopters lost were AH-1 Cobras. Although that helicopter loss sounds staggering, note that over the decades the war lasted, there were always hundreds of helicopters assigned to army aviation units. So although the loss of helicopter crewmembers was understandably devastating, by the numbers it was not terribly surprising for the army to lose a dozen or so helicopters in a week—after all, they were flying in

An AH-1G Cobra, shown in Vietnam in 1969.

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an extremely violent war zone. The crewmember survival rate in these helicopters was actually relatively high. In total, there were more than 10,000 damaged or lost helicopters reported during the Vietnam War, but only 3,000 deaths and 2,300 injuries. In other words, for every two damaged or lost helicopters, there was an average of only one death or injury. Statistically speaking, the loss of life could have been much worse than it was, but thanks to the skill of the pilots and the safety of the aircraft, more people survived. A New Type of War The development and use of attack helicopters undeniably changed the face of war. Whereas World War I conjured images of soldiers fighting in trenches and World War II brought to mind fighter aircraft and the invasion of Normandy by sea, the iconic images of the Vietnam War involved attack helicopters hovering over a jungle landscape, with troops parachuting out of them or supplies being lowered to waiting soldiers. Without them, the conflict in Vietnam could have been much worse, with a much different ending.

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Before and After: The military sprayed Agent Orange over large swaths of land to prevent the enemy from hiding in the forested terrain.

Chapter

Four

Herbicidal Warfare: Agent Orange

E

arly in the Vietnam War, on January 9, 1962, the Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam welcomed a delivery

of a dangerous new weapon. It wasn’t an attack copter or a gun or a tank; rather, it was a seemingly innocuous herbicide known commonly as Agent Orange. One wouldn’t assume that a simple weed killer would be able to work as a silent but very dangerous weapon, but Agent Orange did just that. Its use by the United States military during the Vietnam War caused widespread devastation. Operation Ranch Hand Chemical warfare wasn’t anything new in the early 1960s. In fact, there is mention of chemical warfare in ancient societies. For instance, it was used by the Chinese as early as 1000 bce and by

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the Greeks as early as the Peloponnesian War in the early 400s bce. In more modern times, it was used extensively in World War I, in which the United States was involved. However, herbicidal warfare was another matter. In the midtwentieth century, the United States and the United Kingdom developed herbicides to be used for military applications. The British used these herbal weapons during the Malayan Emergency of the 1950s and the United States soon followed suit by launching the use of herbicidal warfare in the Vietnam War. This particular application of herbicidal warfare was dubbed

Rainbow Herbicides Although Agent Orange is the best known and most widely used type of herbicidal warfare utilized by the United States during the Vietnam War, accounting for about 60 percent of the herbicidal spraying, it was not the only type of herbicide used. Other herbicides, identified by color, were also introduced. The so-called rainbow herbicides used by the military included Agent Pink, Agent Green, Agent Purple, Agent Blue, Agent White, and four types of Agent Orange. According to the Vietnamese government, these rainbow herbicides resulted in the death or injury of approximately four hundred thousand people, and they suggest that half a million children were born with birth defects as a result of their use.

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Operation Ranch Hand, and it officially lasted from 1962 until 1971. Operation Ranch Hand resulted in 11.4 million gallons (43.2 million L) of Agent Orange being sprayed over South Vietnam over that time period. Unlike warfare tactics involving guns, bombs, or other heavy artillery, herbicidal warfare was a nearly silent, comparatively slow attack. Guns and bombs deliver immediate devastation, but the goal of herbicidal warfare was to destroy the forests that the Viet Cong guerrillas used for cover in South Vietnam. A second goal was to destroy the crops that supplied food for the guerrillas. Operation Ranch Hand was successful on both counts. A third, more insidious and perhaps less known result was the negative effects on the health of those who resided in areas sprayed with Agent Orange and other herbicides. Chemical Makeup and Production Agent Orange is the common name for a mixture of two herbicides—2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (also known as 2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (also known as 2,4,5-T). Together, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T make a highly effective and dangerous combination. The substance got its name because it was stored in orange-striped barrels. The two largest producers of Agent Orange were Dow Chemical and Monsanto, but other companies such as Diamond Shamrock, Uniroyal, and Thompson Chemicals also manufactured it.

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UC-123 planes sprayed Agent Orange over terrain south of Saigon.

Method of Delivery The US Air Force dispersed Agent Orange primarily by helicopters and UC-123 “Provider” cargo aircraft that were retrofitted with spray tanks. Some spraying was also done from trucks, boats, and .

even by hand, but the primary method of delivery—accounting for approximately 95 percent of spraying—was by aircraft. According to the US Air Force, during the tenure of Operation Ranch Hand there were more than 6,500 spraying missions, ultimately covering more than 20 percent of South Vietnam’s land.

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Effects on Landscape The effect of herbicide Agent Orange on the landscape of South Vietnam was profound. It’s estimated that the spraying ultimately destroyed approximately 500,000 acres (about 200,000 ha) of cultivated land and approximately 5 million acres (about 2 million ha) of forest land. This devastation of South Vietnam’s cropland resulted in widespread starvation and malnourishment. Initially, military personnel thought that the crops they were destroying were those used to feed Viet Cong guerrillas, but ultimately they discovered that much of the cropland they destroyed was actually meant to feed civilians of the region. Effects on Health A further concern about the US military’s use of Agent Orange was the adverse health effects reportedly due to its exposure. When the military sprayed Agent Orange, it was often at concentrations far higher than the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deemed to be safe. The full extent of the toxicity of Agent Orange on humans living in the sprayed areas was not fully known by all parties involved when the war and the use of the compound began, but by the end of the 1960s it was rapidly becoming apparent how dangerous the chemical was. No one suspects an herbicide to be beneficial to a person’s health, but the level of toxicity in these products can vary. Agent Orange, it turned out, was particularly toxic because the 2,4,5-T portion of the compound was contaminated by a dioxin known

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A Legal Loophole The 1925 Geneva Protocol governed the use of chemical weapons, and in 1966 the United Nations received resolutions saying that the United States’ use of Agent Orange was in violation of the protocol. However, the United States successfully argued that use of Agent Orange was not a violation of the protocol because the herbicide was not intended to target humans—rather, it was being used to destroy foliage that the Viet Cong used for cover.

as TCDD. When 2,4,5-T is manufactured, it can condense into TCDD by accidental overheating. Monsanto Chemical Company, one of the major manufacturers of 2,4,5-T, reportedly informed the US government in 1952 of this danger, but no precautions were taken. Thus, the Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War was potentially contaminated with TCDD, which biologist Arthur W. Galston of Yale University later referred to in a 1979 issue of BioScience journal as “perhaps the most toxic molecule ever synthesized by man.” Somewhat ironic is the fact that Agent Orange was actually developed based on a compound that Galston discovered while working on his PhD in plant biology. Galston was horrified by the development of Agent Orange because he was concerned about the potential side effects to humans and the

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environment. He ultimately led the successful campaign to stop the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam. The US Army performed toxicity studies on 2,4,5-T in 1963 and found increased risk of a severe but usually reversible skin condition called chloracne, as well as respiratory problems. That same year, the President’s Science Advisory Committee reported the possible health dangers of herbicide use in general to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Despite government awareness of the potential dangers of Agent Orange, it continued to be used in Vietnam until April 1970. In fact, it was used most heavily in 1969; 3.25 million gallons (12.3 million L) were sprayed in that year alone. By the time the use of Agent Orange ended in 1970, it’s estimated that more than 11 million gallons (42 million L) had been sprayed over about 20 percent of South Vietnam. In his research, Arthur Galston found that extremely small quantities of TCDD could produce adverse health effects in laboratory animals. At a concentration of 5 ppt (parts per trillion; imagine one drop in 4 million gallons, or 15 million liters, of water), TCDD could cause rats to develop a cancerous condition. At a higher concentration of 1 ppb (part per billion), these animals were found to suffer from premature death from acute causes. Furthermore, Galston found that lower concentrations of TCDD caused the same effects as higher concentrations; they simply took longer to do so. However, it was difficult to know just what the actual effect of Agent Orange on humans’ health was because in any given

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spraying of the chemical, it was impossible to know how much TCDD the application contained. Tests were conducted on the stored supply the government had after the war, and from those results it is suspected that the Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War contained levels of TCDD up to 140 ppm (parts per million). It was also impossible to know how much of the chemical the people on the ground were exposed to. Certainly they could inhale it from the air and potentially ingest it from their food or water supplies, but it’s impossible to know how toxic the amount people ingested or inhaled was. Finally, the diseases caused by Agent Orange exposure could also be caused by other factors, so it was impossible to know whether a person became ill due to Agent Orange exposure or due to other factors. Nevertheless, Galston concluded that there was enough evidence to warrant people living or working in heavily sprayed areas of Vietnam having concerns about their health and asked the government to look into it. By 1970, there was enough research and concern about the use of Agent Orange for the United States government to suspend the use of it for military purposes. By the late 1970s, it was beginning to be apparent that Agent Orange had likely caused adverse health effects in those exposed to it. Some veterans who had been stationed in areas of Vietnam treated with Agent Orange died prematurely, suffered from a number of debilitating illnesses, or had children born with serious defects. When claims first began to surface about negative health effects due to Agent Orange exposure, the Veterans’ Administration (VA)

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insisted that chloracne, the reversible skin condition, was the only known condition caused by Agent Orange; however, the VA has since officially recognized that Agent Orange exposure may be associated with the later development of diseases. These include chronic B-cell leukemia, type 2 diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease, prostate cancer, several other cancers (lung, larynx, trachea, and bronchus), and soft-tissue sarcomas. The VA has also acknowledged that certain birth defects affecting the children of veterans of the Vietnam War may be due to Agent Orange exposure. The VA specifically mentions spina bifida, but also comments that women who served in Vietnam may have children with the following birth defects: cleft lip/palate, congenital heart disease, clubfoot, neural tube defects, Poland syndrome, fused digits (fingers and toes), and many more. In other words, the VA will not specifically link the birth defects in the above list to Agent Orange, but they do acknowledge that these defects may be caused by the child’s mother having served in Vietnam. The long-term effects of the use of Agent Orange were devastating, and certainly if the government could have predicted just how far-reaching they would be, this military strategy likely never would have been enacted. Still, there is compelling evidence that the government was aware of potential hazards of the use of Agent Orange and continued to use it in herbicidal warfare, which only served to shake the soldiers’ and their families’ confidence in the officials who were supposed to be making beneficial decisions for US citizens at large.

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Stark pictures of the happenings in Vietnam brought home the gravity of the conflict for American viewers.

Chapter

Five

Photojournalism and Video Footage

T

he media has presented war to the public for more than a century. Early newspapers in Europe, the United Kingdom,

and the United States covered stories of war and political unrest, and even as far back in US history as the Civil War, photographers shot images of war. As printing and newspaper technologies were further developed, newspapers began to include images taken in war-torn areas, giving readers a visual depiction of the realities of war. However, it wasn’t until the Vietnam War that photojournalism and video footage really allowed the American public to take a deep, graphic look inside a war.

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Photojournalism In the simplest sense, photojournalism involves using photographs to communicate news—the pictures tell the story, although sometimes captions or some text are included. Primarily, the pictures are the storytellers. We’re told that a picture is worth a thousand words, so it makes sense that one little picture could express a multitude of information. Naturally, the subject of the image tells us something, but the background details can add as much or more to the unfolding story, too. Although it’s difficult to pin down an exact date when photographers began documenting stories through photojournalism, it’s generally thought to be in the mid1920s, around the time the first 35mm camera was invented.

Photojournalists recorded gruesome images of the war, but also quieter moments, like this one of two soldiers taking a brief rest.

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Photojournalism became a more prominent medium just before and during World War II, particularly when Life magazine was launched by Henry Luce, a magazine publisher who also launched Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, among other publications. At that time, newspapers included some pictures, but they were still primarily composed of written articles. Magazines like Life, however, relied on photojournalism to document world political happenings. For the first time, the American public could see what was going on overseas rather than just reading about it. There were a number of noteworthy early photojournalists, but one particularly prominent one was David Douglas Duncan, a Life magazine photojournalist who documented World War II, the Korean War, and later the Vietnam War in stark detail. He also covered wars in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The Missouri native is now recognized as one of the most important photojournalists of the twentieth century. Another renowned photojournalist of the twentieth century was Eddie Adams, a photojournalist from Pennsylvania, who documented in photographs thirteen wars and won a 1969 Pulitzer Prize for his photograph Saigon Execution, taken during the Vietnam War. A War in Video Photojournalism was a powerful medium for the story of the Vietnam War, but it wasn’t the only medium. By the time the Vietnam War broke out, more than 80 percent of Americans had a television in their home, and by the end of the war, more than

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The April 7, 1967, issue of Life magazine showed Vietnamese citizens taking shelter during an air raid—not an uncommon occurrence for them, but certainly jarring to American viewers.

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60 percent of Americans were watching television for news on the war. Photojournalism and video footage, then, worked together to paint the picture of the Vietnam War. One factor that made video footage of the war particularly powerful was that the technology of color video had been implemented. Before the start of the war, most television programming was in black and white, but by the end of the war, most programming was done in color, and more US households were purchasing color televisions. The war footage could then be viewed in full color, adding a realism that wasn’t possible in a black-and-white format. A further improvement in video technology during this time was the invention of satellite broadcast. In 1961, AT&T, Bell Labs (no relation to Bell Helicopters), NASA, the British Post Office, and the French National Post Office set forth an agreement to develop and launch two mobile telecommunications satellites. Just one year later, TELSTAR, the first of these satellites, was launched from Kennedy Space Center and delivered the first transatlantic reception of a television signal. This immediate communication revolutionized how the media could deliver video coverage of foreign wars. Where previously it had taken days or even weeks to learn about issues in foreign countries, now the media could transmit information immediately. The TELSTAR satellite itself faced some technical issues that limited its service to only seven months, but its importance in launching satellite broadcast cannot be overstated.

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The Technology Photographs and video brought the images of the Vietnam War to the public, but how? What tools did these photojournalists and videographers of the war use to tell these stories? Photojournalists primarily used 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras and 35mm rangefinders to capture the stark images of the Vietnam War. The Nikon F2 and Canon F1 were both used extensively in the latter part of the war, but the Nikon was particularly popular among military combat photographers because it could easily withstand the hot, humid climate of Vietnam. At that time, Canon wasn’t as well known of a brand, so

One Pricy Camera! In 2012, Life magazine photojournalist David Douglas Duncan’s Leica M3D-2, which he used to capture images of the Vietnam War, sold at an Austrian auction for a staggering amount of nearly $2 million! Duncan’s M3D-2 was one of only four of that model of camera ever produced. The M3D-2 was prized by press photographers because it was light and very quiet. The M3D-2 likely sold for around $230 when it was produced in 1955. The nearly $2 million it fetched at the auction makes it the most expensive production camera ever sold. Fear not, though: the lucky bidder didn’t only get the Leica for his nearly $2 million—he also got a selection of images Duncan took at Khe Sanh.

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it wasn’t used quite as extensively as Nikon. Some photographers shot with Olympus SLRs, and Minoltas were also used, though they were considered a slight step down from Nikons in quality. The 35mm rangefinders, such as the Leica M2 and M3, were preferred by some photographers due to their small size, their light weight, and the high-quality images they produced. Rangefinders incorporated a focusing tool that let the photographer find the range and measure the subject distance to better capture images in sharp focus. Basically, the photographer saw two images in the range-finding device and manually turned a ring. When the two images, which were superimposed, lined up, that indicated perfect focus. With an SLR, the photographer saw just one image, directly through the lens. The SLR also incorporated a mirror, whereas rangefinders were mirrorless. Using an SLR was an easier way to shoot, but the resulting photograph from a rangefinder could be of higher quality. Photojournalist David Douglas Duncan used both Nikons and Leicas. He shot images of the Korean War with a Nikon rangefinder, but he later used a Leica M3D-2 to shoot some of his iconic images of the Vietnam War. Another important development of note was that when cameras were first produced, they were generally owned by professional photographers. However, by the time of the Vietnam War, many amateur photographers and non-professional photographers owned cameras—basically, the average Joe could afford to own a camera, and many did. So, while the really iconic images of the war were taken by photojournalists, there were also soldiers, civilians,

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and military personnel who had cameras and took pictures. Media outlets used the pictures shot by the pros, but an in-depth look at photography from the war will also yield personal photographs taken by non-professional photographers. In fact, Nikons were much cheaper to purchase in Asia than in the United States, so a number of military personnel bought cameras while over there and brought them home. Video Technology During the Vietnam War Era Although still cameras had been around since the 1800s, when the Vietnam War broke out, video technology was much newer and less refined. Video cameras existed, and footage could even be shot in color, but there were some issues of quality. The sensors in video cameras were sensitive and unforgiving, so sudden flashes of bright light could cause a certain degradation in video quality. There were issues with interleaving—basically, a process where data is arranged in small chunks—and kinescopes—television picture tubes—as well. To the modern viewer, footage of the Vietnam War appears choppy and grainy, with flashes of artifacts on the screen. This image quality was characteristic of 1960s television footage, and to 1960s viewers it was still rather revolutionary. The moving images that now look dated and of poor quality were the only moving images many people had seen of war footage. They were captivated by the content, even if the quality was still rather crude.

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Effect on the Viewing Public For so many people, pictures are indeed worth a thousand words. The visual learners among us soak in what we see in pictures and piece together a story in our heads. So it was with the video footage and photojournalism of the Vietnam War. People were transported thousands of miles to the jungles and croplands of South Vietnam, watching the horror of the war and the brutality of the Viet Cong guerrillas unfold before their eyes. Perhaps more than any other war, the Vietnam War became real to civilians because of how it was presented in pictures and video. There was no escaping the harsh realities of war when the images were captured.

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The victims of Agent Orange were numerous. This young woman was born in 1976 to parents who were affected by the Agent Orange used during the war.

Chapter

Six

The Vietnam War and the DoubleEdged Sword

C

hange can be intimidating. Many people thrive on predictability and routine and are frightened of or

ambivalent about change. However, as frightening as it is, change is very often good, too. As a society, we would never move ahead were it not for change. Civil rights, workplace equality, these are things that would not have progressed at all if people hadn’t pushed for change. Included in this is technological change. It has brought our society forward in many ways. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have been a nonstop hundred or so years of technological development, and as these changes have occurred, people have had mixed emotions about many of them. When the Wright brothers took their maiden flight of the Flyer, many people thought flying was only for birds and swore they’d

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never set foot on a plane. Today, many thousands of people get on airplanes every day, buckle their seatbelts, and enjoy the ride. Our technological changes have resulted in flight, automobiles, computers, the Internet, medical developments that have increased the life expectancy for people, and so much more. All of these changes have been spurred by a need, and while they have required people to adjust, they have brought about benefits. Change During War As mentioned earlier, war brings about change and innovation. In a time of war, our normal order of things is in a state of upheaval, and the changes happening around us—both on and off the battlefield—necessitate other changes. This is true in any war, and it was certainly true in the Vietnam War, which occurred at a time when technology was booming and innovation was unfolding right in front of our eyes. Three innovations that occurred during the Vietnam War—the invention of the attack helicopter, the use of photojournalism to convey the news, and the use of Agent Orange as a combat tool—were particularly influential to the conflict and to society.

A New Type of Aircraft The territory in South Vietnam wasn’t particularly hospitable for a war—at least, not for American troops, who weren’t used to jungles. Much of South Vietnam was very rural, with lots of mountains and heavily forested jungles. This was great for the Viet Cong, who used the jungle territory to hide, but it wasn’t advantageous for the US troops, who were unfamiliar with the region.

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Attack helicopters were ubiquitous in Vietnam during the war.

Another major issue was the lack of landing space for aircrafts. There weren’t a lot of airstrips in the rural area, and the region is so mountainous and covered in trees and vegetation that finding large strips of flat land to build an airstrip wasn’t an easy task. Helicopters were a much better option because they could be set down in smaller flat areas and did not require runways. However, helicopters were also sitting ducks for the Viet Cong, who hid out in the jungled areas and opened fire on incoming US aircraft. Sometimes the US could send armed planes into an area to guard a helicopter as it dropped off crew or supplies or evacuated soldiers

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with medical needs, but that wasn’t always feasible, either. Thus, as mentioned, it became necessary to invent attack helicopters that could defend themselves against enemy fire. The attack helicopter helped the US and South Vietnam gain a better footing in the war effort. For much of the very long war, the United States’ primary role was as support for the South Vietnamese army. The US advised the army, but they also provided weapons and supplies to the South Vietnamese army. With the AH-1 Cobra and other attack helicopters, the United States was much more able to provide steady, consistent support. They could safely drop off weapons and supplies, as well as troops, and they could safely evacuate the troops in need of medical assistance. No more were they sitting ducks just waiting to be attacked by the Viet Cong; now they could not only defend themselves, but they could also strike on offense if needed. There were still a lot of helicopter-related accidents and deaths after the invention of the attack copter, but not nearly as many as before. With armed helicopters, the Americans had a fighting chance of completing their missions without being shot down.

A New Type of Media Very often, technology is a double-edged sword. Such was the case with photojournalism and the use of video to provide news of the war. Both photojournalism and video brought the Vietnam War to life in a way that previous wars had not been seen. Many people respond strongly to visuals—in fact, according to the Social Science Research Network, 65 percent of people are visual

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learners. Stark images and brutal video clips of the violence in Vietnam resonated with the American public. Unlike for the wars before it—even the Korean War, which occurred not long before the conflict began in Vietnam— television was a major presence in American households. In 1950, only about 9 percent of American homes had a television set; by 1966, that number had skyrocketed to 93 percent. With people turning to television news and weekly news magazines such as Life to get their news of the war, they were bombarded by imagery of

American broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite was a familiar face on TV during the Vietnam War.

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the war. So prominent was television broadcasting in the reporting of the war that Vietnam became known as the living-room war—that is, TV news coverage of the war was widely accessible and strongly influenced public opinion. People trusted the news they were getting on television. Newscaster Walter Cronkite was referred to as the “most trusted man in America” because viewers felt he presented a more unbiased view of the war than they got through the newspapers. Americans steadily grew to trust television news reporting more than the newspapers—by 1972, 48 percent of American surveyed said they trusted television news, whereas only 21 percent said they trusted newspapers. Americans felt—perhaps rightfully—that the government had a role in censoring newspaper reporting, whereas television reporters were largely uncensored. Indeed, the television reporting of the war was largely free of government censorship. However, it was not free of media censorship. Reporters themselves censored what they covered, in a way—they could pick and choose what to report. Similarly, the television stations could pick and choose what to show. Television is, at its core, a business that seeks to make a profit, and news stations made decisions about what to show based partly on ratings. Television—even news—loves a good story, and the drama that made for a good story was what news stations often chose to feature. This is where the doubleedged sword came into play. The American public was able to be involved in the war like never before, but the media portrayal had its bias, as the media often does.

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Cover-Ups: The My Lai Massacre In some ways, the United States government didn’t do much to inspire people’s confidence during the Vietnam War. The American people felt the government was being dishonest in their portrayal of the war— either painting a rosy picture that trumped up America’s successes and downplayed its failures or completely covering up vital news about the war. The My Lai Massacre in March 1968 is a prime example of why many Americans lost faith in the news of the war presented by the government. In the incident, a US platoon known as Charlie Company, led by Lieutenant William L. Calley, was dispatched to a village called Quang Ngai—in particular, to a hamlet called My Lai 4. They were told that anyone in My Lai was a member of the Viet Cong or a Viet Cong sympathizer, and thus the hamlet should be destroyed. However, when the American soldiers arrived, they found the hamlet to consist of unarmed women, children, and elderly citizens. Instead of aborting their mission, the platoon slaughtered somewhere between two hundred and five hundred unarmed civilians. What’s more, they raped and tortured people before killing them, and they dragged dozens of people, including babies and young children, into ditches and executed them with automatic weapons. The massacre only came to an end when Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, an army helicopter pilot, landed in the midst of the slaughter and threatened to open fire unless the soldiers ceased their attack. High-ranking army officers covered up the incident for a full year, until a soldier wrote to President Nixon, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and several congressmen. That letter was mostly ignored, but a year later an investigative journalist got wind of the story and interviewed Lieutenant Calley. Suddenly, My Lai was front-page news. If not for that investigative journalist, the incident might never have come to light. Understandably, this sort of thing bred mistrust between the American people and the government.

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Television coverage wasn’t the only malleable part. Still photographs from the war presented a picture of events but not necessarily the entire picture. As mentioned earlier in the example of the Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph Saigon Execution, what a photograph shows is merely a single moment in time. There is no back story attached to it. With Saigon Execution, viewers were stunned by the brutality shown in the image and condemned the South Vietnamese police chief who shot the handcuffed Viet Cong officer, but in reality, the victim was himself a brutal member of the Viet Cong who had, earlier that day, killed numerous innocent civilians in cold blood. It became difficult for the viewing public to know the truth represented in images and on television. Could they trust their eyes, or was there more to the story than they knew? By the latter part of the Vietnam War, the conflict was incredibly unpopular with the American public and with many of the US troops. Based in large part on what they had seen in the media, Americans felt the US government was sending American soldiers to be needlessly slaughtered in a conflict they had no place being in. They saw the war as pointless and questioned the motivation for it. This antiwar attitude was further cemented when the media showed coverage of the National Guard firing into a crowd of war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four and wounding nine. The government was seen as being on one side of a line, with antiwar Americans on the other. The unity of the country was being tested, and the presence of media played a role in that.

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There are some who believe South Vietnam (and by extension, their supporter, the United States) lost the war in large part due to the lack of public support, which was enhanced by the media coverage of the conflict. That can never be proven or disproven; it remains only a theory. It’s clear that for better or for worse, photojournalism and video coverage changed the face of the Vietnam War and how we interpret the news. The Kent State University Shootings The events leading up to the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State University are hazy. What is known is that antiwar protesters rallied on the Kent State campus on Friday, May 1, 1970, protesting United States involvement in the Vietnam War under the leadership of President Richard Nixon. The rally started peacefully but grew more violent as protestors built bonfires in the streets of downtown Kent, stopped vehicles, hit police cars with bottles, and broke store windows. Police stopped the protest by using tear gas in the downtown crowd. Saturday and Sunday, tensions were high on the Kent campus and the surrounding town, and further protests resulted in a wooden ROTC building being burned, presumably by the radical protesters who cheered as the building burned (though their guilt was never proven). Law enforcement felt unable to handle the thousands of protesters and the growing unrest in Kent, so some one thousand members of the Ohio National Guard were called in to diffuse the situation. Student protest leaders called for a second rally to take place on

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Life magazine covered the Kent State shootings in its May 15, 1970, issue.

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Monday, May 4, 1970, despite university officials declaring that the rally would be prohibited. The protesters went ahead with the May 4 rally, and eventually protesters and guardsmen found themselves in a standoff on a practice football field. The exact details of what followed are vague, but what is known is that the National Guard fired more than sixty shots into the crowd in thirteen seconds, killing four people and wounding nine. Some who were present that day say that the guardsmen fired into the crowd without provocation; others support the guardsmen, who say they fired because they feared for their safety. What is known is that the event made national news and served to fuel antiwar sentiments and a growing American distrust of the Nixon administration. A New Type of Weapon In the Revolutionary War, Continental troops fought with muskets; the Civil War brought about the machine gun and the grenade; chemical weapons became prevalent in World War I; tanks and armored vehicles were common in World War II; and both World Wars used fighter planes as well. Guns and other conventional weapons have long been a staple of war, but the Vietnam War looked outside these types of weapons to a new destructive force—so simple and yet so effective. Herbicides, used by farmers to kill weeds and unwanted plants, found use as the chemical weapons of the Vietnam War. They were sprayed in

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millions of gallons over the countryside of South Vietnam in an attempt to deforest the region and deprive Viet Cong troops of major resources. Again, technology is a double-edged sword here. Ethically, the implications of spraying herbicide over large regions are horrifying at best. The Viet Cong were far from the only people affected; South Vietnamese civilians were affected by the thousands. They lost their food supply, and many became malnourished or starved. Moreover, they were exposed to toxic chemicals far beyond the maximum levels recommended by the EPA. American troops stationed in Vietnam were also affected by the toxicity of the chemicals. Many people who came in contact with large doses of the chemical suffered illness or premature death. Some eventually gave birth to children with defects thought to be caused by chemical exposure. There is just no way to consider this a positive use of technology from a humanitarian sense. However, if you strip out the human aspect, this technological development was nothing short of brilliant in a strategic sense. American troops were ill prepared to fight the Viet Cong in a jungle region, so the government found an innovative way to solve the problem: remove the jungle. Further, the idea of depriving members of the Viet Cong of their food source was strategically wise, too. Malnourished men would not be equipped to fight. In both cases, the problem was with the execution. There was no good way to apply Agent Orange and other herbicides to only the areas inhabited by the Viet Cong and no way to ensure that only the

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Viet Cong’s food supply was affected. Spraying the area occupied by the Viet Cong meant spraying the area occupied by innocent civilians as well. The technology was rather brilliant, but smart, humane, and ecologically conscious execution was impossible. Innovation Certainly, the Vietnam War was changed by the development of these three technologies. In some cases, those changes were negative, but in other ways they were positive. Like most change, it is a balancing act—do the positives outweigh the negatives? In some cases, there’s just no clear answer. All we can really do is respect the innovation and learn from it.

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Attack helicopters, invented during the Vietnam War, are still in use today.

Chapter

Seven

Innovation Today

E

ven when innovation doesn’t end up lasting, it generally still has an effect on future technology. Future inventions

and innovations build on the technology of the past—both its successes and its failures. Take Betamax video recording and playback technology, for example. It was developed by Sony in 1975 and was considered revolutionary at the time. VHS followed just a year later, released by JVC in 1976. For a while, there was a war of videotape formats—some people had Betamax, and some had VHS. Ultimately, VHS won out, and Betamax became obsolete. However, VHS’s victory was not for long. It, too, became obsolete when DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming technologies were released. The point is that both Betamax and VHS contributed to technology and led to future developments. Without Betamax,

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there would be no DVD, Blu-ray, or streaming. So, too, is it with the technologies developed during the Vietnam War. Three key technologies—attack helicopters, the use of Agent Orange, and photojournalism—were among many that changed the face of the Vietnam War. There is no doubt they had an effect on future society. They may not all still be in use, but they certainly changed society permanently. The AH-1 Cobra The Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter is no longer in active use by the United States Army, though it was used as recently as the Gulf War (1990–1991). It has now been replaced by Boeing’s AH-64 Apache. The United States Marine Corps still uses a version of the Cobra, the twin-engine AH-1W SuperCobra, but it is being upgraded to the Bell AH-1Z Viper, which is based on the SuperCobra. Some militaries, including the Pakistan Army, still use the AH-1 Cobra, however. Even in the United States the surplus Cobras have not simply been retired—the US Forest Service uses twenty-five AH-1Fs in their Firewatch Cobra program, and the Florida Division of Forestry uses three in firefighting. Even though the AH-1 Cobra is not being used as frequently, there’s no doubt that it has influenced combat aircraft since the Vietnam War. Other attack helicopters are still being used in the most recent war with Afghanistan, and it’s likely that they will continue to be used by the military for the foreseeable future.

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Britain’s Prince Harry flies an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, which was a successor to the Bell AH-1 Cobra.

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Agent Orange Agent Orange and the use of herbicides in warfare at first seemed brilliant—destroy the jungle, and the Viet Cong would have no place to hide; destroy the area’s crops, and the Viet Cong would have nothing to eat and would be unable to fight. However, it didn’t take long to realize the humanitarian crisis and the negative ecological consequences of widespread toxic chemical use. There was no way to target only the enemy—civilians and soldiers were also subject to the negative effects of the chemicals, and their food supply was diminished as well. What hurt the Viet Cong ended up hurting many more people. Agent Orange was banned in the United States in 1971. On April 8, 1975, under Executive Order 11850, President Gerald Ford renounced the use of chemical herbicides in future wars. No longer could the military dump massive amounts of herbicides over widespread areas where it would potentially affect civilians. The remaining canisters of Agent Orange from the Vietnam War were reportedly taken to an island 700 miles (1,126 km) from Hawaii and destroyed in 1978. Since then, no further Agent Orange has been manufactured. However, herbicides may still be used to control vegetation within US bases and their immediate defensive perimeters and 2,4-D, a key pesticide component in Agent Orange, is still being used. Dow Chemical, one of the manufacturers of Agent Orange, is reportedly developing a genetically engineered corn crop that will be resistant to 2,4-D. Farmers growing the crop could thus use the pesticide on their

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Despite protests, herbicides are still being used in the United States, although no longer as a means of warfare.

crops to kill any weeds threatening them. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Food Safety have both fought to ban the sale of 2,4-D, but so far they have not been successful— in 2012, the EPA officially denied their petition to ban the sale of 2,4-D. The EPA has stated that their findings support that 2,4-D is safe for use at the anticipated exposure level. Agent Orange and the use of herbicides in warfare are a thing of the past, but the chemical components of Agent Orange are still alive and well. Whether they are indeed safe for use remains to be seen. The Living Room War The Vietnam War is sometimes called the living-room war because of the powerful role the media played in the conflict. News stations covered the war extensively, and people saw in their own living

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rooms the brutality unfolding overseas. This helped provoke a strong antiwar sentiment among many, and there are those who will argue that the war was lost due to the lack of public support that resulted from all of the media coverage of the war. Others, however, recognize media coverage of the war as a positive. For the first time, people at home could see the events of the war unfolding. Many thought the television news reports were likely more honest than the information being fed to newspapers by politicians, who had long censored newspaper reporting. That may be true, but certainly there was a level of media censorship to consider—reporters covered what they chose to, and television stations looked to feature what would bring in ratings. As Daniel Hallin, author of The “Uncensored War”: The Media and Vietnam, states, “Television crews quickly learned that what New York [where the news studios were located] wanted was ‘bang-bang’ footage, and this, along with the emphasis on the American soldier, meant that coverage of Vietnamese politics and of the Vietnamese generally was quite limited.” In other words, the video footage being fed to the American public wasn’t necessarily tainted by political censorship, but it was certainly slanted in one direction; viewers weren’t getting both sides of the story. Photojournalism, too, suffered from unavoidable bias. The images of war shot by photojournalists showed only a brief moment in time, with no context or backstory in which to seat them. Take, for example, this image (above right) of South Vietnamese soldiers under fire.

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Looking at this image, all we can see is a line of soldiers apparently under fire. t’s easy to immediately feel compassion for the soldiers—they’re the “good guys,” and they’re being fired on. However, as simply viewers of the image, we have no idea what has gone on up to this point. Are these South Vietnamese soldiers returning from a raid where they burned down a village and killed innocent civilians? It’s possible. Or, it’s possible that they were simply marching to their next post when they were ambushed by Viet Cong. There’s just no way to tell without more information than what is shown in the images. It’s easy to see images as truth because when composed well, a picture can appear to show unvarnished truth, but it’s also easy to be misled by what we think we see in a picture.

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A New (Social) Media During the Vietnam War, television was still a relatively new form of media, and magazines such as Life that used photojournalism to present the news were also fairly new on the scene. Nowadays, we have another new player on the media scene: social media. Social media allows us to get even more news of events from around the world, and more quickly than ever before. Tweets and Facebook posts can go viral in a matter of hours, if not sooner. Anyone and everyone who has an opinion about a current event can post it on social media.

Social media is one of the newest ways of disseminating news and information, but it is fraught with potential bias and lack of objectivity.

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The immediacy and availability of social media is, like many innovations, both a blessing and a curse. It’s beneficial to be able to find out right away about, say, a devastating earthquake in Nepal, so we can reach out to relief organizations and offer help. It’s wonderful to be able to share causes we feel strongly about and to reach out to people in need of support. Sometimes, though, social media presents an overload of uncensored information. One only needs to look to the presidency of Barack Obama and his electoral race against Mitt Romney to see that. Loyal Obama supporters posted feverish praise of him on social media and linked to articles commending his leadership. At the same time, those against Obama posted articles decrying his policies and motives. Worse still, some detractors posted questionable “truths” about him, questioning his religious beliefs, his birthplace, and anything else they felt might undermine his chance to win the presidency. The same was true on the other side: Romney supporters posted articles and information praising him, and those against Romney dug into his past and current practices to find any sort of material they could to paint him like a rich, elitist man completely out of touch with the American public. The 2012 presidential election was the ugliest in recent history, and much of that is due to the uncensored nature of social media. If social media had been around in the time of the Vietnam War, no doubt tensions among the American public would have been even stronger. How it will affect future wars and political situations remains to be seen.

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This has been a continuing issue in society ever since photojournalism and video footage became common forms of media. Certainly, we still rely on these types of media. If anything, they’ve become even more prominent now, thanks to the Internet and social media. A video clip of a police officer shooting an apparently unarmed man can make the rounds of social media and the Internet in a matter of hours, igniting outrage over the perceived situation. Time and again, we see that we cannot know the whole truth from just one photograph or just a video clip. Was the shooting a case of police brutality, or was it justifiable? Sometimes the truth never reveals itself, and we are left to try to piece it together with just what we see in the media. It’s an unreliable process at best. The lack of government censorship of media during the Vietnam War also opened the government’s eyes to the problems that can arise when the public has access to uncensored media. Their reaction has been to censor the media where they can. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the rights of freedom of the press and free speech, but to the extent possible, the government does try to censor what the media presents. In a 2012 article, Google reported that it received more than a thousand requests from governments around the world to remove items such as YouTube videos and search listings—Google says they complied with more than half of the requests. These numbers of requests for censorship are a matter of public record; Google publishes them twice a year in its Transparency Report. In

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case you think this is a decreasing trend, note that in mid-2013 the number of government requests soared to more than 3,800. The United States certainly isn’t alone in censoring the media, and they don’t have the strongest censorship rules, either. Eritrea, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia are listed as the three countries with the most restricted press freedom. Vietnam also made the list of the top ten countries for government censorship of media. However, the fact remains that the United States does practice censorship, and that is in part due to the media’s effect on antiwar sentiments during the Vietnam War. Whether this censorship is positive or negative is a matter of opinion. Some say that although the American public claims to want uncensored news, in reality they couldn’t handle it. (Some believe too much knowledge is a dangerous thing.) Others adamantly believe in freedom of the press and freedom of speech and will decry censorship to the bitter end. The important takeaway is to know that it exists and why it exists. The Future The beauty of history is that it’s a living, breathing entity. History is built every single day, every single minute. How these three innovations—attack helicopters, Agent Orange, and photojournalism—will continue to affect society in the future remains to be seen. That history is still being written.

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Glossary assembly The part of a helicopter that allows the pilot to adjust the angle of the rotor blades. The assembly is made up of upper and lower swash plates, with ball bearings between them. attack helicopter An armed helicopter used for defense and offense. boat people Refugees who leave their home country by boat. The term is often applied to the Vietnamese people who fled the country in small boats after the Vietnam War for Hong Kong, Australia, and elsewhere. censor To examine media and suppress the parts that aren’t deemed to be acceptable for the general public. communist Adhering to the principles of communism, a political system originally conceived by Karl Marx in which all property and resources are collectively owned by a classless society rather than by individual people. Continental A term referring to the British citizens who colonized America and fought to gain their independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. dioxin An extremely toxic compound that is produced as a by-product in a manufacturing process. Dioxins are often produced in herbicide production and are serious environmental pollutants. fragging Deliberately killing a military officer, usually with a hand grenade.

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fuselage An aircraft’s main body. Geneva Accords Agreements reached in 1954 to temporarily divide Vietnam into two regions: North Vietnam and South Vietnam. guerrillas Members of a small independent group of fighters who typically fight against larger, more organized forces. In the Vietnam War, people living in South Vietnam but desiring communist rule often fought as guerrillas. herbicide A toxic substance used to destroy unwanted vegetation. insurgents Rebels or revolutionaries. nepotism Showing favor to relatives or friends by giving them preferential treatment with regard to jobs and appointments. patent A government license that establishes a right of ownership for a set period of time. Patents ensure that others cannot create the same invention that has just been created by someone else. photojournalism The communication of news through photographs. platoon A group of soldiers led by a lieutenant. rangefinder A camera that allows the photographer to accurately measure distances to achieve sharp focus. ROTC A military organization called the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. High schools and colleges often have ROTC organizations affiliated with them. 17th parallel The dividing line between North and South Vietnam, established by the Geneva Accords of 1954. The line ran roughly along latitude 17º north. Third World During the Cold War, referring to countries allied neither with the United States nor the Soviet Union. Today, the term is

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used more generally to refer to developing countries, usually in Asia, Africa, or Latin America. torque The twisting force that causes rotation, such as in a helicopter rotor. turboshaft A type of gas turbine engine. The turbine drives a shaft other than the propeller shaft. Vietnamization The United States’ strategy of withdrawing troops from South Vietnam and transferring responsibility for the war effort to the government of South Vietnam.

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Bibliography The American Presidency Project. “Executive Order 11850 – Renunciation of Certain Uses in War of Chemical Herbicides and Riot Control Agents.” April 8, 1975. http://www.presidency.ucsb. edu/ws/?pid=59189. The Aspen Institute. “History: Agent Orange/Dioxin in Vietnam.” August 2011. http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/agentorange/history. —   . “What Is Agent Orange?” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www. aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/agent-orange/what-is-agent-orange. Bonier, David E., Steven M. Champlain, and Timothy S. Kolly. The Vietnam Veteran: A History of Neglect. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1984. Buckingham, William A., Jr. Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961–1971. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, 1982. http://www.afhso. af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100928-054.pdf. Burnette, Elizabeth J. “The 6:00 Follies: Hegemony, Television News, and the War of Attrition.” The University of Virginia. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA05/burnette/thesis/ home.html. Collins, Ross. “A Brief History of Photography and Photojournalism.” North Dakota State University, Fargo. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~rcollins/242photojournalism/ historyofphotography.html.

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Cosgrove, Ben. “Korean War: Classic Photos by David Douglas Duncan.” TIME. June 22, 2012. http://time.com/3667583/koreanwar-photos-david-douglas-duncan. Dunnigan, James F., and Albert A. Nofi. Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War: Military Information You’re Not Supposed to Know. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2000. Federal Communications Commission. “Wired, Zapped, and Beamed, 1960’s Through 1980’s.” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://transition. fcc.gov/omd/history/tv/1960-1989.html. Galston, Arthur W. “Herbicides: A Mixed Blessing.” BioScience 29, no. 2 (1979): 85–90. Google. “Government Requests to Remove Content.” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/ government/?hl=en. Hallin, Daniel. The Uncensored War: The Media and Vietnam. Los Angles: University of California Press, 1986. —   . “Vietnam on Television.” Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.museum.tv/ eotv/vietnamonte.htm. helis.com. “Bell 209 AH-1 Cobra.” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www. helis.com/database/model/10. History.com staff. “Agent Orange.” 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/agent-orange. —   . “Eisenhower Gives Famous ‘Domino Theory’ Speech.” 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.history.com/this-day-inhistory/eisenhower-gives-famous-domino-theory-speech.

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—   . “Viet Cong Are Successful at Ap Bac.” 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/viet-cong-aresuccessful-at-ap-bac. Kennedy, Liam. “Photojournalism and the Vietnam War.” UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www. ucd.ie/photoconflict/histories/vietnamwarphotojournalism. Lewis, James G. “James G. Lewis on Smokey Bear in Vietnam.” Environmental History 11, no. 3 (2006): 598-603. Lewis, Jerry M., and Thomas R. Hensley. “The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The Search for Historical Accuracy.” Kent State University Sociology Department, 1998. http://dept.kent.edu/ sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm. Luong, Hy V. Postwar Vietnam: Dynamics of a Transforming Society. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003. McCue, TJ. “Why Infographics Rule.” Forbes. January 8, 2013. http:// www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/01/08/what-is-aninfographic-and-ways-to-make-it-go-viral. Military Factory. “Bell AH-1 HueyCobra/Cobra Attack Helicopter (1967).” May 3, 2015. http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/ detail.asp?aircraft_id=13. Miller, Daniel. “Vintage Leica Camera Used by Life Magazine Photographer to Cover Vietnam War Sells for a Record £1.2 million at Auction.” Daily Mail. December 7, 2012. http://www.dailymail. co.uk/news/article-2244687/Vintage-Leica-camera-used-captureiconic-imag105es-Vietnam-war-sells-1-2-million-auction.html.

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Munderill. “Censorship After the Vietnam War.” Government Censorship (blog), April 17, 2013. http://govtcensorship.wordpress. com/2013/04/17/censorship-after-the-vietnam-war. Musil, Steven. “Google Sees ‘Alarming’ Level of Government Censorship.” CNET. June 17, 2012. http://www.cnet.com/news/ google-sees-alarming-level-of-government-censorship. Pacific Aviation Museum. “Bell AH-1 Cobra (Attack).” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/AH1. —   . “Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Utility).” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http:// www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/UH1. Paste Tech. “Six Tech Advancements from the 60s That Changed the World.” Paste, July 30, 2014. http://www.pastemagazine.com/ blogs/lists/2014/07/six-tech-advancements-from-the.html. Peterson, Doug. “Arthur W. Galston: Matters of Light.” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Spring 2005. http://www.las.illinois. edu/alumni/magazine/articles/2004/galston. RHP. “Saigon Execution: Murder of a Viet Cong by Saigon Police Chief, 1968.” Rare Historical Photos (blog), May 13, 2014. http:// rarehistoricalphotos.com/saigon-execution-murder-vietcongsaigon-1968. Ross, Frank. “The History of Helicopters.” All the World’s Rotorcraft. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.aviastar.org/history/index3.html. Roush, Gary. “Helicopter Losses During the Vietnam War.” Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www. vhpa.org/heliloss.pdf. RT. “EPA Approves ‘Agent Orange’ Pesticide.” April 11, 2012. http:// rt.com/usa/epa-pesticide-24-d-petition-831.

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Schuck, Peter H. Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1987. Sotham, Jonathan. “Huey: If You Remember Vietnam, You Remember the Bell UH-1.” Air & Space, May 2000. http://www.airspacemag. com/military-aviation/huey-1023487/?no-ist. Spector, Ronald H. “Vietnam War: 1954–1975.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.britannica.com/ event/Vietnam-War. Taibi, Catherine. “These Are the Most Censored Countries in the World.” The Huffington Post, April 21, 2015. http://www. huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/21/most-censored-countries-cpjtop-ten_n_7109932.html. Texas Tech University. “Vietnam: The Helicopter War.” The Vietnam Center and Archive. Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www.vietnam. ttu.edu/exhibits/helicopter. US Department of Veterans Affairs. “Birth Defects in Children of Vietnam and Korea Veterans.” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http://www. publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/birth-defects/index.asp. US History. “The Antiwar Movement.” Retrieved July 23, 2015. http:// www.ushistory.org/us/55d.asp. Verwey, Wil D. Riot Control and Herbicides in War: Their Humanitarian, Toxicological, Ecological, Military, Polemological, and Legal Aspects. Leiden, Holland: A W Sijthoff, 1977. Winslow, Donald R. “The Pulitzer Eddie Adams Didn’t Want.” The New York Times, April 19, 2011. http://lens.blogs.nytimes. com/2011/04/19/the-pulitzer-eddie-adams-didnt-want/?_ php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1.

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Further Information Websites Agent Orange www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange This page of the Department of Veterans Affairs website offers further information and resources about Agent Orange. Bell Helicopters www.bellhelicopter.com Learn more about Bell Helicopters on this page. National Press Photographers Association nppa.org Hailing itself “the voice of visual journalists,” the NPPA website is full of good information for photojournalists. Be sure to check out the Competitions page, where you can see past Best of Photojournalism winning entries.

Videos Vietnam War channel.nationalgeographic.com/videos/vietnam-war The National Geographic Channel has a collection of video clips about different aspects of the Vietnam War. Vietnam War Stories video.pbs.org/program/vietnam-war-stories PBS produced this hour-long video featuring stories of Americans who served in the Vietnam War, told in their own words.

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Index Page numbers in boldface are

Continental, 85

illustrations. Entries in boldface

Cronkite, Walter, 79, 80

are glossary terms. Diem, Ngo Dinh, 14, 16–17, 19–20 Adams, Eddie, 41, 67 See also Saigon Execution Agent Orange, 7, 24, 54, 55–63, 58, 74, 76, 86, 90, 92­–93, 99 See also herbicide

Dien Bien Phu (battle), 12 dioxin, 59–60 Dow Chemical, 57, 92 Duncan, David Douglas, 67, 70–71

Ap Bac (battle), 18 assembly, 51 attack helicopter. See helicopters

Eisenhower, Dwight D., 14, 17, 37 First Indochina War, 11–12

Bell Helicopters, 42, 48, 50–51

Ford, Gerald, 92

boat people, 41

fragging, 30 fuselage, 50–51

Cambodia, 11, 17, 29 censor, 80, 94, 98–99

Galston, Arthur, 60–62

chemical warfare, 36, 55–56,

Geneva Accords, 12, 13

60, 85

guerrillas, 16, 18, 43, 57, 59, 73

See also herbicide

Gulf of Tonkin, 20–21

China, 12, 16, 20, 25, 45, 55 communist, 11–12, 14, 16­–17, 20, 22, 24–26, 26, 29, 31, 37, 39 Congress (US), 8–9, 21, 81

Index

Hanoi, 12, 30–31 helicopters advantages of, 42, 46–47, 77

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AH-1 Cobra, 42, 44, 48–52, 78, 90, 91

necessity and, 35–36, 76 war and, 7, 36, 76, 85

development of, 6–7, 42–43, 45–46, 48, 50–51, 53, 76

Johnson, Lyndon B., 19–22, 25, 27–28

UH-1 Huey, 48–50, 49 unarmed, 42, 46–47, 77–78 use in Vietnam War, 17–19, 47–53, 58, 77, 78

Kennedy, John F., 17–20 Kent State shootings, 82–83, 84, 85

use today, 88, 90, 91

Korean War, 24, 38, 67, 71, 79

herbicide composition of, 57, 59–62, 92–93 effects of, 24, 56–57, 59–63, 74, 86–87, 92 regulation of, 60, 92–93 use in warfare, 7, 24, 43, 54, 55–63, 58, 76, 85–87 use today, 92–93, 93

Laos, 11, 17 Leonardo da Vinci, 45 Life magazine, 38, 67, 68, 70, 79, 84, 96 Luce, Henry, 67 Minh, Ho Chi, 12, 31 Monsanto, 57, 60

Ho Chi Minh City, 12, 17–19, 22,

My Lai Massacre, 81

26, 28, 31, 58 National Liberation Front, 16–17

Ho Chi Minh Trail, 17, 20

nepotism, 15 insurgents, 14

Nixon, Richard M., 28–30, 81,

inventions

83, 85

inspiration and, 6–7 in the twentieth century, 5,

Operation Ranch Hand, 56–58 See also Agent Orange;

33–34, 75–76 leading to more inventions,

herbicide

6, 34–35, 89–90

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patent, 35

social media, 96–98, 96

photojournalism

South Vietnamese army, 15–19,

history of, 38, 65–67 limitations of, 39–41, 82,

21–29, 39, 42, 78, 94–95, 95 Soviet Union, 12, 16, 20, 25

94–95, 98 public opinion and, 38–39,

Tet Offensive, 25–27, 28

41, 64, 73, 78–80,

Third World, 17

82–83, 94

torque, 45

rise of, 7, 38, 43, 65, 76, 78 tools of, 70–72 video, 7, 38–39, 43, 65, 69, 72–73, 78, 94 platoon, 81 rangefinder, 70–71 Rolling Thunder, 22 ROTC, 83

turboshaft, 51 Viet Cong, 11, 14–24, 26–27, 38–41, 40, 42–43, 46, 57, 59–60, 73, 76–78, 81–82, 86–87, 92, 95 Vietnamization, 29–30 Westmoreland, William, 20, 22–23, 25–27

Saigon. See Ho Chi Minh City

World War I, 7, 8, 53, 56, 85

Saigon Execution, 38–41, 40, 67,

World War II, 6, 7, 9, 34, 36, 37,

82 satellites, 69 17th parallel, 12, 13, 14 Sikorsky, Igor, 7, 46 Slinky, 6, 7

Index

38, 53, 67, 85 Wright brothers, 6, 33, 34–35, 35, 45, 75 zippers, 7, 8

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About The Author Cathleen Small is a legislative advocate and author of several books for Cavendish Square Publishing. When she’s not writing or advocating, you can find her hanging out with her two young sons or her two rowdy pugs. She and her family live in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

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