PEOPLE

The Boat People
against Ho Chi Minh. No figure of national reputation was now
offering. And in three weeks I'rcsident Kennedy was assassin~ted
at Dallas, Tcxas.
The war now became America's war. President Johnson committed
ground trwps and Hanoi moved larger tactical units into the
south. American bombers pounded the north, American aliies {Australia,
New Zmlmnd, South Korea, Philippines and Thailand) gave
military suppon. Evenrually 500 000 American maps would be in
Vietnam and the hmbing would exceed three times all the tonnage.
droppcd on Germany, Imly and Japnn during the second world war,
This huge effort had a single aim: to secure the independence of the.
republic of Vietnam in the south (or, put in historical terms, to keep
Victnam divided). Ho Chi Minh also had a single aim: to unite Vitt-,
nam under his le~dership.
There was no prospect that Vietnam would bc united under the
Leadership of the south, Whilc cunuovcrsy over the war raged in
America and he world, President Johnson claimed that the policy
of attrition was working and that 70 pcr cent of the south was fat
of communist control. But the fall of Diem had produced a succession
of ineffective governments, until a formcr general, Nguyen
Van Thitu, became prcsidcnt by election in 1967. The Vietcong
struck a devastating blow during the Tct {lunar new year) holiday
on 1 February 1968, launching a general offensive on cities and
towns, including Saigon and Hue, and on military installations
throughout the south. They were repulsed over a perid of two or
three wecks and suffered hervy casualties, but not before thcy had
reduced many towns to ruins, killed thousands of civilians and demonstrated
beyond doubt to thc population that the sourh was not safe.
President Johnson announced thar he intended to stand down.
The year 1969 marked another stage in the war. Richacd Nixun
and Henry Kissinger came to power in Washington, Ho Chi Minh
dicd and the struggle moved into the sphere of wmet diplomacy, and
indccd, sccret war. Negotintions began openly in Paris but the real
discussions werc conducted secre:ly ktwcen Kisvinger and Hanoi.
An unannounced decision wa:i taken in Washington tu bomb Camhodia,
and its head of statc, Princc Sihanouk, was replaced in R pro-
American coup,
There was great irony, and cvcn greater tragedy, in Wrruhine;ton'~
dcvtruaion of Sihanouk, especially under a aecmry of staie who
had become noted for his understanding of history (but evidently
only of European history). For Sihanouk had wriucn in 1963:
'Whether he is called Gia Long, Ho Chi Minh or Ngo Dinh Diem
no Annarnite (or Vietnamese) will sleep peacefully until he has succceded
in pushing Cambodia towards annihilation, having made it
first go thruugh the stmga of slavery: Sihanouk did not want a
powerful reunified Vietnam. He wanted a neutral South Vietnam
and a neutral Laos sa that he would not have to share a border with
communist North Vietnam which he saw as the strong one of the
Indo-Chinese states. He also mid in 19M 'If wr region must one
day be submerged by communism, we would wish drat it be China
and not another socialist country which takes control of our country
because we know that she understands us and thpt she will maintain
. . . uur territorial integrity', The complex balance which Sihanwk
sought was rejected as too subtle or too devious by Washington, just
as it hd earlier rejected other Asian ideas such as Nehru's in its
determination to establish American power and American ideas in
Asia,
American and South Vietnamese troops carried out operations in
hand CamMia designed to cut 'the Ho Chi Minh trail' (actually
a series oftrails) by which supplies and troops had been moving from
north to south through neutral territory. Kissinger also undertook
sccrct diplomacy with China, which Nixon visited in 1972, With
each side trying to negoti~te from strength, the war went on. In 1'672
Hanoi launch4 a military offensive over the border and the United
States resporlded by resuming bombing for the first time since 1968.
Yet de~pitc publicly expressed reuulve, the impression gained
ground that the United Stater;, or at least Nixon and Kissinger,
wanted an agreement with Hanui hcforc the 1972 presidential elcctions.
Agreement was reached in Rris a few days bcfore polling day
and Prcsidcnt Nixon was returned with a mawive majority.
'he Paris accords brought clearly to the surface that, to uu Kiusinger's
phrase, the Vietnam war had beuornc a 'cruel sideshow' tu
he largcr nbiectivcs af American foreign pnlicy. 'Ihc essetlcc of the
accords was a 'ceascfirc in place' which effectively meant that the
forces of the NLF could remain in the bouth while rhc Americans,
who wcrr withdrawing anyway for thcir own reasons, handed over