Period Kennedy

 

      In 1960, the US presidential election, Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard Nixon. Although Kennedy Eisenhower warned about problems in Laos and Vietnam, Kennedy's eyes, Europe and Latin America "loomed larger in his eyes than Asia." In his inaugural address, Kennedy has made ambitious commitment to "pay any price , bear any burden, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival and success of liberty. "In June 1961, at its meeting in Vienna with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, during discussions on the main issues US- Soviet firm complied with this commitment. Kennedy administration remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In 1961, the US had a staff of 50,000 troops stationed in Korea and Kennedy faced with a crisis that has three components: the US invasion of Bay of Pigs failure, the construction of the Berlin Wall and the agreement negotiated between the pro-Western government of Laos Pathet Lao Communist movement. Kennedy believed that another failure in the United States to gain control and stop communist expansion would affect irretrievably, US credibility and reputation of its own. Kennedy was determined to "draw the line" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. He said the journalist James Reston of The New York Times, immediately after his meeting with Khrushchev in Vienna that "we now have a problem making our power credible, and Vietnam seems to be the place." In May 1961, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Saigon and enthusiastically said that Diem is "Winston Churchill of Asia." Asked why he did this review, Johnson replied: "Diem is the only boy that pit him there." Johnson assured Diem more help in training fighting force that could resist communist. Kennedy's policy toward South Vietnam was based on the assumption that Diem and his forces, finally, must defeat the guerrillas by its own forces. He was against sending American troops and noting that "introducing US forces there in large numbers today could initially favorable military impact, but would almost certainly negative political consequences and long term, to negative military consequences. " Preparation South Vietnamese troops, however, remained still weak. Misrule, corruption and promoting political criteria played a major role in the depletion of South Vietnam Army. The frequency of guerrilla attacks increased with the strengthening insurgency. While Hanoi's support for the NLF (National Liberation Front of South Vietnam) played an important role in crisis proved decisive incompetence of the government of South Vietnam. One of the major issues raised by Kennedy was whether programs Soviet conquest of outer space and the construction of rockets exceeded or not the United States. Although Kennedy stressed the importance of long-range missiles to be at par with the number of missiles the Soviets, he was also interested in using special forces to fight insurgents in Third World countries threatened by communist insurgents. Although these forces were originally intended to be used behind the front line in the event of any conventional invasions in Europe, Kennedy believed guerrilla tactics used by special forces, such as, for example, the Green Berets, would be effective in "fights bushes" in the Vietnam War. Maxwell Taylor and Walt Rostow councilors have recommended Kennedy US troops to be sent to South Vietnam disguised as workers to remove flood disasters. Kennedy rejected the idea, but again increased military assistance. In April 1962, John Kenneth Galbraith warned Kennedy that "the danger is to replace them as the French colonial power and bleed as they bled." In 1963, there were 16,000 more American troops in South Vietnam to of the 900 Eisenhower's military advisers. In 1961 a program was initiated to strengthen the rural area, isolating villages of insurgents and to provide education and health care. Strategic hamlets were quickly infiltrated by guerrillas and peasants dissatisfied move from their home villages. In part, this was possible because Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao, a favorite of Diem, who led the development of the program, was actually a Communist agent who used his Catholicism to gain influential positions and cause from within South Vietnam military damage. The government refused to undertake land reform, which required farmers to pay high rents several wealthy landAowners. Corruption persisted for execution and intensify opposition.