Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy

Vietnam

ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE SUMNER WELLES' STATEMENT ON JAPANESE-FRENCH COLLABORATION IN INDOCHINA, July 24, 1941

AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN AND FRANCE PLEDGING MILITARY CO-OPERATION IN DEFENSE OF INDO-CHINA, Tokyo, July 29, 1941

STATEMENT BY JAPANESE BOARD OF INFORMATION ON "REINFORCING JAPANESE FORCES IN INDO-CHINA," Tokyo, August 1, 1941

Roosevelt and Stalin Discuss the Future of French Rule in Indochina, Teheran Conference, November 28, 1943

Franklin Roosevelt Memorandum to Cordell Hull on French Rule in Indochina, January 24, 1944

Franklin Roosevelt on French Rule in Indochina, Press Conference, February 23, 1945

Franklin Roosevelt Conversation with Charles Taussig on French Rule in Indochina, March 15, 1945

Abdication of Bao Dai, Emperor of Annam, August 1945

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VlET-NAM, (September 2, 1945)

The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Chapter 1, "Background to the Conflict, 1940-50"

Agreement on the Independence of Vietnam, (MARCH, 1946)

UNITED STATES RECOGNITION OF VIET-NAM, LAOS, AND CAMBODIA: Statement by the Department of State, February 7, 1950

EXTENSION OF MILITARY AND ECONOMIC AID: Statement by the Secretary of State, May 8, 1950

ECONOMIC AID PROGRAM: Note From the American Chargé d'Affaires at Saigon to the Chiefs of State of Viet-Nam, Laos, and Cambodia, May 24, 1950

George Kennan, Memoirs, 1950-1963 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1972, pp. 58-60

United States Minutes of the First Meeting Between President Truman and French Prime Minister Pleven, Cabinet Room of the White House, January 28, 1951, 2:30-5 p.m.

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Policy Reports Staff (Barnes), January 29, 1951. 

United States Minutes of the Second Meeting Between President Truman and French Prime Minister Pleven, Cabinet Room of the White House, January 30, 1951, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

The American Response to the Geneva Declarations, 3 July 21, 1954.

AGREEMENT ON THE CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES IN VIET-NAM, JULY 20, 1954 (The Geneva Accords)

The Final Declaration of The Geneva Conference: On Restoring Peace in Indochina, July 21, 1954

President Dwight Eisenhower on the likely outcome of elections in Vietnam in 1955, Mandate for Change

Protocol to the SEATO Treaty, September 8, 1954.

MISSION OF THE SPECIAL UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE IN VIET-NAM: Statement Issued by the White House, November 3, 1954

Letters from Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy to Diem, 1954 and 1961

Le Duan, "Duong Loi Cach Mang Mien Nam," [The Path of Revolution in the South], circa 1956.

UNITED STATES POLICY WITH RESPECT TO VIETNAM: Address by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, Walter S. Robertson, Washington, June 1, 1956. Delivered to the American Friends of Vietnam at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.

THE IMPORTANCE TO THE UNITED STATES OF THE SECURITY AND PROGRESS OF VIET-NAM: Address by President Eisenhower, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1959 (Excerpt)

Excerpts from South Vietnam's Law 10/59, legislation against suspected Communists, May 6,1959.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 95/03/06 Foreign Relations, 1961-63, Vol XXIII, Southeast Asia, Office of the Historian

National Security Momorandum # 2, Development of Counter Guerilla Forces, 1 Feburary 1961

National Security Memorandum # 12, Forces in Vietnam, 6 February 1961

DRAFT MEMO FROM THE SEC'Y OF DEFENSE (MCNAMARA) TO THE PRES WASHINGTON, 11-5-61 TOP SECRET

SEC'Y MCNAMARA'S MEMO FOR THE PRES ON THE SUBJECT OF RVN MEMO FROM LIEUTENANT COMMANDER WORTH S BAGLEY TO THE PRES'S MILITARY REP (TAYLOR) WASHINGTON, 11-7-61 TOP SECRET

Excerpts from Rusk-McNamara Report to Kennedy, November 11, 1961.

Memo from the Sec'y of Defense (McNamara) to the JCS Chairman (Lemnitzer) Washington, 11-13-61

MEMO FROM THE SECDEF (MCNAMARA) TO THE JCS CHAIRMAN (LEMNITZER) WASHINGTON, 11-13-61 TOP SECRET

NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 111, November 22, 1961

Memo from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Sec'y of Defense (McNamara) Washington, 11-22-61, Top Secret

Telegram from the SecDef (McNamara) to the Commander in Chief Pacific (Felt) and the Chief MAAG Vietnam (McGarr) Washington, 11-28-61, TOP SECRET; Priority

Memo From the Spec Asst to the JCS Chairman (Maj General TW Parker) to the Chairman (Lemnitzer), Washington, 12-18-61 SECRET

Memo From the SecDef (McNamara) to the SecState (Rusk) Washington, 12-18-61, SECRET

Telegram From the Commander of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Vietnam (McGarr) to the Chairman of the JCS (Lemnitzer) Saigon, 12-20-61, SECRET; Eyes Only

Memo From the SecDef (McNamara) to the Pres (Kennedy) Washington, 12-22-61, SECRET. At the bottom of the source text the Pres signed his name under the place designated) "Approved."

Memo From the Pres's Special Asst for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to the President at  Palm Beach, 12-27-61, SECRET

NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 162, June 19, 1962

Harold P. Ford, CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers: Three Episodes, 1962-1968, Center for the Study of Intelligence

President Kennedy's Television Interviews on Vietnam, September 2 and 9, 1963

TIM WEINER, "Kennedy Had Plan for Early Vietnam Exit," New York Times, December 23, 1997

Summary Record of the 519th Meeting of the National Security Council White House, Washington, October 2, 1963

U.S. POLICY ON VIET-NAM: WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT, OCTOBER 2, 1963

NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 263, October 11, 1963 (in which reference is made to a possible withdrawal of 1000 American troops)

Phone Conversation Between Ngo Dinh Diem and Henry Cabot Lodge, November 1,1963

John F. Kennedy Library, JFK dictates some notes concerning the anti-Diem coup in South Vietnam, November 4, 1963. (2:04 minutes)

NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 273, November 26, 1963

NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO.273a, November 21, 1963

President Johnson's Address to the Congress, Tonkin Gulf Incident, August 5, 1964

THE VIETNAM WAR AND SOVIET-AMERICAN RELATIONS, 1964-1973: NEW RUSSIAN EVIDENCE MEMOIRS by Ilya V. Gaiduk

BEIJING AND THE VIETNAM CONFLICT, 1964- 1965: NEW CHINESE EVIDENCE by Qiang Zhai

POLISH SECRET PEACE INITIATIVES IN VIETNAM by Jerzy Michalowski

SECURITY COUNCIL HEARS U.S. CHARGE OF NORTH VIETNAMESE ATTACKS: Statement by Adlai E. Stevenson, U.S. Representative in the Security Council, August 5, 1964

U.S. Department of State FRUS, Vol. II, 1964-68, Vietnam, January-June 1965 Office of the Historian

U.S. Department of State FRUS, Vol. III, 1964-68, Vietnam, June-December 1965 Office of the Historian

Collection of Papers, Letters, and Transcripts from the Johnson Administration

Broadcasts from "Radio First Termer" in Vietnam

Cable from US Embassy in Saigon, "US Security Measures in Saigon," 6 January 1965

Excerpts from McGeorge Bundy's Memo to President Johnson, February 7,1965.

Letter from Mike Mansfield to Lyndon Johnson, "Views on Vietnam," 8 February 1965

National Security Council Meeting on Vietnam, 18 February 1965

"Aggression from the North," State Department White Paper on Vietnam, February 27, 1965

National Security Action Memorandum Number 328 April 6,1965, signed by McGeorge Bundy and addressed to the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Excerpts from Speech Given by President Johnson at Johns Hopkins University, April 7,1965.

Dean Rusk, "American Foreign Policy and International Law:South Vietnam's Right of Self Defense, April 23, 1965

Letter from Clark Clifford to Lyndon Johnson, "The Vietnam Quagmire," 17 May 1965

Le Duan, Thu Vao Nam [Letters to the South] (Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Su That, 1965), 119-162.

US Department of State, Vietnam Panel, 8 July 1965

Summary of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara's Memo to President Johnson, July 20, 1965.

Telegram From the Commander in Chief, Pacific (Sharp) to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Honolulu, January 12, 1966

US Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, "The Vietnamese Communists will Persist," 26 August 1966

Moscow and the Vietnam Peace Talks, 1969

Text of Letter from Ho Chi Minh to Lyndon Johnson 2/15/67

Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Racial Violence Potential in the United States this Summer,"  23 May 1967

"VIETNAM: This Nation Is Caught On A Treadmill", Summarized from an Address Before Congress, By U.S. Representative Morris Udall Democrat, Second District of Arizona, Reveille, July, 1967, pp. 12.

The United States and Vietnam -What Lies Ahead?, by Morris K. Udall Reprinted from Congressman's Report, Morris K. Udall, 2d District of Arizona, October 23, 1967.

The Tet Offensive, General Vo Nguyen Giap

Surprised at Tet: U.S. Naval Forces in Vietnam, 1968 by Glenn E. Helm, Reference Librarian, Navy Department Library, Naval Historical Center

TET OFFENSIVE, 1968: Turning Point in the Vietnam War

Conversations between the Soviets and the Vietnamese, 1969

President Nixon's Speech on "Vietnamization," November 3, 1969.

The "Chicago Seven" Trials, 1969-70

The My Lai Courts Martials

President Nixon's Speech on Cambodia, April 30, 1970.

Winter Soldier Investigation, Testimony given in Detroit, Michigan, on January 31, 1971, February 1 and 2, 1971

Statement by John Kerry, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 23, 1971

DELLUMS COMMITTEE HEARINGS ON WAR CRIMES IN VIETNAM April 25, 1971

Democratic Republic of Vietnam Peace Proposal, June 26, 1971

Peace Proposal of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam, July 1, 1971

Jane Fonda Broadcast from Hanoi, August 22 1972

Excerpts from the Paris Accords, January 27, 1973.

Speech by President Nixon Announcing the End of the Vietnam War in Audio Format

Public Law 93-148 93rd Congress, H. J. Res. 542 November 7, 1973, Joint Resolution, Concerning the war powers of Congress and the President.

Vietnam War Casualties

Vietnam: Yesterday and Today

U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam

FULL TEXT OF THE REPORTS FROM THE SESSIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL, founded by Bertrand Russell.

SOURCES ON THE KHMER ROUGE YEARS: THE CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE PROGRAM

NAM VET Newsletter

Vietnam Generation Journal

GATEWAY To The ... On-Line Vietnamese Community

Civic Action: The Marine Corps Experience in Vietnam, Part I, Peter Brush, Library Science, University of Kentucky

"Home Is Where You Dig It": (Observations on Life at the Khe Sanh Combat Base), Peter Brush

Prof. Edwin E. Moise of Clemson University, The Tonkin Gulf Incidents of 1964

THE 1968 'HUE MASSACRE' by D. Gareth Porter, "Indochina Chronicle," #33, June 24, 1974

The Use of Armour in the Vietnam War

Brian Ross, The Australian Order of Battle in the Vietnam War

Brian Ross, Australia's Military Involvement in the Vietnam War

Brian Ross, Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, the political dimension

Recommended Reading List on the VietNam War: Soc.history.war.vietnam FAQ

Brian Ross's Bibliography on Australia's Involvement in the Vietnam War

Selected Specialized Bibliography: Folklore and Folksongs of the Vietnam War

Specialized Bibliography: The My Lai / Son My Massacre and Its Aftermath

30-Year Anniversary: Tonkin Gulf Lie Launched Vietnam War, by Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, Media Beat, July 27, 1994

Review Essay, "A Failure of Political Intelligence," by Lieutenant Colonel Alan C. Cate, US Army

Edwin E. Moïse, Vietnam War Bibliography

VILLAGER ATTITUDES DURING THE FINAL DECADE OF THE VIETNAM WAR by Mark Moyar

The Importance of Story: Individual and Cultural Effects of Skewing the Realities of American Involvement in Southeast Asia for Social, Political and/or Economic Ends by John M. Del Vecchio

VIETNAM, "WARS OF THE THIRD KIND" AND AIR FORCE DOCTRINE by Dennis M. Drew

Sino-Soviet Relations and the February 1979 Sino-Vietnamese Conflict by Bruce Elleman, 20 April 1996

Vietnam and Desert Storm: Learning the Right Lessons from Vietnam for the Post-Cold War Era by Col. Joseph P. Martino, USAF (Ret)

The Relevance of the Tonkin Gulf Incidents: U.S. Military Action in Vietnam, August 1964 By Kim Weitzman

Military Intelligence in Southeast Asia, 1970- 1975 by Sedgwick Tourison

Vietnamese Defense against Aerial Attack, Paper Presented at the 1996 Vietnam Symposium, Center for the Study of the Vietnam Conflict, Lubbock, Texas, April 19, 1996, by Barton Meyers

THE MARINE WAR: III MAF IN VIETNAM, 1965-1971 by Jack Shulimson, U.S. Marine Corps Historical Center

Large Map of Vietnam

Historical Maps of Vietnam

New York Times, "Johnson, in 1964, Saw War In Vietnam as Pointless," February 15, 1997

The Vietnam War History Page

Harold P. Ford, "Revisiting Vietnam: Thoughts Engendered by Robert McNamara's In Retrospect," Studies in Intelligence, Volume 39 Number 5, 1996

"CIA and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam", Ralph McGehee, Date: 19 Feb 1996

Tapes of Conversations with President Johnson

Maps of the War in Vietnam

Summary of B-52 Missions in Vietnam

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE HERBICIDAL WARFARE PROGRAM IN VIETNAM, 1961 - 1971

Papers of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam 28 June - 1 July 1996

The World Wide Web Virtual Library: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The Wars for Vietnam, 1945-75, Vassar College

MICHAEL LIND, "Back to Vietnam, and Its Myths," New York Times, June 19, 1997

PHILIP SHENON, "Bao Dai, 83, Last Emperor of Vietnam," New York Times, August 2, 1997

OPERATION RANCH HAND HERBICIDES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 1961-1971 By William A. Buckingham, Jr., Ph.D.     

The Vietnam War--A Memorial and a Tribute

THE STORY BEHIND THE MCNAMARA LINE by Peter Brush (A version of this article appeared in Vietnam magazine, February, 1996, pp. 18-24.)

Grover Furr's Vietnam War Page

Gulf of Tonkin Notebook

McNamara asks Giap: What happened in Tonkin Gulf?

Stephen B. Young, "LBJ's Strategy for Disengagement,"  Vietnam

Robert S. McNamara, "Our Government Lacked Experts...on Vietnam"--a brief excerpt from In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (Random House, 1995)

PBS: The American Experience: Vietnam Online

"Presidential Decisionmaking and Vietnam: Lessons for Strategists," JOSEPH R. CERAMI, Parameters, Winter 1996-97, pp. 66-80.

"Vietnam in Retrospect: Could We Have Won?" JEFFREY RECORD,  Parameters, Winter 1996-97, pp. 51-65

"The Case for the Vietnam War," W. W. ROSTOW,  Parameters, Winter 1996-97, pp. 39-50.

"Voices from Americans in VietNam, February, 1965"  by JeDon A. Emenhiser, Humboldt State University Presented to the 24th Annual Meeting of the Popular Culture Association April 6, 1994 Chicago, Illinois

"TAILWIND" REBUTTAL TO THE ABRAMS/KOHLER REPORT

The Green Beret Network, Tailwind Information Center

Viet Nam News, National English Daily

THE PARIS AGREEMENT ON VIETNAM: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, Conference Transcript, The Nixon Center, Washington, DC,   April 1998

PBS, "Battlefield Vietnam"

PBS, The American Experience, Vietnam Online

The "Chicago Seven" Trial, 1969-70

C-SPAN Archive of Tapes of President Johnson's White House Conversations

Gregg Easterbrook, "Was It Worth It?" Review of Michael Lind, Vietnam: The Necessary War, in The Washington Monthly, November 1999

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