America Takes Over

Now we’re getting into the meat of the war. 1965-1967 covers the most optimistic period of the war, when American ground troops decisively defeated Viet Cong units, but America had not yet lost its war. The series continues to provide invaluable details and anecdotes about the war, such as the flamboyant Premier Ky, Marine General Lewis Walt taking a bridge from Buddhist rebels, the Fulbright hearings, strategic debates in Hanoi, and the heroism of American soldiers, sailors, and medics, fighting along the DMZ and in the Delta.

Along with this micro-level story-telling, this section provides a clearheaded look at the totality of the American defeat. The numerous pacification plans were failures, never executed with enough knowledge, resources, or persistence. Militarily, the big war put the American strategy of attritting the VC against Giap’s strategy of attritting the American will to fight. The war was casualties against time, but since the VC controlled the tempo of the war, they could ensure their losses were bearable simply by delaying action. According to US military statistics, 50% of combat encounters in Vietnam were ambushes, and 88% were initiated by the enemy. These defeats might have been acceptable if they covered for successful nation-building, but on the whole, battles simply forced the civilian population into refugee camps, straining the economy and the political system of the South.