Notes

Introduction

1. Arnold R. Isaacs, Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 482.

2. Tran Ngoc Chau, The American Syndrome: An Interview with the BBC (1991), folder 1, box 62, Neil Sheehan Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC (hereafter LOC), 9.

3. Jeffrey T. Clarke, Advice and Support: The Final Years, 1965–1973 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1998), 497

4. Quoted in Frank L. Jones, “Blowtorch: Robert Komer and the Making of Vietnam Pacification Policy,” Parameters 35 (Autumn 2005): 104.

5. It has been over twenty years since a monograph last addressed this topic, the semiofficial account contained in Richard A. Hunt, Pacification: The American Struggle for Vietnam’s Hearts and Minds (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1995). Much of the archival material used in the present volume was not available to Hunt.

6. Among the new sources drawn on in this book are a collection of oral debriefings with Americans and South Vietnamese who were involved in the nation building in South Vietnam, housed in the Allan E. Goodman Papers in the Hoover Institution Archives. Some of these interviews are also available in the National Archives facility at College Park, Maryland. The extensive collection in the Goodman Papers has not, to my knowledge, previously been cited by researchers. Some 112 interviews, which have an average length of twenty-two pages, were reviewed in the preparation of this book. Because of a restriction imposed by Goodman’s deed of gift to the Hoover Institution, which bans the identification of any person still living, it is not always possible to name the individuals whose words are being cited or to give precise details of when and where they served in South Vietnam. Instead, broader descriptions such as “a province senior adviser who served in the delta just after the Americanization of the war” are used in this book. For extended discussions of individuals, pseudonyms such as “Mike,” initially in quotation marks, are assigned in addition to these descriptions. As printing the folder titles themselves would in some cases violate this deed of gift, interviews are instead cited by number and box, which is sufficient for any researcher to locate the cited material with ease.

7. William S. Turley, “Urban Transformation in South Vietnam,” Pacific Affairs 49, no. 4 (1976/77): 607–24; Allan E. Goodman and Lawrence M. Franks, “The Dynamics of Migration to Saigon, 1964–1972,” Pacific Affairs 48, no. 2 (1975): 199–214.

8. On Diem see Philip E. Catton, Diem’s Final Failure: Prelude to America’s War in Vietnam (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2003); Edward Miller, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013); Jessica Chapman, Cauldron of Resistance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and 1950s Southern Vietnam (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013); Geoffrey Stewart, Vietnam’s Lost Revolution: Ngo Dinh Diem’s Failure to Build an Independent Nation, 1955–1963 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017); Jessica Elkind, Aid under Fire: Nation Building and the Vietnam War (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016). On the period up to 1968 see James M. Carter, Inventing Vietnam: The United States and State Building, 1954–1958 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

9. The best-known and most influential of these authors is Lewis Sorley. See his Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam (New York: Harcourt, 2011) and A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam (New York: Harcourt, 1999).

10. Mark Atwood Lawrence has written that the “respectful reception” of the revisionist thesis has been influenced by the fact that “most scholars of the Vietnam War are less comfortable with” the historical facts of the later period of the war. The present monograph aims to increase their comfort levels. See Mark Lawrence Atwood, “Too Late or Too Soon? Debating the Withdrawal from Vietnam in the Age of Iraq,” Diplomatic History 34, no. 4 (2010): 589–600.

11. Thomas R. Hietala, Manifest Design: Anxious Aggrandizement in Late Jacksonian America (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985), 177–78.

12. Quoted in Philip Weeks, Farewell, My Nation: The American Indian and the United States, 1820–1890 (Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1990), 288.

13. Quoted in Ralph H. Gabriel, “American Experience with Military Government,” American Political Science Review 37, no. 3 (1943): 419.

14. Quoted in Robert W. Johannsen, To the Halls of the Montezumas: The Mexican War in the American Imagination (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), 172.

15. Paul A. Kramer, The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 162.

16. Kramer, 157.

17. Kramer, 29.

18. On this parallel see Richard Drinnon, Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-Building (New York: Meridian, 1980), 448.

19. Frank Ninkovich, The Global Republic: America’s Inadvertent Rise to World Power (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014), 67–78. This is not to deny that security-oriented considerations, or at least justifications, played a part in the spread of the American empire.

20. James D. Fearon and David D. Laitin, “Neotrusteeship and the Problem of Weak States,” International Security 28, no. 4 (2004): 12. The authors refer to such interventions as “postmodern imperialism.”

21. For instance see Francis Fukuyama, ed., Nation-Building: Beyond Afghanistan and Iraq (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006); James Dobbins, Seth G. Jones, et al., eds., The UN’s Role in Nation-Building: From the Congo to Iraq (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2005); Peter Sercombe and Ruanni Tupas, eds., Language, Education and Nation-Building: Assimilation and Shift in Southeast Asia (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2014).

22. For an example of a single work that expands the definition of “nation building” to encompass extremely diverse policy practices see Jeremi Suri, Liberty’s Surest Guardian: Rebuilding Nations after War from the Founders to Obama (New York: Free Press, 2012).

23. I draw here on Hannah Arendt’s distinction between “work,” the shaping of physical objects, and the realm of political “action.” See Arendt, The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), pts. 3 and 4.

24. Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 648–49.

25. Around the same time, policy makers were embracing “modernization theory” as an all-embracing way of understanding—and influencing—these non-Western political processes. See Michael E. Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011).

26. Karl W. Deutsch and William J. Foltz, eds., Nation-Building (New York: Atherton, 1963).

27. Miller, Misalliance, 17.

28. Michael Rear, Intervention, Ethnic Conflict and State-Building in Iraq (New York: Routledge, 2008), 139.

29. For two examples see James Dobbins, Seth G. Jones, et al., eds., The Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Building (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2007); Paul D. Miller, Armed State-Building: Confronting State Failure, 1898–2012 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013).

30. Roger Hilsman, “A Strategic Concept for South Vietnam,” 2 February 1962, folder “Vietnam strategic concept for South Vietnam 2/2/62,” box 3, Roger Hilsman Papers (hereafter RHP), John F. Kennedy Library, Boston (hereafter JFKL) 3, 9.

31. A fact that has not prevented many historians appropriately applying the term to a range of American activities in the conflict.

32. For usages of the term see Robert Komer oral history interview, no. 2, 18 August 1970, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, TX (hereafter LBJL), 25; Austin Long, On “Other War”: Lessons from Five Decades of RAND Counterinsurgency Research (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2002).

33. Frank Scotton, Uphill Battle: Reflections on Viet Nam Counterinsurgency (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2014), 54.

34. Latham, Right Kind of Revolution, 142; David Ekbladh, The Great American Mission: Modernization and the Construction of an American World Order (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011); David C. Engerman, Nils Gilman, Mark H. Haefele, and Michael E. Latham, eds., Staging Growth: Modernization, Development, and the Global Cold War (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003).

35. “Diary of an Infiltrator,” December 1966, Vietnam Document and Research Notes Series: Translation and Analysis of Significant Viet Cong / North Vietnamese Documents (Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1991), 16.

36. North Vietnam also benefited from the rotating presence of hundreds of thousands of Chinese engineering and antiaircraft artillery units in North Vietnam, freeing up the NVA to carry the war to South Vietnam. But, unlike the GVN, the Hanoi regime never relied on foreigners to fight for it. Chinese troops were withdrawn from North Vietnam in 1969–1970 following a breakdown in relations between Hanoi and Beijing, and yet North Vietnam was still able to win its war. An analogous withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Vietnam would have led to the South’s immediate collapse.

37. Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Oxford: Blackwell, 1983).

38. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1982).

39. Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), 179.

1. The Diem Years

1. Nghiem Dang, Viet-Nam: Politics and Public Administration (Honolulu: East-West, 1966), 329; David G. Marr, Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920–1925 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971), 5.

2. Li Tana, Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998), 99.

3. Pierre Brocheux, The Mekong Delta: Ecology, Economy, and Revolution, 1860–1960 (Madison: University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1995), 2. See also David Biggs, Quagmire: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010).

4. Guy H. Fox and Charles A. Joiner, “Perceptions of the Vietnamese Public Administration System,” Administrative Science Quarterly 8, no. 4 (1964): 448.

5. Alexander Woodside, Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 125.

6. Thomas Lionel Hodgkin, Vietnam: The Revolutionary Path (New York: Palgrave, 1981), 103, 150–53.

7. Ton Tho Tuong and Phan Van Tri, “Collaboration vs. Resistance,” in Patterns of Vietnamese Response to Foreign Intervention: 1858–1900, ed. Truong Buu Lam (New Haven, CT: Yale Southeast Asia Studies, 1967), 81–86.

8. Quoted in Hodgkin, Vietnam, 176.

9. Roy Jumper, “Mandarin Bureaucracy and Politics in South Viet Nam,” Pacific Affairs 30, no. 1 (1957): 47.

10. Quoted in Philip E. Catton, Diem’s Final Failure: Prelude to America’s War in Vietnam (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2003), 33.

11. Dang, Viet-Nam, 187; Fox and Joiner, “Perceptions of the Vietnamese Public Administration System,” 449.

12. Duong Van Mai Elliott, The Sacred Willow: Four Generations of Life in a Vietnamese Family (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 47.

13. Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution (1856; Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010), 83.

14. Kennedy and Thuan, memorandum of conversation, 14 June 1961, folder “Vietnam, general, 6/3/61–6/18/61,” box 193A, National Security Files (hereafter NSF): Countries, JFKL.

15. Quoted in Catton, Diem’s Final Failure, 56; Geoffrey C. Stewart, “Hearts, Minds and Cong Dan Vu: The Special Commissariat for Civic Action and Nation-Building in Ngo Dinh Diem’s South Vietnam, 1955–1957,” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 6, no. 3 (2011): 48.

16. Marr, Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 3.

17. Ngo Vinh Long, Before the Revolution: The Vietnamese Peasants under the French (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1973), 48.

18. David Anderson, Trapped by Success: The Eisenhower Administration and Vietnam (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 140.

19. Long, Before the Revolution, 69–70.

20. Marr, Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 4.

21. There is a debate among scholars over the extent to which this social division predated the colonial period or was a product of it. Nevertheless, by the time of the events discussed in this work, it certainly existed. See Samuel L. Popkin, The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979); James C. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1976).

22. Nguyen Thi Thu-Lam, Fallen Leaves: Memoirs of a Vietnamese Woman from 1940 to 1975 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 7–8; Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, The Rubber Tree: Memoir of a Vietnamese Woman Who Was an Anti-French Guerrilla, a Publisher and a Peace Activist (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994), 9–10.

23. Huynh Kim Khanh, Vietnamese Communism: 1925–1945 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982), 82.

24. On the role of the famine in the August Revolution see Fredrik Logevall, Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam (New York: Random House, 2012), 93–94.

25. David W. P. Elliott, The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930–1975 (London: Sharpe, 2003), 1:80–84, 122–27.

26. Popkin, Rational Peasant, 83.

27. Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), 9.

28. Race, 179.

29. Truong Chinh, Primer for Revolt: The Communist Takeover in Viet-Nam (New York: Praeger, 1963), 98.

30. Edgar O’Ballance, The Indochina War, 1945–54: A Study in Guerilla Warfare (London: Faber, 1964), 81.

31. Quoted in Robert K. Brigham, Guerrilla Diplomacy: The NLF’s Foreign Relations and the Viet Nam War (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999), 12.

32. On this “preemptive” social strategy see Race, War Comes to Long An, chap. 4.

33. Race, 161.

34. Race, 128.

35. Edward Miller, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013), 88.

36. Bernard Fall, The Viet Minh Regime: Government and Administration in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1956), 81.

37. Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 31; Pierre Asselin, Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War, 1954–1965 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013), 18–19.

38. Tuong Vu, Vietnam’s Communist Revolution: The Power and Limits of Ideology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 132.

39. Miller, Misalliance, 6–7.

40. Catton, Diem’s Final Failure; Miller, Misalliance; Jessica Chapman, Cauldron of Resistance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and 1950s Southern Vietnam (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013); Geoffrey Stewart, Vietnam’s Lost Revolution: Ngo Dinh Diem’s Failure to Build an Independent Nation, 1955–1963 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).

41. Christopher Goscha, Vietnam: A New History (New York: Basic Books, 2016), chap. 4.

42. William J. Duiker, “Phan Boi Chau: Asian Revolutionary in a Changing World,” Journal of Asian Studies 31, no. 1 (1971): 80.

43. Miller, Misalliance, 19–51.

44. For more on Mounier see John Hellman, Emmanuel Mounier and the New Catholic Left, 1930–1950 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981). On Nhu see Miller, Misalliance, 41–48.

45. Dang, Viet-Nam, 124.

46. Quoted in Stewart, “Hearts, Minds and Cong Dan Vu,” 48.

47. Hai B. Pho, Vietnamese Public Management in Transition: South Vietnam Public Administration, 1955–1975 (Lanham, MD: University Press, 1990), 59.

48. Dang, Viet-Nam, 140–41.

49. Tana, Nguyen Cochinchina.

50. Fox and Joiner, “Perceptions of the Vietnamese Public Administration System,” 459.

51. Dang, Viet-Nam, 45, 329.

52. Dang, 5.

53. Dang, 143.

54. Debrief no. 15679, box 101, Allan E. Goodman Papers (hereafter GP), Hoover Institution Archives (hereafter HIA), 4. For details on citations and the pseudonyms used when referring to these materials see note 6 in the introduction.

55. Dang, Viet-Nam, 180.

56. Catton, Diem’s Final Failure, 64–65.

57. Quoted in Jumper, “Mandarin Bureaucracy,” 52.

58. Tran Ngoc Chau, The American Syndrome: An Interview with the BBC (1991), folder 1, box 62, Neil Sheehan Papers, LOC, 10.

59. Quoted in Chau, 58.

60. Tran Van Don, Our Endless War: Inside Vietnam (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1978), 25. See also Race, War Comes to Long An, chap. 1.

61. Woodside, Community and Revolution, 120–22.

62. Catton, Diem’s Final Failure, 38, 89–90; Miller, Misalliance, 231–39.

63. Quoted in Sean Fear, “The Ambiguous Legacy of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam’s Second Republic,” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 11, no. 1 (2016): 53.

64. Thomas L. Ahern Jr., CIA and the House of Ngo: Covert Action in South Vietnam, 1954–63 (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2000), 32.

65. Miller, Misalliance, 200–201.

66. Nguyen Cao Ky, with Marvin J. Wolf, Buddha’s Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam (New York: St. Martin’s, 2002), 45.

67. On implementation see Catton, Diem’s Final Failure, 129–40.

68. William J. Duiker, The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996), 196; Race, War Comes to Long An, 99; Asselin, Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War, 46.

69. Quoted in Asselin, Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War, 51–52.

70. Nguyen, Hanoi’s War, 52–53.

71. Asselin, Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War, 54.

72. David Hunt, Vietnam’s Southern Revolution: From Peasant Insurrection to Total War (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008), chap. 3; Race, War Comes to Long An, chap. 3.

73. Bert Fraleigh, “The Story of America’s Counterinsurgency Efforts in Vietnam in the Early 1960s,” incorrectly dated January 1966 [1996?], Rufus Phillips Collection, Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University, Virtual Vietnam Archive (hereafter TTVA), http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=23970130040, 2–9, quotes at 3, 9; Debrief no. 3672 (Fraleigh), box 98, GP, HIA, 1–3; Rufus Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008), 108–9.

74. Department of State airgram, subject “Viet Nam Situation,” 20 June 1962, folder “Vietnam, general, 6/9/62–6/20/62,” box 196, NSF: Countries, JFKL, 2, 3.

75. Although Phillips has published a memoir of his experiences and is relatively well known to historians, Fraleigh has received much less attention. The new sources used in this book allow his role to be explored.

76. Fraleigh, “Story of America’s Counterinsurgency Efforts,” 9; Debrief no. 3672 (Fraleigh), 3.

77. Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters, 104.

78. USAID, Terminal Report: United States Economic Assistance to South Vietnam, 1954–1975 (Washington, DC, 1976), section “Rural Development & Field Operations,” 4–5.

79. William Colby, with James McCargar, Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America’s Sixteen-Year Involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary, 1989), 74, 105.

80. Roger Hilsman, “A Strategic Concept for South Vietnam,” 2 February 1962, folder “Vietnam strategic concept for South Vietnam 2/2/62,” box 3, RHP, JFKL, 1; CIA, Current Intelligence Memorandum, 11 January 1963, folder “Vietnam, general, 1/10/63–1/30/63,” box 197, NSF: Countries, JFKL.

81. Jessica Elkind, Aid under Fire: Nation Building and the Vietnam War (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016), chaps. 2, 4.

82. Dang, Viet-Nam, 87.

83. Colby, Lost Victory, 85, 83.

84. Tran Ngoc Chau, with Ken Fermoyle, Vietnam Labyrinth: Allies, Enemies, and Why the U.S. Lost the War (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2012), 3–169; Thomas L. Ahern Jr., The CIA and Rural Pacification in South Vietnam (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2001), 116–17.

85. Chau, American Syndrome, 13, 15, 51.

86. Stuart E. Methven, Parapolitics and Pacification, folder “Special studies—Vietnam [1 of 2],” box 24, NSF, Komer-Leonhart Subject Files (hereafter K-L), LBJL, pt. 4.

87. Chau, American Syndrome, 18.

88. Methven, Parapolitics and Pacification, 49.

89. Methven, 70; Chau, Vietnam Labyrinth, 180–83, 241; Ahern, CIA and Rural Pacification, 128–30, 135.

90. Methven, Parapolitics and Pacification, 16; Ahern, CIA and Rural Pacification, 116.

91. Chau, Vietnam Labyrinth, xv.

92. Chau, 237.

93. Ahern, CIA and Rural Pacification, 133, 168–69.

94. Don Luce and John Sommer, Viet Nam: The Unheard Voices (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969), 3, 44.

95. Elkind, Aid under Fire, chap. 3; Luce and Sommer, Viet Nam, 18.

96. Luce and Sommer, Viet Nam, 11; William A. Nighswonger, Rural Pacification in Viet Nam: 1962–1965 (Washington, DC: ARPA, 1966), 48–49; George K. Tanham et al., War without Guns: American Civilians in Rural Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1966), 30.

97. Rufus C. Phillips III, interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, 19 July 1995, http://international.loc.gov/service/mss/mssmisc/mfdip/2005%20txt%20files/2004phi04.txt (accessed 11 July 2016); Debrief no. 3672 (Fraleigh), 3–6.

98. Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters, 130.

99. USOM Provincial Representatives Guide, December 1962, Larry Flanagan Collection, TTVA, http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=0880215001, 1, 2.

100. USOM Provincial Representatives Guide, 3, 1.

101. Fraleigh claimed that he was involved in convincing Wisconsin congressman Clement Zablocki of the value of the Peace Corps, and that Zablocki then sold the concept to President Kennedy. See Fraleigh, “Story of America’s Counterinsurgency Efforts,” 12. See also Debrief no. 3672 (Fraleigh), 10.

102. He does add that Phillips “fully appreciated the political aim of the [strategic hamlet] program.” Colby, Lost Victory, 115.

103. USOM Provincial Representatives Guide, 3.

104. Debrief no. 3672 (Fraleigh), 25.

105. Johnson to Rostow, memo, 6 September 1961, folder “Vietnam, general, 9/61,” box 194, NSF: Countries, JFKL, 1; Johnson to Rostow, memo, 14 October 1961, folder “Vietnam, general, 10/12/61–10/15/61,” box 194, NSF: Countries, JFKL, 1.

106. Luce and Sommer, Viet Nam, 206.

107. Debrief no. 146612, box 99, GP, HIA, 1.

108. Quoted in Frank Scotton, Uphill Battle: Reflections on Viet Nam Counterinsurgency (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2014), 19.

109. Hilsman and Forrestal to JFK, undated, folder “Vietnam Hilsman trip, 12/62–1/63, basic report,” box 3, RHP, JFKL, 5.

110. CIA info report no. -3/520 576, 23 August 1962, folder “Vietnam, 9/28/62–7/27/62,” box 3, RHP, JFKL.

111. Forrestal to Bundy, memo, 8 September 1962, folder “Vietnam, general, 9/1/62–9/14/62,” box 196, NSF: Countries, JFKL.

112. Lansdale to Diem, 30 January 1961, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963 (hereafter FRUS, 1961–1963), 30 vols. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1988–2001), 1:21.

113. Truong Van Toai, with David Chanoff and Doan Van Toai, A Vietcong Memoir (San Diego: Harcourt, 1985), 51, 64; Race, War Comes to Long An, 172.

114. Methven, Parapolitics and Pacification, 10, 52.

115. Dang, Viet-Nam, 125–31, 141.

116. Quoted in R. W. Komer, Organization and Management of the “New Model” Pacification Program, 1966–1969 (RAND document number D-20104-ARPA, 1970), 19.

2. The Johnson Administration and Nation Building

1. For an account that stresses Johnson’s personal agency in escalating the war see Fredrik Logevall, Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).

2. Quoted in Frank L. Jones, “Blowtorch: Robert Komer and the Making of Vietnam Pacification Policy,” Parameters 35 (Autumn 2005): 104.

3. This criticism is made in Harry G. Summers Jr., American Strategy in Vietnam: A Critical Analysis (Mineola, NY: Dover, 2007), 104.

4. Memo for the record, 24 November 1963, U.S. Department of State, FRUS, 1961–1963, 4:635–37.

5. Robert S. McNamara, with Brian VanDeMark, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (New York: Vintage, 1995), 102.

6. National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 273, 26 November 1963, FRUS, 1961–1963, 4:637–40.

7. Memcon, 1 June 1964, FRUS, 1964–1968, 1:422–28; telegram, Embassy to State, 29 June 1964, Douglas Pike Collection, TTVA, www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2120327004.

8. Mike Gravel, ed., The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decisionmaking on Vietnam (Boston: Beacon, 1971), 2:523.

9. Richards to Westmoreland, memo, 30 November 1964, folder “#10: History Backup [II],” box 3, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL.

10. Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 65; Pierre Asselin, Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War, 1954–1965 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013), 148–76; William J. Duiker, The Communist Road to Power in South Vietnam (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996), 245–46.

11. Truong Van Toai, with David Chanoff and Doan Van Toai, A Vietcong Memoir (San Diego: Harcourt, 1985), 91.

12. Johnson to Lodge, message, 7 January 1964, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968 (hereafter FRUS, 1964–1968), 35 vols. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1992–1999), 1:6–7.

13. National Security Action Memo 314, 10 September 1964, FRUS, 1964–1968, 1:758–60.

14. Chester Cooper oral history interview, no. 1, 9 July 1979, LBJL, 9–10; Edward Lansdale oral history, no. 2, 15 September 1981, LBJL, 53.

15. Taylor to State, telegram, 26 February 1965, FRUS, 1964–1968, 2:375.

16. Cooper to Bundy, memo, 1 March 1965, FRUS, 1964–1968, 2:384–88.

17. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1966), 1:394–99.

18. Speech draft, 4 March 1965, folder “Vietnam Coordinating Committee, part I, 1965,” box 4, Subject Files of the Office of Vietnam Affairs (Vietnam Working Group), 1964–1974, RG 59, National Archives II at College Park, MD (hereafter NARA II), 1.

19. Johnson and Bundy, recording of telephone conversation, 31 May 1965, #7848, LBJL.

20. Johnson and McNamara, recording of telephone conversation, 12 September 1965, #8851, LBJL.

21. Bundy to Johnson, memo, 8 March 1965, FRUS, 1964–1968, 2:414–20; Johnson to Lodge, message, 7 January 1964, 6–7.

22. Frank Scotton, Uphill Battle: Reflections on Viet Nam Counterinsurgency (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2014), 148.

23. Bundy to Johnson, telegram, 6 December 1965, FRUS, 1964–1968, 3:607–14.

24. Robert Komer oral history interview, no. 2, 18 August 1970, LBJL, 51,

25. Dean Rusk, As I Saw It (London: Norton, 1970), 454.

26. Quoted in H. W. Brands, The Wages of Globalism: Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 14.

27. Rufus C. Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013), 104, 123–24; William Colby, with James McCargar, Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America’s Sixteen-Year Involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary, 1989), 122.

28. Notes of a meeting, 7 December 1965, FRUS, 1964–1968, 3:619–22.

29. Chester Cooper, The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1970), 296–97.

30. Johnson and Rusk, recording of telephone conversation, 3 February 1966, #9612, LBJL.

31. Johnson and Manatos, recording of a telephone conversation, 4 February 1966, #9619, LBJL.

32. All quotes in this paragraph from Gravel, Pentagon Papers, 2:548–54. On the continued disagreement between agencies see report, “Warrenton meeting on South Viet-Nam, January 8–11, 1966,” 13 January 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:58–63.

33. Nguyen Cao Ky, with Martin Wolf, Buddha’s Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam (New York: St. Martin’s, 2002), 35–125; biographic data, “Nguyen Cao Ky,” folder “DIA biographic sketches, vol. II 7/65–12/68,” box 175, NSF: Country File, Vietnam (hereafter CF), LBJL; Bui Diem, with David Chanoff, In the Jaws of History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), 158.

34. Nguyen Van Thieu: President of the Republic of Vietnam (Saigon, 1969); biographic data, “Nguyen Van Thieu,” folder “DIA biographic sketches, vol. VI 7/65–12/68,” box 176, NSF, CF, LBJL.

35. Bui Diem, In the Jaws of History, 157–58.

36. William Bundy, quoted in George Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 137.

37. Bui Diem, In the Jaws of History, 157.

38. Ky, Buddha’s Child, 132–33, 239.

39. Ky, 188–89. On his father-in-law see biographic data, “Nguyen Cao Ky.”

40. Gravel, Pentagon Papers, 2:548–54.

41. Ky, Buddha’s Child, 191; Bui Diem, In the Jaws of History, 163.

42. NLF statement printed in Vietnam Courier (Hanoi), 2 February 1966, 1, 7.

43. Bernard Fall, Viet-Nam Witness: 1953–66 (New York: Praeger, 1966), 137.

44. Bui Diem, In the Jaws of History, 162.

45. On Komer’s early life see Frank L. Jones, Blowtorch: Robert Komer, Vietnam, and American Cold War Strategy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013), chap. 1.

46. Jones, Blowtorch, chap. 5; Robert Komer oral history interview, no. 3, 15 November 1971, LBJL, 38.

47. Excerpt from Robert Komer trial testimony in Westmoreland vs. CBS, Larry Berman Collection, TTVA, http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=0251114002, p. 1.

48. Quoted in Merle Miller, Lyndon: An Oral Biography (New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1980), 465.

49. On “high modernism” see James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999).

50. Such “low modernist” approaches have been discussed in Daniel Immerwahr, Thinking Small: The United States and the Lure of Community Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015).

51. Report, “Warrenton meeting on South Viet-Nam”; McNamara to Johnson, memo, 30 November 1965, FRUS, 1964–1968, 3:591–94.

52. Holbrooke to Komer, memo, 27 February 1967, “Report to the President [8/66],” box 8, Robert W. Komer Files (hereafter RKF), LBJL.

53. Komer to Johnson, memo, 9 May 1966, folder “RWK CHRON FILE May 1966 [2 of 2],” box 6, Robert W. Komer Papers (hereafter RKP), LBJL.

54. Komer oral history interview, no. 2, 25.

55. Komer oral history interview, no. 2, 27.

56. Komer to McNamara, memo, 1 September 1966, folder “McNamara/Vance/McNaughton,” box 5, RKF, LBJL.

57. Komer to Johnson, memo, 9 May 1966.

58. Komer oral history interview, no. 3, 28.

59. Komer oral history interview, no. 3, 32–33. See also Komer oral history interview, no. 2, 26.

60. Komer to Porter, 11 May 1966, letter no. 8, folder “RWK CHRON FILE May 1966 [2 of 2],” box 6, RKP, LBJL.

61. Komer to Johnson, memo, 9 May 1966.

62. Komer to McNamara, memo, 29 September 1966, folder “McNamara/Vance/McNaughton,” box 5, RKF, LBJL; Komer to Johnson, memo, 14 October 1966, folder “RWK CHRON FILE October–December 1966 [3 of 3],” box 6, RKP, LBJL.

63. Komer to Johnson, memo, 14 June 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:419–25.

64. Komer to McNamara, memo, 29 September 1966.

65. Komer to Johnson, memo, 9 May 1966.

66. Komer to McNamara, memo, 29 September 1966.

67. Johnson and McNamara, recording of telephone conversation, 5 October 1966, #10924, LBJL.

68. Carver to Helms, memo, 7 July 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:486–88. Emphasis in original.

69. Helms to Komer, memo, 18 July 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:505–7.

70. Johnson to Rusk, memo, 1 October 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:680–82.

71. Carver to Helms, memo, 6 October 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:712–16, at footnote 6.

72. Carver to Helms, memo, 28 September 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:668–72.

73. Komer to McNamara, memo, 29 September 1966.

74. Komer to Johnson, memo, 28 February 1967, folder “Supplement to Komer report [3/67],” box 8, RKF, LBJL.

75. Komer to McNamara, memo, 29 September 1966.

76. Komer, memo for the record, 2 November 1966, folder “RWK CHRON FILE October–December 1966 [3 of 3],” box 6, RKP, LBJL.

77. Holbrooke to Komer, memo, 27 February 1967, “Report to the President [8/66],” box 8, RKF, LBJL.

78. Komer to Johnson, memo, 28 February 1967. Emphasis in original.

79. Johnson and McNamara, recording of telephone conversation, 5 October 1966, #10923, LBJL.

80. Johnson to Lodge, 16 November 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:848–49; Komer to Johnson, memo, 17 November 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:849–50.

81. Komer to Johnson, memo, 17 November 1966.

82. Rostow to Johnson, memo, 26 January 1967, FRUS, 1964–1968, 5:62.

83. DePuy to Goodpaster, memo, 18 April 1967, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:320–26.

84. “Pacification and Nation-building in Vietnam,” memo, 17 February 1967, folder “Vietnam memos (A). Vol. 66,” box 41, NSF: Vietnam, LBJL, 1, 3, 23.

3. Setting Up CORDS

1. “Pacification Program in Vietnam,” briefing, 23 October 1967, folder “Pacification [2 of 18],” box 18, NSF, K-L, LBJL, 4. The map itself was not placed in the archive.

2. Mark Moyar, Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 336–40. Jack Shulimson and Charles M. Johnson, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Landing and the Buildup, 1965 (Washington, DC: U.S. Marine Corps, 1978), 204–5.

3. Moyar, Triumph Forsaken, 358–59, 393–94.

4. On this period see John M. Carland, Combat Operations: Stemming the Tide, May 1965–October 1966 (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2000).

5. James C. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 153.

6. Mike Gravel, ed., The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decisionmaking on Vietnam (Boston: Beacon, 1971), 2:515.

7. Quotes from “Concept of Operations,” cable, 14 June 1964, Larry Berman Collection, TTVA, 2. See also Gregory Daddis, Westmoreland’s War: Reassessing American Strategy in Vietnam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014); Jeffrey J. Clarke, Advice and Support, the Final Years: The U.S. Army in Vietnam (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1988), 120–24.

8. Thomas L. Ahern Jr., The CIA and Rural Pacification in South Vietnam (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2001), 195–96.

9. DIA biographic file, Nguyen Duc Thang, December 1967, folder “Vietnam: [DIA biographic sketches, vol. V] 7/65–12/68,” box 175, NSF: CF, LBJL; James McAllister, “What Can One Man Do? Nguyen Duc Thang and the Limits of Reform in South Vietnam,” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 4, no. 2 (2009): 120; Ahern, CIA and Rural Pacification, 196.

10. “Assessment of GVN/FWMAF Program for Revolutionary Development,” point paper, 31 March 1966, folder “RD reports [2 of 2],” box 22, NSF, K‑L, LBJL, 1.

11. William A. Nighswonger, Rural Pacification in Viet Nam: 1962–1965 (Advanced Research Projects Agency, 1966), 164.

12. Ahern, CIA and Rural Pacification, 203.

13. Richard C. Kriegel, “Vietnamese Attitudes and Behavior Related to Management Problems of the RD Program,” March 1969, folder “Comments + res. rept. / VN attitudes + behavior related to mgmt. problems,” box 12, HQ MACV, CORDS: Plans, Programs and Policies Directorate (hereafter PPP), CORDS Historical Working Group Files (hereafter CORDS History Files), RG 472, NARA II, 40.

14. Cao Van Vien, The U.S. Adviser (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1980), 142; Don Luce and John Sommer, Viet Nam: The Unheard Voices (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969), 152.

15. Luce and Sommer, 41.

16. “Establishment of the National Training Center,” undated, folder “National Training Center Questionnaire,” box 16, HQ MACV, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 6.

17. Stuart E. Methven, Parapolitics and Pacification, folder “Special studies—Vietnam [1 of 2],” box 24, NSF, K-L, LBJL, 53.

18. Methven, Parapolitics and Pacification, 24.

19. Tran Ngoc Chau, with Ken Fermoyle, Vietnam Labyrinth: Allies, Enemies, and Why the U.S. Lost the War (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2012), 240–41; Kriegel, “Vietnamese Attitudes and Behavior,” 40–41.

20. Chau, Vietnam Labyrinth, 235, 236.

21. Chau, 226–47; Colby to Komer, memo, 16 August 1966, folder “RD—cadre,” box 22, NSF, K-L, LBJL.

22. Chau, Vietnam Labyrinth, 241–47; “Establishment of the National Training Center,” 1; Ahern, CIA and Rural Pacification, 196.

23. Colby to Komer, memo, 16 August 1966; Chau, Vietnam Labyrinth, 241–47.

24. Nighswonger, Rural Pacification, 48–49; George K. Tanham et al., War without Guns: American Civilians in Rural Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1966), 30.

25. Bert Fraleigh, “The Real Story of America’s Counterinsurgency Efforts in Vietnam in the Early 1960s,” incorrectly dated January 1966 [1996?], Rufus Phillips Collection, TTVA, 28.

26. “Paper and Song Lyrics—the Greatest Years of the Pig: 1962–1964 in the Rural Areas of South Vietnam,” undated, Rufus Phillips Collection, TTVA.

27. Debrief no. 21666, box 100, GP, HIA, 10.

28. Rufus C. Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013), 133.

29. CFAA newsletter #10, July 1972, folder “CFAA Newsletters, 1971–72,” box 45, HQ MACV, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

30. Debrief no. 15681, box 97, GP, HIA, 2.

31. Quoted in Ahern, CIA and Rural Pacification, 154.

32. Debrief no. 126712, box 99, GP, HIA, 2.

33. Michael E. Peterson, The Combined Action Platoons: The U.S. Marines’ Other War in Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1989), 23.

34. For the quote see Jonathan D. Caverley, “The Myth of Military Myopia: Democracy, Small Wars, and Vietnam,” International Security 34, no. 3 (2007): 152. See also John A. Nagl, Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Vietnam and Malaya (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 156–58; Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr., The Army and Vietnam (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), 174–77; William R. Corson, The Betrayal (New York: Ace, 1968), 174–98; Lewis Sorley, Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam (New York: Harcourt, 2011), chap. 11; Max Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power (New York: Basic Books, 2002), 286–317.

35. Corson, Betrayal, 15, 154–55, 171.

36. Quoted in Mark Moyar, Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism in Vietnam (London: Bison Books, 2007), 45.

37. Corson, Betrayal, 172.

38. MACV Dir 10–12, 28 May 1967, “Vietnam 1C (1). Revolutionary Development program. 2 of 2,” box 59, NSF, CF, LBJL.

39. Thomas W. Scoville, Reorganizing for Pacification Support (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center for Military History, 1982), 58–59, 65–67; “Pacification Program in Vietnam,” briefing, 23 October 1967, 2.

40. Scoville, Reorganizing, 66.

41. MACV Dir 10–12, 28 May 1967, 3; Scoville, Reorganizing, 67–68.

42. MACV Dir 10–12, 28 May 1967, 4.

43. “Pacification Program in Vietnam,” briefing, 23 October 1967, 3. The number of PSAs exceeded the number of actual provinces in the country—forty-four—because three autonomous cities also had PSAs.

44. “Pacification Program in Vietnam,” 4; MACV Dir 10–12, 28 May 1967, 4–5; Scoville, Reorganizing, 70.

45. Robert Komer oral history interview, no. 2, 18 August 1970, LBJL, 44.

46. “MACV commanders conference, 13 May 1967,” memo for the record, 21 May 1967, 2–3; “Opening remarks by Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker at Mission Council meeting, Monday, May 1, 1967, Saigon,” undated paper, folder “Vietnam memos (A). Vol. 70 [1 of 2],” box 43, NSF, CF, LBJL.

47. R. W. Komer, Organization and Management of the “New Model” Pacification Program, 1966–1969 (RAND document number D-20104-ARPA, 1970), 54. See also Sorley, Westmoreland.

48. Comments on Kriegel Report, 25 October 1969, folder “Comments + res. rept. / VN attitudes + behavior related to mgmt. problems,” PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

49. Frank Scotton, Uphill Battle: Reflections on Viet Nam Counterinsurgency (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2014), 188.

50. “MACV commanders conference, 13 May 1967,” memo for the record, 21 May 1967, 5.

51. Quoted in Lewis Sorley, ed., Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968–1972 (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2004), 100. Emphasis in original.

52. Fraleigh, “Real Story of America’s Counterinsurgency Efforts,” 7.

53. Komer oral history, no. 2, 47.

54. U.S. Department of the Army, A Program for the Pacification and Long-Term Development of South Vietnam (1966), 42.

55. On the unprecedented nature of the mission see U.S. Agency for International Development, Terminal Report: United States Economic Assistance to South Vietnam, 1954–1975, “Rural Development,” 1.

56. Charles Mohr, “U.S. Opens Study of Aid in Vietnam,” New York Times, 5 September 1966, 3.

57. Komer, “New Model,” 17.

58. Department of the Army, Program for the Pacification, 52, 55, 6, 13.

59. “Report on Leverage,” undated [summer 1967], folder “Leverage,” box 13, NSF, K-L, LBJL, 8, 9, 11.

60. “More for our Effort: U.S. Leverage in Vietnam,” report, 7 August 1967, folder “Leverage,” box 13, NSF, K-L, LBJL, 3.

61. Komer to Westmoreland and Bunker, memo, 30 January 1968, folder “#28: History File [II],” box 15, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL.

62. Komer to Senior Advisor I CTZ, memo, 30 January 1968, folder “#28: History File [II],” box 15, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL, 1. The memo was distributed to all four DepCORDS.

63. Komer to Senior Advisor I CTZ, memo, 30 January 1968, 2.

64. Komer to Senior Advisor I CTZ, memo, 30 January 1968, 2; Komer for Westmoreland and Bunker, memo, 30 January 1968.

65. Westmoreland to Sharp, telegram, 17 September 1967, MAC #8807 folder “Eyes Only Message File 1 Jul–33 Sep 1967: TO [3 of 3],” box 37, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL.

66. Komer, “New Model,” 75.

67. W. W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960).

68. Komer, “New Model,” 66, 72; “Project Takeoff, Volume II: Assessment of Pacification,” report, 11 August 1967, U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Vietnam War Documents Collection, TTVA, www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1201065024, III-1, VI-1.

69. The quote is from “Project Takeoff” report, 11 August 1967, VI-3.

70. “Project Takeoff” report, V-2–V-3.

71. Samuel P. Huntington, “Political Stability and Security in South Vietnam,” December 1967, folder “Vietnam 1C (2). Revolutionary Development program. 1 of 3,” box 59, NSF, CF, LBJL, iii, 8–10. Emphasis in original.

72. “Goals of Project Takeoff for CY 67,” briefing, 27 August 1967, folder “#21: History File. [II],” box 13, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL, 2.

73. “Briefing on Project Takeoff,” undated [summer 1967], U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Vietnam War Documents Collection, TTVA, www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1201065024.

74. Vann to Ellsberg, 19 August 1967, folder “Ellsberg, Daniel. 1967–1969,” box 27, Neil Sheehan Papers, LOC, 3.

75. Corson, Betrayal, 213. Emphasis in original.

76. Chan Khong Cao Ngoc Phuong, Learning True Love: How I Learned and Practiced Social Change in Vietnam (Berkeley, CA: Parallax, 1993), 89, 13–14.

77. On the struggle movement see Robert J. Topmiller, The Lotus Unleashed: The Buddhist Peace Movement in South Vietnam, 1964–1966 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002).

78. Bui Diem, with David Chanoff, In the Jaws of History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), 166–67.

79. “Goals of Project Takeoff,” briefing, 27 August 1967. In the original document “TAKEOFF” is capitalized.

80. Komer, “New Model,” 65.

81. Vann to Ellsberg, 19 August 1967, 3.

82. Bui Diem, In the Jaws of History, 190.

83. Debrief no. 8664, box 94, GP, HIA, 3 (lobbyist); Debrief no. 206612, box 101, GP, HIA, 9, 10 (diplomat); and Debrief no. 7666, box 99, GP, HIA, 8 (con-man).

84. Debrief no. 166612, box 98, GP, HIA, 14–15; and Debrief no. 30663, box 99, GP, HIA, 1–2.

85. Debrief no. 2667, box 100, GP, HIA, 8.

86. Debrief no. 4668, box 101, GP, HIA, 18.

87. Wagonhurst to all PSAs, undated memo, folder “End of tour report,” box 102, CORDS History Files, NARA II, 4. Emphasis in original.

88. Braddock to Eagle, attachment to letter, 21 October 1970, folder “POL 7: Visits, trip reports, 1970,” box 9, Subject Files of the Office of Vietnam Affairs (Vietnam Working Group), RG 59, NARA II.

89. Debrief no. 23666, box 94, GP, HIA, 8–9.

90. Wagonhurst to all PSAs, 6–7.

91. Debrief no. 3681, box 97, GP, HIA, 16; Debrief no. 2667, box 100, GP, HIA, 2.

92. Task force minutes, program “CDD,” September 1971, folder “Heilman minutes of task force meetings / Taken from Chamber’s safe, folder I,” box 80, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 8.

93. Task force minutes, program “CORDS/PP&P and Mr. John Vann,” 11 October 1971, folder “Heilman minutes of task force meetings / Taken from Chamber’s safe, folder I,” box 80, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 19.

94. Vien, U.S. Adviser, 148, 149.

95. Debrief no. 30663, 8.

96. Debrief no. 8664, 2–3.

97. Debrief no. 8664, 5; Debrief no. 4668, 19–20; and Debrief no. 7666, 14.

98. Debrief no. 15679, box 101, GP, HIA, 1, 4, 13, 17–18.

99. Debrief no. 15679, 11; Luce and Sommer, Viet Nam, 18.

100. Debrief no. 15679, 11, 12, 14.

101. Debrief no. 56712, box 101, GP, HIA, 1, 4.

102. Vien, U.S. Adviser, 155, 156.

103. Debrief no. 15679, 7, 5, 11.

104. Vien, U.S. Adviser, 146.

105. Vien, 10, 12.

106. Debrief no. 146612, box 99, GP, HIA, 9–10; Nguyen Cao Ky, with Marvin J. Wolf, Buddha’s Child: My Fight to Save South Vietnam (New York: St. Martin’s, 2002), 139, 177, 197.

107. Vann to Ellsberg, 19 August 1967, 4.

108. Warner to Montague, 27 December 1967, folder “Pacification [12 of 18],” box 19, NSF, K‑L, LBJL, 1, 2.

109. “Resolution Adopted during the Regular Conference of the An Thai Party Committee,” 16 March 1967, Vietnam Documents and Research Notes Series, no. 2, 13. “An Thai” was a nom de guerre of the Ninety-Fifth Regiment of the NVA Fifth Army Division.

110. Letter to Comrade Hoai Nam, June 1967, Vietnam Documents and Research Notes Series, no. 12, 3–4.

111. On the problem of being separated from the population see “Irregular Conference of Chau Thanh District Supply Council,” 7 January 1967, Vietnam Documents and Research Notes Series, no. 4.

112. Huss to McManaway, memo, 22 September 1967, folder “RD planning [1 of 2],” box 22, NSF, K‑L, LBJL.

113. Huss to McManaway, memo, 22 September 1967, 2.

114. “President Thieu’s explanation of his gradualistic approach to governmental reforms and the problems confronting him,” intel cable, 14 January 1968, folder “Vietnam 1E (1). Post Inaugural Political Activity. 1 of 3,” box 61 2 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL, 1, 4, 6.

115. “Proceedings of the 28 December Cabinet meeting,” intel cable, 2 January 1968, folder “Vietnam 1E (2). Post Inaugural Political Activity. 1 of 2,” box 61 2 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL, 7.

116. Locke to Rusk, telegram, 10 January 1968, folder “Vietnam 1E (2). Post Inaugural Political Activity. 2 of 2,” box 61 2 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

117. DePuy, memo for the record, 17 January 1968, FRUS, 1964–1968, 6:37–40.

118. DePuy, memo for the record, 17 January 1968.

119. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 24 January 1968, folder “Vietnam 8B (2) [A]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2; Helms to multiple, memo, 17 January 1968, folder “Vietnam 1C (3)—B2. Revolutionary Development program,” box 60, NSF, CF, LBJL; Westmoreland, memo for the record, 9 January 1968, folder “#28: History File,” box 15, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL.

4. The “Opportunity”

1. George L. MacGarrigle, Taking the Offensive: October 1966 to October 1967 (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1998), 3–30, 431–45.

2. Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 87–109.

3. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 30 October 1968, Saigon #41523, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [B]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 4.

4. Lewis Sorley, A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam (New York: Harcourt, 1999); William Colby and Peter Forbath, Honourable Men: My Life in the CIA (London: Hutchinson, 1978); William Colby, with James McCargar, Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America’s Sixteen-Year Involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary, 1989); Robert W. Komer, Bureaucracy at War: U.S. Performance in the Vietnam Conflict (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1986).

5. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 16 January 1969, Saigon #894, folder “8-B. Bunker’s weekly report to the president,” box 75, NSC Files: Vietnam Subject Files, Richard Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, CA (hereafter NPL), 2.

6. David W. P. Elliott, The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930–1975 (London: Sharpe, 2003), 2:1037.

7. Quoted in Ronald H. Spector, After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam (New York: Macmillan, 1993), 163.

8. “Appeal by the Front of National, Democratic and Peace Alliance in Central Viet-Nam,” Vietnam Documents and Research Notes Series, no. 22, 4.

9. Bui Diem, with David Chanoff, In the Jaws of History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999), 185, 196.

10. Nguyen Thi Thu-Lam, Fallen Leaves: Memoirs of a Vietnamese Woman from 1940 to 1975 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 169.

11. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 9 April 1968, Saigon #24361, folder “Vietnam 1EE (4). Post Tet Political Activity,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2.

12. James C. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 153.

13. Mission Council action memo, 5 September 1968, folder “Vietnam 8D. Mission Council action memos [1 of 2],” box 106, NSF, CF, LBJL.

14. Lewis Sorley, ed., Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968–1972 (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2004), 52.

15. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 9 April 1968, 5.

16. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 9 April 1968, 20–21, 45–47.

17. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 16 May 1968, Saigon #27497, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [A]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 1.

18. Bernard Weinraub, “U.S. Admits Blows to Pacification,” New York Times, 25 February 1968, 1, 30.

19. Bunker to Rostow, cable, 27 February 1968, box 60, folder “Vietnam 1C (3)—B2. Revolutionary Development program,” NSF, CF, LBJL.

20. On the memo’s authorship see John Prados, Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 199.

21. Helms to Katzenbach et al., memo with attachment, 2 February 1968, folder “Vietnam 1EE (1). Post Tet Political Activity. 3 of 4,” box 62, 1 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

22. Thomas Ahern, CIA and the Generals: Covert Support to Military Government in South Vietnam (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1998), 74.

23. R. W. Komer, Organization and Management of the “New Model” Pacification Program, 1966–1969 (RAND document number D-20104-ARPA, 1970), 84.

24. Komer, “New Model,” 85.

25. “Refugee and Social Welfare Program in Vietnam,” paper dated “Feb ’70?,” folder “Misc reports (historical),” box 29, HQ MACV, Office of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 5.

26. Louis A. Wiesner, Victims and Survivors: Displaced Persons and Other War Victims in Viet-Nam, 1954–1975 (New York: Greenwood, 1988), 163–64.

27. “Project Recovery,” memo for the record, 28 February 1968, folder “#17: History Backup [I],” box 6, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL.

28. “Project Recovery,” memo for the record, 16 February 1968, folder “#17: History Backup [I],” box 6, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL, 2.

29. Gene Robert, “Saigon Pressing Aid to Refugees,” New York Times, 25 April 1968, 2.

30. Komer, “New Model,” 83.

31. Westmoreland to Sharp et al., telegram, 3 February 1968, folder “Pacification [13 of 18],” box 19, NSF, K-L, LBJL; “Refugee and Social Welfare Program in Vietnam,” paper dated “Feb ’70?,” 5.

32. See the budget data in HQ MACV, CORDS, Community Development Directorate (hereafter CDD), General Records, 1967–1972, boxes 3–5, RG 472, NARA II.

33. Elliott, Vietnamese War, 2:1036.

34. Nguyen Cao Ky, with Martin J. Wolf, Buddha’s Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam (New York: St. Martin’s, 2002), 273.

35. Tran Van Don, Our Endless War: Inside Vietnam (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1978), 176.

36. Ky, Buddha’s Child, 139, 197.

37. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 19 October 1968, Saigon #40697, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [B]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2.

38. Lansdale to Bunker, memo, 30 January 1968, folder “Vietnam 8E (1). Lansdale memos to Rostow [2 of 2],” box 107, NSF, CF, LBJL, 1.

39. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 1 February 1968, Saigon #17361, folder “Vietnam 1E (2). Post Inaugural Political Activity. 1 of 2,” box 61, 2 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

40. Bunker to Rusk and Johnson, telegram, 9 February 1968, Saigon #18699, folder “Vietnam 1EE (1). Post Tet Political Activity. 2 of 4,” box 62 1 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

41. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 15 February 1968, folder “Vietnam 8B (2) [B]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2.

42. Vann to Holbrooke, 4 April 1968, folder “Barnes, Thomas J.,” box 25, Neil Sheehan Papers, LOC, 2.

43. Ellsberg and Vann, telcon transcript, 18 July 1968, “Ellsberg, Daniel. Telephone conversations, 1968,” box 27, Neil Sheehan Papers, LOC, 8.

44. Bui Diem, “My Recollections of the Tet Offensive,” in The Tet Offensive, ed. Marc Jason Gilbert and William Head (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996), 131.

45. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 15 February 1968, 8.

46. Johnson to Bunker, telegram, 3 February 1968, no number, folder “Vietnam 1EE (1). Post Tet Political Activity. 3 of 4,” box 62, 1 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2.

47. Bunker to Johnson and Rusk, telegram, 9 February 1968, Saigon #18583, folder “Vietnam 1EE (1). Post Tet Political Activity. 2 of 4,” box 62, 1 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

48. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 18 March 1968, Saigon #22386, folder “Vietnam 1EE (3). Post Tet Political Activity. 3 of 3,” box 62, 2 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

49. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 2 May 1968, Saigon #26229, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [A]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 1.

50. “Threat of Nguyen Duc Thang to Resign as Chief of Staff to the Committee for the Relief of the People,” intel cable, 9 February 1968, folder “Vietnam 1EE (1). Post Tet Political Activity. 2 of 4,” box 62, 1 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL; “Vice President Ky’s Reasons for Resigning as Task Force Chairman,” intel cable, 22 February 1968, folder “Vietnam 1EE (2). Post Tet Political Activity. 4 of 4,” box 62, 2 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

51. “Threat of Nguyen Duc Thang to Resign,” intel cable, 9 February 1968, 2.

52. Don, Our Endless War, 176–77; Ky, Buddha’s Child, 237.

53. Bui Diem, In the Jaws of History, 186.

54. DIA biographic file, “Lieutenant General Le Nguyen Khanh,” September 1968, folder “Vietnam: [DIA biographic sketches, vol. VI]. 7/65–12/68,” box 176, NSF, CF, LBJL; Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 3 June 1968, Saigon #28958, folder “Vietnam 1EE (6). Post Tet Political Activity. 2 of 2,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL.

55. “III Corps Commander General Khang’s Comments on Possibility of Future Viet Cong Attacks and the Problems Relating to Viet Cong Tet Offensive,” intel cable, 19 February 1968, folder “Vietnam 1EE (1). Post Tet Political Activity. 1 of 4,” box 62, 1 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL, 3.

56. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 5 March 1968, Saigon #21218, folder “Vietnam 1EE (2). Post Tet Political Activity. 2 of 4,” box 62, 2 of 2, NSF, CF, LBJL.

57. Tom Buckley, “One Reform Is Achieved,” New York Times, 17 March 1968, 3; Komer, “New Model,” 84.

58. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 5 March 1968, Saigon #21218, quote at p. 2.

59. Gene Roberts, “Thieu Discharges 7 Province Chiefs,” New York Times, 12 March 1968, 1.

60. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 16 January 1969, Saigon #894, p. 21; Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 12 September 1968, Saigon #37663, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [B]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2–3.

61. Bernard Weinraub, “American Aides Are Hopeful on Recovery in the Mekong Delta,” New York Times, 7 September 1968, 12.

62. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 12 September 1968, Saigon #37663.

63. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 12 September 1968; Mission Council action memo, 16 February 1968, folder “Vietnam 8D. Mission Council action memos [1 of 2],” box 106, NSF, CF, LBJL, 1.

64. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 24 April 1968, Saigon #25561, folder “Vietnam 1EE (4). Post Tet Political Activity,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL, 1, 2.

65. Ky, Lansdale, and Berger, memcon, 26 April 1968, folder “Vietnam 1EE (4). Post Tet Political Activity,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL, 3.

66. “The New Cabinet of South Vietnam,” intel memo, 29 May 1968, folder “Vietnam 1EE (5). Post Tet Political Activity,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2; Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 6 April 1968, Saigon #24147, folder “Vietnam 1EE (4). Post Tet Political Activity,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2; Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 18 March 1968, Saigon #22386, p. 3.

67. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 29 May 1968, Saigon #28566, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [A]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2.

68. Biographic data, “Tran Thien Khiem,” folder “Vietnam: [DIA biographic sketches, vol. VI]. 7/65–12/68,” box 176, NSF, CF, LBJL.

69. “The New Cabinet of South Vietnam,” intel memo, 29 May 1968, folder “Vietnam 1EE (5). Post Tet Political Activity,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2; Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 6 April 1968, Saigon #24147, folder “Vietnam 1EE (4). Post Tet Political Activity,” box 63, NSF, CF, LBJL, 2; Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 18 March 1968, Saigon #22386, p. 3.

70. Ky, Lansdale, and Berger, memcon, 26 April 1968; Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 3 June 1968, Saigon #28958.

71. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 3 June 1968, Saigon #28958.

72. Rostow to Johnson, telegram, 13 June 1968, CAP #81287, p. 5 of attachment.

73. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 19 October 1968, Saigon #40697, p. 3; DIA biographic file, “Lieutenant General Le Nguyen Khanh,” September 1968.

74. Gene Roberts, “Saigon Explosion Kills 7 Officials; Mayor Wounded,” New York Times, 3 June 1968, 1; Ky, Buddha’s Child, 270.

75. Bernard Weinraub, “Ousters in Saigon a Setback for Ky,” New York Times, 9 June 1968, 3.

76. Bernard Weinraub, “The Politics: A Firmer Base for Thieu,” New York Times, 9 June 1968, E3.

77. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 27 September 1968, Saigon #38867, folder “Vietnam 1EE (8). Post Tet Political Activity. 1 of 2,” box 64, NSF, CF, LBJL, 1.

78. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 8 June 1968, Saigon #29472, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [A]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 4.

79. Komer, “New Model,” 84.

80. Rostow to Johnson, telegram, 13 June 1968, CAP # 81287, p. 7 of attachment.

81. DIA biographic file, August 1968, folder “Vietnam: [DIA biographic sketches, vol. VI]. 7/65–12/68,” box 176, NSF, CF, LBJL.

82. Bui Diem, In the Jaws of History, 262.

83. Komer, “New Model,” 83.

84. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 18 March 1968, Saigon #22386, 6, 10.

85. Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People’s Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975, trans. Merle L. Pribbenow (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 237–38.

86. Bunker to Johnson, telegram, 4 September 1968, Saigon #37046, folder “Vietnam 8B (3) [B]. Bunker’s Wkly. Rpt. to the President,” box 105, NSF, CF, LBJL, 7.

87. Mission Council action memo, 5 September 1968, folder “Vietnam 8D. Mission Council action memos [1 of 2],” box 106, NSF, CF, LBJL.

88. “Briefing: Pacification in Vietnam,” 9 June 1969, folder “Orient and brief files, ’67,” box 2, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, p. 3.

89. Sorley, Abrams Tapes, 52.

90. Colby, Lost Victory, 253. See also a transcript of parts of the conference in Sorley, Abrams Tapes, 49–52.

91. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 6 April 1968, Saigon #24147.

92. Komer, “New Model,” 88.

93. “Briefing: Pacification in Vietnam,” 9 June 1969, 4.

94. Charles Mohr, “Saigon Curtails Aid to Landlords,” New York Times, 21 November 1968, 14.

95. Komer, “New Model,” 86.

96. Vann to Weyand, 29 January 1969, folder “Weyand, Fred C.,” box 30, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 2, 3.

97. Bunker to Rusk, telegram, 27 September 1968, Saigon #38867, p. 3.

5. The Nixon Administration and Nation Building

1. Sir Robert Thompson, Peace Is Not at Hand (London: Chatto & Windus, 1974), 1.

2. Daniel Ellsberg, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (New York: Viking, 2002), 227.

3. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 19 March 1970, folder “Vietnamization Vol II. Jan ’70–Jun ’70 [2 of 2],” box 91, NSC Files, Vietnam Subject Files (hereafter VSF), NPL.

4. Jeffrey Kimball, for instance, writes that pacification was not relevant to Nixon’s strategy because it was unlikely to alter the strategic balance or provide leverage at the negotiating table. See Jeffrey Kimball, Nixon’s Vietnam War (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998), 74.

5. Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People’s Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975, trans. Merle L. Pribbenow (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 238.

6. Lewis Sorley, A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam (New York: Harcourt, 1999), 217.

7. Henry A. Kissinger, “The Viet Nam Negotiations,” Foreign Affairs, January 1969, 214, 215, 212.

8. Kissinger, “Viet Nam Negotiations,” 218.

9. H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: Berkley Books, 1995), 84–85, 216.

10. Nixon, Richard M., RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978), 393–411.

11. Nixon to Kissinger, memo, 1 February 1969, folder “8-F—Reappraisal of Vietnam commitment. Vol. I,” box 64, NSC Files: VSF, NPL; Laird to Kissinger, memo, 11 February 1969, box 64, NSC Files, VSF, NPL.

12. Thieu, Laird, et al., memcon, 8 March 1969, folder “Vietnam: Secretary Laird’s trip to South Vietnam, March 5–12,” box 70, NSC Files, VSF, NPL.

13. Laird to Nixon, memo, 13 March 1969, folder “Vietnam: Secretary Laird’s trip to South Vietnam, March 5–12,” box 70, NSC Files, VSF, NPL.

14. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 7 July 1969, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976 (hereafter FRUS, 1969–1976), 55 vols. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2003–2014), 6:283–88.

15. Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 684.

16. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 20 July 1970, folder “Vietnamization Vol II. Jan ’70– Jun ’70 [1 of 2],” box 91, NSC Files, VSF, NPL.

17. Nixon, RN, 404–5.

18. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 19 March 1970; Kissinger to Nixon, memo, in FRUS, 1969–1976, 6:475–76.

19. Lake to Kissinger, memo, 7 September 1970, box 1047, folder “Tony Lake Chron, Sept 1969–Jan 1970,” NSC Files, Staff Files—Lake Chron, NPL; Lake and Morris to Kissinger, memo, 21 October 1969, folder “Tony Lake Chrn, Jun 1/9—May 1970 [1 of 6],” box 1047, NSC Files, Staff Files—Lake Chron, NPL; Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 10 September 1969, folder “Discussion on Vietnam in the Cabinet room, 9:30AM, Sept 12, 1969,” NSC Files, VSF, NPL; Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 16 April 1970, FRUS, 1969–1976, 6:824–26.

20. Lake and Morris to Kissinger, memo, 21 October 1969.

21. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 20 July 1970.

22. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 20 March 1970, in FRUS, 7:478–80.

23. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 16 November 1970, in FRUS, 7:168–72.

24. Haldeman, Diaries, 434.

25. Kissinger, “Viet Nam Negotiations,” 211.

26. Moor to Haig, memo, 30 January 1969, folder “1-B—Revolutionary Development program,” box 62, NSC Files, VSF, NPL.

27. Kissinger to Colby, 21 February 1969, folder “Vietnam Vol. I: Thru 3/19/69,” box 136, NSC Files, Vietnam Country Files (hereafter VCF), NPL.

28. Minutes of NSC meeting, 25 January 1969, FRUS, 1969–1976, 6:26.

29. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 9 May 1969, folder “Vietnam Vol. IV: 4/24/69–5/18/69 [1 of 3],” box 137, NSC Files, VCF, NPL. Emphasis added.

30. Minutes of the SRG, 17 January 1972, FRUS, 1969–1976, 7:1032–42.

31. National Security Study Memorandum (hereafter NSSM) 21, 13 February 1969, folder “NSSM 1: Situation in Vietnam,” box H-124, NSC Institutional Files, Study Memorandums, National Security Study Memorandums, NPL.

32. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 13 February 1969, folder “NSSM 22,” box H-136, NSC Institutional Files: Study Memorandums, National Security Study Memorandums, NPL.

33. Kissinger to Nixon, undated memo [September 1969], folder “Vietnam Vol. X : Sept 1969 [1 of 2],” box 139, NSC Files, VCF, NPL.

34. John P. Leacacos, “Kissinger’s Apparat,” Foreign Policy 5 (Winter 1971/72): 6.

35. Leacacos, 6; Roger Morris, Uncertain Greatness: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy (New York: Quartet, 1977), 165; Marvin Kalb and Bernard Kalb, Kissinger (Boston: Little, Brown, 1974), 159.

36. Kissinger to Nixon, undated memo [September 1969]. On Lynn’s authorship of this memo see Lynn to Kissinger, memo, 30 August 1969, folder “Vietnam Vol. X : Sept 1969 [1 of 2],” box 139, NSC Files, VCF, NPL.

37. Ellsberg, Secrets, 231–45.

38. Ellsberg, 246–49.

39. Lynn to Kissinger, memo, 25 August 1969, folder “VSSG meeting 10–24–69, Mtg 0751,” box H-001, NSC Institutional Files, Committee Files, Vietnam Special Studies Group Meetings, NPL.

40. NSDM 23, 16 September 1969, folder “NSDM 23,” box H-211, NSC Institutional Files, Study Memorandums, National Security Study Memorandums, NPL.

41. Minutes of NSC meeting, 25 January 1969.

42. Kissinger, “Viet Nam Negotiations,” 214; Minutes of the SRG, 15 January 1971, FRUS, 1969–1976, 7:260–74.

43. Helms to Komer, memo, 18 July 1966, FRUS, 1964–1968, 4:505–7.

44. Sneider to Kissinger, memo, 26 April 1969, folder “Vietnam Vol. IV: 4/24/69–5/18/69 [2 of 3],” box 137, NSC Files, VCF, NPL. Lake’s memo is attached. Emphasis in original.

45. SNIE, 16 January 1969, in FRUS, 1969–1976, 6:1–2.

46. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 19 March 1970.

47. “A framework for analyzing the countryside,” undated report [November 1969], folder “VSSG meeting 11–19–69, Mtg 00752 (N),” box H-001, NSC Institutional Files, Committee Files, Vietnam Special Studies Group Meetings, NPL, 2.

48. “Framework for analyzing the countryside,” 2.

49. “Framework for analyzing the countryside,” 5–8.

50. “Framework for analyzing the countryside,” 3–4.

51. VSSG minutes, 19 November 1969, folder “VSSG meeting 11–19–69, Mtg 00752 (N),” box H-001, NSC Institutional Files, Committee Files, Vietnam Special Studies Group Meetings, NPL, 3–4.

52. “The situation in the countryside,” undated report [late 1969], folder “VSSG meeting 1–14–70, Mtg 00754 (N),” box H-001, NSC Institutional Files, Committee Files, Vietnam Special Studies Group Meetings, NPL, 18.

53. “Situation in the countryside,” 20–21.

54. Kissinger to Nixon, undated memo [January 1970], folder “VSSG meeting 1–14–70, Mtg 00754 (N),” box H-001, NSC Institutional Files, Committee Files, Vietnam Special Studies Group Meetings, NPL, 2–3.

55. Lynn and Samson, report, 28 February 1970, folder “Tony Lake Chrn, Aug 1969–June 1970 [2 of 2],” box 1047, NSC Files, Staff Files—Lake Chron, NPL.

56. Robert L. Sansom, The Economics of Insurgency in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1970).

57. “Situation in the countryside,” 37, 40.

58. Henry A. Kissinger, White House Years (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), 435.

59. Memcon, 1 December 1969, FRUS, 1969–1976, 6:499–505.

60. Kissinger to Nixon, memo, 22 January 1970, FRUS, 1969–1976, 6:537–40, at footnote 1.

61. Haldeman, Diaries, 287.

62. Odeen to Kissinger, memo, 25 February 1972, folder “Vietnam: Nov–Dec 1972 [3 of 3],” box 158, NSC Files, VCF, NPL.

63. Odeen to Kissinger, memo, 15 May 1972, folder “Vietnam: May–Sep ’73 [2 of 3],” box 164, NSC Files, VCF, NPL.

6. CORDS and the Village System

1. “Two Girls Killed by Explosion at Saigon Girls’ School,” New York Times, 31 January 1969, 3; “5 Enemy Rockets Wound 7 at Hue,” New York Times, 1 February 1969, 12; “U.S. Troops Repel an Assault by 500,” New York Times, 2 February 1969, 3.

2. “Opening Statement by Ambassador W. E. Colby,” undated document, folder “Opening statements / Amb. Colby,” box 15, HQ MACV, Office of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

3. William Colby and Peter Forbarth, Honourable Men: My Life in the CIA (London: Hutchinson, 1978), 159–62, quote at 162.

4. Speech at the National War College, transcript, 10 November 1972, William Colby Collection, TTVA, www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=0440225001, p. 2.

5. Quoted in Thomas L. Ahern Jr., The CIA and Rural Pacification in South Vietnam (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2001), 239.

6. Quoted in Zalin Grant, Facing the Phoenix: The CIA and the Political Defeat of the United States in Vietnam (New York: Norton, 1991), 291.

7. Colby and Forbarth, Honourable Men, 262.

8. “Status of Pacification—June 1969,” memo for the record, 4 June 1969, folder “Misc reports, memos, etc: Jan–Sept, 1969,” box 3, HQ MACV, Office of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support, PPP, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 7.

9. Edward Miller, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013), 231–39; Philip E. Catton, Diem’s Final Failure: Prelude to America’s War in Vietnam (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003), 89–90.

10. Speech at the National War College, transcript, 10 November 1972, 4.

11. Colby and Forbarth, Honourable Men, 262.

12. Vann to all PSAs, attachment to letter, 1 April 1968, folder “Vietnam assignments: Region III pacification reports [1/2],” box 44, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 3.

13. Alvin Shuster, “Colby, U.S. Pacification Chief for Vietnam, Gives Up Duties and Returns Home,” New York Times, 1 July 1971, 34.

14. Colby quoted in John Prados, Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 203; Montague to Quang, attachment to letter, 22 April 1969, folder “CPDC / CC advisory, ’69,” box 4, PPP General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 4.

15. Plan for Pacification and Development, 1970, in folder “P+D plan w/ errata added / Maj E. J. Crampton,” box 27, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

16. The Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 1971 ed., Douglas Pike Collection, TTVA, 1.

17. Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 179–80.

18. “Opening Statement by Ambassador W. E. Colby,” 6.

19. Simon Head, “Britain’s Vietnam Hardhat,” New Statesman, 6 October 1972, 460.

20. Robert Thompson, No Exit from Vietnam (London: Chatto & Windus, 1969), 147.

21. Robert Thompson, Make for the Hills: Memories of Far Eastern Wars (London: Leo Cooper, 1989), 150.

22. Thompson, Make for the Hills, 92.

23. Thompson, No Exit from Vietnam, 147.

24. Thompson, No Exit from Vietnam, 147.

25. Thompson hence anticipated, and invalidated, the arguments later put forth by Harry Summers in his famous critique of U.S. strategy in the Vietnam War. Summers assailed U.S. leaders for having a strategy that was purely defensive and deprived the United States of the ability to gain the initiative in the conflict. But he neglected that it was nation building that made up the “offensive” component of U.S. strategy—the only possible exit strategy for the United States was to oversee the emergence of a self-sufficient GVN behind a defensive military shield. See Harry G. Summers Jr., American Strategy in Vietnam: A Critical Analysis (Mineola, NY: Dover, 2007).

26. For a broader look at the French influence over what is increasingly recognized as a transatlantic counterinsurgency discourse in the 1960s see Elie Tenenbaum, “French Exception or Western Variation? A Historical Look at the French Irregular Way of War,” Journal of Strategic Studies 40, no. 4 (2017): 554–76. It is also worth noting that the existence of this shared transatlantic discourse complicates any simplistic stereotype of Europeans as world-weary and wise and Americans as hopelessly naïve about the possibilities of counterinsurgency and nation building, a trope that continues to be repeated today. The more telling divide was between the military and civilians.

27. Bernard B. Fall, “The Theory and Practice of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency,” Naval War College Review 17, no. 8 (1965): 28, 30, 34, 36.

28. Roger Trinquier, Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency, trans. Daniel Lee (1962; London: Pall Mall, 1964), 4, 5, 30.

29. Trinquier, Modern Warfare, 72; Fall, “Theory and Practice of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency,” 36.

30. Trinquier, Modern Warfare, 30.

31. PPD to Jacobson, memo, 7 January 1969, folder “Misc reports, memos, etc: Jan–Sept, 1969,” box 3, PPP General Records, RG 472, NARA II.

32. “The Village Self-Development Program, 1969–1972,” booklet, 22 June 1972, folder “VSDP,” box 41, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 3; Vann to all PSAs, memo, 1 April 1968, 1–2.

33. Guidelines: Pacification Campaign, 1969, 15 December 1968, in folder “1-B—Revolutionary Development program,” box 62, NSC Files, VSF, NPL, 1.

34. Speech at the National War College, transcript, 10 November 1972, 19.

35. Thompson, No Exit from Vietnam, 129.

36. McManaway to Johnstone, undated memo [June 1969], folder “Misc reports, memos, etc: Jan–Sept, 1969,” box 3, PPP General Records, RG 472, NARA II. Emphasis in original.

37. Thompson, Make for the Hills, 128.

38. Vann to all PSAs, attachment to letter, 1 April 1968, 1.

39. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 81.

40. Vann to all PSAs, attachment to letter, 1 April 1968, 2.

41. Louis A. Wiesner, Victims and Survivors: Displaced Persons and Other War Victims in Viet-Nam, 1954–1975 (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1988), 184, 216.

42. Westmoreland, “The refugee problem,” 4 January 1968, folder “#28: History File,” box 15, Westmoreland Papers, LBJL.

43. Forrester to McManaway, memo, 11 December 1970, folder “Pacif. study, Oct–Dec ’70,” box 10, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, General Records, RG 472, NARA II; Wiesner, Victims and Survivors, 210.

44. “Vietnamization of CORDS,” undated briefing [1971], folder “The VN of MACCORDS,” box 32, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

45. Abrams and Colby to all DepCORDS, memo, 27 June 1971, folder “Project Concern / Opns in Tuyen Duc prov,” box 37, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1, 3. Emphasis in original.

46. Douglas C. Dacy, Foreign Aid, War, and Economic Development: South Vietnam, 1955–1975 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 237.

47. Roy Reed, “Officer Tells Humphrey of Vietnam Corruption,” New York Times, 31 October 1967, 3.

48. McPherson to Johnson, memo, 13 June 1967, FRUS, 1964–1968, 5:493.

49. Jacobson, memo for the record, 12 April 1970, folder “Memos + messages / Mr Jacobson / Visits,” box 14, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

50. Fox Butterfield, “Village Cadres Now Aid Thieu Party,” New York Times, 12 June 1973, 3.

51. For an account by a journalist who reported on this story from South Vietnam see Grant, Facing the Phoenix.

52. “Status of Pacification—June 1969,” memo for the record, 4 June 1969, 3.

53. Debrief no. 15679, box 101, GP, HIA, 21.

54. Guidelines: Pacification Campaign, 1969, 1.

55. Colby to all DepCORDS, attachment to letter, 21 February 1969, folder “1-B—Revolutionary Development program,” box 62, NSC Files, VSF, NPL, 2.

56. “Presidential review visit—II CTZ,” document, 2 February 1969, folder “Status / Pacif,” box 11, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

57. Nguyen Tien Hung and Jerrold L. Schecter, The Palace File (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 12.

58. Nghiem Dang, Viet-Nam: Politics and Public Administration (Honolulu: East-West, 1966), 72.

59. Berger to State, telegram, 29 October 1970, folder “P+D plan, folder II,” box 27, RG 472, NARA II, 8.

60. Plan for Pacification and Development: 1970, in folder “P+D plan w/ errata added / Maj E. J. Crampton,” box 27, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

61. Community Defense and Local Development Plan: 1971, folder “CD + LD plan / 1971,” box 37, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

62. William Colby, with James McCargar, Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America’s Sixteen-Year Involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary, 1989), 256.

63. Cao Van Vien, The U.S. Adviser (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1980), 142.

64. “Pacification in Vietnam,” GVN briefing, June 1969, folder “Orient and brief files, ’67,” box 2, PPP General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 3–4.

65. Jacobson, memo for the record, 12 April 1970, 2–4; Khiem, Colby, Jacobson, memcon, 27 May 1970, folder “Memos + messages / Mr Jacobson / Visits,” box 14, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 4.

66. Frank Scotton, Uphill Battle: Reflections on Viet Nam Counterinsurgency (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2014), 263.

67. Hung and Schecter, Palace File, 12.

68. Bui Diem, with David Chanoff, In the Jaws of History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), 262.

69. Quoted in Hung and Schecter, Palace File, 33.

70. R. W. Komer, Organization and Management of the “New Model” Pacification Program, 1966–1969 (RAND document number D-20104-ARPA, 1970), 88.

71. Colby, Lost Victory, 256; Lewis Sorley, ed., Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968–1972 (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2004), 163–64.

72. Vann, “Thoughts on GVN/VC Control,” memo, 2 April 1969, folder “Colby, William,” box 25, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 1.

73. Komer, “New Model,” 87.

74. McManaway to Jacobson, memo, 20 June 1969, folder “Economic warfare files—local government,” box 17, HQ MACV, CORDS, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 3

75. Colby to Jacobson, memo, 2 August 1969, folder “1602–09: Village self development,” box 11, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

76. Bunker to Rogers, memo, 22 February 1969, folder “1-B—Revolutionary Development program,” box 62, NSC Files, VSF, NPL, 3.

77. Thomas C. Thayer, ed. A Systems Analysis View of the Vietnam War, 1965–1972 (Washington, DC: OASD(SA)RP Southeast Asia Intelligence Division, 1975), 9:133; Colby, Lost Victory, 259.

78. Colby, Lost Victory, 259.

79. Bunker to Rogers, memo, 22 February 1969, 3.

80. Thayer, Systems Analysis View, 10:120.

81. Thayer, 11:251.

82. “Analysis of Task Force Recommendation No. 2,” undated document [late 1971], folder “The future of CORDS,” box 35, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 3

83. “Village Security,” PSG report, 19 September 1969, folder “M/I liaison reports, Jan–Apr ’70,” box 14, PPP General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 3, 5.

84. Vann, “Thoughts on GVN/VC Control.”

85. Colby to Jacobson, memo, 3 October 1969, folder “M/I liaison reports, Jan–Apr ’70,” box 14, PPP General Records, RG 472, NARA II.

86. Abrams to CINCPAC, memo, 18 January 1969, folder “1-C–Land reform,” box 62, NSC Files, VSF, NPL, 1.

87. Craig to DepCORDS [Vann], first attachment to note, 7 February 1970, folder “Ellsberg, Daniel. 1970–1975,” box 27, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 1.

88. Colby to Bunker, memo, 7 July 1970, folder “Mr Jacobson / Misc files / A C of S / Folder II,” box 20, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

7. Implementing the Village System

1. Allan E. Goodman, “South Vietnam and the New Security,” Asian Survey 12, no. 2 (1972): 121, 122.

2. Robert Thompson, Make for the Hills: Memories of Far Eastern Wars (London: Leo Cooper, 1989), 165, 166.

3. William Colby and Peter Forbath, Honourable Men: My Life in the CIA (London: Hutchinson, 1978), 285.

4. John Vann, “Statement Prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” undated document, folder “Opening statements / Amb. Colby,” box 15, HQ MACV, Office of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2, 3.

5. Cao Van Vien, The U.S. Adviser (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1980), 153.

6. The National Archives (hereafter TNA), Public Records Office (hereafter PRO) FCO 15/1084 Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, South East Asia Department, Registered Files (D and FA Series), 20 May 1969, Coombe to Jones, 3.

7. TNA, PRO FCO 15/1673, January 3, 1972, Brash to Douglas-Home, 5, 10 [original unpaginated].

8. TNA, PRO FCO 15/1673, January 18, 1972, Gordon to Brash.

9. Lewis Sorley, A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam (New York: Harcourt, 1999), 217.

10. Goodman, “South Vietnam and the New Security,” 122.

11. Debrief no. 16612, box 98, GP, HIA, 1.

12. Bert Fraleigh, “The Real Story of America’s Counterinsurgency Efforts in Vietnam in the Early 1960s,” incorrectly dated January 1966 [1996?], Rufus Phillips Collection, TTVA, 34.

13. Debrief no. 6683, box 97, GP, HIA, 2; Vietnam Area Studies OCO Training Center, n.d., John Donnell Collection, TTVA.

14. Megellas to Abrams, memo, 19 May 1970, folder “End of tour / J. Megellas,” box 23, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 36

15. Debrief no. 86711, box 99, GP, HIA, 1–2; Debrief no. 30663, box 99, GP, HIA, 7; Debrief no. 25672, box 99, GP, HIA, 14–15.

16. Debrief no. 206612, box 101, GP, HIA, 1–5, quote at 1.

17. Jacobson to Colby, memo, January 29, 1971, folder “Mr Jacobson / Misc files / A C of S / Folder III,” box 36, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

18. Debrief no. 23666, box 94, GP, HIA, 1–2.

19. Debrief no. 21666, pp. 20–22. On Nguyen Duc Thang’s relationship with the Americans see James McAllister, “What Can One Man Do? Nguyen Duc Thang and the Limits of Reform in South Vietnam,” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 4, no. 2 (Summer 2009): 117–53.

20. Tran Van Don, Our Endless War: Inside Vietnam (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1978), 152.

21. Barnes to all PSAs, message, 7 October 1971, folder “Barnes, Thomas J.,” box 25, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 2.

22. Vien, U.S. Adviser, 155.

23. Debrief no. 18694, box 99, GP, HIA, 10.

24. Debrief no. 16683, box 99, GP, HIA, 3.

25. Debrief no. 6683, p. 7.

26. Debrief no. 26683B, pp. 2, 12.

27. Debrief no. 206612, p. 1.

28. Evaluation of the Province Senior Advisor Training Program, n.d., box 8, folder “PER Vietnam Training Center, 1970,” Subject Files of the Office of Vietnam Affairs (Vietnam Working Group), 1964–1974, RG 59, NARA II, 1.

29. Marks to Johnson, attachment to memo, 4 January 1966, box 80, WHCF, Subject File Ex CO 312, LBJL. The inclusion of this document on the training curriculum is noted in Vietnam Area Studies OCO Training Center, n.d.

30. Debrief no. 126712, p. 2.

31. Debrief no. 16612, p. 16.

32. Debrief no. 25672, p. 23.

33. Debrief no. 6683, p. 9.

34. Turner to Vann, attachment to memo, 26 February 1971, folder “End of tour / Reports,” box 57, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, unpaginated.

35. Debrief no. 4696, p. 2.

36. Clark to HQ, memo, 18 December 1970, folder “End of tour report,” box 101, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 13.

37. Debrief no. 25687 (Lansdale), box 100, GP, HIA, 1–4.

38. Vien, U.S. Adviser, 155.

39. The Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 1971 ed., Douglas Pike Collection, TTVA, 2.

40. Attachment to Letter, Montague to Quang, 22 April 1969, folder “CPDC / CC advisory, ’69,” box 4, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 4.

41. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 4.

42. Debrief no. 7666, box 99, GP, HIA, 24.

43. Vann to Nesmith, 20 March 1970, folder “Vietnam assignments: Region IV correspondence,” box 45, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 2.

44. Robert Thompson, No Exit from Vietnam (London: Chatto & Windus, 1969), 147.

45. Attachment to MACCORDS Notice, No. 69–409, 7 April 1969, folder “Village self development: April–May, 1969,” box 11, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 3.

46. Decree #198, 24 December 1966, subsection “Village/hamlet,” folder “ ‘The Blue Book’ / Laws and directives,” box 14, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

47. Thomas C. Thayer, ed., A Systems Analysis View of the Vietnam War, 1965–1972, vol. 10, Pacification and Civil Affairs (Washington, DC: OASD(SA)RP Southeast Asia Intelligence Division, 1975), 121.

48. “Opening Statement by Ambassador W. E. Colby,” undated document, 6; “Status of villages and hamlets,” table, January 1972, folder “#6 Local administration,” box 63, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

49. Decree #45, undated [1 April 1969], subsection “Village/hamlet,” folder “ ‘The Blue Book’ / Laws and directives,” box 14, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

50. Concept and Organization of the National Training Center Vung Tau, in folder “National Training Center Questionnaire,” box 16, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

51. “Opening Statement by Ambassador W. E. Colby,” undated document, 1.

52. Concept and Organization of the National Training Center Vung Tau, 94–98.

53. Memo for record, 10 February 1970, folder “Pacif. study, Jan–Sept ’70,” box 10, PPP Records, RG 472, NARA II, 1; memo, Craig to Jacobson, 13 October 1971, folder “Talking papers / Mr Jacobson,” box 35, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

54. Memo for record, 10 March 1969, folder “Effect of the inf co intens.pacif program / Goals 1970 P+D plan,” box 9, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

55. Brown to CDD director, memo, 23 May 1969, folder “Village self development: April–May, 1969,” box 11, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 3.

56. “Status of Pacification—June 1969,” memo for the record, 4 June 1969, folder “Misc reports, memos, etc: Jan–Sept, 1969,” box 3, PPP Records, RG 472 NARA II, 3.

57. Message #93, 2 June 1969, subsection “Village/hamlet,” folder “ ‘The Blue Book’ / Laws and directives,” box 14, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

58. William Colby, with James McCargar, Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America’s Sixteen-Year Involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1989), 265.

59. Debrief no. 15681, box 97, GP, HIA, 31.

60. Debrief no. 15681, box 97, GP, HIA, 32; Debrief no. 6683, p. 4.

61. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 86, 87.

62. Former district senior adviser stationed in Phu Yen Province, interview with the author, Austin, Texas, 5 May 2015.

63. Debrief no. 126712, box 99, GP, HIA, 7–8.

64. Debrief no. 24681, box 100, GP, HIA, 47.

65. Evaluation report, “Pay and allowances for province and district chiefs,” 19 August 1968, folder “PSG studies / Book II, folder II,” box 5, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

66. Debrief no. 166612, p. 10.

67. PSG report, “Report on the 3/69-A training course,” 1 May 1969, folder “PSG studies / 1969 / Book I, folder I,” box 8, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 13–14.

68. Debrief no. 15679, box 101, GP, HIA, 15, 16.

69. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 42.

70. Burgess to HQ, memo, 5 February 1973, folder “End of tour report / Col R. L. Burgess,” box 88, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

71. Pacification Research Report, 4/CD/12/72, 28 August 1972, folder “Chau Doc prov,” box 116, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472.

72. Pacification Research Report, 4/BL/12/72, 30 August 1972, folder “Bac Lieu prov,” box 116, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472.

73. Elliott to Kosters, memo, 3 February 1970, folder “Civil affairs advisory files—village self development [2 of 4],” box 23, CDD: General Records, RG 472, NARA II.

74. “Year End Assessment of 1971 CD&LD Program for Public Administration Division,” undated report, folder “Assessment,” box 33, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

75. Debrief no. 25687, box 100, GP, HIA, 1–4.

76. “Binh Dinh Province,” report, 12 June 1971, folder “Study / Binh Dinh,” box 32, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 26.

77. Clark to HQ, memo, 18 December 1970, folder “End of tour report,” box 101, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 13.

78. Task force minutes, program “CDD,” September 1971, 3; “CORDS Internal Spring Review of CDD Program for FY 71–74,” memo for record, folder “Project review files, ’70,” box 13, PPP Records, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

79. Berger to State, telegram, 24 December 1970, folder “Election of prov chiefs and mayors,” box 17, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

80. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 4.

81. “Status of Pacification—June 1969,” memo for the record, 4 June 1969, 3.

82. Lewis Sorley, ed., Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968–1972 (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2004), 50, 51; William Colby oral history interview no. 2, 1 March 1982, LBJL, 9.

83. Speech at the National War College, transcript, 10 November 1972, William Colby Collection, TTVA, www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=0440225001, pp. 19–20.

84. Thompson, Make for the Hills, 98.

85. Roger Trinquier, Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency, trans. Daniel Lee (1962; London: Pall Mall, 1964), 30.

86. Thayer, Systems Analysis View, 175–76.

87. Thayer, 213.

88. Colby, Lost Victory, 232–38; Colby and Forbath, Honourable Men, 168.

89. Document, “Security,” undated, folder “Opening statements / Amb. Colby,” box 15, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 16.

90. Law #3, folder “CORDS programs / TSD,” box 18, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

91. OSD study, South Vietnam’s Internal Security Capabilities, May 1969, folder “NSSM 19 [3 of 3],” box H-135, NSC Institutional Files, Study Memorandums, NPL, p. B-22; Ngo Quang Truong, Territorial Forces (Washington, DC: U.S. Center of Military History, 1981), 70.

92. Berger to State, telegram, 29 October 1970, folder “P+D plan, folder II,” box 27, RG 472, NARA II, 7.

93. Truong, Territorial Forces, 69.

94. Dong Van Khuyen, The RVNAF (Washington, DC: U.S. Center of Military History, undated), 22.

95. Khuyen, RVNAF, 128.

96. Quoted in David Elliott, The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930–1975 (London: M. E. Sharpe, 2003), 2:1092. Elliott inserts the word “[commander]” after “Seventh Division,” but it appears from the original quote that the cadre is referring to the division, not its commander.

97. Plan for Pacification and Development: 1970 in folder “P+D plan w/ errata added / Maj E. J. Crampton,” box 27, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, p. I-1–2.

98. Nick Turse, Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam (New York: Metropolitan, 2013), 205–8.

99. Julian J. Ewell and Ira A. Hunt Jr., Sharpening the Combat Edge: The Use of Analysis to Reinforce Military Judgment (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1995), 83.

100. Ellsberg to Rowen et al., attachment to memo, 9 April 1969, folder “Ellsberg, Daniel. 1967–1969,” box 27, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 9; Vann to Ellsberg, 25 June 1969, folder “Ellsberg, Daniel. 1967–1969,” box 27, Sheehan Papers, LOC, 3.

101. Sorley, Abrams Tapes, 471

102. Vann to Nesmith, 20 March 1970, 1.

103. Truong, Territorial Forces, 85–87.

104. Task force minutes, program “Territorial Security,” 6 September 1971, folder “Heilman minutes of task force meetings / Taken from Chamber’s safe, folder I,” box 80, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 4–5.

105. OSD study, South Vietnam’s Internal Security Capabilities, May 1969, p. B-2; Truong, Territorial Forces, 45.

106. “Report of Investigation, Los Thuan Village Action, 18 May 1970,” memo for record, 21 July 1970, folder “Visits + inspections, folder I, ’70,” box 13, PPP Records, RG 472, NARA II, 3.

107. Sorley, Abrams Tapes, 292.

108. Task force minutes, topic “J-2/Security Intelligence Briefing,” 14 October 1971, 2.

109. Elliott, Vietnamese War, 2:1302.

110. Pacification research report, subject “Corruption,” 30 August 1972, folder “Bac Lieu prov,” box 116, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

111. Task force minutes, program “Territorial Security,” 6 September 1971, 7.

112. Truong, Territorial Forces, 104.

113. Holdridge to Kissinger, memo, 2 September 1970, folder “Vietnam: 1 September, 1970 [2 of 2],” box 149, NSC Files, VCF, NPL, p. A-3.

114. Thayer, Systems Analysis View, 7:216.

115. Memo for the record, 18 February 1970, folder “Memos,” box 24, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

116. Sorley, Abrams Tapes, 292.

117. Concept and Organization of the National Training Center Vung Tau, 102–3.

118. Truong, Territorial Forces, 104–6.

119. PSDF report, 8 September 1971, “CDLD / Fact sheets / Semi-annual review / MR IV, folder II,” box 71, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

120. Pacification Research Report, 4/AG/10/72, 21 July 1972, folder “An Giang, 1970–73,” box 116, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472.

121. Pacification Research Report, 4/BX/13/72, 21 July 1972, folder “Ba Xuyen, 1972–73,” HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

122. Truong, Territorial Forces, 106.

123. Truong, 70; PSDF report, 8 September 1971.

124. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835; New York: Anchor, 1955), 118.

125. “The Village Self Development Program,” undated document, folder “Civil affairs advisory files—village self development [4 of 4],” box 23, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 1, 2.

126. “Village Self Development Program,” 2

127. Speech at the National War College, transcript, 10 November 1972, 4.

128. Attachment to memo for the record, 31 August 1968, Annex VI, folder “Self help,” box 3, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

129. “Village Self Development Program,” 4.

130. “The Village Self Development Program, 1969–1972,” booklet, 17 June 1972, folder “VSDP,” box 41, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 10.

131. “Village Self Development Program, 1969–1972,” 14.

132. “Village Self Development Program,” undated document, “Civil affairs advisory files—village self development [4 of 4],” box 23, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II. Emphasis added.

133. “Analysis of the Village Self Development (VSD) Program,” PSG report, 19 May 1970, folder “PSG studies 1970 / Book I, Folder III,” box 16, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 4.

134. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 48.

135. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 8, 9.

136. Pacification Attitude Analysis System, preliminary survey #3, December 1969, folder “PAAS surveys,” box 7, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 14, 15.

137. Pacification Attitude Analysis System report, September 1970, US Marine Corps History Division, Vietnam War Documents Collection, TTVA, www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1201065079, pp. 36, 37.

138. Pacification Research Report, II-LD-1/71, 8–17 January 1971, folder “Lam Dong prov, 1971,” box 103, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, CORDS History Files, RG 472.

139. Pacification Research Report, I-QNG-10–7–70, 10 July 1970, folder “Quang Ngai prov, 1970,” box 105, HQ MACV, CORDS, PPP, CORDS History Files.

140. Crocker to Firfer, memo, 21 May 1970, folder “Effect of the inf co intens.pacif program / Goals 1970 P+D plan,” box 9, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

141. “Analysis of the Village Self Development (VSD) Program,” PSG report, 19 May 1970, 12.

142. Phong and Myer, memcon, 10 November 1970, folder “Civil affairs advisory files—village self development [1 of 4],” box 23, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II.

143. End of tour report, John H, Hayes, section “Community Development Directorate,” folder “End of tour / Reports,” box 57, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

144. Johnstone to Jacobson, memo, 5 July 1969, folder “Effect of the inf co intens.pacif program / Goals 1970 P+D plan,” box 9, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

145. “Analysis of the Village Self Development (VSD) Program,” PSG report, 19 May 1970, 15.

146. Roy L. Prosterman, “Land-to-the-Tiller in South Vietnam: The Tables Turn,” Asian Survey 10, no. 8 (1970): 751–64.

147. New York Times, April 9, 1970, 40.

148. For the situation in I and II Corps see Toyryla to DEPCORDS, memo, 21 July 1971, and Strasser to ACofS CORDS, memo, 26 July 1971, both in folder “CDLD / Elections/ Circulars,” box 37, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

149. Report, “Land Ownership and Tenancy among Village and Hamlet Officials in the Delta,” March 1970, folder “Study / Land ownership and tenancy / Delta,” box 23, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

150. Eliot to Kissinger, telegram, 20 January 1972, folder “Vietnam: Jan–Feb 1972 [1 of 3],” box 158, NSC Files, VCF, NPL.

151. MacDonald Salter, “The Broadening Base of Land Reform in South Vietnam,” Asian Survey 10, no. 8 (1970): 724–37.

152. “Land Reform in the Republic of Viet-Nam,” press release, 3 July 1974, Douglas Pike Collection, TTVA. The document also claims that no farmer who received an LTTT title had “been forced off his land.” This was certainly untrue. Given the fact the document also misstates the number of acres in a hectare, we can reasonably question how familiar its author was with the program.

153. Wilson to Forrester, memo, 23 July 1971, folder “CDLD / Elections / Circulars,” box 37, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

154. To Melville, memo, 19 July 1971, folder “CDLD / Elections / Circulars,” box 37, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 2.

155. Vietnamese Village: Handbook for Advisors, 32; Douglas C. Dacy, Foreign Aid, War, and Economic Development: South Vietnam, 1955–1975 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 233.

156. Farwell to director, attachment to memo, 26 September 1969, folder “GVN village / Taxation,” box 12, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 1.

157. Colby to Jacobson, attachment to flag note, 20 July 1969, folder “Economic warfare files—local government,” box 17, CDD, General Records, RG 472, NARA II.

158. “Year-end Assessment of 1971 CD&LD Program for Public Administration Division,” undated document, folder “Assessment,” box 33, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 3.

159. “Report of financial viability of Vietnamese villages,” document, 28 August 1969, 4.

160. Wilson to Forrester, memo, 23 July 1971; Prosterman, “Land-to-the-Tiller in South Vietnam.”

161. Thorsen to Farwell, memo, 11 June 1971, folder “LRIP / Local tax program,” box 37, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

162. “Status report on the LRIP,” document, folder “CDLD / LRIP,” box 62, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II.

163. Four-Year Community Defense and Local Development Plan, folder “CD+LD plan / 1972–75,” box 39, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, p. II-B-1.

164. Douglas Blaufarb, The Counterinsurgency Era: U.S. Doctrine and Performance, 1950 to the Present (New York: Free Press, 1977), 277.

Conclusion

1. Turner to Vann, attachment to memo, 26 February 1971, folder “End of tour / Reports,” box 57, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, unpaginated.

2. Task force minutes, topic “J-2/Security Intelligence Briefing,” 14 October 1971, folder “Heilman minutes of task force meetings / Taken from Chamber’s safe, folder II,” box 80, CORDS History Files, RG 472, NARA II, 21.

3. Untitled news copy, November 1972, Douglas Pike Collection, TTVA, www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2151007002.

4. James McAllister, “What Can One Man Do? Nguyen Duc Thang and the Limits of Reform in South Vietnam,” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 4, no. 2 (2009): 117–53.

5. Marilyn B. Young, The Vietnam Wars: 1945–1990 (New York: HarperCollins, 1991); Michael E. Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011), 142; David Ekbladh, The Great American Mission: Modernization and the Construction of an American World Order (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011); David C. Engerman, Nils Gilman, Mark H. Haefele, and Michael E. Latham, eds., Staging Growth: Modernization, Development, and the Global Cold War (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003).

6. Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer (New York: Grove, 2015), 4.

7. William Colby, with James McCargar, Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America’s Sixteen-Year Involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary, 1989).

8. Sherard Cowper-Coles, Cables from Kabul: The Inside Story of the West’s Afghanistan Campaign (London: HarperPress, 2012), 144.

9. For critiques of population-centric counterinsurgency see Gian P. Gentile, Wrong Turn: America’s Deadly Embrace of Counterinsurgency (New York: New Press, 2013); Douglas Porch, Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013). Its foundational text was the now-superseded U.S. Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).

10. Gian P. Gentile, “A Strategy of Tactics: Population-Centric COIN and the Army,” Parameters (Autumn 2009): 5–17; Harry G. Summers Jr., American Strategy in Vietnam: A Critical Analysis (Mineola, NY: Dover, 2007), 56.

11. Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), 191.