Today we address the question raised by some of our readers: Is singing Kumbaya the only alternative to war? This question is meant with humor, but there is a serious point to be made. Can anything effective be done to win or maintain peace except for war? If we take the time to study history, we find many instances when those who have taken the peaceful path have had a part in winning peace. Gandhi is one of those people. Two others are Thich Nhat Hahn and Sister Chan Khong, a Buddhist monk and nun who were leaders in the role many Buddhists played in bringing peace to Vietnam.
Let’s start with some of the history of Vietnam. The earliest recorded history of the area now known as the nation of Vietnam extends to nearly 1,000 BC. The history is free of outside meddling, except for some periods when Chinese emperors added the region to their holding. Jesuit missionaries arrived in the mid-1600’s. They were tolerated until the 1800’s, when the Vietnamese decided that the West might be a threat to them and wanted the missionaries out. The persecution of the Catholics who remained gave France an excuse to invade.
The French colonized as much of the country as they could in the mid-1800’s, but they met constant objections and resistance from the Vietnamese, which the French and the rest of the West ignored. The Japanese conquered the region in WWII but left the French administrators in place. The brutality of the Japanese rule resulted in the deaths of 1-2 million people from starvation. At the end of the war, the British tried to move in but were pushed out by the Vietnamese. In 1946, Vietnam had their first elections, won by the Viet Minh in central and northern Vietnam. The French wanted their colony back , ignored the election results, and attacked. War between the Viet Minh and French ensued in 1947.
In spite of not having control of Vietnam, the French decided to give up their efforts to colonize the country and allow it to be a semi-independent state within the French Union. The Vietnamese didn’t want any of that, either. Bolstered by military aid from China, the Vietnamese fought on, to gain control of their own country. In 1954, the Vietnamese launched a major offensive against the French at Dien Bien Phu, leading to the decision of France to give up.
In a conference in Geneva in 1954, a number of countries discussed the situation in Indochina and came to an agreement that would partition Vietnam into northern and southern parts, until an election could be held and the country reunited. Foreign troops no longer would operate in Indochina. The agreement was signed by Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, France, Laos, the People’s Republic of China, the State of Vietnam ( South Vietnam), the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. The United States refused to sign.
(A note to those who wonder whether the isolation of the US is self-imposed or a shunning by other countries: What is the effect when a number of countries get together to try to build peace in a region, or worldwide, and the US wants no part of it because of our narrower interests? How often has this happened?)
The United States, rather than join in the international effort to unite Vietnam and allow for the country’s self-determination, took several steps independently. SEAT) was formed, giving the US the basis to intervene in Vietnam. The US pressured Bao Dai, who had been appointed by the French as head of state for the southern part of the country, to name Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister of South Vietnam. Diem was chosen for his anti-Communist credentials. Diem, not terribly popular to begin with, lost local support because of acts such as undoing land reform by taking land from peasants to give to landlords.
When it came time for the reunification election for Vietnam, the United States opposed a national election. Because of his popularity in fighting for self-determination, Ho Chi Minh was a shoo in. Most Vietnamese had moved to the northern part of the country when they had a chance. In spite of some of Ho’s brutal methods over the years, people still preferred him to a Western puppet government. The US pushed for separate elections in each part of Vietnam and the continued separation of the country. The election in South Vietnam was won by Diem, who surprisingly (or not) won 150,000 more votes than there were voters in Vietnam. Diem deposed Bao Dai and declared South Vietnam to be a separate country to be called the Republic of Vietnam. He named himself President, and Saigon as the capital.
Many Vietnamese citizens living in the southern part of the united country were dismayed by events. They were further dismayed by repressive policies instituted by Diem. They could do nothing, because he was backed by the power of the United States. Diem was killed in a coup in 1963. This paved the way for a full-scale military attack by the United States. This occurred early in 1965.
To be continued next week…
Some resources about the history of Vietnam: