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Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan was an American journalist. As a reporter for The New York Times in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. His series of articles revealed a secret United States Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War and led to a U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), which invalidated the United States government's use of a restraining order to halt publication.
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The Civilian Irregular Defense Group was a military program developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Vietnam War, which was intended to develop South Vietnamese irregular military units from indigenous ethnic-minority populations. The main purpose of setting up the CIDG program was to counter the growing influence of Viet Cong (VC) in the Central Highlands by training and arming the villagers for village defense. The program rapidly expanded after the US military transferred its control from CIA to MACV after two years since its inception and changed its focus from village defense to more conventional operations. From June 1967 onwards the CIDG members were made part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) or other government agencies to increase Vietnamese participation. By late 1970, the remaining CIDG camps were converted to Vietnamese Rangers camps. The indigenous ethnic-minority people that formed the CIDG reaped significant benefits by the government of South Vietnam for their allegiance and it was the first time that minority groups were given full status as citizens of South Vietnam.
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The Rex Hotel is a famous luxury and business hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the daily U.S. briefings at the hotel became known as "The Five O'Clock Follies".
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Free World Military Assistance Forces was the group of allied nations who sent troops to fight in the Vietnam War under the FWMF banner, assisting the United States and South Vietnam against the Viet Cong (VC), China, Soviet Union, North Korea and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). Together with the U.S. and South Vietnamese, the FWMF were often referred to as the Allies.
Ngô Du (1925–1977) was a Lieutenant general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).
The role of the media in the perception of the Vietnam War has been widely noted. Intense levels of graphic news coverage correlated with dramatic shifts of public opinion regarding the conflict, and there is controversy over what effect journalism had on support or opposition to the war, as well as the decisions that policymakers made in response.
During the Cold War in the 1960s, the United States and South Vietnam began a period of gradual escalation and direct intervention referred to as the "Americanization" of joint warfare in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. At the start of the decade, United States aid to South Vietnam consisted largely of supplies with approximately 900 military observers and trainers. After the assassination of both Ngo Dinh Diem and John F. Kennedy close to the end of 1963 and Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 and amid continuing political instability in the South, the Lyndon Johnson Administration made a policy commitment to safeguard the South Vietnamese regime directly. The American military forces and other anti-communist SEATO countries increased their support, sending large scale combat forces into South Vietnam; at its height in 1969, slightly more than 400,000 American troops were deployed. The People's Army of Vietnam and the allied Viet Cong fought back, keeping to countryside strongholds while the anti-communist allied forces tended to control the cities. The most notable conflict of this era was the 1968 Tet Offensive, a widespread campaign by the communist forces to attack across all of South Vietnam; while the offensive was largely repelled, it was a strategic success in seeding doubt as to the long-term viability of the South Vietnamese state. This phase of the war lasted until the election of Richard Nixon and the change of U.S. policy to Vietnamization, or ending the direct involvement and phased withdrawal of U.S. combat troops and giving the main combat role back to the South Vietnamese military.
The Viet Cong (VC) insurgency expanded in South Vietnam in 1962. U.S. military personnel flew combat missions and accompanied South Vietnamese soldiers in ground operations to find and defeat the insurgents. Secrecy was the official U.S. policy concerning the extent of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam. The commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), General Paul D. Harkins, projected optimism that progress was being made in the war, but that optimism was refuted by the concerns expressed by a large number of more junior officers and civilians. Several prominent magazines, newspapers and politicians in the U.S. questioned the military strategy the U.S. was pursuing in support of the South Vietnamese government of President Ngô Đình Diệm. Diệm created the Strategic Hamlet Program as his top priority to defeat the VC. The program intended to cluster South Vietnam's rural dwellers into defended villages where they would be provided with government social services.
Barry Zorthian (1920–2010) was an American diplomat, most notably press officer for 4+1⁄2 years during the Vietnam War, media executive and lobbyist.
The Defense Attaché Office, Saigon was a joint-service command and military attaché branch of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) under the control of United States Support Activities Group (USSAG). It assumed all DOD responsibilities in South Vietnam following the disestablishment of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) in March 1973. The DAO was responsible for administering military assistance and support to the South Vietnamese armed forces, the gathering and distribution of military intelligence and the performance of normal Defense Attaché functions. The DAO remained in existence until August 1975.
References
- ↑ Steinman, Ron (May 3, 2020). "The Truth about the Five O' Clock Follies". History News Network . Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
- ↑ Thompson, Mark (July 1, 2014). "Iraq Reinforcements: Return of the '5 O'Clock Follies'?". Time . Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
- ↑ Rowan, Roy (May 1, 2000). "Saigon 25 Years After the Fall On April 29, 1975, America pulled out of Vietnam. The author, one of the last to leave, recently returned to find out how the nation has changed". CNN . Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
- 1 2 Hammond, William (1996). The U.S. Army in Vietnam Public Affairs The Military and the Media 1962-1968. U.S. Army Center of Military History. p. 93. ISBN 978-0160486968.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . - ↑ "The Press: Farewell to the Follies". Time . February 12, 1973. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
- ↑ Martin, Douglas (January 5, 2011). "Barry Zorthian, U.S. Diplomat in Vietnam, Dies at 90". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
- ↑ Hammond, William (1996). The U.S. Army in Vietnam Public Affairs The Military and the Media 1968-1973. U.S. Army Center of Military History. p. 613. ISBN 978-0160486968. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ↑ Erlandson, Robert A. (February 11, 1991). "the 4 o'clock follies". The Baltimore Sun . Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
