Page 14 - Delaware Medical Journal - November/December 2018
P. 14
Photo provided by Joseph F. Kestner, MD, 1970
T
in centuries; this story starts in the mid- to late 1800s, when the European powers were building empires. Throughout the world, these countries continued exploration, expansion, and suppression, creating colonies such as Italian Somalia, Dutch South Africa, British Egypt and India, and French Indochina, among others. Most of these colonies were occupied after military action and the establishment of appointed governors. An almost simultaneous reaction within the colonies was the development of nationalist causes seeking independence. The attraction of colonies on the part of these European countries was economic. The natural resources of these colonies seemed unbounded. The French had entered Indochina in the 1860s.
Ho Chi Minh was the leader of one of these nationalist groups in Indochina in the early 1920s. At that time, it appears he was
not a communist; just a revolutionary seeking independence for his country. The United States had no interest in Southeast Asia, Africa, or Asia generally, except for relations with China and Japan. It did keep a keen eye on the Spanish and their colonies in the western hemisphere, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. In 1920, the U.S. had one person in Vietnam, as the country’s consul in Saigon. It
By most studies, Vietnam had been and was a part of the Chinese Empire, and had adapted to Chinese culture. From the turn of the 19th century until WW I, there continued to be much
internal strife among political groups, those seeking an imperial government, and those seeking true independence.
Resistance movements are noted in French Indochina as early as 1893, and continued until WW II. As time passed, the confrontations and suppressions escalated into a civil war-like atmosphere. The French never understood the culture of the Vietnamese people. The loss of the traditional autonomous village and more “modern” changes socially and governmentally never took root in the general population.
Most interestingly, the French assisted the Japanese war with China by supporting an invasion of China from the south, permitting the use of seaports, logistics, road networks, and communications. The Japanese occupied Indochina early in WW II. In WW II, U. S. participation in the area appears limited to time, as there was more than one rebellious faction seeking to take control of Vietnam from the French. Each of these factions made overtures to the Americans in the country, including
the OSS, for assistance, but the French were still the political entity responsible. The United States was and had been very anticommunist and the policy at that time from Washington supported that fact. Around the world, the U.S. provided assistance to stop the spread of communism. However, in Vietnam, it was the communist Viet Minh who was most actively seeking support and working on missions with the OSS.
VIETNAM ERA 1955-1975 Vietnam War
282
Del Med J | November/December 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 8
