Vietnam Question - Rana

cawacko

cawacko

Well-known member
Rana, in a thread on the General Politics Forum you said Eisenhower was the first to send U.S. advisors and troops to Vietnam and you read it in a book call Eisenhower's Cold War. I am far from an expert on Vietnam so I have no reason to doubt you. However I just finished a book called Ike's Bluff by Evan Thomas. In it the author said Ike only sent U.S. ground troops to one country during his Presidency (a county in the Middle East during the Suez Canal crisis with Egypt, Britain and France - I'm drawing a blank on which country it was) but not Vietnam.

I did a couple of Google searches and found nothing that said Ike sent in troops. Here are a couple of them. Again I ask this because I'm just trying to understand for myself. What did your book say that these sites and my book aren't saying about Ike sending troops?


http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_vietnam_war.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-...deployed-to-vietnam-stand-down-for-withdrawal
 
cawacko said:
Rana, in a thread on the General Politics Forum you said Eisenhower was the first to send U.S. advisors and troops to Vietnam and you read it in a book call Eisenhower's Cold War. I am far from an expert on Vietnam so I have no reason to doubt you. However I just finished a book called Ike's Bluff by Evan Thomas. In it the author said Ike only sent U.S. ground troops to one country during his Presidency (a county in the Middle East during the Suez Canal crisis with Egypt, Britain and France - I'm drawing a blank on which country it was) but not Vietnam.

I did a couple of Google searches and found nothing that said Ike sent in troops. Here are a couple of them. Again I ask this because I'm just trying to understand for myself. What did your book say that these sites and my book aren't saying about Ike sending troops?


http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_vietnam_war.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-...deployed-to-vietnam-stand-down-for-withdrawal
Click to expand...

I will see if I can find it. We were also basically financing the French's war there.

I will check out your book.

My recall is a bit foggy, but I will retract, but I am pretty sure it was CIA related, but we had boots on the ground.
 
No Rana is correct, he did. The reason you can't find it is because you are looking for ground troops and you state in your OP. THey were called "advisors", and it was Eisenhower. I will find a source for you later, I have to go out. But she's correct.

I have all this shit in my head because I read a lot of history, but don't always remember a source, sorry.
 
Darla said:
No Rana is correct, he did. The reason you can't find it is because you are looking for ground troops and you state in your OP. THey were called "advisors", and it was Eisenhower. I will find a source for you later, I have to go out. But she's correct.

I have all this shit in my head because I read a lot of history, but don't always remember a source, sorry.
Click to expand...

I am aware he sent advisors. Kennedy sent advisors too. These sites are saying no ground troops until 1965. You disagree?
 
Rana said:
I will see if I can find it. We were also basically financing the French's war there.

I will check out your book.

My recall is a bit foggy, but I will retract, but I am pretty sure it was CIA related, but we had boots on the ground.
Click to expand...

This is a good article that supports the reason the war started under Einsenhower, I was confused on some of my details.

I also can't find the book readily, sorry, so for now I will have to concede I can't back up my argument.

http://m.historytoday.com/viv-sanders/turning-points-vietnam-war
 
Rana said:
This is a good article that supports the reason the war started under Einsenhower, I was confused on some of my details.

I also can't find the book readily, sorry, so for now I will have to concede I can't back up my argument.

http://m.historytoday.com/viv-sanders/turning-points-vietnam-war
Click to expand...

You were/are right. Eisenhower sent in combat troops, as did Kennedy, Roosevelt, and Truman. In the latter two it was almost all OSS guys but still.
 
Darla said:
No Rana is correct, he did. The reason you can't find it is because you are looking for ground troops and you state in your OP. THey were called "advisors", and it was Eisenhower. I will find a source for you later, I have to go out. But she's correct.

I have all this shit in my head because I read a lot of history, but don't always remember a source, sorry.
Click to expand...


The U.S. military advisory effort in Vietnam had a modest beginning in September 1950, when the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), Vietnam, was established in Saigon. Its mission was to supervise the issuance and employment of $10 million of military equipment to support French legionnaires in their effort to combat Viet Minh forces. By 1953 the amount of U.S. military aid had jumped to over $350 million and was used to replace the badly worn World War II vintage equipment that France, still suffering economically from the devastation of that war, was still using.


Harry Truman was President in Sept. 1950............

and the area was still known as French Indo-China (if you're into word games)

U.S.combat units were deployed beginning in 1965 (LBJ)
 
Last edited:
NOVA said:
The U.S. military advisory effort in Vietnam had a modest beginning in September 1950, when the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), Vietnam, was established in Saigon. Its mission was to supervise the issuance and employment of $10 million of military equipment to support French legionnaires in their effort to combat Viet Minh forces. By 1953 the amount of U.S. military aid had jumped to over $350 million and was used to replace the badly worn World War II vintage equipment that France, still suffering economically from the devastation of that war, was still using.


Harry Truman was President in Sept. 1950............

and the area was still known as French Indo-China (if you're into word games)

U.S.combat units were deployed beginning in 1965 (LBJ)
Click to expand...

In all fairness the key word there is units.
It doesn't mean there was no military involvement.
They use the word escalated and my original argument was that the memorial wall for vets of that war say the war was started under Eisenhower, Kennedy sent in some military troop and then Johnson escalated it to full blown. Eisenhower administration was into some covert stuff, this was the beginning if the Cold War and the fight against Communusm if you remember.
 
cawacko said:
Rana, in a thread on the General Politics Forum you said Eisenhower was the first to send U.S. advisors and troops to Vietnam and you read it in a book call Eisenhower's Cold War. I am far from an expert on Vietnam so I have no reason to doubt you. However I just finished a book called Ike's Bluff by Evan Thomas. In it the author said Ike only sent U.S. ground troops to one country during his Presidency (a county in the Middle East during the Suez Canal crisis with Egypt, Britain and France - I'm drawing a blank on which country it was) but not Vietnam.

I did a couple of Google searches and found nothing that said Ike sent in troops. Here are a couple of them. Again I ask this because I'm just trying to understand for myself. What did your book say that these sites and my book aren't saying about Ike sending troops?


http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_vietnam_war.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-...deployed-to-vietnam-stand-down-for-withdrawal
Click to expand...

You might also be interested in a battle that occurred off Koh Khang (Elephant Island) in 1941 between the French and the Royal Thai Navy. I have to say I knew nothing about this until I went there a couple of years ago.

The Battle of Ko Chang took place on 17 January 1941 during the Franco-Thai War and resulted in a decisive victory by the French over the Royal Thai Navy. During the battle, a flotilla of French warships attacked a smaller force of Thai vessels, including a coastal battleship.

In the end, Thailand lost two ships sunk and one heavily damaged and grounded. Within a month of the engagement, the Vichy French and the Thais negotiated a peace which ended the war.
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Koh_Chang
 
cawacko said:
Rana, in a thread on the General Politics Forum you said Eisenhower was the first to send U.S. advisors and troops to Vietnam and you read it in a book call Eisenhower's Cold War. I am far from an expert on Vietnam so I have no reason to doubt you. However I just finished a book called Ike's Bluff by Evan Thomas. In it the author said Ike only sent U.S. ground troops to one country during his Presidency (a county in the Middle East during the Suez Canal crisis with Egypt, Britain and France - I'm drawing a blank on which country it was) but not Vietnam.

I did a couple of Google searches and found nothing that said Ike sent in troops. Here are a couple of them. Again I ask this because I'm just trying to understand for myself. What did your book say that these sites and my book aren't saying about Ike sending troops?


http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_vietnam_war.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-...deployed-to-vietnam-stand-down-for-withdrawal
Click to expand...

Actually, Ike sent some advisors in (I think 1955>). That's all.

Shy Guy said:
And this is in current events?
Click to expand...

Who cares? It's a cool topic.
 
cawacko said:
Rana, in a thread on the General Politics Forum you said Eisenhower was the first to send U.S. advisors and troops to Vietnam and you read it in a book call Eisenhower's Cold War. I am far from an expert on Vietnam so I have no reason to doubt you. However I just finished a book called Ike's Bluff by Evan Thomas. In it the author said Ike only sent U.S. ground troops to one country during his Presidency (a county in the Middle East during the Suez Canal crisis with Egypt, Britain and France - I'm drawing a blank on which country it was) but not Vietnam.

I did a couple of Google searches and found nothing that said Ike sent in troops. Here are a couple of them. Again I ask this because I'm just trying to understand for myself. What did your book say that these sites and my book aren't saying about Ike sending troops?


http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_vietnam_war.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-...deployed-to-vietnam-stand-down-for-withdrawal
Click to expand...
Rana's right. Ike sent military advisors into Vietnam. I read it in Stanly Karnow's classic "Vietnam: A History."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top