Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts

Department of Anglo Saxons Languages

Doctoral School of English, EDALPSCBS 2011-2012

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Magister in American Civilisation American Case Study: The War

Candidate: Supervisor:

NEBEG Raouf PR. YACINE Rachida

Board of Examiners Soutenue le 22 Juin 2014

Chairman: ….Dr BENHATTAB Abdelkader Lotfi...... (University of Oran) Supervisor: …Pr. YACINE Rachida……...……………...... (University of Oran) Examiner: ...... Dr DJAILEB Farida...... (University of USTO Mohamed Boudiaf-Oran)

ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-2014 Dedication

Dedications

I pleasurably dedicate my dissertation to my dearest parents, my wife, all my brothers and sisters and of course my son Rayane.

II Aknowledgements

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Pr. YACINE Rachida, who gave me assistance in many ways. I would like to thank her for the academic guidance, the constructive criticism, the encouragement, and mostly for the moral support she provided me with when things went at worst. Prof. YACINE is a rare pearl if we may call her, after 10 years she gave me a chance to return back to the university she gave me a glimpse of hope. There is quite a lot to say, but my words fail to express all my gratitude. Thank you Prof. YACINE Rachida for making this thesis comes into being. Thank you for saving me from dropping out, as the Oil and Gas industry took a better part of my life.

Besides my supervisor, my sincere thanks are due to all the teacher of our first year in the Doctoral School. It is with great honours to have Dr Mrs Zitouni Mimouna, Dr Moulfi Léila, Dr Benhattab Lotfi and Dr Djaileb Farida your teachers.

III Abstract

Abstract

Since its creation the U.S.A went to wars all the time as a part of its foreign policy. This dissertation will deal with the American Imperialism and the . It is composed of three chapters. The first chapter will deal with the background of the U.S. Imperialist policy, definition of imperialism, American attitudes towards imperialism, their overseas policy and examples of some imperialist cases such as , and the Vietnam.

The second chapter will focus on the Vietnam War, the causes, and the attitudes of the political powers at that time. The American War and the use of unconventional weapons internationally banned such as Napalm and Agent Orange. We will focus, as well, on the reactions of war in Vietnam through ambushes and general attacks such as the Tet Offensive; and reactions in the U.S through student movements and media. At last we will discuss the Vietnamisation and the U.S withdrawal from Vietnam.

The third and last chapter will be devoted to the implications of the Vietnam War on the U.S. economy, domestic politics, society, and also its impact on the world. And how The Vietnam War served to undercut much of the logic and rationale. It was used to justify American support of authoritarian regimes. Dictatorships created political polarisation, blocked any effective means for reforms, destroyed the centre, and created a backlash of anti-American sentiment that opened the door to radical nationalist movements that brought to power the exact type of governments the most opposed, and originally sought to prevent. From to Iran to , and most tragically in Vietnam, the limits of this policy were discovered.

V Contents

CONTENTS Page

Dedications ______II Aknowledgements______III Abstract ______V Contents ______IV General Introduction______1

I. Chapter One: Background of the US imperialist policy

I.1. The background of the US Imperialism: Political and economic reasons______4 I.2. American attitudes towards imperialism______12 I.3. The US overseas policy______18 I.4. Imperialistic situations: 1.4.1. The case of Grenada______24 1.4.2. The case of Panama______26 1.4.3. The case of Vietnam______28

II. Chapter Two: The Vietnam War (1945-1975)

II.1. Causes of the Vietnam War______31 II.2. The American War on Vietnam______39 II.3. Reactions within Vietnam and in the US______46 II.4. Vietnamisation and U.S. Withdrawal______54

III. Chapter Three: The impact of the Vietnam War on the USA and the world.

III.1. Impact on the US Economy______59 III.2. Impact on the US Politics______66 III.3. Impact on the US Society______74 III.4. Impact On the world______79

Conclusion______85 Appendix ______87 List of Abbreviations, Tables, Figures and Maps______89 Bibliography______102

IV Introduction

Introduction

Imperialism is a policy of extending control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of , either through direct territorial conquest or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics and/or economy of other countries. The term is often used to describe the policy of a country in maintaining colonies and dominance over distant lands, regardless of whether the country calls itself an .

Insofar as 'imperialism' might be used to refer to an intellectual position, it would imply the belief that the acquisition and maintenance of empires is a positive good, probably combined with an assumption of cultural or other such superiority inherent to imperial power.

Imperialism draws heavy criticism on the grounds that it is a form of economic exploitation in which the imperialist power makes use of other countries as sources of raw materials and cheap labour, shaping their economies to suit its own interests and keeping their people in poverty. When imperialism is accompanied by overt military conquest, it is also seen as a violation of freedom and .

In recent years, there has also been a trend to criticize imperialism not at an economic or political level, but at a simply cultural level, particularly the widespread global influence of American culture. Some dispute this extension, however, on the grounds that it is highly subjective (to differentiate between mutual interaction and undue influence) and also applied selectively (for example, hamburgers being imperialist and black tea not).

Our goal is to focus on the American imperialism in Asia and particularly in Vietnam. We will also analyse how this war has changed the views towards their government, how they started to think that their country is killing on their behalf.

What attracted me to this subject is the overall idea of how the U.S as the super power is built, how they protect democracies in the world for their interest. How The U.S is ruling the world through its strong foreign policy based on interest? U.S imperialism is guilty of aggression- its crimes are enormous and cover the whole world. But this guilt also applies to those who, when the time came for a definition, hesitated to make Vietnam an inviolable part

1 Introduction of the socialist world; running the risks of a war on a global scale-but also forcing a decision upon imperialism. And the guilt also applies to those who maintain a war of abuse and snares -started quite some time ago by the representatives of the two greatest powers of the socialist camp.

The fundamental field of imperialist exploitation comprises the three underdeveloped continents: America, Asia, and Africa. Every country has also its own characteristics, but each continent, as a whole, also presents a certain unity. From an economic point of view, the United States had very little to lose and much to gain from Asia, for instance, these changes benefited its interests; the struggle for the overthrow of other neo-colonial powers and the penetration of new spheres of action in the economic field is carried out sometimes directly, occasionally through .

Our aim is to discover the atrocities of the US, against the whole world. The U.S. happens to be the only state in the world that has been condemned by the World Court for international terrorism. Moreover, it was condemned by the Security Council, except that it vetoed the resolution. For example, Chomsky points out that ” During the U.S terrorist war against Nicaragua, the court ordered the United States to desist and pay reparations. The U.S responded by immediately escalating the crimes, including first official orders to attack what are called soft targets -- undefended civilian targets.’’1

This thesis elaborates these atrocities, and how the U.S foreign policy is formulated? What is the background of the U.S Imperialism? The American attitudes towards imperialism. Also, How the entire world and international institutions react to the American policies? Why is the U.S considered as the policeman of the world? Why the U.S invaded countries in the name of democracy and ? Grenada, Panama and Vietnam for example. Why the U.S invaded Vietnam? Why the war shifted to Vietnamisation and then U.S withdrawal? How protests and media changed the U.S politics? Finally, what is the impact of the Vietnam War on America and the rest of the world? We will deal with these topics in details through an analytic method composed of some critics based on contemporary historians, famous authors and political analysts.

______1 N. Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, 1991, p121.

2 Introduction

The Vietnam War was a military attempt by the United States to halt Communist aggression in Southeast Asia. On January 23rd, 1973 the United States and the North Vietnamese agreed to cease-fire arrangements. After this agreement the United States supplied only money to the South Vietnamese. It was the first time the United States as a whole country had lost a war. Americans began to feel that other nations should etermine their own destinies. And that the United States should take a less active role in foreign policy.

The Vietnam War and the post-war revelations of American covert actions in the provided convincing evidence that the old policy of support for dictators was flawed and, more importantly, damaging to American interests and doomed to fail.

The last chapter deals with the impact of the Vietnam war on America and the rest of the world. Moreover, how the American policies on , domestic politics, and cultural and social history were greatly changed by this event. The United States also paid a high political cost for the Vietnam War. It weakened public faith in government, and in the honesty and competence of its leaders. Indeed, scepticism, if not cynicism, and a high degree of suspicion of and distrust toward authority of all kind characterized the views of an increasing number of Americans in the wake of the war. The military, especially, was discredited for years. It would gradually rebound to become once again one of the most highly esteemed organizations in the United States. However, as never before, Americans after the Vietnam War neither respected nor trusted public institutions.

The world panorama is of great complexity. The struggle for liberation has not yet been undertaken by some countries , sufficiently developed to realize the contradictions of , but weak to such a degree that they are unable either to follow imperialism or even to start on its own road( for example). Their contradictions will reach an explosive stage during the forthcoming years-but their problems and, consequently, their own solutions are different from those of dependent and economically underdeveloped countries.

3 CHAPTER ONE

Chapter One: Background of the U.S imperialist policy

4 CHAPTER ONE

I.1. The background of the US Imperialism: Political and economic reasons

Imperialism has proved to be an infinitely elastic term, one to be employed against all men who used power for expansion, consolidation, and conquest. Many Americans have assumed that there was no period of American imperialism. Others admit to a brief imperialist past but prefer to clothe that past in other words. some American Historians argue: “We were an expansionist nation, but not an imperialist one”2, a distinction more Jesuitical than useful. For the United States had grown, after all, out of a former .

Most Americans hoped to make the colonial societies over in the American model so that they could qualify for self-government or for admission into the Union itself. This assumption produced, as Whitney T. Perkins 3 has pointed out, "a safety valve of sorts in an inherent bias toward the extension of self-government." Moreover, Lance Selfa, mentions in the Socialist review that:

Although it arrived late on the empire-building scene, the U.S. operated no differently than other imperialist powers. It turned the Sea into a virtual U.S. lake. In the 100 years since the Spanish-American War, the U.S. has invaded Cuba five times, four times, Panama four times, the twice, twice, Nicaragua twice and Grenada once.4

Gen. Smedley Butler, who headed many U.S. military interventions in the early part of this century, gave a stark account of what he had really been doing:

I have spent 34 years in active service as a member of the Marine Corps. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big business, for and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I helped make safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank to collect revenues. I helped pacify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-12.5

______2 Whitney T. Perkins: Constraint of Empire, Oxford: Clio Press, 1981, p 281 3 Ibid, p 282 4 Lance Selfa, International Socialist Review Issue 7, Spring 1999 U. S Imperialism: A Century of Slaughter. 5 Ibid.

5 CHAPTER ONE

For instance, the territories acquired from Mexico whether by conquest or by purchase, became states of the Republic. So too did and ; and although the time needed to complete the necessary transformation before statehood became a reality was a long one, the assumption always was present that independence or statehood was the goal. The safety valve, mentioned earlier by T. Perkins, thus prevented the build-up within the colonies of a long-term ruling elite imposed from outside.

The question is not, therefore, whether the United States or any other nation used power; rather, the questions are, how was this power first mobilized against the less powerful, and how it was ultimately employed? And in the answers to these two questions we may find some areas of contrast between American and, as an example, British imperial experiences. The facts are clear enough. Most observers would agree in identifying two major periods of American expansion before 1939. The first of these, from perhaps 1803 until 1853, was a period of internal growth, of movement across the land from the Eastern seaboard to the West coast, and of two wars--that of 1812-1814 with Britain and the Mexican War of 1846-1848- However, in 1853 the United States purchased an additional corner of land from Mexico for ten million dollars, expansion within contiguous areas was complete.

Certainly the roots of the later period of American expansion overseas lie in the pre-Civil War past, for it was then that the American idea of a national mission developed. The secularisation of the earlier Puritan concepts, the growing sense of the covenant the American people had made with themselves during the Revolution and within their Constitution, and the heightened awareness of and belief in a unique American destiny, led many Americans sincerely to support any of several arguments for expansion.

Because the United States had a continent to conquer, it developed its first empire internally, incorporating territory into the body politic in a way that European nations having to seek overseas outlets for their energies, their people, their goods, their investments, and their doctrines, could neither understand nor attempt. Whitney T. Perkins thinks that “If Britain's third empire lay in Africa, America's first empire lay at hand, merely across the wide Missouri. An imperial democracy might grow within the continent. Thus continentalism, not imperialism, occupied the driving American energies until near the end of the century.” 6 ______6 Whitney T. Perkins: Constraint of Empire, Oxford: Clio Press, 1981, p 282

6 CHAPTER ONE

Ignatief suggests that “The actually existing American empire was acquired”, not in a fit of absent-mindedness (as the British liked to claim), but in a state of denial7, The same views were adopted by who says that:

Imperial actions on the part of the United States were not to be talked of as such, nor were they allowed to have any ramifications for the domestic situation. It was this that produced 'empire lite' rather than an empire of solid, long- term commitment. There are plenty of people on what might be called the 'traditional left' who hold that the US has been an imperial power for at least a century or more.8

Nontheless, he stresses that “analyses of American imperialism were available in the 1960s, particularly focusing on the U.S role in Latin America and South-East Asia”. 9The strategy that set the stage for US intervention in Vietnam—without recognizing the compelling need felt on the part of business interests in the United States to keep as much of the world as possible open to through the expansion of trade, commerce, and opportunities for foreign investment.

It has been even more significantly ruthless abroad in sponsoring coups in Iran, Iraq, , , , and Vietnam (to name but a few), in which untold thousands died. It has supported state terrorism throughout the world wherever it has been convenient.

David Harvey claims that the “ CIA and Special Forces units operate in innumerable countries. Study of this record has led many to paint a portrait of the US as the greatest 'rogue state' on earth. There is a major industry in doing so, beginning with Chomsky, Blum, Pilger, Johnson, and many others”.10

The economic power to dominate (such as the trade embargo on Iraq and Cuba or IMF austerity programmes implemented at the behest of the US Treasury) can be used with equally destructive effect as physical force, as David Harvey argues that:

______7 , 'The Burden', New York Times, 5 Jan. 2003 8 David Harvey, The , 2003, p6 9 Ibid. p. 30. 10 David Harvey, The New Imperialism,page 38

7

Abstract

The first chapter will deal with the background of the U.S. Imperialist policy, definition of imperialism, American attitudes towards imperialism, their overseas policy and examples of some imperialist cases such as Grenada, Panama and the Vietnam.

The second chapter will focus on the Vietnam War, the causes, and the attitudes of the political powers at that time. The American War and the use of unconventional weapons internationally banned such as Napalm and Agent Orange. We will focus, as well, on the reactions of war in Vietnam through ambushes and general attacks such as the Tet Offensive; and reactions in the U.S through student movements and media. At last we will discuss the Vietnamisation and the U.S withdrawal from Vietnam.

The third and last chapter will be devoted to the implications of the Vietnam War on the U.S. economy, domestic politics, society, and also its impact on the world. And how The Vietnam War served to undercut much of the logic and rationale. It was used to justify American support of authoritarian regimes. Dictatorships created political polarisation, From Cuba to Iran to Nicaragua, and most tragically in Vietnam, the limits of this policy were discovered.

Key words:

US Imperialism; US foreign policy; The Vietnam War; The second era; Liberation movements; Students’ impacts; Cuba; Nicaragua; Panama; Iran.

V