Part 1 — Chapter 1 Background to Military Assistance

Unless otherwise noted the material in this chapter is derived from: Department of Defense, United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945–1947, 12 books (Washington: GPO, 1971), hereafter Pentagon Papers; The Senator Gravel Edition, Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of Decision Making On Vietnam, 4 vols. (Boston: Beacon press, n.d.), hereafter Gravel Edition, Pentagon Papers; Foreign Area Studies Division, American University, Area Handbook for South Vietnam (Washington: GPO, 1967), hereafter American University, Area Handbook; Chester L. Cooper, et al., The American Experience With Pacification in Vietnam, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Institute For Defense Analysis, 1972), hereafter Cooper, et al., The American Experience With Pacification; Joseph Buttinger, The Smaller Dragon: A Political History of Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1958), hereafter Buttinger, The Smaller Dragon; Bernard Fall, Two Viet-Nams: A Political and Military Analysis (New York: Praeger, 1967, 2d rev. ed.), hereafter Fall, Two Viet-Nams; D. G. E. Hall, A History of South-East Asia (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1966), hereafter Hall, A History of South-East Asia; Frances FitzGerald, Fire In The Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans In Vietnam (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1972), hereafter FitzGerald, Fire In The Lake; Ellen J. Hammer, The Struggle for Indochina (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1954), hereafter Hammer, The Struggle for Indochina; Douglas Pike, Viet Cong: The Organization and Techniques of The National Liberation Front (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1966), hereafter Pike, Viet Cong.