In a panic to sustain the opposing efforts of the Viet Cong in Vietnam and the growing communist campaign during the Cold War, the government of President Ngo Dinh Diem failed to sufficiently plan its Strategic Hamlet program, leading to its rejection and failure. Pushing President Kennedy to rapidly increase US intervention and eventually, President Diem's assassination.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenIn a panic to sustain the opposing efforts of the Viet Cong in Vietnam and the growing communist campaign during the Cold War, the government of President Ngo Dinh Diem failed to sufficiently plan its Strategic Hamlet program, leading to its rejection and failure. Pushing President Kennedy to rapidly increase US intervention and eventually, President Diem's assassination.
What was the purpose behind the Strategic Hamlet program, and how did it crash and burn so badly, resulting in the Vietcong and membership of the National Liberation Front increasing by 300% in the two years after its failure?
The first development of the Project started towards the end of 1961 because the government in the Republic of Vietnam feared that the Viet Cong were using southern villages in the countryside to find shelter and influence its residents. In their attempts to prevent the growth of the Viet Cong, the Strategic Hamlet program was created to improve the security of the villages, implement political measures amongst the local officials, and push for the people to take a stand and defend their homes from the intimidation and warfare of the communist campaigns.
What did this mean for the residents of the southern villages of Vietnam? Firstly, Vietnamese peasants were removed from their homes in their villages and placed within compounds named Strategic Hamlets. These Strategic Hamlets were effectively secure and defended villages, located in loyal areas. This was one of the first mistakes of the Strategic Hamlets, as the people were being pushed out of their homes, and at unrest as their religious beliefs meant that they should live close to where their ancestors lay.
Though, it is hard to ignore that the Strategic Hamlet program had many positives for the residents. The program was described as a form of community development that was intended to improve the social and political situations within them. Through the program, the residents were given education, social services, improved medical facilities, and elections. As well as this, the program armed volunteer groups in the hopes to grow the opposition to the communist attacks, and decreasing the number of sympathetic villagers helping the Viet Cong.
An in-depth explanation of the purpose of the Strategic Hamlet Program.
The Strategic Hamlet Program had a range of purposes, it intended on completing security, political and counterinsurgency objectives. The program was formed to grow the support of the government's counterinsurgency amongst the people of south Vietnam.
The Strategic Hamlet program security objectives...
The political objectives of the Strategic Hamlet program were to create a strong positive image for the government, presenting themselves, and the program, as beneficial to the village people both socially and economically. This political ploy can be argued to be propaganda as it intended on growing the need for resistance to communist blandishments.
Blandishment
A positive, or flattering action or statement.
High government officials such as President Diem believed that some long-range consequences of the Strategic Hamlet program objectives would be:
The Strategic Hamlet program was the government plan of South Vietnam, the US government, and the ARPA to oppose communist efforts during the Vietnam War by enlisting and arming the countryside and preventing communist influences on the rural population.
Hamlet
A small village or settlement.
In simple terms...
A strategic hamlet is just a fortified hamlet.
The timeline below shows us how the Strategic Hamlet program as a Cold War tactic was a failed attempt at political endorsement, leading up to the fall of the Southern Vietnam government and Ngo Dinh Diem's death.
Date | Event |
1947 | The start of the Cold War. |
1954 | The Geneva Conference. |
February 1962 | The establishment of a high-level government inter-agency committee. |
16 March 1962 | The beginning of the Strategic Hamlet program. |
April 1962 | A resolution stating that the Strategic Hamlet program was a national policy was passed by the National Assembly. |
1962 | The US assistance program for the strategic hamlet construction. |
1 November 1963 | President Diem's assassination. |
1 November 1963 | The Southern Vietnam government was overthrown. |
1964 | The end of the Strategic Hamlet program. |
1991 | The end of the Cold War. |
The Hamlets that were most commonly chosen to be fortified and become strategic hamlets were either in insecure areas or those that were closest to communist strongholds. The process of the fortification of the settlements aimed to protect those within and give them a military advantage over the land.
The defence of the strategic hamlet did not stop at the perimeter, there was at least one observation tower, some guard posts and an armoury storage post to help protect and arm its residents.
Did you know?
Aside from bamboo drums to alert the community of an incoming attack, a few strategic hamlets were given a small radio set which gave them communication with the central government.
For context, the 1954 Geneva Conference that resulted in the partition of Vietnam into South Vietnam and North Vietnam was a consequence of the First Indochina War. Vietnam was in dire political conflict after this, as it was in constant communist vs non-communist warfare.
February 1962 brought a government inter-agency enlisted to direct and support the Strategic Hamlet program on a nationwide scale, marking it ad national policy two months later. Communist revolts in Malaya and Indochina contributed to the fast actions of the government of Ngo Dinh Diem during the Strategic Hamlet program. Another one of the reasons that the program was pushed by the government with great force was that they had taken inspiration from the Kibbutz program in Israel.
Israel Kibbutz Program
Israeli settlements were set up in which all wealth is held by the collective. Any profits, agricultural or sometimes industrial, are put back into the settlement after the needs of its inhabitants have been met such as clothing, shelter, food, medical services and social needs.
As expected, the communist opposed the Strategic Hamlet Program. Communist forces in North Vietnam and Moscow described strategic hamlets as concentration camps, claiming that the people of southern Vietnam villages were being forcibly herded. The Northern Vietnamese propaganda addressed the Vietnamese people and called upon them to fight against the Strategic Hamlet program.
North Vietnamese propaganda detailed that the Strategic Hamlet program's intent was to 'trample upon the life, customs, habits, democratic freedom, and the most common sentiments and interest of human beings'. Historian Philip E. Catton comments on how North Vietnamese propaganda also labelled Diem as a "traitor, a tool of US imperialism" referring to him as American-Diem (My-Diem).1
From religious concerns to a lack of planning, the rejection of the people, and the mistreatment of those in the settlements, the Strategic Hamlet program failed because:
US intervention in Vietnam's conflicts was based on the American foreign policy that was put in place after WWII, the policy detailed America's active role in trying to contain Communism before it grew any further. This policy was created concerning the famous Domino Theory.
Domino Theory
A political theory which states that the ongoings in one country will cause similar events in those around it.
The United States assistance program of 1962 meant that by the end of that year, the US central government was providing administrative and technical skills, material, and funding towards the creation of the Strategic Hamlet project.
Did you know?
The Strategic Hamlet Program was a part of an American pacification programme which was called 'Hearts and Minds', designed to oppose communism.
President John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the US, was elected into office between the years 1961 and 1963. This meant that Kennedy was the leader of the US intervention in Vietnam.
The failure of the Strategic Hamlet Program and the success of the Viet Cong lead to several issues in Vietnam, religious differences, corruption, and the weakening of the Southern Vietnamese government of President Diem meant that US intervention was more vital than ever. Kennedy believed that if nothing was done then communism would soon spread, something that the United States already feared. Ths weak south Vietnamese government led to Kennedy's following actions...
President Diem did not take the advice of the US, nor did he accept the offer of safety from President Kennedy. On 1 November 1963, Diem was assassinated and the South Vietnamese government fell.
The Strategic Hamlet Program was the government plan to oppose the communist insurgency. It aimed to do this by reducing the influence of communists in rural locations.
The Strategic Hamlet Program was created in March 1962. Its development started in 1961, and it officially ended in 1964.
It is argued that the Strategic Hamlet Program was a failure for a number of reasons. It failed to stop the communist insurgency or gather support from the Vietnamese in rural locations. Furthermore, it is suggested that the program done the opposite, growing the Viet Cong.
The government of South Vietnam, the US government and ARPA were involved with the Strategic Hamlet Program.
Ngô Đình Nhu, President Diem's brother, headed the Strategic Hamlet Program in 1962.
When did the Strategic Hamlet program start?
1960.
What did the Strategic Hamlet program mean for the residents of southern Vietnamese villages?
They would be moved from their homes.
What did the program NOT say it would provide to the strategic hamlets?
Arming volunteer groups.
What were the programs political objectives?
To create a shared will to resist communist movements and create a positive and strong image for the South Vietnamese government to gain support.
The security objectives of the program was supposed to sever communist communication, prevent them from having access to the resources of the rural areas.
T/F
True.
President Diem intended on the program to start an economic and social revolution among the people of the countryside, raising their social status.
T/F?
True.
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