Inventamus Si Progressimus: “We Made It Up as We Went Along” The Evolution of the American Advisory Effort in South Vietnam

Abstract

Abstract This dissertation examines the efforts of the South Vietnamese government along with their American military and civilian advisors to devise and implement programs to combat the Viet Cong Infrastructure in South Vietnam prior to the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. This dissertation will focus on both the Agroville and Strategic Hamlet Programs examining their organization, construction, and goals and the Viet Cong response to counter their implementation. It examines how the South Vietnamese with assistance from the United States military and Central Intelligence Agency under Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy conducted armed nation-building from 1955‒63 on an unprecedented scale. This dissertation argues that the Viet Cong Infrastructure was so pervasive, and their control of the peasants using terror so systematic, that the price in time, treasure, and especially blood was more than either the South Vietnamese or their American allies were willing to pay to overcome.